John Manny- The Founder of the Manny Reaper Company

Nov 28, 1825- Jan 31, 1856
John H. Manny was born in Amsterdam, N. Y., on November 28, 1825, the son of Pells Manny and his wife, Sarah Stewart Manny, and grandson of Gabrial Manny. In 1836, the Pells Manny family moved to Waddam’s Grove in Stephenson County, Illinois, where the father commenced farming. The attention of farmers was being directed to farm machinery for labor was difficult to find and expensive to retain. About 1846, the father’s attention was directed to the need for a perfect reaper. A heading machine purchased by the father failed utterly to do the work required, and father and son John set to work to alter and improve it. They patented their improvements and commenced building heading machines for sale.

These became too expensive to manufacture; they were beyond the means of the average farmer. Young Manny then began experimenting with a machine for cutting grain and grass, overcoming one defect after another until it began to reap perfectly. During the following year, they built forty machines, but the sickles which he had purchased proved ineffective. On these, John H. made improvements and secured a patent in September, on the 23rd, 1851. In the spring of 1853, he moved to Rockford, Illinois and built his machines in a plant in the water power district.

Many businessmen became associated with him; among them were Messrs. Wait and Sylvester Talcott, Ralph Emerson, Jr., and Jesse Blinn, all under the name of John H. Manny and Company.

During the week of July 20 through July 26, 1852, a reaper test trial was held in Geneva N.Y., and John H. Manny received a Gold Medal for the best combined reaper and mower, as the Manny machine was both a reaper and mower. It was entered in the contests for both of the implements, with the results that it won a first place decision among the mowers and second place among the reapers.

After winning the Gold Medal, the Manny Company entered their reaper in a triumphant tour of New York, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, and Michigan, exhibiting the machine at State Fairs. The trip ended at the Mechanics Institute in Chicago. The machine won first prize at the Paris Exposition of 1855, and Prince Louis Napoleon asked to meet the agent of the reaper and be instructed in its use.