Industrialist and auto manufacturer Henry Ford was born on July 30, 1863, in Greenfield, Township, Michigan. As a teenager, Ford repeatedly took apart and reassembled the watches of his friends and neighbors, earning some business as a watch repairman. His father expected him to one day take over the family farm but he disliked farm work. Instead, Ford left home in 1879 to apprentice as a machinist in Detroit. He returned to the farm in 1882 and found he was skilled in using the Westinghouse portable steam engine. He was then hired by Westinghouse to repair their engines.