Brantford Industrialists: Biographies

C. H. Waterous (1814-1893)

Charles Horatio Waterous was born on the 29^th of September 1814, in Burlington, Vermont to parents Eleazer Waterhouse and Emma Johnston. After his father passed away, Emma remarried a farmer named Denson Tripp, it was with Denson where Charles learned to farm until the age of fifteen. In 1829, Charles started an apprenticeship under Thomas Davenport, a blacksmith and later finished his training in a machine shop. His position as an apprentice inspired his drive to invent. By 1833, Charles had travelled to New York to work in his uncle’s foundry. After this, Charles moved from job to job until he found the right fit. Philip Cady VanBrocklin, a businessman and industrialist from Brantford, Ontario, needed assistance with the reorganization of his business. Charles was presented with an offer as partner with a salary and a quarter share in the profits. One of the key skills that Charles brought to the foundry was an innovative way of thinking and would later play a huge role in turning the foundry into a factory that would eventually produce steam engines.In 1855 Charles joined the Goold, Bennett and Co., as they sought to purchase the VanBrocklin Works. After they purchased the foundry, the company was renamed Ganson, Waterous and Company. Shortly after the reorganization, many of the partnerships dissolved, but Waterous wanted to continue with the work and entered a partnership with George H. Wilkes, establishing C. H. Waterous and Company. This iteration of the company focused on the manufacturing of grist and sawmilling machinery, steam-engines, and pumping equipment. There were plans for an expansion and for the would become the Waterous Engine Works Company by 1874. The company continued to thrive and had financial backing by another major Brantford Industrialist, Ignatius Cockshutt. Ignatius’ capital investments granted him enough power to have a say in the structural makeup of the company and instated his son, James G. Cockshutt, as president, with Waterous, as the general manager. 

Ignatius Cockshutt (1812-1901)

Ignatius Cockshutt was born on the 24^th of August 1812, in Bradford, Yorkshire. His parents did not see the need to provide Ignatius with a lengthy education or for him to acquire high literacy scores, and only sent him to a boarding school in Leeds for the better part of one year. They believed that minimal education was enough to support an ordinary life. 

The Cockshutt family business in Colne disbanded and the family decided to make their way to York, Ontario. The family boarded the Lady Digby, a ship that left Liverpool and sailed to Quebec in July of 1827 and docked in Quebec that September. Once in York, Ignatius’ father, James, opened a general store; the store prospered, and James saw an opportunity to expand with a second location. Brantford was the chosen location for the second store and James went into partnership with Christopher Batty. Ignatius first became involved in the family business with the Brantford location; unfortunately, the Brantford store did not prove fruitful and was closed a short while later. Ignatius used the closure as an opportunity to go back to York to work for his father. 

Yet another opportunity arose again in Brantford, and the family decided to give it another chance; with the new iteration of the Cockshutt family store, Ignatius took on the managerial role and showed great strength and experienced success in running the company. As the Brantford store continued to succeed, James decided to abandon their efforts in York to focus solely on the Brantford store. In 1840, James decided it was time for him to let go of his role in the business and sold it, in its entirety, to his daughter Jane and to Ignatius; the business was renamed I. & J. Cockshutt. 

Ignatius’s father was known to have a kind spirit, was always thoughtful when it came to his interactions with friends and family, and he often opened his home to immigrants. Ignatius grew up seeing his father’s compassion and took that quality and ran with it. His kindness is not seen only in his industrial ventures (it was not rare for him to provide financial assistance to companies), but also in terms of advancing societal structures and social services. Ignatius helped his sister Jane, with the development and management of a school and home for orphans and poor children on the grounds of Farringdon Independent Church. Ignatius also purchased land located on Sheridan Street (6 Sheridan) and established a widows home. The Widows Home was a place for respectable, but disadvantaged women, some were widows whose children lived across the street at the home Ignatius and Jane ran for children. Furthermore, in 1888, he donated 45 acres of land along with a substantial amount of money to build the House of Refuge where the elderly would be cared for, “Mr. Cockshutt was then, as he has been ever since, the foremost capitalist of the place, dispensing charity then, as now, to the deserving poor.” (Reville, History of the County of Brant, 123). 

