Jerome Case

Jerome Increase Case was born December 11, 1819, in Williamstown in Oswego County, New York.

His father was Caleb Case (1787–1874) and mother Deborah Jackson (1789–1833). He was one of seven children.{{cite journal |journal= Wisconsin Magazine of History |title= J. I. Case: Some Experiences of an Early Wisconsin Industrialist |author= Reynold M. Wik |volume= 35 |number= 1 |date=Autumn 1951 |url= http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/u?/wmh,18837}}

Through his mother he claimed to be related to Andrew Jackson.{{cite book |title= The Cyclopaedia of American biography |publisher= D. Appleton and Company |pages= 90–92 |volume= 8 |edition= Revised and Enlarged |editor= James E. Homans |year= 1918 |url= https://archive.org/stream/cyclopaediaofame08wilsuoft#page/90/mode/2up }}

His father sold some primitive "ground hog" machines (imported from England) that helped speed up the separation of grain after it was harvested. In 1840, Jerome started a small business threshing his neighbors' crops with the horse-powered devices. In the summer of 1842, he bought six of the machines on credit and traveled first to Chicago by ship. On his way north to Rochester, Wisconsin he sold five and kept one for his own business.

Through the winter he worked on improvements to the thresher, but the new model was not ready for the 1843 harvest.

By May 1844 the new model which did a better job of fully separating the grain was working. Since Rochester did not have water power available, he moved to Racine, Wisconsin.{{cite book |author=Charles H. Wendel |title=150 years of J.I. Case |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MNaaSJMHPHEC&pg=PA5 |date=February 20, 2005 |publisher=Krause Publications |isbn=978-0-87349-930-9 |pages= 5–15 |chapter= J. I. Case }}

File:Case Residence, Racine, Wisconsin.jpg

He first manufactured the machines in a small shop in Racine, and then built a three-story brick factory in 1847 on the Root River.

A new vibrator process introduced in 1852 was so successful he was selling throughout Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio by 1853.

By 1855 the plant covered several acres, including a private boat dock on Lake Michigan.

In 1856 he was elected mayor of Racine, declined the re-nomination the next year, but was elected again in 1858 and 1860.

He often financed the machines with high interest rates. This worked until the panic of 1857 and unreliable state-issued paper money caused many customers to default. Case accepted animals, supplies, and land instead of cash. At the start of the American Civil War, farmers would often walk away from their debts to enlist, sometimes not returning.

The labor shortage combined with increased demand for food (with no imports from the south) resulted in a growing business in the 1860s.

Massena B. Erskine, Robert H. Baker, and Stephen Bull (his brother-in-law) became partners when J. I. Case Company was officially organized in 1863.

Case was elected to the Wisconsin State Senate in 1865 and served one two-year term.

Also in 1865 he happened to meet up with a company of the 8th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment returning from the war. He adopted the mascot of the regiment, an eagle named Old Abe, as company symbol.

In 1871 he was a founder of Manufacturers' National Bank of Racine and the First National Bank of Burlington. He was an early investor in the Northwestern Life Insurance Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1876 he started another company to make plows, licensing the "center draft" technology from Ebenezer G. Whiting.

Initially called Case, Whitney & Company, when he became sole owner in 1878 it became the J. I. Case Plow Company, and J. I. Case Plow Works in 1884.

He was a founder of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, and president of the Racine County Agricultural Society. Some time in the 1870s he had one of the rare two-story houses built on Main Street in Racine.

By the time that Case bought land in what would be the future Hinsdale, Illinois in 1869,{{Cite news |date=May 10, 1869 |title=J. I. Case... |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-evening-post/148754042/ |access-date=June 5, 2024 |work=Chicago Evening Post}} his name was well known throughout the country.{{Cite book |last=Bakken |first=Timothy |title=Hinsdale |publisher=J. Peter Teschner, Timothy H. Bakken, Kristi Cook, and the Hinsdale Doings |year=1976 |page=18}} In his early days, he traveled throughout Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin to sell, deliver, service, and collect his machines, which is how he likely became familiar with the area. He became a good friend of William Robbins, the founder of Hinsdale, and hired his son, John S. Robbins, as manager for his plow manufacturing plant in Racine.

