Canada’s first threshing machine was built by John Fisher, a
Yankee who hailed originally from New York State, in 1836.
The enterprise which he originated grew through the years to
become the Sawyer & Massey Co., Ltd., with headquarters at
Hamilton, Ont., the town in which he settled.
The story of the first 70 years of Sawyer & Massey is told
a handsome reprint.
John Fisher came to Hamilton at a time when no threshing or
reaping machines were available. The farmer scattered his seed by
hand or with the simplest of aids; he used the cradle to harvest
it, and then it was ‘tramped out by oxen or horses or else
beaten out with a flail’.
Fisher based his thresher on the Maikle machine made in Scotland
in 1786. He built one machine at a time, and as his work grew he
added workmen and facilities which would today be considered very
primitive. The few castings he used were made in a foundry which
was fed with scrap iron and pig iron by a man who climbed a ladder
to the roof. He dropped in the iron ‘a bucketful at a time, til
enough was melted to pour it off’.
Dr. Calvin McQuesten, a physician who was a Fisher relative in
Lockport, N. Y., invested $1,500 and gave up medicine to take on
the sales job. He got more orders in a year than Fisher could fill
and the company prospered. Other products were added.
L. D. Sawyer, a machinist related to Dr. McQuesten, joined up in
the 1840’s; so did his brothers, Payson and Samuel. The Sawyers
became very active, enlarging the business to make steam engines
and other kinds of farm machinery. Other relatives entered the
business.
In 1889 H. A. Massey, president of Massey-Harris Co., Ltd.,
became president of this firm as well. The company continued to
attract family members. H. P. Coburn, general manager and vice
president of Sawyer-Massey in 1906, was a nephew of L. D.
Sawyer.
This is only a brief summary of the story related in the 70th
anniversary volume. The book includes photos of the founders,
factory and workmen, and excellent engravings of engines. The
reprint has a handsome brilliant red cover with the company name
stamped in gold.
Two sidelights are very interesting. John Fisher became mayor of
Hamilton, and his foundry made the city’s first hand fire
engine. He gave this to the fire company and it was preserved as a
memorial to the donor. Jonathan Ames, who later became affiliated
with the firm, as a young man went to Central America where he
located a mining claim for which he was offered $1 million. He
refused, but ‘finally lost the mine and everything he had
invested in it’.
The volume was selected for reprint by Dave Hooton, of the
Restoration Dept. of the Ontario Agricultural Museum, from the
collection of Gordon W. Bridgen, of Hornby, Ont. It was published
by the Boston Mills Press, of Erin, Ont., a heritage Canada award
winner. Aid on publication was given by the Canada Council and the
Ontario Arts Council.
