John Wood Barlow (1859 - 1921)

Born 10 Feb 1859 in St. Louis, Missouri

Ancestors

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Biography

John was born in 1859. He passed away in 1921.

JOHN WOOD BARLOW, Foreman of the Corn Planter Company of Quincy is a native of St Louis, Mo., where he first saw the light of day on the 10th of February 1859. He is the eldest son of Joseph C. and Evaline Streeter Barlow, the former of whom was the founder of the Barlow Corn Planter Works. He was born in Genesee County, NY, August 31, 1836 and possessed that enterprise push and keen business foresight for which the people of the Empire State have long been famous. He was a son of Rev Jonathan K and Honor Douglas Barlow, the latter of whom was born in the Green Mountain State and was a daughter of Benjamin Douglas, a relative of Hon. Stephen A Douglas. In 1849, she moved with her husband to Quincy, III., and here eventually died of cholera. The Barlow family have always been useful citizens of the sections in which they have resided and were important factors in improving and developing Western Illinois.

John Wood Barlow passed his youth and school days in Quincy where he acquired a good common education which lie supplemented by a course of study in the Gem City Commercial College. Upon the completion of his education he entered the Corn Planter Works which had been securely established by his father and began serving his apprenticeship in the machine shop department where he engaged in the manufacture of all kinds of machinery and gained a most practical insight into all the details of the business. After remaining in this department for several years he was promoted to the position of foreman in the machine shops which he continued to hold up to 1888, when he became general foreman of the works and assistant superintendent of the shops. The invention and manufacture of machines and labor saving appliances have contributed in a marvelous degree to the development of this country and the slope of which Mr. Barlow is foreman are among the most notable of the kind in the State of Illinois, if not in the United States.

The business is growing steadily year by year and their goods are standard and are recognized as unsurpassed in materials and workmanship and the great popularity and high reputation of the house is due not only to the acknowledged superiority of the goods but also to the systematic correctness of its methods and the spirit of fairness by which all its transactions are characterized. The gentlemen connected with the management of this institution are all men of marked administrative ability endowed with the necessary qualifications for the judicious management of this great enterprise. The trade which is supplied by this house embraces the different States and Territories of the United States Mexico Australia and in fact almost every place where corn is raised. On their corn planters they have one of the best check in use which was invented by the Barlows In the different departments of their works they employ one hundred and twenty five men who are highly skilled in their different branches and should their business increase as rapidly in the future as it has done in the past a much larger force will be necessary. Separate from their shops they have a large four story warehouse in which to finish and store their machinery.

In 1882 Mr. Barlow was married to Miss May Gravelle of Quincy, a daughter of Joseph Gravelle and they have a very pretty and comfortable home No 900 North Sixth Street. Mr Barlow is of quite an inventive turn of mind and in addition to his check rowers he has invented the Quincy Force Drop Corn Planter.^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ Portrait and biographical record of Adams County, Illinois, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, 1892

• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/62747026/john-wood-barlow