Jerome Monroe Smucker (December 5, 1858 – March 20, 1948) was an American farmer and entrepreneur who founded

The J.M. Smucker Company The J.M. Smucker Company, also known as Smuckers, is an American manufacturer of food and beverage products. Headquartered in Orrville, Ohio, the company was founded in 1897 as a maker of apple butter. J.M. Smucker currently has three major b ...

food and beverage firm in 1897, starting out selling

apple butter Apple butter (Dutch: appelstroop) is a highly concentrated form of apple sauce produced by long, slow cooking of apples with apple juice or water to a point where the sugar in the apples caramelizes, turning the apple butter a deep brown. The c ...

from the back of a horse-drawn wagon. He was of Swiss descent.

Biography

Smucker, born in

Wayne County, Ohio Wayne County is a county located in the northeastern quadrant of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 116,894. Its county seat is Wooster. The county is named for General "Mad" Anthony Wayne. Wayne County com ...

was the son of Ohio

Mennonite Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...

farmers Gideon and Magadalena (Zook) Smucker. Jerome Smucker’s descended from immigrants who left Switzerland named Schmucker in the 1750s. He built the family business to four farms and a creamery, while spending his evenings tutoring his neighbors in good penmanship. When he added a cider mill in 1897, Smucker's first batch of apples came from some of

Johnny Appleseed Johnny Appleseed (born John Chapman; September 26, 1774March 18, 1845) was an American pioneer nurseryman who introduced trees grown with apple seeds (as opposed to trees grown with grafting) to large parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, I ...

's original orchards. To extend sales of apple products year-round, Smucker began manufacturing apple butter from an old family recipe, and it soon became his most popular product. Smucker's began listing the ingredients of its many jams and jellies years before it was required by law, and the business was incorporated in 1921. The company's namesake died in 1948, but the business is still family-owned, and still headquartered in Jerome Smucker's hometown of Orrville, Ohio. On March 23, 1890, Smucker married Ella M. Yoder, of Bristol, Ind., who predeceased him on March 6, 1933. Early in life he accepted Christ as his Savior and united with the Oak Grove

Church near

Smithville, Ohio Smithville is a village in Wayne County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,338 at the time of the 2020 census. The village derives its name from Thomas Smith, a pioneer settler. Geography Smithville is located along Sugar Creek.DeLor ...

, later becoming a charter member of the Orrville Mennonite Church. He was an active Christian worker, serving the Sunday school as teacher and superintendent for many years. He was also greatly interested in the educational and missionary activities of the church, supporting the work through his prayers and liberal giving. He was a lifelong resident of the Orrville community, where he attained prominence by founding the manufacturing company which bears his name. He died in 1948 at age 89. Funeral services were held at the Oak Grove Church on March 23, in charge of V. M. Gerig and I. W. Royer. Interment was made in the Crown Hill Cemetery at Orrville. The distinctive surname was originally Schmucker, when Smucker's great-great-grandfather came to America from Switzerland in the 1700s. It was later spelled Smoker for about two generations, before the family's forebears grew uncomfortable with a name that suggested tobacco use and took to spelling the name Smucker. Smucker's great-great-grandson, Mark Smucker, has been CEO of The J.M. Smucker Company since 2016. Jerome's son Willard led to a significant expansion of the company in the 1950s and 1960s.

References

Farmers from Ohio American food company founders American people of Swiss descent People from Wayne County, Ohio American Mennonites 1858 births 1948 deaths People from Orrville, Ohio {{US-business-bio-1850s-stub