On Case's property in Hinsdale, he planned a fine "villa" which never came to be. Along with it, he was going to have horse barns and a racing track. In 1872, the "J. I. Case's Addition to the Town of Hinsdale" was filed and approved in DuPage County..{{cite act |title=J. I. Case's Addition to the Town of Hinsdale |type=Plat |date=August 13, 1872 |number=R1872-015440 |institution=DuPage County Recorder}} In 1885, Case subdivided his large property in Hinsdale and moved back to Wisconsin.

File:Jay-Eye-See.jpg print of Jay-Eye-See setting the trotting record in 1884]]

As he turned over the business to other partners, he spent more time on breeding race horses on his Hickory Grove Farm. Harness racing was the sport of choice among the wealthy in the 1880s.

One of his favorite horses was named Jay-Eye-See, a pun on Case's initials.{{cite news |title= Diggers uncover remains of Case's famous race horse |newspaper= Racine Journal Times |author= Joe Buttweiler |date= July 3, 1997 |url= http://www.racinehistory.com/jicase.html#horse |access-date= January 10, 2011 }}

The black gelding, foaled in 1878, broke the mile trotting record of 2:10 at Narragansett Park in 1884.{{cite news |title= Jay-Eye-See Trots in 2:10 |date= August 2, 1884 |work= New York Times |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1884/08/02/106284107.pdf |access-date= January 11, 2011 }}

After winning many other races, the horse was injured and retired in August 1889.{{cite news |title= Jay-Eye-See Broken Down |date= August 3, 1889 |work= New York Times |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1889/08/03/100964834.pdf |access-date= January 11, 2011 }} It is believed by some, but has not been proven, that the racehorse was born on a farm near Hinsdale.

However, Jay-Eye-See was retrained by Edwin D. Blither to race with a new gait, and three years later set a pacing record of 2:06.25 in 1892 at Independence, Iowa. Both records were quickly broken; the trotting mark on the next day, and the pacing mark in a subsequent heat of the same race.{{cite news |title= Breaking Trotting Records:Martha Wilkes does a Mile in 2:09 1-2 on a Kits Track |date= August 27, 1892 |work= New York Times |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1892/08/27/104145067.pdf |access-date= January 11, 2011 }}

However, the feat of two records was unique enough that the horse became a celebrity. Currier and Ives did a series of prints{{cite web |title= results containing "jay eye see" |author= Currier & Ives |website= US Library of Congress |url= https://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=jay%20eye%20see |year= 1884 |access-date= January 10, 2011 }} and the horse's image was used to advertise products by the Case company for years. The horse outlived Case and died in 1909 at the age of 31.{{cite news |title= Jay-Eye-See |date= June 8, 1997 |work= Racine Journal Times |author= Jim Kneiszel |url= http://www.journaltimes.com/news/local/article_b871f1f0-8b09-5503-9488-55f459b51a63.html |access-date= January 11, 2011 }}

The horse "known the country over" had its obituary printed in national newspapers such as the New York Times.{{cite news |title= Trotter Jay Eye See Dead |date= June 27, 1909 |work= New York Times |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1909/06/27/106720648.pdf |access-date= January 11, 2011 }} Jay-Eye-See was inducted into the Harness Racing Hall of Fame in 1990{{cite web |title= Hall of Immortals - Horses |website= Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame |url= https://harnessmuseum.com/hall-of-horse-immortals/J |access-date= November 24, 2017 }} and the Wisconsin Harness Racing Hall of Fame in 1996.{{cite web |title= The Wisconsin Harness Racing Hall of Fame |website= The Wisconsin Harness Racing Association |url = http://www.wiharnessracing.com/hall.of.fame.html |access-date= January 11, 2011 }}

Case also owned some Great Lakes ships, a winter home in California, a ranch in Texas, and a stock farm in Kentucky.

In 1849 he married Lydia Ann Bull, daughter of DeGrove Bull of Yorkville, Wisconsin. He died on December 22, 1891, in Racine, less than a year before the comeback of his favorite horse.{{cite news |title= Jerome I. Case dead—the Noted Horseman Died at Racine, Wis. Yesterday |date= December 23, 1891 |work= New York Times |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1891/12/23/103358681.pdf |access-date= January 11, 2011 }}

His widow, born August 6, 1826, died December 9, 1909.

