Business

Henry Ford

Two car companies failed under him before Ford Motor; the third put the world on wheels.

Born: 1863 · Dearborn, Michigan, US
Roots: Irish immigrant father, Belgian-descent mother
Family: Middle class; A successful farm household; he hated farm work and left for Detroit at 16.
Education: Farm schooling; apprenticed as a machinist in Detroit
Started with: $28K raised; Ford Motor's 1903 founding capital from twelve investors — after two failed car companies.
Affiliations & societies: FreemasonryDocumented; Raised in Palestine Lodge No. 357, Detroit, in 1894; later received the Scottish Rite's 33rd degree.; Information only — claims like these are often unverifiable and may be wrong.

The pathway

1879 · age 16
Walks to Detroit
Machinist apprenticeships; returns to the farm, then leaves for good.
1893 · age 30
Chief engineer at Edison Illuminating
Thomas Edison personally encourages his gasoline-car experiments.
1896 · age 32
The Quadricycle
His first vehicle, built in a shed behind his home.
1901 · age 38
Two companies fail
The Detroit Automobile Company folds; he leaves the second, which becomes Cadillac.
1903 · age 39
Ford Motor Company$28K
1908 · age 45
Model T
Fifteen million sold over nineteen years.
1913 · age 50
The moving assembly line
Chassis assembly falls from over 12 hours to 93 minutes.
1914 · age 50
The $5 day$5/day
Roughly doubles the prevailing wage; applications flood the gates.
1938 · age 75
Grand Cross of the German Eagle
Accepts Nazi Germany's highest honor for foreigners; his Dearborn Independent had published antisemitic series in the 1920s.

Sources

Compiled from these references and contemporaneous press reporting. Figures are approximate; verify before relying on them.