MTFCA Forum

I couldn’t sleep, so started going through old Dropbox files and found this. It’s a partial (several pages) Reminiscence by George Brown, who worked for FMC from 1907-1951. He gives a warm and interesting view of what working for Henry Ford and FMC was like in the early years. The excerpt below is about getting the first 10 Model T built in 1908:

courtesy of The Henry Ford, all rights apply


Link to several pages of Mr. Brown’s Reminiscence:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9ij952a7xxvzu ... d.pdf?dl=0

Neat! I knew I liked him.

Rob, this is a wonderful insight into 'early Henry', thanks.

I'm not sure of the provenance or copyright, but in my country I'm fairly sure this would be out of copyright, so I've taken the liberty of OCR'ing the document and have put the first few pages below to make it easier to read for people (the typewritten copy was a bit messy). Please, if you know of any issues around this let me know and I'll delete it, otherwise I hope it's helpful.

I'll post the rest a little later, after I've finished correcting some of the more obvious errors:

MR, GEORGE BROWN ~ CHRONOLOGY

My. George Brown was employed in various capacities by
the Ford Motor Company from 1907 until his retirement in 1951,


We called him Henry, but after we got out te Highland Park they always
called him Mr. Ford, which was proper. Mr. Ford in those later years
would always call everybody mister too. In those early years there
were only a few of us, and we knew one another. They'd use their first
names, They called him Henry, It was wonderful to work in those days.
It was just like a family, and work wasn't anything, why that was just
natural.

If he knew you well enough, he'd call you by your first name.
At Piquette vhen he was expecting Edsel, he'd come and say, “George, is
Edsel here? Oh yes, I see his books." Off he would go, If he got to
know you well enough, he'd call you by name,

I've run into him in later years, and he would stare at me.
I knew that he knew me, but he couldn't recall who I was, I'd shake
hands with him, and he would say, "I know you, but I can't recall your
name." You'd tell him who you were and what you had been doing, and
he had you.

You could tell some of his emotions by his face, That's
natural, You could tell on his face if he we worried about something.
You could tell it in his eyes or the expression on his face. You could
see it on his face, but he never expressed it in words or anything. He
was always genteel, at least as long as I ever knew him. There may have
been times that I don't know anything about, but as far as I ever knew
him he was genteel in his speech, He was very kind in speech and
never rough or anything.

When I started in 1907, Edsel was going to a private school,
I think Mr. Avery had charge of that school, It was on Congress and
McDougall, some place down there. After school, Edsel used to come in,
He was in knee breeches yet. My desk was right close to the hallway,
and as he used to come through, he'd come in with his books in a strap
over his shoulder and he'd say, "Hello, George!" He'd throw the books
on my desk and keep right on going. He wouldn't stop, He'd go right
on into the experimental room, and we wouldn't see him, After we left
the office, he'd still be in there,

I know he used to do that every day, He'd throw the books
on the desk, say, "Hello, George," and away he'd go,

Mr, Ford expected him, and would come out. My desk was right
by his doorway to what he called his "office" (1t was a dandy) and he'd
come out and say, “Have you seen Ed? Oh, yes, he's here. I see his
books!" Away he'd go. We wouldn't see Mr, Ford or Edsel. When we
went home, the both of them would still be in the experimental room,
probably with Mr, Wills or somebody else.

Edsel had a wonderful education in the Ford Motor Company,
He was in that experimental room every day after school, and we wouldn't
see him when we went home. They'd be in there continuously in that
experimental room, Mr, Ford and Edsel were very close, Edsel being
the only child, Edsel took an interest in it.

I used to see Edsel once in a while after he got out of school.
As we'd be passing, or meet, he'd look at me, Long before
he got up to me, he'd kind of smile and put out his hand, After
years had passed, he couldn't recall the name but he'd remember the
incidents about his throwing his books on my desk.

