The Rixfords in Canada

In the year 1849, Luther Rixford turned 70 years old. Growing old and in need of an exit from a life of manufacturing, he retired from active business, turning the company over to his eldest son and partner, Luther Parker Rixford (at the time 36), and his youngest son, Oscar Stephen Rixford (only 21 years old). The new company was noted as the business of “L.P. and O.S. Rixford”. Like before, the company focused on the manufacturing of scythes as their primary objective.

A little over a year after the start of “L.P. and O.S. Rixford”, newspapers noted a dissolution of that company, with an associated announcement that O.S. Rixford had now partnered with Zimri Daily. Despite being listed in East Highgate on the 1850 Federal Census, family records note that late that same year, Luther P. Rixford moved his family about 20 miles north to the town of Bedford, in the province of Quebec, Canada. With the partnership with his brother now severed, rising tariffs and political separations between the United States and Canada made the relocation and a subsequent creation of a new scythe making business north of the border advantageous to the family’s financial growth.

In the Autumn of 1850, when Luther P. Rixford relocated to Bedford, he took his family along with him. This included his wife, Elmira (Pickering) Rixford, whom he had married on June 27th of 1837, and his children, Gullian, Emmet, Geneve, and Samuel. Though Samuel and Geneve would die at a young age, Emmet and Gullian were educated there in Canada, and both were likely exposed to the scythe manufacturing business of their family. Both young men were first taught at the academy at Stanbridge East, in Quebec. Gullian then moved on to McGill University in Montreal, where he was noted as a student of engineering, and was listed by the school as focusing on surveying, drawing, and chemistry. He graduated with the class of 1864 and returned to his family’s home in Bedford. Though other sources note that he was involved in the textile business and also worked with his father in scythe manufacturing, accurate records indicate that he continued in the trade of engineering and dabbled in horticulture. Government records and a short biography note that Gullian was employed by a Canadian engineering firm immediately after graduating and was involved in “laying out a street railway in Quebec, a railroad from St. Johns, Province of Quebec, to Swanton, Vermont, and a bridge or two”. Advertisements from Bedford during 1864 through 1866 note Gullian involved in the cultivation of plants, and, at the time of his graduation, he was noted as a specialist selling hardy strawberry varieties. His brother Emmet was noted as studying law and becoming an attorney soon after graduating. Neither young man seemed interested in continuing in the manufacturing business of their heritage.

Gullian P. Rixford

Though records indicate that Luther Parker Rixford’s relocation to Canada happened in 1850, they also mention that he had purchased the carding and cloth dressing mill at Bedford ( a factory that had been previously occupied by a Mr. Samuel Mills) around 1847, renovating it, and retrofitting it for the manufacture of scythes and other farming tools over the following few years. By 1854, advertisements for the scythe manufacturing business of “Luther Rixford”, proprietor and manager Luther Parker Rixford, were noted as based in Bedford. These same advertisements focused on the sale of scythes, but also mentioned “other edged tools”. None that have been found from that time frame directly mention the sale of axes. These direct advertisements from the company also mention that the scythes produced by “L.P. Rixford” were made “expressly for the Eastern Townships Trade” there in Canada. Grass and grain scythes were both mentioned. During that time, Rixford scythes were also mentioned in hardware wholesale and retail advertisements throughout eastern Canada. These were listed along with scythes from Isaiah Blood and the Dunn Edge Tool Company.

Circa 1854

Though there seemed to be consistent advertising for the business of “L. P. Rixford” out of Bedford, local media listings mentioned numerous lulls in activity, with the factory waiting for orders to continue, stopping production due to fires and poor winter conditions, and rejoicing the reinstatement of activity due to new orders from undisclosed customers across Canada. Despite this, the town of Bedford had a reliance on the factory as a source of income for its citizens as it did with the other industries that thrived there.

Despite a reasonably constant income stream there in Bedford from both his agricultural and engineering work, the family of Gullian Rixford, including his wife Caroline (Corey) Rixford and a son, Emmett, named after his brother, chose to leave Canada in 1867. Rather than return to Vermont, they made the decision to make the long journey to the growing area of California on the west coast. They took a route via “the Isthmus of Nicaragua”, which transported them via ship to Nicaragua, via land across the country itself, and then via ship north to San Francisco. Once there and settled, Gullian sent word back to his parents, who promptly followed in 1868. Before leaving, Luther Parker Rixford sold the majority stake of his business in Bedford to his brother Oscar S. Rixford, though he would not sell the last of his portion of that business until 1873, severing his connection to the family scythe manufacturing heritage completely at that time.

