Chauncey McCormick
Encyclopedia
Chauncey Brooks McCormick (1884–1954) was an American
businessman and art collector in the McCormick family
.
His father was William Grigsby McCormick
(1851–1941), whose father William Sanderson McCormick
(1815–1865) was one of the founders of McCormick Harvester, which merged in 1902 with the Deering Harvester Company
founded by William Deering
and others to form International Harvester
Corporation. His father founded Kappa Sigma Fraternity, and owned insurance and real estate businesses before becoming a member of the New York Stock Exchange
.
Chauncey Brooks McCormick was born December 7, 1884, the sixth of seven children.
He attended Groton School
and graduated from Yale University
in 1907. During the summer of 1905 he worked as a common laborer in the McCormick factory. After graduation he worked for the Paris
office of International Harvester. In 1907 he was gored by a wild elk
while on the private game preserve of Percy Raymond Greist.
On July 6, 1914 McCormick married Charles Deering
's daughter Marion Deering (1886–1965) in Paris. When the engagement was announced in June, her parents objected because "McCormick did not take life seriously enough". After a civil ceremony, the religious rite required in France was held at her uncle James Deering
's Paris residence. The couple was still in France
when it became involved in World War I
in August.
He joined the American Expeditionary Forces with the rank of Captain, using his connections to supply food and medical supplies to refugees. In 1918 Herbert Hoover
sent him to Poland
to organize aid there.
France awarded the Croix de guerre for his services.
After the war they moved to St. James Farm in DuPage County, Illinois
, west of Chicago
near modern Warrenville, Illinois
. It was just south of the estate of his cousin Robert Rutherford "Colonel" McCormick
(1880–1955) called Cantigny
.
In 1925 he became a trustee of the Art Institute of Chicago
, and became president in 1944.
In 1927 he became chairman of the art committee for the 1933 world's fair known as the Century of Progress
, and arranged for "the biggest, most comprehensive, most valuable loan exhibition ever assembled in the U. S."
Financial problems associated with the Great Depression
threatened to reduce the effort to showing popular pictures that would pay off expenses. McCormick used his connections instead to lobby for displaying the most important works he could find. They included James Abbott McNeill Whistler's portrait of his mother known as Whistler's Mother
, which was sent from the Louvre
with an armed guard of US troops for a tour that included a stop at the Chicago fair.
On June 10, 1929, he purchased (with cousin Robert) the estate originally built around 1822 by his great grandfather Reuben Grigsby (1780–1863) known as Hickory Hill
.
McCormick was a member of the International Harvester Board of Directors from 1936 until his death in 1954. Although he never ran for public office, he was a delegate to the 1936 Republican National Convention
. During World War II
he was Chairman of the Commission for Polish Relief
, and also worked on reconstruction efforts of Poland after the war.
He died on September 8, 1954 while at a vacation home in Seal Harbor, Maine, and left his papers to the Newberry Library
.
His widow Marion McCormick also became a patron of art in Chicago and "one of the nation's richest women" when she died in 1965. Their son Brooks McCormick
(1917–2006) was the last family member to head International Harvester. Two other sons were C. Deering McCormick and Roger McCormick.
The Warrrenville estate is now the St. James Farm Forest Preserve, at 41°50′2"N 88°9′39"W.
One of their paintings, Femme aux Bras Croisés
(Woman With Crossed Arms) by Pablo Picasso
from his blue period, was auctioned off for US$55 million in 2000.
Marion's sister Barbara Deering (1888–1987) married Richard Ely Danielson and also donated works to the Art Institute of Chicago.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
businessman and art collector in the McCormick family
McCormick family
The McCormick family is a family of business people and politicians from the United States.They descend from Robert McCormick and Mary Ann Hall.Below is a list of members:...
.
Life
His mother was Eleanor Brooks, daughter of Walter Brooks of Baltimore.His father was William Grigsby McCormick
William Grigsby McCormick
William Grigsby McCormick was an American businessman of the influential McCormick family in Chicago.He was a co-founder of a college fraternity.-Life:William Grigsby McCormick was born June 3, 1851 in Chicago....
(1851–1941), whose father William Sanderson McCormick
William Sanderson McCormick
William Sanderson McCormick was an American businessman who developed the company that became the major producer of agricultural equipment in the 19th century...
(1815–1865) was one of the founders of McCormick Harvester, which merged in 1902 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...
founded by William Deering
William Deering
William Deering was an American businessman and philanthropist.He inherited a woolen mill in Maine, but made his fortune in later life with the Deering Harvester Company.-Life:Deering was born April 25, 1826 in South Paris, Maine...
and others to form International Harvester
International Harvester
International Harvester Company was a United States agricultural machinery, construction equipment, vehicle, commercial truck, and household and commercial products manufacturer. In 1902, J.P...
Corporation. His father founded Kappa Sigma Fraternity, and owned insurance and real estate businesses before becoming a member of the New York Stock Exchange
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...
.
Chauncey Brooks McCormick was born December 7, 1884, the sixth of seven children.
He attended Groton School
Groton School
Groton School is a private, Episcopal, college preparatory boarding school located in Groton, Massachusetts, U.S. It enrolls approximately 375 boys and girls, from the eighth through twelfth grades...
and graduated from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in 1907. During the summer of 1905 he worked as a common laborer in the McCormick factory. After graduation he worked for the Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
office of International Harvester. In 1907 he was gored by a wild elk
Elk
The Elk is the large deer, also called Cervus canadensis or wapiti, of North America and eastern Asia.Elk may also refer to:Other antlered mammals:...
while on the private game preserve of Percy Raymond Greist.
On July 6, 1914 McCormick married 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...