"Well, George," he said, "that's a long while ago, ‘Yes,
it is, How the years fly"

I often said that if Edsel could only have lived, what a
wonderful institution that would have been - so much different —
because he had the training, He was following in his father's foot-
steps, mechanically. I often said that if Mr. Edsel Ford could only
live long enough to continue in his father's footsteps, this was going
to be a wonderful organization because there was no one in that plant,
outside of Edsel Ford, that had the knowledge that he had, You'd
swear that they were twins in knowledge.

I'd often hear Mr, Ford say of Edsel, "If that kid can only
continue the way he is going, I've got one boy that I can be proud of.
He's sure taking an interest in this work."

Edsel was a very nice boy, He was quiet, genteel, and a very
fine fellow, He was well-liked by everybody because he was whet you
would call a gentleman, If you can call a man a gentleman, he was
a gentleman. I never heard him say anything against any man he
always praised everybody.

I never ran into Edsel very much after he became president
of the Company, or get in contact with him. We were so widely separated
after he got into that office; we just didn't have the contacts,

From what I've heard, Mr. Henry Ford was never a very
heavy eater, He was very careful in his eating even in his early
days. From what I've heard from the fellows who knew him in his
younger days, I've never heard of him as being a heavy eater, He
was always a real light eater,

I could never say from his build that he was what you would
call a real strong men, He always seemed to be somewhat of a slim-
built man, He was always quick, He was very quick in his step and
just like a bunch of springs in his younger days.

If he saw anybody walking ahead of him, a girl or a man or
anybody, they never walked alone, He would catch up with them and
grab them by the arm and say, "Hey, wait a minute, Don't you like
company?" He'd never let them go alone. when I saw him in the early
days, I can't recall a time that there wasn't someone with him.

If he was going up a step alone, he wouldn't go up one step
at a time. He'd bound right up two, three and four steps at a time.
Like I say, he was juat like a bunch of springs.

You never knew whether he was taking cat nap or not. My
desk was right outside of his office in the early days when they
were experimenting on the Model T. Every Tom, Dick and Harry would
go down to get material for it, and I'd get the invoice for it. That's
all I would get. I wouldn't get any receivable record for it. I'd
have to go in and see Mr, Ford. I asked everybody around the plant
that I thought might be interested, and finally I asked Mr. Ford.
Well, I found out that he was the man. I never missed going to him
he always seemed to know who got it.

I'd rap at the door and sometimes I'd get an answer and
sometimes I wouldn't. I'd peek in the door and see him lying there.
You'd think that he was snoozing, but oh no! Finally I'd stand there
and look over him as he was lying on the couch, and all of a sudden
he'd jump up. He'd laugh and say, "You thought I was sleeping, eh?"

I'd say, "No, I don't think you were sleeping, Mr. Ford.

I guess you were just lying there thinking.*

He'd say, "Yes,"

As I say, he may have taken a cat nap, I never knew whether
he was cat napping or net. I'd be looking at him sometimes, and first
thing you'd know he'd be up as quick as a flash and grab you. He'd
laugh at you and always say, "Did you think I was sleeping?"

Seldom seen portrayed as a nice fellow for a reason, being nice dosen't sell papers, drama does and what's in black and white print is the history of today.
Take the likes of back in the day of Ford and Dodge brothers feud, 1914/5 and ending up in the high court and the media loved the drama of it all, that sells papers! So how badly broken was their relationship? Well the Fords invited the Dodge brothers to Edsel's wedding in Nov 1916. mmm.

Next tranche:

I'd say, "No, I don't think you were sleeping, Mr. Ford.

I guess you were just lying there thinking.*

He'd say, "Yes,"

As I say, he may have taken a cat nap, I never knew whether
he was cat napping or not. I'd be looking at him sometimes, and first
thing you'd know he'd be up as quick as a flash and grab you. He'd
laugh at you and always say, "Did you think I was sleeping?"

