The happy life and achievements of the legendary automobile designer, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and one of the wealthiest individuals of all time, Henry Ford, were shaped in part by his meeting with an extraordinary woman—his wise partner and beloved wife.
Success Through Love
The story of Henry Ford’s success is also the story of his family. Throughout his life, Clara supported her husband in all his experiments. In his book, Henry admits that sometimes she believed in his success even more than he did, inspiring him to pursue new technical breakthroughs and achievements.
Today, Ford cars are known worldwide for their functionality and reliability. However, at the end of the 19th century, no one believed in Henry Ford’s success except for his fiancée, Clara Jane Bryant. Not once in her life did she doubt her beloved’s abilities, and she actively helped him in every way: holding a lamp over his head while he worked, and even easily kicking down the barn door to let Henry’s self-propelled vehicle out onto the street!
“The Most Significant Day of My Life—Marrying Mrs. Ford”
He first met her at a country dance, where the attractive brown-eyed beauty captivated all the young men around. Clara was born into a farming family and was not afraid of hard work. But Henry amazed and enchanted her with his passion for his craft and his dream of creating a carriage that could move without a horse. After their marriage, the young couple received land as a gift from their parents, where they began to build their family story: they constructed a comfortable home and welcomed a son, Edsel. Henry’s father was finally pleased to see his son return to the family farm.
But the dream called Henry to move to Detroit once again. Without tears or tantrums, his young wife left their settled life, packed their belongings, and set off on the journey without complaint. Later, he would bring his first 80-kilogram engine into their tidy kitchen, which would bounce around the room, causing chaos. Yet again, the young woman said nothing against the technical experiments happening in her kitchen. In the barn, Henry managed to assemble his car. However, his attempt to drive it out was unsuccessful because the doorway was too narrow. Clara came to the rescue: she took a pickaxe in hand and widened the exit for the iron horse.
Together with his wife, he became wealthy, famous, developed his own business, and became a millionaire. Clara stood by him during tough times when they had to survive on just three dollars a week, and also during times of prosperity when they could afford almost anything: traveling, participating in charitable causes, and raising workers’ wages during the country’s unemployment crisis.
However, there were times when his wife had to rein him in and bring him back to reality. During the Great Depression, workers laid off from Ford’s factory participated in the famous “Hunger March.” The police, along with the factory’s security, opened fire on the crowd. Ford was furious and demanded that the police arrest even the injured from their hospital beds, firing all those involved in the march. At that moment, Clara issued her husband an ultimatum: either he accepts the union’s demands, or she would leave him. Of course, Henry complied. His wife was firm in her beliefs, and Ford would never have been able to lose her, especially over workplace issues.
Together for Eternity
Their long 60-year marriage was not always peaceful, but Clara never once reproached her husband. Throughout their family life, she maintained an elegant balance—showing interest in her husband’s work while never interfering. She was always ready to help and support him, even at night when Henry was busy crafting his mechanisms after work.
She believed in him so deeply and selflessly, convinced that his engine would work, that he affectionately called her “The Believer.” Once, when asked by reporters what he would like to be in his next life, Henry replied, “I really don’t care. The main thing is that my wife is by my side; I would like to spend eternity with her.”