My father loved to tinker with mechanical things. If something could be improved with electricity, he’d find a way to do it. The house I grew up in was riddled with mystery switches. After his passing, it was a bit of an adventure to figure them out. When he was a child, he received a broken toaster for Christmas, or so he told us. It was the perfect gift because, to him, it was the chance to take it apart, fix it and put it back together. His father, my grandfather. could fix any car. He once replaced an alternator in a car I owned in the middle of winter. Paying a mechanic to do the work was out of the question! My brother is also mechanically-inclined and has his degree in Aeronautical Engineering.

It never occurred to me that these mechanical skills might have been traits inherited from John Spencer Boren, my 2nd great grandfather. (For the record, I did not inherit these traits.)

In November of 1883, John and his brother, Charles, filed for a U.S. patent to their innovative design of a “horse-power”. It was issued 1 January 1884. So unique was their design, it caught the attention of the Scientific American journal and was highlighted in their 5 January 1884 edition under “Agricultural Inventions”. A description and diagram of the contraption appeared in the Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office, January 1 to March 

Kenfolk: Tranthams
Relationship: 2nd great grandfather
Common ancestors: John Spencer Boren’s parents were Absalom and Harriet (Pearce) Boren, my 3rd great grandparents