Massey (family) : Hart Massey was born in Cobourg, Upper Canada in 1823. In 1851 he joined the manufacturing foundry and import business (the Newcastle Agriculture Works) founded by his father Daniel; Hart Massey became a partner and general manager of the firm the following year. Upon Daniel Massey's retirement in 1855, the firm became the H.A. Massey Company and in 1870 was incorporated as the Massey Manufacturing Company.
Hart Massey retired in 1870, but he returned to head the business in 1884 after the death of his eldest son and successor, Charles Albert Massey. As the reputation of Massey products grew, so did their success in international exhibitions and meets. Competition increased and in 1891 the Massey company merged with its closest rival, A. Harris, Son and Company, forming the Massey-Harris Company. Hart Massey remained president until his death in 1896.
Chester Massey , the second son of Hart A. Massey, was born in 1850 and was educated at Victoria College, Toronto. He served as secretary of the family business from 1870, as director and treasurer of the new Massey-Harris Company from 1891 and as company president from 1901 until 1903 when he resigned due to ill health; he remained honourary president until his death in 1926. From 1896 to 1926 he administered the H.A. Massey Estate, later the Massey Foundation.
Arletta Massey (1843-1884) was a sister of Hart A. Massey.
Anna Vincent Massey (d. 1903) was the first wife of Chester D. Massey and the mother of Vincent Massey.
Lillian Massey (1854-1915) was a daughter of Hart A. Massey.
Walter E.H. Massey (1864-1901), son of Hart A. Massey spent his adult life in the family business and was president of Massey-Harris from 1896 to 1901.
Eliza Phelps Massey (1823-1908) was the wife of Hart A. Massey.
Vincent Massey, the elder son of Chester D. and Anna Vincent Massey, was born in Toronto in 1887. He attended the University of Toronto and Oxford University. He was involved in the establishment of Hart House from 1910 until its completion in 1919. He served on the staff of Military District Number 2, Camp Borden, 1915-1918, and then went to Ottawa as associate secretary of the War Committee of the Cabinet and its successor, the Repatriation and Employment Committee.
Vincent Massey served as president of Massey-Harris, 1921-1925, Minister without Portfolio in the King government of 1925, the first Canadian Minister to the United States, 1926-1930, president of the National Liberal Federation, 1932-1935, High Commissioner for Canada in the United Kingdom, 1935-1946, and Chairman of the Royal Commission on the Development of the Arts, Letters and Sciences, 1949-1951. He was appointed the first Canadian born Governor General in 1952 and remained in office until 1959. He died in 1967.
Alice Massey was born in Fredericton, N.B., in 1880, the daughter of Sir George and Annie Parkin. She was educated in Canada, England and Switzerland. In 1914 she was appointed head of the women's students hostel at the University of Toronto.
During the Second World War, when her husband was High Commissioner for Canada in the United Kingdom, she was actively involved in the establishment and operation of several organizations set up for the benefit of Canadian service personnel in England -- Garnons, a convalescing home for Canadian servicemen, the Canadian Officers' Club and the Beaver Club. Mrs. Massey died in 1950.
Lionel Massey, elder son of Vincent and Alice Massey, was born in 1916 and attended Balliol College, Oxford University, 1935-1938. In 1938 he became secretary for the British delegation to the British Commonwealth Relations Conference meeting in Australia. He joined the British Army in 1939 and while serving in Greece in 1941 was severely wounded and taken prisoner of war. He was released in 1944 and discharged from the Army in 1946. Lioned served as an executive for the Massey-Harris Company before becoming secretary to the Governor-General with his father's appointment in 1952. He died in 1965.
Hart Massey, younger son of Vincent and Alice Massey, was born in 1918. He was educated at Oxford University and the University of Toronto. He served in the Second World War as an intelligence officer with the Royal Canadian Air Force. An architect, he practised in London, England, and Ottawa. He was a director of the Massey Foundation. He died in 1997.
