Yep - it's Thomas B. Jeffery, founder of the Thomas B. Jeffery Company of Kenosha in 1902. Before that Jeffery produced several experimental automobiles, including this one which he built in Chicago in 1897. His company later became the Nash Motors Company after its purchase by Charles Nash.
1845 - Thomas Jeffery is born in Devon, England.
1863 - Jeffery emigrates to the US and moves to Chicago, Illinois.
1878 - Jeffery partners with Phillip Gormally and starts the Gormally & Jeffery Bicycling Manufacturing Company in Chicago, Illinois.
1882 - Jeffery invents the "Clincher Tire".
1897 - Jeffery's builds a rear-engine Rambler prototype using the Rambler name previously used on a highly successful line of bicycles made by G&J.
1899 - Positive reviews at the 1899 Chicago International Exhibition & Tournament and the first National Automobile Show in New York prompt the Jefferys to enter the automobile business.
1900 - Jeffery sells his stake in G&J to the American Bicycle Company.
1900 (Dec 6) - Thomas B. Jeffery finalizes a $65,000 deal to buy the Kenosha, factory of the defunct Sterling Bicycle Co. with money from the sale of his interest in the G&J.
1901 - Two more prototypes, Models A and B, are made.
1902 - First production Ramblers - the $750 Model C open runabout and the $850 Model D (the same car with a folding top). Both are powered by an 8-hp, 98cu. in., 1-cyl. engine mounted beneath the seat, and both are steered by a pioneering right-side tiller (a new concept at the time). First-year production totals 1,500 units making Jeffery the second-largest car maker behind Oldsmobile.
1910 (Mar 21) - Thomas B. Jeffery dies while on vacation in Pompeii, Italy.