He'd get out there with the men and tell stories. He
was a great joker, As I say, he was always peppy. That was 1907
and '08. He was full of pep in those years; that's all there is to
it. His old hobby was kidding with you as though he hed something
on you, He'd sneak up behind you and just give you a kick in the
pants or a punch between the shoulders and then he'd stand there and
laugh at you. He'd say, "That's a time that I got you,” He’d just
like to play like a kid, He was lively, and tt just seemed as though
those springs had to work,

As far as I know of, there was no paper work that went
across his desk, I don't ever recall that there was any papers, In
the early years he had no secretary, Well, Mr, Klingenemith was really
his secretary in the early years, He and Mr, Cousens used to handle
all of his paper work,

Mr, Klingensmith used to get his mail, and if there ws
anything important, it used to go over to Mr, Cousens in the early
years, I don't think that Mr, Ford used to do any paper work,
Klingensmith was still his secretary when Mr. Liebold came in. Mrs.
Dahlinger was just working in the office then, In the early years,
he didn't have what you'd call s private secretary, Mr, Klingenmith
handled all the paper work, and anything that was very important Mr.
Klingensmith would turn over to Mr. Cousens, I don't believe I've
ever seen any paper on Mr. Ford's desk.

In the early days all he had in there were an old kitchen
table and a couple of kitchen chairs and that old couch, That table
was used for his feet, His hobby was sitting on the chair with his
feet up on the table all the time, That was his way of resting.

Mr, Ford was great at playing a lot of jokes and tricks,
Oh, boy, if he thought he could get something on you, it just tickled
him to death,

He was a great storyteller too, I remember at the old
Piquette plant, he used to be in among the men, joshing with then
and telling stories, Everybody used to call him Hank or Henry, and
he used to know everybody by name. Of course, there were only a few
hundred of us there then, I don't believe there were more than 300
or 400 men in the whole plant at that time, and he was out among
them all the time.

That was when we were building the Model N and just experimenting
with the Model T, Mr, Ford was out in the plant all the time,
just watching how things were going. That's how he happened to know
the men ao well.

He used to tell what you'd call the everyday stories, He
put something to you that he'd figure you couldn't answer, and he
had you. He'd laugh his fool head off to think that he had something
on you that you couldn't answer right.

He was pretty witty. He always had a quick answer for you;
that's one thing about him.

Ed Huff was full of the devil too. He and Mr, Ford used
to be like a couple of kids. They used to box and just chin and
all that stuff.

Ed Huff was working with magnetos. I was trying to connect
him with carburetors, but it was magnetos, We used to get the magnetos
from the Kingston Company. ‘They had been designed by Huff. He was an
electrical man, if I remember right.

Oh, I was thinking of the carburetors; that was the Holley
carburetor., George Holley was located right over here, right across
Epworth Boulevard, I forget whet they call it, but I know they have
plants right over here. ‘They are the ones that furnished us with
carburetors,

I don't remember if Ed Huff chewed tobacco or not. Of
course, in the early days everybody chewed tobacco in the shop, that
was a regular affair, and nobody thought anything of it, In the early
years Mr. Ford dida't say anything about it. Pretty nearly all of the
workingmen chewed their tobacco.

When we got out to Highland Park, there was a lot of fun
out there on this chewing tobacco. Ford never liked anybody chewing
tobacco. He thought that was a dirty habit. They got these heavy,
deep, paper plates, like a soup plate, and sawdust. A man
could go to the tool crib and get one for a penny, It would last
him all day for a spittoon. Oh gosh, if he'd catch a man spitting
on the floor, he'd murder the man, I believe! He didn't stop them
from chewing though. I imagine he figured that there were certain
jobs where you had to keep your throat moist from the dust.

In the office every man had a white-enameled cuspidor
beside his desk, I don’t knew why, but it seems as though everybody
chewed, even the young fellows. I don't think that Cousens chewed.
How like in the large offices, with the heads of the different divi-
sions, they used to have these tall brass cuspidors. There was a lot
of them that didn't chew, but the greater part of them did. I often
used to think, “How can these girls stand that?" Every man was supplied
with a cuspidor whether he chewed or not, That seemed to be a nasty
affair to have all these spittoons lying around. Of course, at that
time that was nothing unusual, It was the same in all offices,

I was out free lancing for our division, looking up lost
articles and that. I was out in the plant one afternoon and I was
late getting tack. It happened to be a half or three-quarters of an
hour after the office had closed, and everybody had gone home. I was
way back at the other end of the plant, looking up something, and I
wanted to finish it up so that I wouldn't have to make that long
trip the next day.

