Elijah Jesse Cady came to Chicago in 1881 as a commissioned paper broker and started his own business in 1893. He soon began to be recognized nationally for his art of paper making and frequently found himself called upon to settle quality adjustments in his own accounts. For this purpose, testing equipment became necessary.

In the year 1915, "E.J." invented his own brand of micrometers, paper scales and burst testers, which he then began to distribute amongst his clients. These instruments, were his "hobby" and simply a tool to help him sell his paper. He never knew that following his death in May of 1931, four more generations of his family would follow and turn his "hobby" into the world famous micrometer manufacturer that E.J. Cady & Company has become today.