They had four children live to adulthood: one son and three daughters.

Henrietta Case was born March 3, 1858, and married Percival Strong Fuller (1858–1896).

Jessie Fremont Case was born April 17, 1861, and married Mitchell Wallis.

Amanda Case was born October 1, 1862, and married Jonathan James Crooks of San Francisco.{{Cite web|url=http://www.familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/p/u/l/Jane-Pullam-TN/GENE1-0008.html|title = Ancestry® | Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History Records}} Following in the footsteps of her horse-loving father, in 1926 she was instrumental in the survival and then success of the Pendleton Round-Up, the huge and still thriving Pendleton, Oregon rodeo.{{Cite web |url=http://www.mymotherlode.com/community/mother-lode-round-up/2011/1271094/2011-MotherLode-Round-Up-History.html |title=2011 Mother Lode Round-Up - myMotherLode.com |access-date=May 11, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928094110/http://www.mymotherlode.com/community/mother-lode-round-up/2011/1271094/2011-MotherLode-Round-Up-History.html |archive-date=September 28, 2011 |url-status=dead }}

Jackson Irving Case was born October 23, 1865, married Henrietta May Roy on May 25, 1886, and had four sons. He was elected mayor of Racine when he was only 26, but died January 8, 1903, before he was 38.{{cite book |title= Racine, belle city of the lakes, and Racine County, Wisconsin: a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement |publisher= S.J. Clarke |pages= 169–170 |volume= 2 |author= Fanny S. Stone |year= 1916 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=M0AVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA169 }}

File:Louis DIsbrow in Jay-Eye-See, 1912.jpg ]]

Three other children died young.{{cite web |title= Descendants of Jonathan Case, Sr. |url= http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/p/u/l/Jane-Pullam-TN/GENE1-0017.html |access-date= January 10, 2011 }}

The family continued its interest in racing, but times had changed. The company sponsored a team of racing cars, led by driver Lewis Strang until he died in 1911. Around 1912, they named a car after Jay-Eye-See, driven by Louis Disbrow. One of the largest at the time, it had a 290-horsepower engine, and a streamlined shape that looked like an upside-down canoe.{{cite news |title= Bulls, Ancient and Modern |date= March 30, 1912 |work= The Autocar |page= 588 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=L4HmAAAAMAAJ&q=disbrow&pg=PR102 |access-date= January 20, 2011 }}

A popular, easy to read biography of Case in the context of his company and his times is Stewart H. Holbrook, Machines of Plenty, Pioneering in American Agriculture (New York: Macmillan, 1955).

Jerome I. Case High School, located in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, is named in his honor.{{cite web |title=History Of Our School |url=http://case71.com/0_history.htm |work=JI Case High School Class of 1971 |access-date= January 11, 2011 }}

It is in what is now suburban Racine, near the site of his farm. Most of Hickory Grove Farm is now developed, except for a small open space at {{coord |42|41|56|N| 87|48|02|W| type:landmark_region:US-WI |display=inline |name= Case-Harmon Field}} named Case-Harmon Field.{{GNIS |1562766 |Case-Harmon Field}}{{cite web|title=Racine Wisconsin Area Parks |work=Racine Information web site |url=http://racine.wi.net/parksfp.html |access-date=January 11, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723175108/http://racine.wi.net/parksfp.html |archive-date=July 23, 2011 }}

Jay-Eye-See Avenue at {{coord |42|42|18|N| 87|48|11|W| type:landmark_region:US-WI |display=inline |name= Jay-Eye-See Avenue }} was named for his horse, a block away from Case Avenue which intersects Jerome Boulevard.

A planned marble monument to Jay Eye See was never erected, and the horse's grave site neglected for almost a century. After a developer planned to build a parking lot over the suspected grave, local historians located and removed the bones in July 1997.

