For more information about the Canadian Industrial Heritage Centre please see our website: ^{www.canadianindustrialheritage.org, or email us at  info@canadianindustrialheritage.org or call 519-732-1000. Thank-you again to the Massey Club for your hospitality.}

^{Below: Massey Harris factory in Brantford, ON.}

^{Below: Cockshutt Plow factory in Brantford, ON.}

Some Massey, Harris, and Ferguson History

On June 16, 2001, something extraordinary and unique happened in Newcastle, Ontario. The Newcastle and District Historical Society sponsored The Massey Show. An exposition of the products produced by the revolutionary Massey family beginning with tools and implements and later combines, tractors and larger farm machinery. Their contributions would revolutionize agriculture. As well, they made numerous generous contributions to the village of Newcastle. A picture of the Massey Foundry appears below left.

Sanford Haskill, a Port Hope resident and a member of the Newcastle Historical Society is the driving force behind the "The Massey Show". Sandford's family have deep roots in this area. His ancestors first immigrated to Port Hope in 1793 and Haskills have lived on the same Lakeshore Road farm since 1796. When asked what prompted him to come up with the idea of a Massey Show, he explains, " It is the only local machinery company that is still operational. There has never been any type of show to prolong the Massey history and we should never forget our heritage."

The Massey family immigrated to the United States from England in 1630. By 1795, some of the family moved to Watertown, New York on the east side of Lake Ontario. Around 1802, Daniel Massey, along with his wife Rebecca Kelley and their infant son Daniel, traveled across the lake to Haldimand Township, near the village of Grafton. Here, he obtained 200 acres of land and began the process of clearing the forest and constructing a home. Today, this same farm is the home of St. Annes Spring Water. When young Daniel was 6 years of age, he was sent back to Watertown to live with his grandparents. Here he received some education and several years later he returned back to help work the farm with his father.

By the time young Daniel was twenty one years of age, he had established himself as quite the entrepreneur. He had purchased his own 200 acres of land just west of his parent's farm and married his childhood sweetheart, Lucinda Bradley. During the next twelve years, he accumulated more land and hired as many as 100 men to clear it. He continued lumbering and land clearing until around 1830, when he decided to focus on farming again. He had made numerous trips back and forth to the United States to visit family and friends and often he would bring back machinery and tools that were not known to Canadians. One of his first acquisitions was the "Bull Thresher", which was set up in the barn where the grain was brought to it. Soon, neighbouring farmers would also bring their grain into the Massey barn and have it threshed.

Since the blacksmiths in Cobourg and Grafton were some distance away, Daniel Massey built a small machine shop where he could repair not only his own machinery but his neighbour's as well. Massey recognized that there was a great demand for labour saving implements, so, often he would bring back these tools and implements from his trips to visit family in the United States. Eventually, Massey decided to turn the farm over to his son Hart and concentrate on making and repairing farm machinery.

Richard.F. Vaughan owned a small foundry and machine shop in the village of Bond Head on Lake Ontario in Durham County between Cobourg and Oshawa. Vaughan was an acquaintance of Daniel Massey, likely through Stephen Vaughan who was married to Lucinda Massey's sister Cyrene . Stephen and Cyrene lived just south of Richard Vaughan's foundry. Richard Vaughan had to close the shop in 1847 and shortly after formed a partnership with Daniel Massey to use the building for manufacturing implements. Vaughan provided the building and equipment and Massey provided the money. Within six months, Massey bought out Vaughan's interest in the business and became the sole owner. By 1848, his reputation and business had grown and he had to find a larger facility. Today, a fine looking newer bungalow is situated on the property where the foundry once stood at the north-east corner of Mill and Metcalf Streets. Stephen and Cyrene's house, built around 1843, is still there at 579 Mill Street South.

Massey found a large two story brick structure, which was already being used as a foundry a mile north in the growing village of Newcastle. He purchased it as well as fifty acres of land from the Hon. George Strange Boulton. Massey immediately had the land divided into building lots (five per acre) anticipating the future growth of the village. He also built a new home for his family located at 285 Mill Street South and this house still stands today. The cobblestone exterior has been replaced with brick and the verandahs and cupola are no longer there. The mansard style roof found on it now, was added later. Hart Massey obtained the house when his father died in 1856 and then sold the home in 1872 to the Anglican minister, Rev. Henry Brent and his wife Sophia. In 1896 it was sold to the Anglican church and used as a rectory for many years. The vacant land to the east and south of the house is still owned by the Anglican church.