L.P. Rixford’s exiting of the scythe business, along with his relocation to the west coast, can certainly be attributed to his age (He was around 60 years old) and a “retirement”. However, the acquisition of the L.P. Rixford assets in Bedford was a significant business move for O.S. Rixford, as the 1870s saw drastic changes in the importation mechanism of scythes from the United States to Canada. During the 1860s and 1870s, Canada was seeing a national push towards solidification of its government as well as a trend toward development within the west. The expansion of the Canadian transcontinental railroad was driving economic growth and development of the flatlands in the central areas of the country, and the financial needs of that growth focused many political leaders to concentrate on the Canadian economy. This, in turn, placed a focus on the loss of income to foreign trading, especially across the border into the United States. Tariffs aimed at pushing domestic production ebbed and waned during the early 1870s, as political parties rapidly changed in the fluctuating government. Due to this charged environment, it only made sense for the growing business of O.S. Rixford to invest in the already functioning facility of his brother’s business. The Financial Panic of 1873 added a tentativeness to business in the United States at that time, and likely led to thoughts of diversification for the Rixford business. These economic factors were likely the impetus for the manufacturing of new products there at the Bedford facility, such as axes, during the first season following Oscar S. Rixford’s complete acquisition of that asset.

In 1878, the “Tilley Tariffs”, named after minister of finance Samuel Lenord Tilley, added numerous additional taxes to imported goods from the United States. For scythes specifically, the new tariffs added a 30 percent tax on imported scythes from the U.S., further incentivizing production and purchasing from within Canada. This decreased profits on scythes coming into Canada from the Rixford facility in East Highgate, and allowed for an exceptional return on the investment Oscar had made in acquiring the old L.P. Rixford scythe factory.

With a solid economic platform from which to achieve profitability, the O.S. Rixford axe and scythe factory at Bedford grew steadily during the late 1870s. Axe and scythe advertisements for the eastern regions of Canada during that time noted Canadian made Rixford products alongside Warnock’s and Burrel’s products. Despite managing the business north of the border, O.S. Rixford did not take a permanent home in the Bedford area, and was noted periodically in the lists of visitors staying at hotels in the region. These hotel stays were also noted for stays at various locations within Montreal, presumably for sales purposes at the nearest local metropolitan area. Letter’s addressed directly to Oscar at the Bedford location were responded to using letterhead of and addressed from the East Highgate offices of the company. The “Bedford Times” noted periodic improvements to the factory site, mentioning small expansions that had been necessitated by heavy order loads. In 1881, these notes on improvements mentioned a new steam engine that had been manufactured in Montreal, as well as a new bell.

By 1882, the expansions and enlargements of the facility were unable to keep up with the orders for the business’s products, and numerous media outlets noted that the company was 6 months behind schedule on production. To assemble the needed capital to catch up on the workload, the business took on new investors and transitioned to an authorized corporation. The list of incorporators was long and included Oscar S. Rixford, George Clayes, George A. Coslett (a foreman for the company previous to incorporation) and several other men from the Bedford area. The incorporation left the new company with $100,000 in capital and the official title of the “O.S. Rixford Manufacturing Company” of Bedford, Quebec.

George Clayes, the lead investor for the new company, was a farmer, politician, and investor of great pull in the area. He had been born in Meriden, New Hampshire, around 1831, and had moved to the Bedford area early in life. For a time, he relocated to the Nebraska Territory, where he enter into politics, and upon returning to Canada in the 1860s, he continued on in that field, eventually becoming a member of parliament representing his local area. Along with politics, he was noted as farming, running a hardware store, and investing in the local textile industry. He and his wife, Sophia Louisia Clayes, were well known and respected socialites of Bedford who kept a large network of friends and business associates.

With the investments of Clayes and the other incorporators, the O.S. Rixford Manufacturing Company was able to invest in a number of assets that allowed them to catch up on the orders that had fallen behind as well as push productivity further. The first of these investments was a new mechanized axe poll making machine. The machine allowed for faster production of polls with less man power involved on that phase of manufacturing. The second was an increase in man power, including seasoned axe makers with experience. Two of these men were A.M. Bickford and A.P. Moody of Oakland, Maine, both of whom had extensive experience in the manufacturing of axes. A third talented employee who joined the company was Stephen E. Garrett. Garrett had worked as a superintendent with the Isaiah Blood Company of Ballston Spa, New York, in the late 1860s and early 1870s before relocating to Cohoes. In the latter city he was associated with the “Iron and Steel Consumer’s Association”. With the needed capital for improvement, new machinery, and talented new employees, the company once again began to flourish.

On March 5th of 1888, while in Ottawa attending a parliament meeting, George Clayes died of Bright’s Disease. Along with being a setback for the Canadian Parliament (5 members had died in the past year), the loss threatened to upset the balance that had brought success to the Rixford concern in Bedford. However, as Clayes had no heirs, his wealth had passed to his wife, Sophia L. Clayes, who was also known for her business and management prowess. Shortly after the death of her husband, S.L. Clayes was voted in as President of the O.S. Rixford Manufacturing Company of Bedford. She would be directly supported by Stephen E. Garrett, who was elected as Secretary, Treasurer, and General Manager. The pair’s names would be noted on letterhead, directory listings, and advertisements from there forward.

