Welcome to the Birthday Lessons for February! We are celebrating John Deere… whose birthday was February 7th. My son thinks this is cool since we are farmers and his birthday is February 8th. 🙂
We see that name every day on our farm. We visit the John Deere store often for parts. My boys have grown up playing with all things John Deere ~ toys, book, dvds, mini gators and tractors…now they are growing into the real thing. We love the green and yellow on our farm. Plus, we love History in our house…it is our favorite subject.
Have you ever wondered who started the green and yellow addiction that farmers seem to have that starts as little boys? Why, John Deere of course!
John Deere
February 7, 1804 – May 17, 1886
John Deere developed the first commercially successful, self-scouring steel plow and it ties closely with the settlement and development of the midwestern United States.
In 1837, John Deere, was a typical blacksmith turning out hayforks, horseshoes, and other essentials for life on the prairie
Check out this neat timeline about John Deere and the company ~ from 1837, where he fashioned a polished-steel plow in his Grand Detour, Illinois, blacksmith shop that lets pioneer farmers cut clean furrows through sticky Midwest prairie soil, until present day.
It is neat to see that the company was run by a member of the John Deere family until the 1980s.
An amazing thing about the company is how during the depression, when sales dropped tremendously and farmers could not pay their debts, the company carried them through it. Instead of repossessing the equipment, the company worked with them. A farmer without a tractor would be in bad shape and set up to lose everything. I believe that is part of the reason they have such a loyal following of farmers. The stories have been told how they helped them.
Resources:
John Deere Kids ~ fun activities, stories and videos to help children learn more about farming
John Deere Kids videos ~ check out Amazon or the John Deere site for videos all about tractors and farming
John Deere biography from the John Deere website
Check out a video at the Waterloo, Iowa John Deere factory all about his story
Other Posts You Might Like:
Henry Ford: American Industrialist
Check out other famous birthdays and get birthday lessons at the iHomeschool Network.
Sharing at The Modest Mom, A Mama’s Story, Time-Warp Wife, Growing Home, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Raising Arrows & Raising Mighty Arrows.
