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John Deere Facts & Worksheets

John Deere was an American blacksmith and manufacturer who founded Deere & Company.

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John Deere was an American blacksmith and manufacturer who founded Deere & Company. Deere & Company has become one of the largest and leading agricultural; construction equipment manufacturers in the world.

See the fact file below for more information on the John Deere or alternatively, you can download our 24-page John Deere worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

EARLY LIFE

  • John Deere was born on 7 February 1804; in Rutland, Vermont.
  • John did a brief period at Middleburg College at the age of 17.
  • In 1821, he began his apprenticeship with Captain Benjamin Lawrence, a successful Middlebury blacksmith, entering the trade for himself in 1826.
  • John married Demarius Lamb in 1827 and fathered nine children.
  • John worked in Burlington before opening his shops, first in Vergennes; and then in Leicester.
  • For twelve years, John kept himself busy with his trade around Vermont. John was known for being the only blacksmith that wore overalls, green and yellow plaid shirts, with cowboy boots and hat.

STEEL PLOW

  • In 1837, John moved and settled in Grand Detour, Illinois. With the lack of blacksmiths in the area, work was abundant for him.
  • While working on the plows for farmers, he realized that cast-iron plows were not working in the prairie soil of Illinois.
  • He made a plow out of highly polished steel, and correctly shaping claws, that would be better to handle the soil conditions of the prairie, even in clay.
  • John made different versions of his idea for the steel plow; in one version, he used the concept of the pitchfork tines moving through hay and soil.
  • In 1837, John developed and manufactured the first commercial cast-steel plow.
  • By 1838, John completed the first steel plow and sold it to a local farmer, who was Lewis Crandall, who quickly spread the word of how well the Deere plow worked. Two of his neighbors soon placed their order with John for their Deere plows as well.
  • John would continuously improve on his design over the years.
  • By 1841, John was making 75-100 plows a year.
  • In 1843, John partnered with Leonard Andrus; to produce more plows; so that he could keep up with the demand. Their partnership didn’t work for long because of the different ways they wished to sell the plows. By 1848 John had dissolved his partnership with Leonard Andrus. They agreed to split their existing sales territories, John took all the territory to the west while Leonard Andrus took the east. John; was counting on the Americans to move west, when the discovery of gold in California came, aided in helping with the migration.
  • John relocated to Moline, Illinois, having access to the railroads and the Mississippi River, where he formed a partnership with Robert Tate and John Gould, where they built a 1440-square-foot factory. Production increased, and by 1849, Deere, Tate & Gould Company; was producing over 200 plows a month.
  • He soon began importing British steel, which helped speed up production, making 1 600 plows in 1850. John expanded on what they made and began, producing tools to complement its line of plows.
  • John bought out Tate and Gould’s part of the business in 1853 and was joined by his son to help run the business, Charles Deere.
  • He signed a contract with Pittsburgh manufacturers to develop comparable steel plates, helping him with the problems of overseas importing.
  • By 1855, John had sold more than 10 000 plows, very quickly becoming known as “The Plow that Broke the Plains.”
  • John only ever made high-quality equipment, even once saying that he would never put his name on a product that has not been made, with the best of everything.
  • By 1857, John was selling up to 10 000 plows.
  • After the first financial crisis of America in 1857, and business began improving again, John decided to leave the day-to-day operations to his son Charles. In 1858 he made his son Charles a partner, where he worked as vice president, and in 1863, his son-in-law Stephen H Velie also became a partner.
  • In 1863 John invented the first ride on the plow, called the Hawkeye Riding Cultivator, which relied on horses to pull the plow instead of a man pushing it himself.
  • In 1868, John incorporated his business as Deere & Company.

LATER LIFE

  • John’s wife Demarius died in 1865.
  • He then married his sister-in-law Lucinda Lamb in June 1867.
  • John focused his attention; on civil and political affairs, evening serving as the President of the National Bank of Moline, the director of the Moline Free Public Library, and was even a trustee of the First Congregational Church.
  • He was mayor of Moline’s for two years, but because of chest pains and dysentery, John didn’t run for a second term. Even though he did not handle the liquor licensing very well, he did improve the cities infrastructure by installing street lights, sewage, and water piping, which included fire hydrants; repaired sidewalks; which also bought 83 acres for city parks.
  • John died at his home on 17 May 1886, at the age of 82.

John Deere Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about John Deere across 24 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use John Deere worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about John Deere who was an American blacksmith and manufacturer who founded Deere & Company. Deere & Company has become one of the largest and leading agricultural; construction equipment manufacturers in the world.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • John Deere facts
  • John Deere Profile
  • Rainbow Flowers
  • Tractor Designer
  • John Deere Quiz
  • Fill in the Blanks
  • Advert
  • True or False
  • Repurposed
  • John Deere Quotes
  • Match the dates to the Facts

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Link will appear as John Deere Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, June 14, 2021

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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