In 1849, Massey moved his implement building operation into Newcastle on the south side of The Kingston Road ( now King Street) east of Beaver Street and called it "The Newcastle Foundry and Machine Manufactory, C.W."(The "C.W." means "Canada West"). Additional men were hired and new equipment was obtained for the firm to begin manufacturing plows, stump pullers, harrows and other farm implements.

By 1851, the business had become too much for Daniel to look after on his own so he sent for his 28 year old son, Hart, to work there as factory superintendent. Later, Hart and his family moved into a large white frame house beside the Newcastle factory. This home was demolished a few years ago to make way for the new IGA store.

Hart, who was mechanically inclined, immediately immersed himself in the business. He was also very active locally, being a Justice of the Peace for 20 years, he served as the local Coroner and Chief Magistrate. As well he was a school trustee and taught a bible class at the Newcastle Methodist Church (now Newcastle United Church).

He traveled to the United States and attended many field trials of farm implements. Here, he obtained the Canadian patent rights for the Ketchum Mower, the first of all grass-cutting machines. The following year they began manufacturing these mowers in Newcastle. Later that year, they also began manufacturing the Burrell Reaper. By 1855, a more modern reaper called the Manny Combined Hand-Rake Reaper was being manufactured there. This reaper could cut from eight to ten acres a day and was extremely popular with farmers in Canada.

In 1856, the Grand Trunk Railway passed through Newcastle and this enabled Hart Massey to expand his operation again. Now his machinery could be loaded onto the rail cars and sent all across Canada. Hart also loaded his products onto the train and took them to a Provincial Exhibition in Kingston. Here, he not only won prizes but exposed his products to many new potential customers outside the Newcastle area. Massey could now manufacture not only farm implements, but steam engines, boilers, brass and iron castings, various stoves, lathes, iron and wood planes and "other kinds of machinery required in an Engine Shop, Carriage Manufactory, or other establishment of a similar kind".

In 1856, Daniel Massey died at the age of 58. He had no will and although he had eleven children, the property was divided between his son Hart and his two youngest daughters Arletta, who was thirteen, and Alida, age nine. After Lucina died in the late 1860's, the two girls sold their inheritance to Hart.

One of the Massey's eleven children was Frances Massey who married William Boate. Boate was the Principal of the Bowmanville Grammar School , the Bowmanville Academy and later the Superintendent of Education for Darlington and Durham County. From 1864 until 1869 they lived at 261 Mill Street, just north of Daniel and Lucinda's original home.

In 1862, the first Massey catalogue was printed at the shop of E.A. McNaughton in Newcastle. Now the Massey business was renamed The Newcastle Agricultural Works. By 1863, the Newcastle Agricultural Works could not handle all the orders for their product so they added building space and more equipment.

Catastrophe struck on March 29, 1864, when the warehouse caught fire and was destroyed. A new building was constructed by the fall but the harvest was already over for that year so there were no new orders received. The following year they sold over 400 machines and soon sales agencies were set up across Ontario.

In 1866, Newcastle Works demonstrated their products at the Toronto Industrial Exhibition and the following year were chosen to represent Canadian Manufacturing at an International Exposition in Paris, France . There, with twenty-five million visitors, the Massey's finally received world wide recognition for their products. In a field trial, the Massey self binder cut the required section of oats, "without a stop, or missing a sheaf, or a hindrance of any kind." in a remarkable 55 minutes. The runner-up took two and a half hours and needed a change of horses. Soon, orders began to flow in from Europe.

In 1867, there were over 100 employees at the Newcastle plant and there they had six large buildings. In 1870, the Massey Manufacturing company was formed, with Hart Massey as President and his oldest son, Charles as Vice President and Superintendent. In 1871, Hart Massey retired and moved to Cleveland Ohio, leaving Charles to run the business.

In 1878, Massey introduced The Massey Harvester, which was a new, improved, completely Canadian design. It was extremely popular and although Massey planned to build 200 of them, they soon had orders for over 500 units. Even though they worked both day and night shifts in the factory in Newcastle, they were unable to keep up with demand and it soon became apparent that they would have to move to larger quarters. Much to the chagrin of Newcastle residents, they moved the operation to Toronto in 1879. Approximately 100 to 150 of the village's 1200 residents worked for Massey at this time. Essentially, the village was just too small to provide the services for a growing firm like Massey. They needed a good supply of labour, a public water supply and gas light to ensure that they could produce enough product so satisfy demand. By 1901, the population of Newcastle had dwindled down to 645 people.

