A Cyclopædia of Canadian Biography: Brief biographies of persons distinguished in the professional, military and political life, and the commerce and industry of Canada, in the twentieth century
History
A Cyclopædia of Canadian Biography: Brief biographies of persons distinguished in the professional, military and political life, and the commerce and industry of Canada, in the twentieth century
Canada -- Biography
=Massey, C. D.= (Toronto, Ont.). The name of Massey is known throughout
the length and breadth of Canada, not only on account of the vastness of
the business interests associated with that name, but because of the
great philanthropies with which it is also synonymous. As the surviving
head of the family that has built up Canada’s greatest individual
industrial enterprise, the figure of Mr. Chester Daniel Massey, the
subject of this sketch, is doubly fraught with interest. He is the son
of the late Hart A. Massey, who was the son and successor in business of
Daniel Massey, the founder of the great establishment for the
manufacture of agricultural implements now known as the Massey-Harris
Company, Limited, and has been associated with that business, of which
he is now the Honorary President, since boyhood. Both the brothers who
had also been identified with the growth and management of the
enterprise, Charles A. Massey and Walter E. H. Massey, have also passed
away. But Mr. Chester D. Massey is splendidly carrying out the
traditions of the family. He was born on June 17, 1850, in Haldimand
Township, in the County of Northumberland, Ontario, and received his
education at the Public Schools of the province. While still a boy he
entered the business establishment of his father, then centred at
Newcastle, Ontario. Literally speaking, he has grown up with the
business, which in turn has grown up with the country (coincident with
the vast expansion of agricultural enterprise in Canada). In 1879 the
headquarters of the Massey firm were removed to Toronto, where Mr.
Massey has resided since the year 1882. In 1884 his eldest brother,
Charles A. Massey, died, and the duties devolving on him became the
heavier. The period that has elapsed since then has been one of immense
expansion, which the firm attained by a judicious policy of amalgamation
and by extending its agencies not only from the Atlantic to the Pacific,
but beyond the seven seas in all the corners of the earth. As has been
intimated, commercial interests do not by any means absorb the entire
attention of Mr. Massey. He is largely interested in all religious and
philanthropic movements. He is a member of the Methodist Church, to
which he is greatly attached, and his voice is at all times valued in
its councils. He is a Governor of the University of Toronto; a Regent of
Victoria University, and a Trustee of the Metropolitan Church and the
Methodist Deaconess Home and Training School, all of Toronto. He is also
a Trustee of Massey Music Hall, one of the finest buildings that
unselfish citizenship ever gave to a community. As chief executor of his
father’s estate, he necessarily takes a deep interest in the valuable
works of philanthropy which have been carried out under the provisions
of the will. On March 17, 1886, Mr. Massey was married at Erie, Pa., to
Miss Anna D. Vincent (deceased, London, England, November 11, 1903), and
secondly to Miss Margaret Phelps, of Gloversville, N.Y., Jan. 3, 1907;
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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