This firm was founded in 1885 or 1886 as Cant Bros. & Co., with partners John, Hugh, Andrew and Hugh A. Cant, plus B. Maurer. By 1895 it was Cant Bros. Co., with Hugh Cant having retired, and Maurer having apparently also left the firm.

This business is one of four Galt makers of woodworking machinery that have intertwined histories, the other companies being Cant, Laidlaw & Co., Cant, Gourlay & Co., and MacGregor, Gourlay & Co. Cant Brothers seems to have been created in 1885 or 1886 with the renaming of Cant, Laidlaw & Co. The company survived until at least 1895.

The product line of Cant Brothers is not well known, but it likely constituted a fairly full line of woodworking machinery.

Co-founder Andrew Cant had moved to Lancaster, NY., by 1896, when he founded Lancaster Knives. That firm made, and still makes, knives for woodworking machinery; in their early years they made machinery also. The current president, Scott Cant, is a direct descendant of Andrew.

Do you have more information?

I am especially interested in woodworking machinery manufacturers from Ontario, and particularly Cambridge, so if you have any information on relevant woodworking machinery companies and products, I strongly urge you to contact the Historian.

Information Sources

• The 1851 Census lists the following Cants living in Galt.
  • Hugh, male, millwright, age 51, born in Scotland.
  • Ellison, female, age 50, born in Scotland.
  • Adam, male, millwright, age 23, born in Scotland.
  • Francis, male, millwright, age 17, born in Scotland.
  • William, male, age 15, born in Scotland.
  • Andrew, male, age 13, born in Scotland.
  • Eliza, female, age 12, born in Scotland.
  • Ellen, female, age 9, born in Upper Canada.
  • John, male, age 23, saddler, born in Scotland.
  • Hugh, male, age 19, saddler, born in Scotland.
• The Waterloo Genealogical Society's website has a document with transcriptions of death notices 1866-1870 from the Dumfries Reformer, including the 1869-10-12 death of Hugh Howard James Cant, age two months, son of Hugh Cant (Junior). Also listed is the death of Hugh Cant (Senior) on 1867-03-26. The latter's residence was at the corner of Forbes and Glebe streets.
• Lovell's Canadian Dominion Directory for 1871 lists Adam Cant as a patternmaker, Hugh Cant (probably Junior, since there is a separate listing for a widow of Hugh Cant) as a saddler, and John Cant as a carriage trimmer. There is no listing for Cant Brothers or any other business bearing the Cant name.
• Lovell's Canadian Dominion Directory for 1871 lists Canada patents issued to date, including the following:
  • 1857-05-04 to A. Cant, for a "new moveable scaffold".
  • 1857-12-15 to A. Cant, for a "new root cutting machine".
  • 1864-02-11 to H. Cant, for "Cant's rotary engine".
  • 1868-08-17 to H. Cant, for "Cant's air heater".
• Thanks to City of Cambridge archivist Jim Quantrell for providing some of the information in this listing. Thanks also to John Bartley for providing us with scans of most of the primary sources listed below.
• The Waterloo County Gazetteer and Directory for 1884-5 lists Cant, Laidlaw & Co. and Cant, Gourlay & Co. Hugh and John Cant were partners in Cant, Laidlaw & Co. The Ontario Gazetteer and Business Directory for 1884-5 provides the same information, except that it also lists Adam Cant as a partner.
• The Ontario Gazetteer and Business Directory for 1886-7 lists "Cant Bros. & Co. (John, Hugh, Andrew and Hugh A. Cant, B. Maurer), wood working machinery, w Main."
• The Ontario Gazetteer and Business Directory for 1892-3 lists "Cant Bros. Co. (Ltd), Andrew Cant, pres, John Cant, vice-pres and mngr, A. Bisset Thom, sec, woodworking machinery, w Main".
• The Ontario Gazetteer and Business Directory for 1895 lists Cant Bros. Co. (Ltd), exactly the same as in their 1892-3 directory.
• Thanks to Bob Jones for reporting his 16" Cant Bros. jointer.
• The Region of Waterloo website has this biography of Hugh Cant:

  Serving in public life in Galt for forty years after taking up residence in 1845 made Hugh Cant, the 1903 mayor, an authority on the town’s early history. In 1915 he wrote an interesting brochure, “Historical Reminiscences of Galt.” He was a native of Calcairn Mills, Rosshire, Scotland.

  In early life, when horses were very numerous, Cant engaged in the harness and saddlery business and had a busy shop on Main Street. He then became a partner with his brothers Andrew and John, in the firm of Cant Brothers, a woodworking machinery company, from which he retired in 1890.

  Cant was actively associated with the Galt Town Council, the Board of Trade, the Galt Collegiate Institute Board and the Public School Board. He was a director of the Gore Mutual Insurance Company from 1877 until his death in 1917, having become president four years earlier in 1913.

• Cambridge archivist Jim Quantrell verified for us that Hugh Cant's above-mentioned booklet, Historical Reminiscences of Galt, contains no useful information on this or related companies. A copy of this rare booklet is in the collection of the D. B. Weldon Library at the University of Western Ontario.
• The 1886 cyclopedia, Rose's National Biographical Series I has the following entry, supplied to us by Joel Havens:

  Cant, John, Galt, was born in Rossshire, Scotland, on the 30th June, 1830. He came to Canada with his father, in 1843, settling at Galt; and here his father died in 1869, leaving a family of eleven children, John being the fourth. In Galt John Cant learned the trade of harness making, but about the year 1872 he gave up this business, and entered as book-keeper in the firm of Cant, Gourlay & Co. Here he remained till 1881, when he entered into partnership with William Laidlaw, Hugh Cant and Andrew Cant, in the manufacture of woodworking machinery; and the operations of the house have since met with considerable success. In 1882, Mr. Cant was elected to the town council of Galt, and at the period of writing, is serving his third year in that body. He has likewise sat at the school board, having been always interested in the promotion of education. Mr. Cant is a Presbyterian, and has for many years been a trustee of Knox church. In general politics he has always taken an intelligent interest, and is a staunch advocate of the policy of the party led by Hon. Edward Blake. Mr. Cant married in 1861, Margaret, daughter of the late John Veitch, of the town of Galt, and one of the early settlers of that place. By this lady he has a family of three children, one son and two daughters. Our subject, it may be said, is senior member of the business house already alluded to; and he gives his attention to the financing and general management of the same. Mr. Cant has all those qualities which in commerce make a man successful, and which obtain the esteem and the good will of the community.

• The Electrical Engineer, V12 p. 101, 22 Jul 1891 has the following entry (forwarded to us by Joel Havens):

  ALUMINIUM CARBON CO.
  The above company, a recent comer in the field of arc-light carbon production, is attracting considerable attention, not only by its new departure, but by the excellence of its manufactures. It has established itself with headquarters at Room 69, Coal and Iron Exchange, Buffalo, N Y.,and carries on its factory at Lancaster, N. Y. The company has as its officers Andrew Cant, president; It. J. Getz, vice-president ; Fred V. Doty, secretary and treasurer; and W. H. Boulton, as superintendent. The list is such we think as to inspire no little confidence among "old time " central station men, who know what good carbons are and who have been the makers of them. Mr. Doty, it may be added, is also the general manager. The company write us: " We are now producing a superior line of carbons to those now on the market, and can safely guarantee that they will burn 23 per cent, longer than any carbon now on the market, and also will produce a perfectly white and steady light." Evidently, a company that has this faith in its product moans business and will get no small share of trade.