's daughter Marion Deering (1886–1965) in Paris. When the engagement was announced in June, her parents objected because "McCormick did not take life seriously enough". After a civil ceremony, the religious rite required in France was held at her uncle 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...
's Paris residence. The couple was still in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
when it became involved in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
in August.
He joined the American Expeditionary Forces with the rank of Captain, using his connections to supply food and medical supplies to refugees. In 1918 Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
sent him to Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
to organize aid there.
France awarded the Croix de guerre for his services.
After the war they moved to St. James Farm in DuPage County, Illinois
DuPage County, Illinois
As of the 2010 Census, the population of the county was 916,924, White Americans made up 77.9% of Dupage County's population; non-Hispanic whites represented 70.5% of the population. Black Americans made up 4.6% of the population. Native Americans made up 0.3% of Dupage County's population...
, west 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...
near modern Warrenville, Illinois
Warrenville, Illinois
Warrenville is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. The population was 13,363 at the 2000 census. It is a part of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Illinois Technology and Research Corridor.-History:...
. It was just south of the estate of his cousin Robert Rutherford "Colonel" McCormick
Robert R. McCormick
Robert Rutherford "Colonel" McCormick was a member of the McCormick family of Chicago who became owner and publisher of the Chicago Tribune newspaper...
(1880–1955) called Cantigny
Cantigny
Cantigny is a park in Wheaton, Illinois, 30 miles west of Chicago. It is the former estate of Joseph Medill, and his grandson Colonel Robert R. McCormick, publishers of the Chicago Tribune, and is open to the public...
.
In 1925 he became a trustee of the Art Institute of Chicago
Art Institute of Chicago
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design, located in the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. It is associated with the museum of the same name, and "The Art Institute of Chicago" or "Chicago Art Institute" often refers to either...
, and became president in 1944.
In 1927 he became chairman of the art committee for the 1933 world's fair known as the Century of Progress
Century of Progress
A Century of Progress International Exposition was the name of a World's Fair held in Chicago from 1933 to 1934 to celebrate the city's centennial. The theme of the fair was technological innovation...
, and arranged for "the biggest, most comprehensive, most valuable loan exhibition ever assembled in the U. S."
Financial problems associated with the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
threatened to reduce the effort to showing popular pictures that would pay off expenses. McCormick used his connections instead to lobby for displaying the most important works he could find. They included James Abbott McNeill Whistler's portrait of his mother known as Whistler's Mother
Whistler's Mother
Arrangement in Grey and Black: The Artist's Mother, famous under its colloquial name Whistler's Mother, is an 1871 oil-on-canvas painting by American-born painter James McNeill Whistler. The painting is , displayed in a frame of Whistler's own design, and is now owned by the Musée d'Orsay in Paris....
, which was sent from the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
with an armed guard of US troops for a tour that included a stop at the Chicago fair.
On June 10, 1929, he purchased (with cousin Robert) the estate originally built around 1822 by his great grandfather Reuben Grigsby (1780–1863) known as Hickory Hill
Hickory Hill (Glasgow, Virginia)
Hickory Hill is a historic estate in Rockbridge County, Virginia.The main house at Hickory Hill was built from 1823 to 1824 for Reuben Grigsby who was born June 6, 1780.He was one of many children, cousin to educator Hugh Blair Grigsby ....
.
McCormick was a member of the International Harvester Board of Directors from 1936 until his death in 1954. Although he never ran for public office, he was a delegate to the 1936 Republican National Convention
1936 Republican National Convention
The 1936 Republican National Convention was held in Cleveland, Ohio at the Public Auditorium, from June 9 to June 12, 1936. It nominated Governor Alfred Landon of Kansas for President and Frank Knox of Illinois for Vice-President....
. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he was Chairman of the Commission for Polish Relief
Commission for Polish Relief
The Commission for Polish Relief , also known unofficially as Comporel or Hoover Commission, was initiated in late 1939 by former US President Herbert Hoover, following the German and Soviet occupation of Poland...
, and also worked on reconstruction efforts of Poland after the war.
He died on September 8, 1954 while at a vacation home in Seal Harbor, Maine, and left his papers to the Newberry Library
Newberry Library
The Newberry Library is a privately endowed, independent research library for the humanities and social sciences in Chicago, Illinois. Although it is private, non-circulating library, the Newberry Library is free and open to the public...
.
His widow Marion McCormick also became a patron of art in Chicago and "one of the nation's richest women" when she died in 1965. Their son Brooks McCormick
Brooks McCormick
Brooks McCormick was a member of the American family that ran International Harvester and a noted philanthropist and equestrian. He was the chief executive officer of International Harvester in the 1970s, and was the final member of the McCormick family to lead the company that they had founded.-...
(1917–2006) was the last family member to head International Harvester. Two other sons were C. Deering McCormick and Roger McCormick.
The Warrrenville estate is now the St. James Farm Forest Preserve, at 41°50′2"N 88°9′39"W.
One of their paintings, Femme aux Bras Croisés
Femme aux Bras Croisés
Femme aux Bras Croisés , is a painting by Pablo Picasso done in 1902 during his Blue Period. The subject of the painting is unknown, but she may be an inmate of the Saint-Lazare hospital-prison in Paris....
(Woman With Crossed Arms) by Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
from his blue period, was auctioned off for US$55 million in 2000.
Marion's sister Barbara Deering (1888–1987) married Richard Ely Danielson and also donated works to the Art Institute of Chicago.
External Links
- Chauncey McCormick papers at Newberry LibraryNewberry LibraryThe Newberry Library is a privately endowed, independent research library for the humanities and social sciences in Chicago, Illinois. Although it is private, non-circulating library, the Newberry Library is free and open to the public...