William Deering
Encyclopedia
William Deering was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 businessman and philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...

.
He inherited a woolen mill in Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

, but made his fortune in later life with the Deering Harvester Company
Deering Harvester Company
Deering Harvester Company was founded in 1894 by William Deering. In 1902, Deering Harvester Company and McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, along with three smaller agricultural equipment firms merged to create the International Harvester Company which is still in operation today as the Case IH...

.

Life

Deering was born April 25, 1826 in South Paris, Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

. Deering moved to Plano, Illinois
Plano, Illinois
Plano is a city in Kendall County, Illinois, United States near Aurora, with a population of 5,633 at the 2000 census. The city is rapidly growing with new subdivisions such as Lakewood Springs completed and several other developments under construction or in the planning stages. Former Speaker...

 and Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

 about 1850 and invested in the farmland of the area.

Around 1870, Deering left his business, the Deering, Milliken & Company which was established in 1865, and partnered with Elijah Gammon. Gammon had manufacturing rights to a horse-drawn grain harvester and set up a plant in Plano, Illinois
Plano, Illinois
Plano is a city in Kendall County, Illinois, United States near Aurora, with a population of 5,633 at the 2000 census. The city is rapidly growing with new subdivisions such as Lakewood Springs completed and several other developments under construction or in the planning stages. Former Speaker...

. The company pioneered a harvesting reaper
Reaper
A reaper is a person or machine that reaps crops at harvest, when they are ripe.-Hand reaping:Hand reaping is done by various means, including plucking the ears of grains directly by hand, cutting the grain stalks with a sickle, cutting them with a scythe, or with a later type of scythe called a...

 incorporating an automatic twine binder, invented by John Appleby
John Appleby
John Francis Appleby was an American inventor who developed a knotting device to bind grain bundles with twine, which became the foundation for all farm grain binding machinery and was used extensively by all the major manufacturers of large grain harvesting machines in the late 19th and early...

 of Beloit, Wisconsin
Beloit, Wisconsin
Beloit is a city in Rock County, Wisconsin, United States. As of the 2010 census, Beloit had a population of 36,966. The greater Beloit area is home to more than 91,000 residents.-Claim to fame:...

. Deering was also responsible for building a modern twine factory to supply farmers with sufficient length and quality of twine to work with the binders, a move followed by most competitors.

The Deering company and the reorganized Plano Harvester Company, which had moved to Pullman, competed aggressively with each other and the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, but in 1902, under his son's direction, all three companies merged to form the International Harvester Company.

He financially supported several institutions of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, the Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

, the Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
Garrett–Evangelical Theological Seminary is a graduate school of theology of the United Methodist Church located in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1853, Garrett-Evangelical is on the campus of Northwestern University and continues many associations with the university...

, and the Wesley Hospital among them. He gave Northwestern over $1 million over the years, and served on the university's board for 38 years, including 10 years (1895–1905) as president of the board; he declined an offer to rename the school Deering University.

After Deering retired in 1901 he spent a large part of each year at his winter home in Coconut Grove, Florida. He died on December 9, 1913 in Coconut Grove with his two sons in attendance. He was the father of Charles Deering
Charles Deering
Charles Deering was an American businessman, art collector, and philanthropist. He was an executive of the agricultural machinery company founded by his father that became International Harvester. Charles's successful stewardship of the family firm left him with the means and leisure to indulge...

 (1852–1927) and James Deering
James Deering
James Deering was an industrialist executive in the family Deering Harvester Company and subsequent International Harvester, a socialite, and an antiquities collector. He is known for his landmark Vizcaya estate, where he was an early 20th century resident on Biscayne Bay in the present day...

 (1859–1925). The Deering Library
Deering Library
Charles Deering Library is located on the campus of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Deering Library houses the Government Publications Department and the Northwestern University Archives on the first floor, the Music Library on the second floor, and the Map Collection,...

 at Northwestern is named for the family. An 1899 portrait by Anders Zorn
Anders Zorn
Anders Leonard Zorn was one of Sweden’s foremost artists who obtained international success as a painter, sculptor and printmaker in etching.-Biography:...

 of him hangs in the library.

William Deering scouted territory in Southeast Missouri for timber in the late 1890, purchasing 60,000 acres of land in Pemiscot and Dunklin Counties. The town Deering
Deering, Missouri
Deering is an unincorporated community in Pemiscot County, Missouri. It is located eight miles west of Caruthersville.Deering began as a lumber town in the early 1900s. After the Wisconsin Lumber Company ceased operations in Deering, the town's population began to dwindle. The town is now so...

 is named after him.

External links

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