Henry Ford grew up on a small farm near Dearborn, Michigan. As Henry grew up, he spent most of his free time tinkering, and finding out exactly how things work. A pastime that developed thinking and logic abilities. But being a farmer's boy, he had little spare time, for there were always chores to be done. By twelve years of age, Henry was doing a man's work on the farm and had begun repairing machinery for neighbouring farmers. His father pleased when Henry would repair a harness, reset a tool handle, or make some hinges for furniture but he was not pleased however, when his son repaired things for neighbours, as he often did, without charging them a cent. It was one day when Henry saw a steam engine powering a farming machine that he dreamed that one day he would build a smaller engine that would power a vehicle and do the job that horse's once did.

Shortly after Henry turned thirteen, his mother died. Henry became very discontent with living on the farm but he stayed for another three years. When he was sixteen he finished his studies at the district school. Against his father's will, Henry moved to Detroit, ten miles away.

In Detroit, Henry worked eleven hours a day at James Flower & Brothers' Machine Shop for only $2.50 a week. As this was not enough to pay for board and room, Henry got an evening job at Magill's Jewelry Shop for $2 each week, at first only cleaning and winding the shop's large stock of clocks. Soon though, he was repairing them also.

After three years in Detroit, and ceaseless persuasion from his father, Henry moved back to the farm at the age of nineteen. Farm work was no more appealing than before. Henry did enjoy the birds and the wildlife in the country, and he liked operating and repairing a steam threshing machine so he stayed. At a dance on New Year's Eve in 1885, Henry met a dark-haired young woman, Clara Bryant, who lived