Looking for a day trip that offers history, a
love story with a boy-gets-girl ending, and a self-made man who
makes good — along with some Lincoln lore? The Tinker Swiss
Cottage has it all: the story of John Manny, who invented the Manny
Reaper, was sued for patent infringement, died young, and left a
beautiful, wealthy widow who married a company employee, Robert
Tinker.
The story begins when Cyrus McCormick invented
his famous reaper in 1831 and became the undisputed “Reaper
King” until a little competition heated up. An upstart
manufacturer, the Manny Reaper Co. of Rockford, became a thorn in
McCormick’s side when, at the Paris Exposition of 1855, the
Manny Reaper beat the McCormick Reaper. Cyrus McCormick filed suit
against John H. Manny for patent infringement.
Manny set out to prove that the reaper was his
own invention. Learning that the trial was to be held in
Springfield, he decided that it would benefit him to hire a local
lawyer. The firm turned to Abraham Lincoln, who at the time was
experiencing financial and political setbacks and was more than
happy to be part of a high-profile trial.
With a $500 advance, Lincoln worked on his
brief for months. Unfamiliar with patent law, Lincoln traveled to
Rockford to learn more about the Manny Reaper. But the trial was
moved to Cincinnati, and attorneys Edwin Stanton, George Harding,
and P.H. Watson no longer needed or wanted Lincoln’s
services. Edwin Stanton, who later served as secretary of war in
Lincoln’s cabinet, said that he didn’t want to
associate with “such a damned, gawky, long-armed ape as
that.”
Lincoln arrived in Cincinnati in his best
suit, but Stanton’s rudeness caught Honest Abe off guard.
Stanton described his future president as “a long, lank
creature from Illinois, wearing a dirty linen duster for a coat and
the back of which perspiration had splotched wide stains that
resembled a map of the continent.”
Lincoln handed the brief he’d prepared
for the case over to the unimpressed lawyers and returned to
Illinois. The brief was never used, but Manny’s lawyers
prevailed. Although Manny won the suit, victory was short-lived: In
1856, 30-year-old John Manny died of tuberculosis. His widow, Mary,
took over the operation of the Manny Reaper Co. and other Rockford
properties. At the time of her husband’s death, Mary Manny
lived in the Manny Mansion, an Italianate brick structure that was
eventually torn down in 1900 because it was so close to the
railroad that it was literally being shaken apart.
The year Manny died, 19-year-old Robert Tinker
arrived in Rockford at the urging of William Knowlton, Mary
Manny’s business manager. Two years later, Knowlton and
Tinker became business partners. Tinker’s relationship with
Mary, who was eight years older, would prove even closer: In 1870,
the two married and embarked on a honeymoon to Hawaii, where Tinker
had been born.
Tinker was a talented artist, and, during a
nine-month European tour in 1862, he kept a detailed log of
travels, including sketches of the places and farm machinery he
saw. The trip provided the inspiration for Tinker’s greatest
legacy. In 1865, Tinker began work on an elaborate 20-room Swiss
cottage, a project that continued into the 1880s with the addition
of a conservatory. The cottage was connected to the grounds of the
Manny Mansion by a suspension bridge over nearby Kent Creek. A
replacement for the original bridge, which was removed in 1976, is
near completion, and an ice-cream social to formally dedicate the
new structure is planned for June 12.
The Tinker Swiss Cottage has several
characteristics of the Romantic style, including a front gabled
roof, deep-bracketed eaves, and a second-story balcony with flat
balustrades and trim decorated with cut-out patterns.
The cottage, which looks a bit like the
dwarves’ residence in Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, is filled with the Tinkers’ furnishings, artwork,
and diaries.
The Tinkers were a social force in Rockford.
In addition to their business enterprises, they were active in the
community. Robert Tinker served as mayor of Rockford for one year.
Although Mary Dorr Manny Tinker never had children, she reared her
nieces, Marcia and Jessie, after her sister died. In 1904, after
Mary and Marcia were dead, Robert Tinker married Jessie; four years
later they adopted a baby, and Robert Tinker became a father at the age of 72.
Robert Tinker died on Dec. 31, 1924 —
his 88th birthday. Two years after his death, Jessie Tinker sold
the cottage to the Rockford Park District but lived in it until her
death, in 1942. The cottage has since been restored to its former
beauty.
Tours of the cottage, which is located at 411
Kent St. in Rockford, are provided at 1, 2, and 3 p.m.
Tuesday-Sunday. For more information, call 815-965-2424 or visit
www.tinkercottage.com.
While visiting Rockford, you may also want to
tour the Burpee Museum of Natural History, where “Jane”
the dinosaur will soon go on display; the Midway Village and Museum
Center; and the Magic Waters water park. For garden lovers, there
is the beautiful Anderson Japanese Garden, along with the Klehm
Arboretum and Botanic Garden. For those looking for a little
cultural history, a tour of the Erlander Home Museum offers insight
into Rockford’s Swedish-American Heritage. For Rockford
tourism information, check out the Rockford Area Convention &
Visitors Bureau Web site, www.gorockford.com, or call 800-521-0849.
Directions: north on I-55, the north on I-39;
approximately 3 hours.
This article appears in Jun 2-8, 2005.