As I came through to the office the janitor had all these
cuspidors from the office out in the garageway, and he was cleaning
then. He had a broom and a hose. As I came through, I saw Mr. Ford
standing at tha top of the office steps, looking down at this fellow
cleaning. Mr. Ford said to me, "Isn't that an awful job for a man to
have to do?!

I said, "Yes, it is, Mr. Ford, Seems customary that everybody
has them beside their desk."

He said, “Well, I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow
morning, but just wait a minute." He went down the steps and over to
this fellow. He tapped him on the shoulder and said, "What do you do
with those?

The fellow didn't know that it was Mr. Ford. He said, "Mister,
I clean them and put them back in the office."

Mr, Ford said to him, "I'll tell you what you do, when you
clean them, put them in the factory, Don't put them back in the office.*

He said, "Oh, no, no, mister, I've got to put then in the
office."

Mr. Ford said, "No, you put them in the factory."

This fellow argued with him and he said, "Oh, no, no, the boss say,
"Put them in the office, '"

Mr. Ford looked at him, kind of smiled and said, "Do you
know who I am?"

The fellow said, "No, mister, I don't,"

Mr, Ford said, "I'm Mr, Ford."

The man looked at him kind of dumbfounded and dropped his
broom, He ran up into the office and finally he came out with the
head janitor, He cate up to Mr. Ford and said, "What seems to be the
matter, Mr, Ford?"

My, Ford said, “Well, I'l] tell you. I told the man that
after he got through cleaning them to put them in the factory, I don't
want them in the office."

He said, "All right, Mr. Ford, you don't want those in the
office from now on, How about the big ones, the brass ones?"

Mr, Ford sald, Well, you can put those in there, but I
don't think that they'll be there for very long, ‘You put those back
where they belong, but the others put out in the factory."

The next morning everybody was taking their usual chew. I
didn't say a word, I was just wondering how far it would go, When
they wanted to spit, everybody looked around to see where they were
going to spit, It wasn't very long before the office was cleaned out.
Everybody had to go to the washrooms to spit. That cut out a lot of
the chewing.

A day or two after that I saw Mr. Ford going into all of
the large offices from one end of the building to the other where
they had the brass cuspidors. I was standing there talking, and I
saw him looking down and I said, "Oh well, he's after them now."
They told me afterwards that Mr. Ford said that he would buy them
all the chewing gum that they could chew if they would stop chewing
tobacco. Ha didn't like it. He didn't take the cuspidors away; he
left them there, but he finaliy got them all to stop chewing. The
next morning after he had gotten through talking to them, everybody
had a box of chewing gum on their desk.

I remember Fred Diehl was the heaviest tobacco chewer that
I've ever known, Of course, I used to go in to see him an awful lot,
The first time that I want in to see him he had practically a whole
package of gun in his mouth, and he was chewing it. I looked down and
finally he looked up at me, and I started to laugh my head off. I
said, "Well, Fred, how's the chewing coming along?" 0h boy, you ought
to have heard the cuss words!

Finally it blew over, It wasn't long before they weren't
even chewing gum, ‘They just gave it up completely.

Mr. Ford would go through there every once in a while and
ask the boys, “Are you fellows getting enough chewing gum? If you
run shy, just ask Liebold.” I guess Liebold was his secretary, and
he said, "If you want any chewing gum just let Liebold know. He’ll
give you gum, He's got lots of it.*

There was no smoking allowed in the buildings. In fact,
it wasn't allowed anywhere on the premises, We weren't allowed to
smoke at the Piquette plant either. I know that at Highland Park
the office crew that carried their lunch went to the lunchroom down
in the basement, after lunch we'd go out and stand on the sidewalk
on Woodward Aveme and around there. We didn't dare smoke in the
building until a long while after, and then they were allowed to
smoke in the lunchrom in the basement during the lunsh hour, That
came about because of the weather. There were lots of times that we
couldn't go out, and I guess Mr, Ford realized that those that were
smokers needed to moke, I guess it was through him that the orders
were given that the men could smoke during their lunch hour.

