The Clinton Thresher Co. was apparently incorporated in October 1905 to take over the business of the defunct Macpherson & Hovey Co. The company's products included portable engines, which is what qualifies them for listing here.

The factory burned down in about 1908. The factory was rebuilt in 1911 but the company seems to have gone under, and instead the factory was used by the new Clinton Motor Car Co.

Information Sources

• From the 1886 A Cyclopedia of Canadian Biography.

  Farran, William Wallace, Clinton, was born on the 12th of Nov., 1834, in the township of Osnabruck, Stormont, Ontario. ... Our subject was educated at the public school in his native place, at the Cornwall Grammar, and a High School in New York state. He was first employed at seventeen years of age, under Tom S. Rubidge, C. E., on the surveys of the Grand Trunk Railway, and was thus engaged for about three years. He then acted under William Ellis, C.E., on the construction of the Grand Trunk Railway at Prescott, where he had charge, as resident engineer, of a section; subsequently, when that section was completed, he had charge of another section at Mallorytown, west of Brockville, on the Grand Trunk Railway. After completion of this work in the fall of 1856, he was employed under George G. Dixon, chief engineer of the Brockville and Ottawa Railroad, as resident engineer, in charge of the construction of a section at Carleton Place. In February, 1858, he was employed by the firm of Wilson, Row & Co., contractors, as engineer, to construct about one hundred and twenty-four miles of county gravel roads, in the County of Huron, and this enterprise occupied about three years. Mr. Farran was one of the first speculators, in 1861, in oil lands, after the discovery of petroleum in the County of Lambton the previous year, and by the aid of an aged American, who had then discovered a process, as he thought of deodorizing the coal oil or petroleum, he commenced the construction of an oil refinery. ... In November, 1864, the partners abandoned the oil springs and sold out. On the 1st of December, 1864, he was appointed division court clerk at Clinton, County of Huron, by the late Judge Cooper, and this office he has since held. ... In November, 1882, he joined D. F. Macpherson and C. E. Hovey, in the Clinton foundry and agricultural implement manufactory, the firm being known as Farran, Macpherson & Hovey, they having become successors of Glasgow, Macpherson & Co., established in 1862. In this business out subject is now engaged. In May, 1883, he joined J. P. Tisdall in the business of private banking in Clinton, under the style of Farran & Tisdall, and is also still engaged in private banking. ...

• Catalog of the Clinton Thresher Co., dated 1902.
• October 1905 The Labour Gazette.

  Clinton.—The Clinton Thresher Company has been formed and will in a short time take over the plant of the Macpherson & Hovey Company. The new company has a capital of $50,000 and will manufacture separators and engines, portable and traction, as well as carrying on a general foundry business. It is proposed to erect new buildings, and the town is to be asked to guarantee the company’s bonds to the amount of $10,000, which will be about the cost of enlargement.

• November 1905 Canadian Machinery & Manufacturing News, in a list of recent incorporations.

  Clinton Threshing Co., Clinton, share capital $50,000, purpose to manufacture threshing machines, engines and other machinery. The directors are:—D. A. Forrester, Goderich, and W. W. Farran, W. Jackson, W. Gunn and C. Hovey, all of Clinton.

• February 1907 The Labour Gazette.

  Clinton.—The Clinton Thresher Co. held its annual meeting. The financial statement is satisfactory and prospects for the coming year are bright, over $13,000 of orders being now on hand.

• The 1973 book Cars of Canada, by Hugh Durnford, and Glenn Baechler.

  The Clinton Motor Car Co. Limited of Clinton, Ontario, was an outgrowth of the Clinton Thresher Co. Among the backers were W.J. Nediger and James Stevenson, who had made their money operating a steam generating plant before electricity came into the area. About 1908 the thresher factory burned; by 1911 it had been rebuilt and adapted as an automobile and truck factory. The first touring car built was bought by Mrs. Joseph Whitehead, wife of the town's first reeve. The company put on a full display at the 1912 auto show.

• From the 2006 book History of Canadian Business, 1867-1914, by R. T. Naylor.

  W. W. Farran, of the banking firm Farran and Tisdale, was a partner in Farran, Macpherson and Hovey, the oldest thresher manufacturers in Canada.