John Deere (February 7, 1804 – May 17, 1886) was an American blacksmith and manufacturer who founded Deere & Company— the largest agricultural and construction equipment manufacturers in the world. Born in Rutland, Vermont, Deere moved to Illinois and invented the first commercially successful steel plow in 1837.

Deere was born in Rutland, Vermont USA on February 7, 1804, the son of William Rinold Deere, a tailor, and Sarah Yates (1780-1826). William Deere disappeared on the way to England in 1808 when a young John Deere was only four, where he was seeking a possible inheritance. John Deere received a basic education from the local common school and briefly attended Middlebury College before dropping out. With no inheritance and a meager education, he was apprenticed in 1821, at age 17, by his mother. He served four years as apprentice to Captain Benjamin Lawrence, a prosperous Middlebury blacksmith, and entered the trade for himself in 1825.

He married in 1827; the couple had five children. Deere's business was not doing very well, and he was having trouble with creditors. Facing bankruptcy, Deere sold the shop to his father-in-law and departed for Illinois. He left his wife and family, who were to join him later.