Jo Anderson and the McCormick reaper: "I was blower and striker for the blacksmith" (Walnut Grove, Rockbridge County, VA, 1830s; interview 1885)

SUMMARYJo Anderson and the McCormick reaper: "I was blower and striker for the blacksmith" (Walnut Grove, Rockbridge County, VA, 1830s; interview 1885) [Connections: Tech & skilled labor, Nov 5, 2026]

RECORDIn 1885 William J. Hanna recorded an interview with Joe Anderson, titled "Old Joe Anderson, Greenville, Once slave of C. H. McC." Anderson said: "I think Massa Cyrus made his first reaper in the blacksmith shop," and "I was blower and striker for the blacksmith making these machines." He also said "Befo the war Massa Cyrus gave me my freedom." He credits Cyrus McCormick, not himself: "Some folks round here say ole Massa Robert invented the reaper, but I say it was Massa Cyrus." HOSTILE

WITNESSHanna was gathering material on McCormick, and his bracketed notes praise Anderson for "doing his duty in a very subordinate sphere."
STATUS: enslaved (in his own words, "I was his slave," of Robert McCormick); freed before the Civil War by Cyrus McCormick

PATTERNThe man at the forge says, in his own words, that he did the striking and blowing that built the machine, while the patent and the name went to the owner's son

LENS (WW9)Our hands were in the forge when the reaper was made

OPENPopular claims that Anderson co-invented the reaper go beyond his own words in this interview. Needs deep research

SOURCEEncyclopedia Virginia, primary document, "Old Joe Anderson, Greenville, Once slave of C. H. McC." (1885). Primary: William J. Hanna, "Collection of historical material," 1885, pp. 80–84, University of Wisconsin.