In 1892, an economic downturn began to gain momentum in both Canada and the United States. Noted to have been caused by stagnant industrial production and over construction within the business sector, the downturn was noticed in decreased sales and production of everything from pig iron to raw cotton. The production of scythes and axes did not escape this vector, and by the summer of 1892, rumors permeated Canadian newspapers with mentions of the Bedford facilities closing due to inactivity and a lack of orders. A glimmer of hope was noted in September, when the company’s annual order of grindstones, a costly expenditure, arrived. The stones’ presence seemed to indicate that the leadership of the company intended to press forward, dispelling the rumors for the time being.

In February of the following year, what came to be known as the “Financial Panic of 1893” began as railroads that had overextended their investments began to fail in the United States. Coupled with a failing gold standard and variation in the value of silver, hundreds of banks were unable to pay out held money, causing an economic ripple that effected a large portion of the world’s finances. Production at the Rixford company continued at a snail’s pace, with orders decreasing to a level that caused periodic closures at the factory. Without a steady income, many of the employees were forced to seek occupations elsewhere, which in turn left what few orders that were trickling in without appropriate craftsmen to fill them. On June 10th of that year, Stephen E. Garrett wrote to Oscar S. Rixford in East Highgate. His message was a request for help, and mentioned that they could not complete the production of orders of scythes, as they had no edge grinders to finish the scythes that had been ordered. Without proper employees, and facing minimize financial assets and a scarcity of raw materials, the threat of a complete failure of the company loomed not far off.

The Rixford company was not the only Canadian based tool manufacturer that was facing issues. Many other small to medium sized tool manufacturers were seeing similar issues, and most were scrambling to lay out a path that allowed them to survive the “Panic”, or at least allowed them to sell out profitably. In the United States, one tactic that was being used by axe and scythe companies, as well as industrial manufacturers in general, to survive the financially harsh economic conditions was combination and consolidation. A prime example of this was the formation of the American Axe and Tool Company, a business that had come to be known in the United States as the ”Axe Combine”, or “The Axe Trust”. During this same era, Canada developed a similar conglomerate axe and tool company that was occasionally noted as the “Chaplin Combine”. That name was in reference to the man who began organization of the group and who would lead it as its President in the first years after it was assembled: William Chaplin. Chaplin was, at the time, the lead investor and main stake holder in the Welland Vale Manufacturing Company, arguably the largest manufacturer of axes and other agricultural implements in Canada. The new combine was an effort to decrease competition by combining small, struggling competitors under one roof that could be controlled by those allied with Chaplin. It was incorporated in 1892 under the name “Canada Axe and Harvest Tool Manufacturing Company”.

Though William Chaplin was not listed as one of the incorporators of the new company, he was elected President within the first few months of the business’s life. Though the company had no official facility during its inception, by the summer 1893, Chaplin had announced their intent on organizing a manufacturing facility at Cote Saint Paul, just north of Montreal. This corresponded with the new combine’s purchasing of the struggling Montreal Axe and Edge Tool Works, previously owned by Thomas J. Mocock and Company. By 1894, the Canada Axe and Harvest Tool Manufacturing Company had cannibalized the floundering business, and had purchased more land around the previous facility’s location. As Chaplin’s plan gained momentum, more small axe and tool companies were purchased, and their assets and equipment were moved to Cote Saint Paul. In 1894, the O.S. Rixford Manufacturing Company of Bedford was added to the list of Chaplin’s conquest, and the machinery and raw materials left in Bedford were relocated to the Canada Axe and Harvest Tool Manufacturing Company’s facility.

The economic conditions in Bedford at the time of the removal of the O.S. Rixford Manufacturing Company were bleak, and the absence of one of the community’s main employers was not taken well. Within a few months, local investors had lain out a plan to create a new company for the manufacturing of axes, scythes and other tools. Those involved included many of the same people: Sophia L. Clayes, George A. Coslett, and even Oscar S. Rixford (Stephen E. Garrett was not involved as he died in 1895). The new company was known as the “Bedford Manufacturing Company”, and despite O.S. Rixford being a minor investor, it would not be a “Rixford Company” (likely due to contractual obligations after the assets of the Rixford Manufacturing Company were purchased by the Canada Axe and Harvest Tool Company). S.L. Clayes would lead the business through 1900, passing away in 1901 shortly after retiring. Like the O.S. Rixford Manufacturing Company before it, the Bedford Manufacturing Company would be pulled into the Canada Axe and Harvest Tool Manufacturing Company, but not until around 1930.