The remains were proposed to be re-interred in the Case family mausoleum at Mound Cemetery.{{cite news |title= Jay Eye See's burial site may be family plot |date= June 12, 1998 |work= Racine Journal Times |author= Joe Buttweiler |url= http://www.journaltimes.com/news/local/article_e0859739-54a0-583d-ba4b-9643dd0a74c5.html |access-date= January 11, 2011 }}

However, by 2003 the bones were still stored in a box at the historian's home waiting for funding for the memorial.{{cite news |title= Harnessing a resting place for Jay Eye See |date= July 9, 2003 |work= Racine Journal Times |author= Mike Moore |url= http://www.journaltimes.com/local/columns/article_80af5439-5b1b-5162-9eb5-c22c8d63975d.html |access-date= January 11, 2011 }}

The J. I. Case Wetland Wildlife Refuge in Terre Haute, Indiana is also named in his honor.

In 2008, Case was inducted into the Association of Equipment Manufacturers Hall of fame.{{cite news |title=AEM equipment manufacturing Hall of Fame announces new inductees |date= November 12, 2008 |work= press release |publisher= Association of Equipment Manufacturers |url= http://www.aem.org/News/Newsroom/Releases/?R=616 |access-date= January 11, 2011 }}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite web |url= http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/dictionary/index.asp?action=view&term_id=2476 |title = Case, Jerome Increase 1819 - 1891 |publisher = Wisconsin Historical Society |access-date= January 10, 2011 }}
• {{cite web |url= http://www.caseranch.com/CaseHistory/CaseStory.asp |title= The Case Ranch Story |work= Case Ranch Herefords |access-date= January 13, 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110708122801/http://www.caseranch.com/CaseHistory/CaseStory.asp |archive-date= July 8, 2011 |url-status= dead }}
• {{cite web |url= http://www.farmcollector.com/Gas-Engines/The-Threshing-Machine-King.aspx |title = The Threshing Machine King: J.I. Case and the steam behemoths |work= Farm Collector |date= March 2000 |author= Paul F. Long |access-date= January 13, 2011 }}
• {{cite web |title= Neck and neck to the wire |author= Currier & Ives |publisher= US Library of Congress |url= https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2002710648/ |year= 1884 |access-date= January 10, 2011 }} Depiction of Jay-Eye-See and two other horses by Currier & Ives
• {{cite web |title= Participants In Wichita Speedway's First Auto Race |author= Bob Lawrence |work= Kansas Racing History web site |url= http://winfield.50megs.com/1915photo.htm |year= |access-date= January 20, 2011 |archive-date= July 7, 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110707065053/http://winfield.50megs.com/1915photo.htm |url-status= dead }} 1915 photo of Jay-Eye-See racecar
• [https://www.farmcollector.com/equipment/ji-case-co-racing-zmaz18febzhur Article on Case's involvement with an 1870s experimental automobile]
• {{Find a Grave |5660634 |Jerome Increase Case }}

{{s-start}}

{{s-par|us-wi-sen}}

{{s-bef|before = Timothy D. Morris }}

{{s-ttl|title = {{nowrap|Member of the Wisconsin Senate}} {{nowrap|from the 7th district}} |years= January 2, 1865{{spaced ndash}}January 7, 1867 }}

{{s-aft|after = Henry Stevens }}

{{s-off}}

{{s-bef|before = George Wustum }}

{{s-ttl|title = {{nowrap|Mayor of Racine, Wisconsin}} |years= April 1856{{spaced ndash}}April 1857 }}

{{s-aft|after = John W. Cary }}

{{s-bef|before = John W. Cary }}

{{s-ttl|title = {{nowrap|Mayor of Racine, Wisconsin}} |years= April 1858{{spaced ndash}}April 1859 }}

{{s-aft|after = W. W. Vaughan }}

{{s-bef|before = W. W. Vaughan }}

{{s-ttl|title = {{nowrap|Mayor of Racine, Wisconsin}} |years= April 1860{{spaced ndash}}April 1861 }}

{{s-aft|after = George C. Northrop }}

{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Case, Jerome}}

Category:1819 births

Category:1891 deaths

Category:Wisconsin state senators

Category:People from Williamstown, New York

Category:Businesspeople from Racine, Wisconsin

Category:Mayors of Racine, Wisconsin

Category:People from Rochester, Wisconsin

Category:United States Harness Racing Hall of Fame inductees

Category:19th-century American businesspeople

Category:Hinsdale, Illinois

Category:Burials at Mound Cemetery (Racine, Wisconsin)

Category:19th-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature

Category:19th-century mayors of places in Wisconsin

Category:American company founders