Ford was born on July 30, 1863, on a farm next to a rural town west of Detroit, Michigan (this area is now part of Dearborn, Michigan). His father, William Ford (1826-1905), was born in County Cork, Ireland. His mother, Mary Litogot Ford (1839-1876), was born in Michigan; she was the youngest child of Belgian immigrants; her parents died when Mary was a child and she was adopted by neighbours, the O'Herns. Henry Ford's siblings include: Margaret Ford (1867-1868); Jane Ford (c. 1868-1945); William Ford (1871-1917) and Robert Ford (1873-1934).
Henry took this passion about mechanics into his home. His father had given him a pocket watch in his early teens. At fifteen, he had a reputation as a watch repairman, having dismantled and reassembled timepieces of friends and neighbors dozens of times.[1]
His mother died in 1876, which came as a blow that devastated young Henry. His father expected Henry to eventually take over the family farm, but Henry despised farm work. With his mother dead, little remained to keep him on the farm. He later said to his father, "I never had any particular love for the farm—it was the mother on the farm I loved."[2]
In 1879, he left home for the nearby city of Detroit, Michigan, to work as an apprentice machinist, first with James F. Flower & Bros., and later with the Detroit Dry Dock Co. In 1882, he returned to Dearborn to work on the family farm and became adept at operating the Westinghouse portable steam engine. He was later hired by Westinghouse company to service their steam engines.
He married Clara Ala Bryant (c1865-1950) in 1888, and Ford supported himself by farming and running a sawmill. [3] They had a single child: Edsel Bryant Ford (1893-1943). [4]
In 1891, Ford became an engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company, and after his promotion to Chief Engineer in 1893, he had enough time and money to devote attention to his personal experiments on gasoline engines. These experiments culminated in 1896 with the completion of his own self-propelled vehicle named the Quadricycle, which he test-drove on June 4. After various test-drives, Henry Ford brainstormed ways to improve the Quadricycle.[5]
Also in 1896, Ford attended a meeting of Edison executives, where he was introduced to Thomas Edison himself. Edison approved of Ford's automobile experimentation; encouraged, by Edison's approval, Ford designed and built a second vehicle, which was completed in 1898.[6] Backed by the capital of Detroit lumber baron William H. Murphy, Ford resigned from Edison and founded the Detroit Automobile Company on August 5, 1899.[7] However, the automobiles produced were of a lower quality and higher price than Ford would have liked. Ultimately, the company was not successful, and was dissolved in January, 1901.[8]
Ford went to work building a racer. With the help of C. Harold Wills, he designed, built, and successfully raced a 26HP automobile in October 1901. With that success, Murphy and other stockholders in the Detroit Automobile Company formed the Henry Ford Company on November 30, 1901, with Ford as chief engineer.[9] However, Murphy brought in Henry M. Leland as a consultant. As a result, Ford left the company bearing in name in 1902. With Ford gone, Murphy renamed the company the Cadillac Automobile Company.[10]
Ford once again focused on building a racecar, producing the 80+HP "999" racer , and getting Barney Oldfield to drive it to victory in October 1902. Ford also received the backing of an old acquaintance, Alexander Y. Malcomson, a Detroit area coal dealer.[11] They formed a partnership, "Ford & Malcomson, Ltd." to manufacture automobiles. Ford went to work designing an inexpensive automobile, and the duo leased a factory and contracted with a machine shop owned by John F. Dodge and Horace E. Dodge to supply over $160,000 in parts.[12] Unfortunately, sales were slow, and a crisis arose when the Dodge brothers demanded payment for their first shipment.