I can't ever remember Mr. Ford talking about the evils of
smoking or drinking, I only know what I've read through the magazines
and newspapers but, personally, I've never heard him talking to anyone
about snoking or drinking.

I can't say anything about the dances that Mr, Ford used
to give at Dearborn because I never went to any, I only know what I
got over the radio. They used to give those over the radio,

Mr, Ford used to give office parties at some dance hall.
on Woodward Avenue. We had several dances there for whet we called
the office force, Mr. Ford would dance; he was a wonderful dancer,
That was before his old-time dances in Dearborn, That was the latter
part of 1909 or 1920. They had all kinds of dances, waltzes, square
dances and quadrilles, He was a lover of the old square dance,

He used to dance with the girls from the office and everybody.
He would bring Mrs. Ford at times, but she wasn't there very
often, Mr, Ford we there more than she was, He used to go around
and talk to everybody just like they were sisters and brothers, He
would mingle with everyone. He used to enjoy that,

I don’t know why, but I never attended those old-time dances.
I'm awfully sorry that I didn't, because I used to hear some of them
say what a wonderfull time they had. Mr. Ford enjoyed it so much, to
mix with them,

Luke,
Thanks for taking time to print that out.
Kerry,
Couldn’t agree more. I’ll take it one step further. In my experience, many “.myths” about Ford and FMC seem to be fabricated for the pure sensationalism a story creates. Then, some of these myths grow as successive authors must embellish the story to make it their own.
Wayne,
I felt the same way.

The final few paragraphs.

Apologies that there were still a few grammar/spelling issues (mostly now sorted), I've had to fit this in amongst other things during the day...:

MRS BROWN:

Mr. Ford was a good sport, I remember him well, I have
danced with him. He was okay as a dancer. I was a good dancer my-
self in my young days.

MR BROWN:

His favorite dances were square dances, He was a good
waltzer too, He used to dance at that early a date, We were there
and danced with him, I can't remember just where that dance hall
was. It was somewhere on Woodward Avenue. In those days there were
several dance halls there. In our younger days, even before we were
married, we used to go around to nearly every dance hall that there
was, and there were a lot of them.

Dances were the big thing in those days, It isn't like
that today, Today the big thing is movie houses. Gosh, if I tried
to dance some of those old dances that we used to dance, I wouldn't
know how to handle my feet. Quadrilles, schottisches and that are
very complicated things.

MRS, BROWN:

The bachelor's gavotte and the Chicago glide were two old
dances, Now they don’t dance, You take that Chicago glide; that was
just beautiful. I don't care what anybody says; that can't be beat
for dancing, It was pretty. You were really dancing. You really
had your mind on your dancing, and not on some foolishness like they
have today, I think that the jitterbug is the limit.

MR. BROWN:

Of course, it's like everything else. Times have changed,
music has changed, pictures have changed.

Mr. Ford used to supply the food for these office parties,
They used to have soft drinks or soft punch made out of grape juice
or something like that. There were no alcoholic drinks; nothing
was alcohol,

I remember how Mr. Ford had aged when we got our first watch
there. When I shook hands with him, you'd hardly know he had his hand
in yours, There was no grip to it — weak, Well, he was in terrible
condition at that time; he was awful weak,

Of course, Mr. Ford didn't remember my mame When he presented
me with the watch for the thirty-five years’ service. He would probably
recognize you by face, but there were ninety-some odd in that first class.
He and Mrs. Ford stood at the entrance to the dining room and shook
hands with everybody who went in, but he really didn't recognise
everybody by name. He couldn't, That was the first time I'd met
Mr. Ford and shook hands with him in years,

I was shocked by the change in his health, I had heard that
he was in ill health and in a weakened condition, but I didn't realise
that he was in such bad condition as he was because, as I say, it was
years since I'd talked to him,

In Henry Ford's younger days when I started with him, boy,
he was like a bunch of springs, quick in action and nothing slow about
him. He was always on the go. You'd think his body was built of
springs, He was always on the jump, quick and awful lively and light
on his feet.

