Early Life

Henry Ford was born July 30, 1863. He was the first of William and Mary Fords six children. He grew up on a farm in Dearborn, Michigan. In his early years he tended to like doing mechanical things, like repairing watches, than doing farm chores. At the age of thirteen he repaired his first watch. At sixteen years old he left Dearborn, Michigan to work as a mechanical apprentice in Detroit. He stayed in Detroit for three years before leaving to go back to Dearborn. Over the next few years he worked on broken steam engines, occasionally came back to help on the farm and helped others with their farm work. In 1888 he married Clara Bryant and supported his family by running a saw mill, on a forty acre farm that his dad gave him.