In 1891, Massey Manufacturing joined with A. Harris, Son and Company and formed Massey Harris Company Limited. In 1953, they merged with Harry Ferguson Limited and formed Massey-Harris-Ferguson Limited which was shortened to Massey-Ferguson Limited in 1957.

In 1892, Hart Massey had a memorial built to honour the death of his son Charles. This was a an extraordinary auditorium designed to be a "gift to aid in the development of the arts." It is called Massey Hall in Toronto.

The Massey's contributions to Newcastle were extensive. In 1860, Hart Massey built a parsonage on Church Street at the south end of new Methodist Church and then sold it to the church. In 1909, Charles Massey made a large contribution to the same church and the building was completely renovated.. As well, they included in their gift a new brick parsonage at Mill and Caroline Streets. In 1923, Chester Massey built and donated the beautiful Community Hall still located at the north-west corner of King and Mill Streets.

Although Chester Massey's sons Raymond and Vincent became very well known throughout the world, it was not in the manufacturing business. Vincent lectured modern history and became Dean of Residence at Victoria College. He later became the first Canadian born Governor General of Canada. Raymond was a famous Hollywood actor and appeared in many movies. He played Abraham Lincoln in the film "Abe Lincoln in Illinois".

But it was here, in Newcastle, that the foundation was laid for the company's growth across Canada and all over the world. Members of the Newcastle and District Historical Society celebrated the Massey's contributions and accomplishments in and near Newcastle at both indoor and outdoor venues. The indoor show, which included historical memorabilia and toys, was held at the Newcastle Community Hall ( a building originally donated by the Massey's) and the outdoor implement show was held at the Lovekin farm located at Hwy 115 and Hwy 401. Members of the Massey family attended as well as Massey enthusiasts from all over North America.

And now for some Harris History.

Arch-Rivals Joined Forces To 

Create Industry Giant

By Cheryl MacDonald, a local historian and author in Norfolk County.

In 1857, Alanson had purchased a foundry for the manufacture and repair of farm machinery. By 1872, the company had relocated to a bigger facility in Brantford Ontario. John was one of the mechanics at the Harris factory. He was a bit of an inventor himself, always tinkering to improve the equipment the company manufactured. According to historian Michael Bliss, among the most important of his designs were improvements in self-binding harvesters, including The Little Brantford Beauty, which was one of the best selling pieces of equipment the company manufactured.

He also kept a sharp eye out for other products that might suit the company's line. Among these were the Kirby mower and Kirby reel-rake, which the Harris firm manufactured under license from D. M. Osborne and Company of Auburn, New York.

It was an exciting time to be in this business. During John's lifetime, Canada had gradually become more industrialized. Agricultural societies, which had been established in the late 1700's, were making huge strides in experimenting with new methods of planting, growing and harvesting crops. One of the main features at agricultural fairs was displays of the latest equipment.

A number of men with the inclination, talent and resources saw the manufacture of farm implements as a way to improve agricultural production while making a profit. One of them was Daniel Massey, who started his own factory in Newcastle, Ontario in 1847. Through the 1870's and the 1880's, the two companies were bitter rivals. Both produced light binders that performed equally well. But, like modern car lovers, farmers were either fans of the Massey binder or the Harris binder. (And there were probably long, lengthy debates about the merits of each in blacksmith's shops and general stores at the time.)

And now for some Ferguson History

 Harry Ferguson

The Machine World's Unhonoured Maverick

(An Article from the Family Herald, March 23, 1961 by Professor P. H. Southwell of the Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph, Ontario)

The man did more than any other for mechanized farming died without any of the usual accolades, but almost every farm bears tribute to his genius. Few men with a mission ever manage to be successful commercially. Harry Ferguson was one of the few. What Ferguson did for farm machinery is comparable to what Edison did for homes, or what Ford did for transportation, or what Bell did for communications. Ferguson was one of the few great men which agriculture can claim and almost every farm today has benefited from his work. When he died last autumn at the age of 75, he had been a multi millionaire for quite some time.

Ferguson succeeded because he was convinced that he was right and because he was a genius. He was capable of not only conceiving and developing a revolutionary idea, but also of promoting it with high success. This happy combination of talents in one man has had profound effects on the mechanization of farm field work. The results of his engineering and inventive ability have been in use on farms for more than 20 years now, but it is doubtful if we would have had these developments, perhaps even yet, if he had not had such drive and ability.