Ignatius helped to provide Brantford with early industrial success and influence. His influence continued through his children who would later become prominent citizens, eventually creating the Cockshutt Plow Company. Ignatius’ influence on Brantford’s industrial history is one of the most remarkable stories and can continue to be seen through familial memorials such as Cockshutt Park, and Cockshutt Bridge. Memorials such as these are important to highlight; it is often the case that citizens do not fully understand the history behind such memorials, regardless of how many times they may walk past them, visit them, or sit in them such as the case would be with Cockshutt Park. Highlighting these histories helps citizens connect with these permanent fixtures. People like Ignatius Cockshutt helped to advance Brantford into the city it has become today.

James G. Cockshutt (1851-1885)

James George Cockshutt was born in 1851 to Ignatius Cockshutt and Elizabeth Foster Cockshutt in Brantford, Ontario. James lived a short life, dying of tuberculosis on the 23^rd of October 1885, but in this short life he accomplished the successful start-up of, arguably, one of the most influential industrial enterprises in Brantford’s history: The Cockshutt Plow Company. James’ original idea was established under the name of The Brantford Plow Works in 1877. James believed he could make a more efficient plow and sought to create his inventions with such care that the reputation of his products would carry his company forward. James’ dreams were made possible by his father, Ignatius’, monetary investments. Some of the first creations to come out of The Brantford Plow Works were stoves, scufflers, and walking plows. His plows were designed specifically with prairie sod in mind. The first invention to really help build the company’s reputation was the three wheeled single furrow plow, a plow that would allow a farmer to sit on top of it and ride it around the farm. This plow pushed into many markets, mainly in the Canadian prairies. The company name changed to the Cockshutt Plow Company in 1882; in 1885 when James died, his brother, William Foster Cockshutt, continued the company as its President, alongside his father as Vice President.

William Buck (1828-1897)

William Buck was born on the 22^nd of August 1828 in Ancaster, Wentworth, Upper Canada, to parents Peter and Hanna (nee Yeager) Buck. William had a brother by the name of George Carey Buck. 

1856 was a big year for William, he married his wife Alice Foster, and created the Victoria Foundry. His foundry employed eighty people where they manufactured stoves, ploughs, castings, tin and copper wares, and machinery. The foundry had a few locations: by 1866 it was registered at the west end of Colborne Street, then made a move to West Street near Bryant Avenue and William Street. Approximately thirty years later the company was incorporated as the William Buck Stove Company. Some of William’s most prominent creations were Buck’s Radiant Home Stove and the Happy Thought Stove. These appliances became household names, not only in Brantford, but nationwide and internationally, namely Europe and Australia. 

 In 1903 the foundry changed locations yet again with a relocation to Elgin Street. In 1920 the McClary Company of London purchased William Buck Stove Co., and the factory in Brantford would meet its end when all manufacturing was moved into London.

Alanson Harris (1816-1894)

Alanson’s ancestors emigrated to New York in the 1700s; John, Alanson’s father moved to an area not too far from Ingersoll, Ontario in the early 19^th century. It would be here where Alanson would be born on the 1^st of April 1816 to John and Catherine Jane (nee Dygert) Harris. Alanson married Mary Harris (nee Morgan) in 1840 and together they had three children, John Alanson Harris, Elmore Harris, and Thomas Morgan Harris.

Alanson worked as a sawmill operator in Brant county for fifteen years before purchasing a foundry in Beamsville, Ontario. Beamsville was where Alanson really got a taste for how his career would go with the production of farm implements. In 1863, Alanson invited his son, John, to join in on the family business and by 1872, they had decided to move the company from Beamsville to Brantford where they would spend seven years marketing their products to western Canadian provinces. 

John managed to form connections with D. M. Osborne Co., who provided him with the rights to manufacture their harvesting machines at their foundry. Alanson and John would face fierce competition during this time as one of their competitors, Massey, was making similar advances. The two companies would cease to be competitors by 1891 when A. Harris, Son and Co., Ltd., merged with the Massey Manufacturing Co., and became Massey-Harris Co., Ltd. Together, these industrial tycoons would create a successful company that would become one of Canada’s largest farm implement manufacturers.