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RIDER, J. G., president of The J. G. Rider Pen Co., with office and factory located at No. 2600 W. State street, Rockford, has been successful in placing upon the market and making popular an invention of his own. He was born on a farm near Leroy, N. Y., April 4, 1869, a son of Ebenezer and Fannie W. (Hovey) Rider. The father was born in the same locality as his son, and the mother was born near Rochester, N. Y. In addition to farming, the father was inventive and interested in various patent rights, so that the son possibly inherited some of his genius. For a time Ebenezer Rider operated a farm he had bought near Huntley, Ill., but later returned to Leroy, where he bought and operated his father’s farm, and there died in 1882, aged fifty-six years. In politics he was a Republican, fraternally was an Odd Fellow, and in religious faith was a Presbyterian. His widow survives, being now seventy-nine years old.
J. G. Rider lived on the homestead until thirteen years old, when he went to Bergen, N. Y., and became a clerk in a mercantile establishment, at the same time attending school when occasion offered. After the death of his father he came to Rockford with his mother and family and found employment with the W. F. & John Barnes Company, where he remained for three years. He then became an instructor in a business college and so continued for eighteen months, when he went on the road as a salesman for the Diamond Ink Company of Milwaukee, Wis, and also sold fountain pens, and so continued for fifteen years. During this period he experimented with fountain pens and invented the Rider Perfection fountain pen, which offered superior advantages to anything then on the market. After succeeding in producing a superior product he patented it, and in 1903 organized The J. G. Rider Pen Co., of which he is president. He has just completed a new, self-filling pen, which reduces the number of parts in the mechanism from five to one and gives equal efficiency, and he has applied for a patent. He is also the inventor of the Brushwell paste bottle, which has come into such general use, and he is constantly working to secure improvements on utilitarian articles, having natural inventive genius along this line.
In 1889 Mr. Rider married Miss Lucy E. Robbins, a daughter of Elder Robbins of Kaneville, Ill. Mr. and Mrs. Rider have had the following children: Lucille E., who died at the age of three years; Clea M., who died at the age of six and one-half years; and H. Kenneth, J. Merle, Theodore Bruce and Roselle D.
Mr. Rider is an active member of the State Street Baptist Church. Politically he has always been independent, believing that party lines are too narrow to meet the public needs. Corinne Rider-Kelsey, the famous singer, is a sister.
Source: Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Winnebago County - Charles A. Church - 1916
Chicago
Samples are displayed with the Collins & Goodman Co. of a fountain pen with a tapering handle made by the Rider Perfection Pen Co., of Rockford, Ills. The pen has no pen joint to be taken off for filling. The filling is done by pulling out a tongue from the pen end which allows the ink to run into the receptacle.
The Betzler & Wilson Fountain Pen Company, of Akron, Ohio, have purchased the complete fountain pen plant formerly operated by O. E. Weidlich, Cincinnati, Ohio, and have moved it to Akron, Ohio, combining it with their present factory.
Three armed highwaymen visited the offices of the Morrison Fountain Pen Co., at 1545 Broadway, shortly after 8 o'clock Friday evening, Jan. 27, and after binding and gagging Abe Morrison, one of the proprietors, and Nicholas Apple, a repairman, stole merchandise worth about $1,200 and $785 in cash. The crime was committed a few minutes before the arrival of a policeman who was warned of the robbery by an unidentified man who claimed he heard six men discussing plans for the hold-up. It was just a few minutes before closing time when two of the men walked into the place and began negotiating for a shipment of pens when a third man came in. Before Mr. Morrison realized what had happened he and the repairman were facing guns in the hands of two of the men, while the third member of the gang started to bind and gag the victims. After both men were securely bound the three men rifled the two large safes. They then went through the pockets of the victims and after picking up everything they thought valuable left the place. The men were still bound up when the policeman arrived.
Source: The Jewelers' Circular - 8th February 1922
On the evening of Dec. 30, the employes of the Morrison Fountain Pen Co., 1545 Broadway, will hold its annual "get-together" party. The program will consist of a theater party at the Palace Theater, followed by a banquet.
Source: The Jewelers' Circular - 13th December 1922