They often used to say, the boys and girls, "Don't let
Mr. Ford catch you going up the stairs ahead of him, because if you
do you won't get very far."

He'd go up three or four stairs to catch you and grab you
by the coat tail, "Wait a minute," he’d say, "I'm going up. You
need company.” He wouldn't let you get by.

No matter how busy you were, if you happened to pass him
in the hallway, you got the first greeting before you opened your
mouth. Nine out of ten, he'd get you first. It would be "Good
morning" or "Good afternoon" or "Good evening.” He'd get you first
every time,

He had a sharp eye, and was quick and very alert. In his
younger days, he was very alert,

I didn't have much of a chance to see how Mr. Ford changed
in health from about 1920 on, because after I went to the Rouge plant,
we didn't see much of him out there, He was interested between High-
land Park and the Dearborn Lab out in old Dearborn there. Of course,
after they started building the Rouge, it got so large that about the
only time he'd get out there would probably be only in certain sections
that required his attention or that he wanted to check up on. After
the Company grew so when they got the Rouge plant, for years I didn't
see Mr. Ford. It was too large. When we were small, he knew us all,


MR, GEORGE BROWN ~ CHRONOLOGY

My, George Brown was employed in various capacities by
the Ford Motor Company from 1907 until his retirement in 1951.

Finally they got the Model T going. I remember Mr. Ford
used to get out there and say "I wonder if we’ll get up to number ten.”

He’d be out there in the factory, watching them and kidding
them and telling stories, God! He could get anything out of the men
because he just talked and would tell them stories. He'd never say,
"I want this done!” He’d say, "I wonder if we can do it. I wonder,"
Well, the men would just break their necks to see if they could do it.
They knew what he wanted. They figured it was a coming thing, and
they'd do their best.

After they got number ten built, Mr. Ford said, "Oh, we'll
get started.” They got started. In the meantime, they began to
build out at Highland Park at about the same time they they started
to build the Model T’s at Piquette.

Mr. Ford was tickled to death when they got number ten
built, Every time he'd meet somebody, he'd give him a kick in the
pants or a punch between the shoulders. He was just like a kid with
a new toy. After he got number ten, he said, "Well, I guess we got
started,” and he was just tickled to death.

Thank you and Luke for sharing the kinder side of good ol' Henry!

Wayne, as always, it’s a pleasure. There are several other early “Remembrances” that depict Henry Ford as a fun loving, kind man, focused, hard working and good father. Unfortunately, that isn’t the portrait painted of the man during his early career. There is one “Remembrance” where Henry Ford and Frank Kulick catch a couple of testers with their cars at a saloon with beers in hand. It has a surprising and amusing end. I’ll try to put a thread up about it later.
Cheers,
Rob

I’m transferring over 300 files from my processing app to Dropbox this week (what else does one do after a knee replacement?).

I came across these excerpts from W. E. Grimshaw’s Reminiscence. He had good things to say about two of my favorite subjects, Henry Ford and the Ford “six:”

Found another Reminiscence (excerpt). These bits of employee recollections from the Piquette days paint quite a nice picture of Henry Ford and his way with his employees, in my opinion:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/otfzvv45hup2u ... d.pdf?dl=0

More insights into a fun-loving and successful man!
Thank you.

Another knee replacement? You really are turning into the bionic man!

She must have been a nice lady to work with if Mr Ford was that nice to her. You can tell she also had a good sense of humor.

A great story

Thanks guys. Wayne, give me an opportunity to convert and update old car files. Just moved almost 400 from the word processing app to dropbox. I'll be able to boor you all winter.............