In about 1882 Jonathan E. Porter left a pistol manufacturing business and set up operations on the second floor of the pistol manufactory to make metal lathes. The Porter Machine Works' new lathes were successful and in 1886 Porter took on a partner, Lewis Warner, to fund the building of a new shop on the East side of Prospect Street. In 1892 Warner withdrew and in 1898 the Machine Works' superintendent, Hugh McLeod, became partner. At the end of 1899 McLeod married Porter's daughter Elizabeth.

Mr. Porter died in 1921 and McLeod became sole owner, changing the name to Porter-McLeod Machine Tool Co. The business continued until the early 1980s, at some point becoming Porter-McLeod Machine Tool Co., Inc.

Information Sources

• The 1910 book, A history of Hatfield, Massachusetts, by D. W. Wells.

  About 1874 the Crescent Pistol Company was organized by Henry S. Porter, Edward Preston, and Jonathan E. Porter, who commenced to manufacture pistols at the old Moore sawmill, on the site of the so-called "pistol ship." In February, 1877, Andrew Hyde and Maj. Charles S. Shattuck brought up from Springfield their pistol manufacturing business and went into partnership with Mrs. Mary D. Porter. A year later Mrs. Porter withdrew and the business was continued by Hyde and Shattuck. In 1880 Major Shattuck bought out his partner and conducted the factory alone, turning out many revolvers. Soon after he began to make single-barreled, breech-loading shotguns and a few years later double-barreled guns also. Large quantities of both were made, averaging for a time 15,000 guns per year.

  The old factory was burned Jan. 29, 1881. It was immediately rebuilt on the same site. ...

  About 1882 Jonathan E. Porter hired part of the upstairs floor space of the Shattuck shop for the manufacture of lathes. The product found a good market and larger quarters became necessary. The present lathe shop was built in 1886 and has been enlarged several times since to meet the requirements of a growing business. From 1886 to 1892 Mr. Porter was in company with Lewis Warner of Northampton. Then Mr. Warner withdrew and Mr. Porter, with his son-in-law, Hugh McLeod, has continued the manufacture of a full line of engine lathes under the name of the Porter Machine Company.

  This book also provided genealogical information on the Porter family, including the date of the marriage between Elizabeth Porter and Hugh McLeod.
• Iron Trade review, 28 Jul 1921 pg 246.

  JONATHAN E. PORTER, founder of the Porter Machine Works, Hatfield, Mass., and inventor of the Porter lathe, died at his summer home in Crescent Beach, Conn., July 21, aged 72 years. A native of Hatfield, his first business venture was with the Prescott Piston [should be "Pistol"?] Co., with which he remained for seven years. He then bought the foundry of H. Porter, which was burned, and in 1884 built a factory for the building of lathes, which has grown to the present size of the Porter Machine Works.

• 1933 edition of The National Cyclopædia of American Biography.

  McLEOD, Hugh, manufacturer, was born at Wine Harbor, Nova Scotia, May 2, 1867, son of Kenneth and Jane (Culluch) McLeod, his father being a native of Lewes, Scotland. At fourteen years of age he came with his brother to Worcester, Mass., where he attended the public schools and later studied engineering at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He entered the employ of the Porter Machine Works, manufacturers of metal-working lathes, at Hatfield, Mass., as superintendent and in 1898 became a partner in the business. On the death of Mr. Porter in 1921 he became the sole owner, continuing the firm as the Porter-McLeod Machine Tool Co.

• American Lathe Builders: 1810-1910 by Kenneth L. Cope, 2001 page 124, says that Porter Machine Works reorganized in 1898 as the Porter & McLeod Tool Co. when Hugh McLeod joined the firm. This is the only occurrence of the "Porter & McLeod" name we can find and we find no evidence to support a name change before 1921.