Lawlers in Crawford County page 23: Early Cornpicking Machine Invented in the County A foreruner in the implement field, Patrick Lawler from the Vail-Westside area was 60 years ahead of his time with a remarkable invention. Neighbors and friends gathered at his home in 1885 to see a horse-drawn contraption perform an outstanding event. They watched as the machine poured a flow of husked ears into a wagon. The machine duly broke down before the task was completed, but Patrick and his partner, John Barry, an attorney, proceeded to obtain a patent for their cornpicker. Investigation of the picker has shown that they were using the same principles used today in modern cornpickers. However, the enterprise was doomed because buyers were too skeptic to buy the new idea. Mr. Lawler is said to have lost his 80 acres by devoting his time to developing the machine. page 260: (history of Vail): An almost forgotten Iowa legend is the origin of the corn picker. During the year 1886, Patrick James Lawler started to build the first corn husker. About the time his idea of the machine began to materialize, he became friends with a John F. Barry of Chicago. Together they built the first husker in a blacksmith shop, which they purchased, located one block west of the Catholic Church in Vail. On testing the machine, they found the picker was successfull, the principle of the machine was much the same as the present day picker. However, they were unable to sell the machine, being too far ahead of their time. page 285 (history of Westside): One of the early inventions in this area was Patrick J. Lawler's mechanical corn harvester built about 1880. With John F. Barry of Chicago and John D. Schelldort, Lawler built and patented the machine. Their testing proved successful and they purchased a blacksmith shop in Vail where they built one or two of the machines. Unable to sell them, their dreams faded. They proved to be men ahead of their time. Mr. Lawler had a part in other inventions as well; namely, a railroad crossing signal and a mechanical post hole digging machine. Descendants of Mr. Lawler still reside in the Westside area. Other mentions: F.W. Lawler, member of the committee that had sought the building of a church in Westside in 1887 (St. Matthews Church was the result). 1976 Crawford County Century Farms Lawler, William C. (1875) (I'm pretty sure that William was the present owner's name.) There are a couple other Lawler's mentioned in passing (mostly as having married into some other profiled family). There was no Farrell or Lucey listed in the index. From: A History of Crawford County, Iowa Curtis Media Corp., Dallas TX, 1987 Retyped by Dennis Nicklaus 1995. US Patent No. 425,515 was issued on April 15, 1890 to Patrick J. Lawler and John F. Barry of West Side, Iowa for a Corn-Harvester. Witnesses for the specification were John H. Lawler and Michael Lawler (probably Patrick's brothers). Application filed May 20, 1889. Patent specification at the Univ. Wisconsin Wendt Engineering Library Found July, 1996 by Dennis Nicklaus.