Best known as a maker of agricultural machinery, especially seed drills, this company is known as a maker of woodworking machinery from a single listing in an 1888 directory. The business was established by Lyman Bickford and Henry Huffman in 1842. In 1903 they merged with others to form the American Seeding Machine Co.
Information Sources
- From a page on the website of the Henry Ford Museum: "Lyman Bickford and Henry Huffman founded what became The Bickford & Huffman Co. in 1842. By the 1870s their small company in Macedon, NY sold one of nation's most effective mechanical planters..."
- From Encyclopedia of American Farm Implements & Antiques, by Charles H. Wendel: "Bickford & Huffman was one of the early manufacturers of grain drills... Its Farmers' Favorite drills were very popular... In 1903 Bickford & Huffman merged with others to form American Seeding Machine Co."
- From The Railroad, Telegraph, and Steamship Builders' Directory, 1888: a listing under wood-working machinery for "Bickford & Huffman, Macedon, N. Y."
- According to a page on Oliver Farm Equipment, the companies that merged with Bickford & Huffman to form American Seeding Machine Co. were Hoosier Drill Co., P. P. Mast and Co., Superior Drill Co., and Empire Drill Co.