Friends, Families, & Forays: Scenes from the Life and Times of Henry Ford

The 55 chapters of Friends, Families & Forays are bursting with details about the people and the pursuits that colored the life of Henry Ford. Here the reader will meet prominent and diverse figures such as Thomas Edison, John Borroughs, George Washington Carver, Helen Keller, and Mahatma Gandhi—all of whose lives intersected that of Henry Ford at some interesting point in his life. Also brought to life in these pages are the branches of Ford's family tree, from his Irish ancestors to the descendants who carry his legacy today. Although it was the automobile that made him an industrial icon, Henry Ford could boast of exploits in many other arenas as well: railroads, speedboats, robots, flour mills, rubber plantations, and humanitarian efforts around the world and in his own backyard. Ford's hard work and passionate interests brought him great wealth , and this book provides a peek at the luxuries he and his wife, Clara, enjoyed, from a yacht and a private rail car, to gracious residences in Michigan, Florida, and Georgia. Cover Contents Introduction Acknowledgments Part I. Friends and Acquaintances 1. Greenfield Dancing Club of 1882 2. Thomas Edison 3. Harvey Firestone 4. John Burroughs 5. Martha Berry 6. George Washington Carver 7. McGuffey Readers 8. Mahatma Gandhi 9. Henry Clausen Part II. Relatives 10. Ford Family Tree 11. Ford Cemetery 12. Great-grandmother Rebecca 13. Great-uncle Robert 14. Brother John 15. Sisters Margaret and Jane 16. Brother Will 17. The Litogots Part III. Mechanical Exploits 18. Getting Started 19. Gasoline Rail Car 20. Ford-Edison Electric Car 21. Excursion into Railroading 22. Fordson Truck 23. Ford’s Amazing X-8 Vehicle 24. The Speedboat Miss Dearborn 25 Ford’s Robot Engines 26. Ford and the Metric Dilemma Part IV. Financial Investments 27. Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railway 28. Michigan Stump Farm 29. Experience at Cape May 30. Dearborn’s Deep Test Well 31. Dearborn Flour Mill 32. Florida Rubber Plantation 33. Edison Botanic Research Corporation 34. Frischkorn Investment Company 35. The Ford Foundation Part V. Humanitarian Efforts 36. Fordism: An Economic Philosophy 37. The Sociological Department 38. Detroit’s Henry Ford Hospital 39. Letters from the Past 40. Quest for Alcohol Fuels 41. Cooperative Farmers Association 42. Two Camps for Boys 43. Georgia Experiments 44. Henry and the Disabled 45. Did You Hear from Mr. Ford? Part VI. Luxuries 46. Fair Lane 47. The Mangoes 48. The Yacht Sialia 49. The Railway Car Fair Lane 50. Wayside Inn 51. Botsford Tavern 52. Dearborn Country Club 53. Richmond Hill 54. Huron Mountain Club 55. Henry Ford in Sculpture Index "The 55 chapters of Friends, Families & Forays are bursting with details about the people and the pursuits that colored the life of Henry Ford.". "Here the reader will meet prominent and diverse figures of the previous century, such as Thomas Edison, John Burroughs, George Washington Carver, Helen Keller, and Mahatma Gandhi - all of whose lives intersected that of Henry Ford at some interesting point in his life. Also brought to life in these pages are the branches of Ford's family tree, from his Irish ancestors to the descendants who carry his legacy today.". "Although it was the automobile that made him an industrial icon, Henry Ford could boast of exploits in many other arenas as well: railroads, speedboats, robots, flour mills, rubber plantations, and humanitarian efforts around the world and in his own backyard. Ford's hard work and passionate interests brought him great wealth, and this book provides a peek at the luxuries he and his wife, Clara, enjoyed, from a yacht and a private rail car, to gracious residences in Michigan, Florida, and Georgia, to their favorite pastimes of old-fashioned dancing and antique collecting." "In Friends, Families & Forays, author Ford R. Bryan gives new contexts for understanding the colorful life of a twentieth-century genius."--BOOK JACKET. Describes people and interests that colored the life of Henry Ford I. Part I encompasses Ford's encounters with famous people such as George Washington Carver, Helen Keller, Mahatma Gandhi, and others. Part 2 details the branches of the Ford family tree. Part 3 addresses Ford's mechanical pursuits including the electric car, speedboat Miss Dearborn, and robot engines. Parts 5 and 6 detail financial investments and humanitarian efforts. Part 6 identifies luxuries; Fair Lane residence, the Wayside Inn, the Botsford Tavern, Richmond Hill Plantation, etc An illustrated collection of essays about the various people, events, and experiments from Henry Ford's lifetime. The book delves into the nooks and crannies of Ford's multi-faceted life.