Obed Hussey papers

Obed Hussey was born in Maine in 1792. His parents were Quakers, and the family moved at an early age to Nantucket. Like many young Nantucket men, Hussey first tried his hand at whaling, but soon left the sea and moved to Cincinatti, Ohio. He became a mechanic and invented machines for grinding corn and crushing sugar cane before he took on the design of a mechanical reaper. Demonstrated at Carthage, Ohio in 1833, Hussey obtained a patent for his reaping machine the same year - beating Cyrus McCormick by 6 months. The two men and their machines would duel for market share for the next 25 years. Ultimately, McCormick's ability to mass-produce his machines would drive Hussey out of the market, leaving him to sell his business in 1858. Hussey died in Exeter, Maine on August 4, 1860, as the result of a railway accident.

Hussey married late in life, wedding Eunice B. Starbuck in 1856. They resided in Baltimore and had two children together: Mary (1857-1859) and Martha (1860-1932). Following Obed's death, Eunice remarried to the Honorable Alexander B. Lamberton of Rochester, New York. Eunice and Martha would spend the rest of their lives in Rochester. Lamberton's nephew, Follett Greeno, would become interested in the Hussey family and Obed's career as an inventor, ultimately publishing a book on Hussey and his reaper in 1912, entitled Obed Hussey Who, Of All Inventors, Made Bread Cheap.