McCormick family

McCormick family
Robert McCormick Jr. Cyrus Hall McCormick Joseph Medill McCormick
Current region	Chicago, Illinois Virginia
Place of origin	County Londonderry, Ireland
Founded	1700s
Founder	Thomas McCormick
Connected families	Medill, Rockefeller

The McCormick family of Chicago and Virginia is an American family of Scottish and Scotch-Irish descent that attained prominence and fortune starting with the invention of the McCormick Reaper, a machine that revolutionized agriculture and established the modern grain trade by beginning the mechanization of the harvesting of grain. Through the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company and later, the International Harvester Company and other investments, the McCormicks became one of the wealthiest families in America. The name became ubiquitous in agriculture starting in the 19th century and the press dubbed the McCormicks the "Reaper Kings". Later generations expanded into media and publishing (Tribune Company), finance (William Blair & Company), and real estate (McCormick Estates).^{[citation needed]} Various family members were well known as civic leaders. The family is Presbyterian.