Excerpt from Memorial of Robert McCormick: Being a Brief History of His Life, Character and Inventions, Including the Early History of the McCormick Reaper When advised by his lawyer at one time when in financial trouble (brought about through the rascality of his partner) that he could legally evade paying his debts that were pressing him, by putting his property out Of his hands, his reply was no, i would rather die and leave my children without one dollar, than that it should ever be said that their father had done a dishonest act. Throughout his life he took great pleasure in the acquirement of historical and scientific knowledge, and was very fond of astronomy. He subscribed to the leading magazines of the day, and kept 'him self well posted in all that was transpiring around him. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.