Company History: A. B. Farquhar
September/October 1992
Gail E. Knauer
 |
Maura Fulton
|
Wilford Markey of Dallastown, Pennsylvania owns this 15 HP Style
K farm traction engine manufactured by the A. B. Farquhar Company
of York, Pa. in 1919. Maura Fulton photographed the engine at the
York Fair, September 1991.
The A. B. Farquhar Company, manufacturers of steam traction
engines, gasoline farm tractors and agricultural implements, has
its roots planted deeply in the industrial history of the city of
York, in south central Pennsylvania.
Arthur Briggs Farquhar was born to William Henry and Margaret
(Briggs) Farquhar on September 28, 1838, in Sandy Springs,
Maryland, approximately 18 miles outside of our nation's
capital at Washington. A. B., as he came to be known, was very
studious, and was greatly interested in mechanics. After managing
the family farm for a year, arrangements were made for A. B. to
move to York and find work as an apprentice in a foundry or machine
shop.
The Farquhars were members of the Society of Friends (Quakers),
whose ancestors had fled Scotland in the early 1700's to escape
religious persecution. A. B. Farquhar's paternal grandmother,
Mary Elgar Farquhar, was a sister to inventor John Elgar, who lived
in York, as did many other Quakers. (John Elgar is known as the
builder of the first iron steamboat, the 'Codorus,' which
he launched on November 14, 1825.) Through his network of Quaker
friends, Elgar arranged for A. B. to take up residence in York with
the family of Edward Jessop, a friend of William Farquhar.
A. B. moved to York on April 4, 1856, and three days later
became an apprentice in the shop of W. W. Dingee and Company,
manufacturers of farm equipment and heavy machinery. At this time
the company employed about 10 men in a small shop which contained
lathes, planers, and some woodworking machinery. The average wage
was 90 cents to a dollar a day, with the highest paid machinist
earning $1.12 per day. A plain, rough drill sold for $60, and a
simple thresher without cleaning attachment sold for $150,
including a horsepower.
At age 20, having been with W.W. Dingee for 18 months, A. B.
received an advance of money from his father, with which he bought
an interest in the company, and he became a partner. The company
was shortly thereafter renamed the Pennsylvania Agricultural Works.
Farquhar's position with the company was as sales agent; trade
was largely in the Southern states. He never kept written orders or
a notebook when he went on sales trips, preferring to keep the
details of all transactions in his head rather than on paper.
1919 15 HP Style K farm traction engine, owned by Wilford Markey
of Dallastown, Pa., on display at the 1991 York Fair; Ervine
Gummel, engineer.
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