Ferdinand Schumacher

[2] Ferdinand Schumacher was born in Celle, Kingdom of Hanover on March 30, 1822, the son of a merchant.

He then apprenticed in the grocery business and learned how to make oatmeal using medieval milling technology.

[3] He pursued this, and clerked in a manufacturing business until age 28, when he and his brother Otto emigrated to the United States.

Remembering that back in Germany he used to grind oats and sell them as breakfast food, he decided to do the same in Akron, Ohio and in 1854.

[3] Ferdinand Schumacher started selling his oatmeal, and from there it branched out to the rest of the United States.