Strangely his immense contribution to farm mechanization was never formally recognized by suitable honours from the agricultural engineering profession on either side of the Atlantic. Although there is little excuse for such an omission, in this writer's opinion, a possible explanation is that Ferguson was a rather shy, aloof, and retiring sort of man who was hard to get along with and did not push himself forward as a person. The only thing he pushed was his revolutionary "system" and, like many men of purpose, he probably upset a lot of people along the way. He was more of a crusader than many other successful men appear to have been; but like many other great men, he was at first regarded by the pundits as merely a crank. 

It is seldom realized that Harry Ferguson worked on his project for a long time and achieved success rather late in life. He was born in 1884 on a farm in County Down in Ireland. His bent for mechanical things appeared early in his love for motorcycles and automobiles. An indication of his ability is that he designed, built, and flew his own monoplane by the time he was 25, just 6 years after the first powered flight in the world was made by the Wright brothers.

If Ferguson had stayed in aeronautics, he might well have become famous in that branch of engineering instead, and farming would have been the loser, but, during the 1914-1918 war, the Irish Department of Agriculture put him in charge of the operation and maintenance of tractors and machinery on the farms of Ireland. It may have been a very big job, but it appears to have sparked his interest in farm mechanization.

Ferguson came quietly on the agricultural scene in the early 1920's when he designed a linkage for mounting a plow directly on the rear of a tractor, the first step in his theory that implement and tractor must be an integral unit. Many years of hard work followed and led to the development of the famous three-point linkage which we now universally employ. The second step was hydraulic activation of the mounted implement, through the three-point linkage. Ferguson not only used hydraulics to lift and lower the implement, but also to control its depth in work. This was an outstanding invention intimately associated with his theory of weight transfer and the conception of a light-weight tractor. By the early 1930's the Ferguson system was taking shape. How Ferguson financed himself at this time is obscure (he was over 40) but it would appear that he had private resources.

In 1933 pneumatic tires were introduced for farm tractors to replace the steel lugged wheels which had been used for over 30 years. To Ferguson this was an important change. A great deal of work with an expanded staff seems to have been accomplished in the next couple of years and his tractor was ready to go into production by 1936. Harry Ferguson was then 52 years old.

The quality of the design work which was done before production commenced is shown by the fact that the Ferguson tractors which were built during the following 25 years differed only in details from the original machine.

With this outstanding design he made five distinct and far reaching contributions, each important in its own right. Firstly, he produced a light-weight machine showing that tractors need not be heavy, as they always had been. Secondly, he mounted the implements on a tractor itself-instead of dragging them separately behind-so as to form one single compact unit. Thirdly, he designed the three-point hitch for implement mounting. Fourthly, he introduced oil hydraulic systems for easy implement positioning and control. Fifthly, he put forward a theory of weight transfer from a rear-mounted implement onto the tractor frame.

Each of these developments was individually significant and affected tractor design throughout the world. When put together, they formed the Ferguson system and in effect revolutionized both tractor design and farm mechanization. 

But the boldness of his attack on conventional ideas and the extant of his revolution can perhaps be gauged from the fact that the rest of the tractor industry was not only scornful at the beginning but continued to be so for a long time. With the exception of only two manufacturers, the industry as a whole took about 10 years before finally conceding that Ferguson might be on the right track. Then his lead was followed in a variety of ways.

Ferguson was primarily an inventor and had no manufacturing facilities. Throughout his life he appeared to prefer to leave the problems of mass production to other men specializing in that work. His first tractor was produced by the David Brown Company in England, which previously had not been in the tractor business, but had made the gears for the prototype. Production of the Ferguson Brown tractor continued until 1939 and made a definite impression. The arrangement ended in disagreement however and Ferguson went to the United States. Here he entered into an arrangement with Henry Ford to produce the Ford Ferguson tractor on this side of the Atlantic. Ferguson had the design and Ford had the facilities to produce in quantity. A great many tractors were built before this arrangement ended in disagreement in 1947.

It was at this stage that Harry Ferguson, at the age of 62, for the first time fully entered the business of producing and selling tractors. He arranged for the Standard Motor Company to make the tractor in England and built his own factory, presumably because he had to, in Detroit.

