Article

Daniel Massey

Published Online June 3, 2008

Last Edited March 4, 2015

Daniel Massey, manufacturer (b at Windsor, Vt 24 Feb 1798; d at Newcastle, Canada W 15 Nov 1856). A prosperous Methodist farmer near Cobourg, Upper Canada, Massey became interested in farm machinery in the 1830s and invested in a
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The chromolithograph (an innovation of the 1840s) helped make a once-expensive technology competitive with wood and steel engraving (photo by T.E. Moore/courtesy Varity Corp).

Daniel Massey

 Daniel Massey, manufacturer (b at Windsor, Vt 24 Feb 1798; d at Newcastle, Canada W 15 Nov 1856). A prosperous Methodist farmer near Cobourg, Upper Canada, Massey became interested in farm machinery in the 1830s and invested in a foundry at Bond Head in 1847. In 1849 he moved to Newcastle and established the Newcastle Foundry and Machine Manufactory. Massey's industrious habits and religious temperament were passed on to his son Hart, whose aggressive marketing technique and acquisition of patent rights to the latest American farm-machinery designs contributed to the firm's later success as the Massey Manufacturing Co. In 1891 the firm merged with its chief rival, A. Harris, Son & Co Ltd, to become Massey-Harris Co Ltd (MASSEY-FERGUSON LTD), Canada's largest manufacturer of farm implements.