The A. B. Farquhar Co., Ltd. has a long and interesting history. In 1852, Arthur Briggs Farqhuar, who was not quite 18 years old at the time, went to work for the W. W. Dingee & Company, a small manufacturer of agricultural implements in York, PA. Only 18 months later, he informed his bosses that he intended to leave the company and start his own business. By this time, Farquhar was so important to Dingee that they asked him to stay on for an extra month in order to facilitate the transition - but by the end of that period, Dingee instead offered Farquhar a partnership in the company in order to get him to stay.

Sometime during the Civil War (1861-1865), the Dingee factory was destroyed by fire, and at that time, Farquhar took over all liabilities and assets of the W. W. Dingee & Company and formed a new company called the Pennsylvania Agricultural Works. The company continued to make agricultural implements, including small steam engines.

While the new company was in business under the Pennsylvania Agricultural Works name, they were not formally incorporated until 1899, and then only because of estate planning purposes - Farquhar wanted to be in control of facilitating the distribution of his estate upon his death.

Eventually, the Pennsylvania Agricultural Works name was discontinued and the company instead went by their new incorporated name, A. G. Farquhar Company, Limited. Among other products,  they manufactured steam engines, traction engines, circular sawmills and edgers. It became Farquhar Sawmill Division after its acquisition by the Oliver Corp. in 1952. In Feb., 1956 Oliver sold the division to E. E. Titus, Inc. of Petersburg, VA. Titus began manufacturing sawmills for export later that year.

"The A. B. Farquhar Company, Limited, otherwise known as the Pennsylvania Agricultural Works, was founded in 1856 by A. B. Farquhar, who remains at the head of the company, after having conducted it through fifty years of continual increase in size and prosperity. The firm is one of the leading agricultural implement concerns in America. Its products consist mainly of engines, boilers, saw mills and threshing machinery, in addition to grain drills, plows and many other agricultural implements. Originally this firm sold its products in this country and then expanded its trade across the ocean. A large number of engines and boilers have been sold in Russia, plows in South Africa, engines, plows, boilers, saw mills in Cuba and South America. The business was conducted by A. B. Farquhar as the sole proprietor, and later he associated with him his sons William E. and Francis under the firm name of A. B. Farquhar & Sons. In 1887 the business was incorporated as the A. B. Farquhar Company, Limited, with a capital stock of $500,000, with A. B. Farquhar president, W. A. Farquhar vice president and B. H. Farquhar secretary and treasurer. In 1906, upon the death of B. H. Farquhar, Francis Farquhar became secretary and treasurer. The large industry conducted by this company has been in continuous operation since it was founded under its present head, through all times of financial depression as well as eras of prosperity. For a period of twenty years the average number of men employed at these works was 500. Since 1889, about 600 men have been regularly at work in the different departments. The value of the annual product exceeds $1,000,000." (Quote from 1907.)

Information Sources

• 1899 general catalog that shows a circular sawmill.
• 1920 catalog of sawmill machinery.
• The U. S. Forest Products Laboratory published a booklet dated March 1936, Operating small sawmills, methods, bibliography, and sources of equipment by C. J. Telford. A table lists the makers of various types of equipment, including circular sawmills, band sawmills, edgers, and planers. This company was listed as a maker of circular sawmills, edgers, steam boilers and engines, and gasoline engines. The address was given as 148 Duke Street.
• Listed in C. H. Wendel's "The Circular Sawmill", which says, "Established already in 1856, A. B. Farquhar Co. at York Pa emerged as a builder of first-class steam engines, threshers, and sawmills. The company operated until its acquisition by the Oliver Corp. in 1952.
• A Short History of the A.B. Farquhar Company was published in the March/April 2002 issue of Steam Traction Magazine.
  
• Steam Power on the American Farm by Reynold M. Wik, 1953 pages 252 & 254
• More history and machine information can formerly be found at York County Heritage Trust (archive.org link).
• American Gasoline Engines Since 1872 by C. H. Wendel, Volume #1, 1983 page 170
• The Complete Guide to Stationary Gas Engines by Mark Meincke, 1996 page 117
• The Steam Tractor Encyclopedia by John F. Spalding & Robert T. Rhode, 2011 pages 148-160
• The Progress-Index (Petersburg, VA), Aug. 19, 1956, pg. 18
• History of York County, Pennsylvania, V1, 1907, pg.764