The Ferguson Company forged rapidly ahead with a program of production, sales and service in all the world markets and the gray tractor, so similar to the Ferguson Brown machine of 10 years before but with the wide range of mounted equipment, became familiar everywhere. In the USA however, Dearborn continued to produce tractors using a replica of the Ferguson system and in 1951 Harry Ferguson successfully sued for infringements of his patents in the famous law suit. By this time, he had collected around himself one of the most progressive design teams in the business, and it was a surprise to everybody when an amalgamation with the Massey Harris Company was announced in 1953, Less than a year later, he retired at the age of 70 to pursue another challenge, namely to design a new type of automobile. Ferguson's mark on the mechanization of farming throughout the world has been immense and the full implications of his design work may never be fully assessed. But let us consider a few of them.

In many areas, mounted equipment is now used on every farm and the three-point linkage, which Ferguson invented, is universally employed; it has been changed only by the addition of quick-hitch devices. It is hard to imagine modern farming without mounted equipment.

The application of oil hydraulic systems on tractors has been extended considerably since Ferguson led the field and indicated the full potentialities. Hydraulic pressure is now one of the greatest work savers on the modern farm; we only have to think of manure handling without it to realize this. He was also ahead of his time in using a high oil pressure (which has yet to be exceeded) and thereby saving weight and space. Although there is little doubt that we would eventually have used oil pressure to position the larger trailed implements, Ferguson showed the possibilities and did more than any other man to promote tractor hydraulics.

He also used his hydraulic system to maintain a constant draft; this gave the advantage of constant depth control as alternatives, and many others use some device for weight transfer from the mounted implement onto the rear wheels. All these developments spring from Ferguson's inventive genius. As well as wheel slip by varying the depth of work to keep a constant draft, he also used wheel spin as a safety device. Ferguson was very conscious of the safety problem and did much to focus attention upon it; but then his light weight design required that he should, and it was unfortunate that the misuse of his machine without his mounted implements did cause accidents. 

His contention that a tractor could be light in weight has not been fully adopted because it was dependent on his system and because of the problems of hauling wagons and other trailed equipment. But the Ferguson tractor has been the lightest on the market for many years and undoubtedly strongly influenced designers by its success. The effect of its maneuverability, easy operation, and clean lines has also been considerable.

Harry Ferguson was one of the greatest designers of agricultural machinery we have ever had. His major contribution was the transition to mounted equipment of all types and the completely hydraulic control of them. This was a great influence on the progress of farm mechanization and outstanding at the time it was made. Both in this large conception and in many details of design, his work has influenced that of the whole tractor industry and has been of great assistance to all farmers, particularly on small and medium-sized farms. It is to be hoped that there is another such man working somewhere, in a barn or at a drafting table, to take us to the next jump forward in mechanization.

Tuffy Tractor   By George Gordon

As an avid collector of brow cover Hardy Boys and old Thornton W. Burgess books I am often in the habit of frequenting used book stores to see what treasures they might have. On one such visit to Attic Books in London, Ontario, I enquired if they might happen to have any books about tractors. The Clerk said that they might just have something. He returned shortly with " The Tuffy Tractor Coloring Book". Being interested in Massey Harris, I was delighted. For $7.50 I now had a very unusual item. In spite of some crayon left by the books original owner, all the pages were in good shape. Some were even left uncoloured.

The book told the story of Johnny who had asked Santa for a toy Tractor just like his Dads big Massey Harris Tractor "Tuffy." Santa brings the Toy and takes the boy on a dream trip through the history of Agriculture. Toward the end it describes various other Massey Harris machines.

The "Tuffy Tractor Coloring Book" had been given to the children of customers by Massey Harris Dealers. On the back of my copy it says 1952 Massey- Harris Company, Toronto, Canada. On E-Bay from time to time I started seeing other books about "Tuffy". Later on I purchased a story book "Tuffy Tractor" by Emilie Hall and Illustrated by Dorothy Woy. It was a great little book with beautiful art work. It told the story of how "Tuffy" came to the farm and along with various other pieces of Massey Harris Machinery, how he had made life easier for the Brown Family; including Johnny, Lucy and their Parents. This book again from the Massey - Harris Company, this time from Racine Wisconsin had been published in 1951. Along with this purchase came a Massey Harris "M-H Fun Book" full of games and puzzles again featuring "Tuffy Tractor" along with two boys Matt and Henry.

These books appear to have been part of an advertising campaign aimed at the Children of Massey Harris customers. Much like the prizes that used to come in the cereal boxes these items would make the local Massey Dealership a Kid friendly place. I would love to hear from other members who remember "Tuffy". It would be interesting to know who thought up this ad campaign and if there are other pieces of "Tuffy" literature floating around out there.

Following are some pictures from the "Tuffy" books.