In 1865 the firm of Connell, Gleason & Graham was established to manufacture woodworking and metalworking machinery. In 1871, James S. Graham left that partnership and established J. S. Graham & Co. to make woodworking machinery, especially planing-mill machines. John Kane joined the business as a partner in 1872. By 1877 they had thirty employees. The company continued as a prosperous mid-sized manufacturer. At some point after 1889 it appears that Kane retired from the business, which then became the J. S. Graham Machine Co. In 1902 their factory was completely destroyed in a fire, and this appears to have spelled the end of the business. In 1904 J. S. Graham was appointed president of the Rochester Gas Engine Co., and it was reported that his interest in the Graham Machine Co. had been sold to the A. T. Hagen Co., a Rochester-based manufacturer of laundry machines.

Although Graham made a full line of woodworking machinery, they were best known for their wood planers.  Their planer-matcher line used the "Victor" name, and the machine's claim to fame was the speed with which it could be converted from a matcher to a surfacer.

Information Sources

• 1872 catalog
• Ad and article in 1875 Manufacturer & Builder.
• Listed in a work published by the United States Centennial commission, Official Catalog of the 1876 International Exhibition, as a maker of "planing, tonguing and grooving machines, circular re-sawing machine, moulding machines, matching heads, and cutters."
• An ad in the May 1889 issue of "The Wood-Worker" is for "J. S. Graham & Co. / J. S. Graham / John Kane / West Street — Rochester, New York / manufacturers of wood-working machinery". Machines pictured in the ad include a circular resaw, the No. 1 Pony Double Surfacer, No. 1 Standard Molder and Planer, No. 2 Saw Table, and No. 1 Variety Molder (i.e., a spindle shaper).
• The History of Monroe County, New York, published in 1877, states the following about the history of J. S. Graham & Co.

  J. S. Graham & Co., manufacturers of wood-working machinery.  Mr. Graham was a member of the firm Connell, Gleason & Graham, organized in 1865. He established the present business in 1871, on the corner of Factory and Mill Streets. In the following year, John Kane was admitted as a partner, and the establishment has since been known as J. S. Graham & Co. In 1874 the business was removed from the old stand to the Clinton Buildings on Mill street, foot of Factory. They make a specialty of planning-mill machinery, and the annual product amounts to fifty thousand dollars.  Employ thirty men. Both members of the firm are practical machinist, and give the business their personal supervision. Other manufacturers of wood-working machinery are Connell & Dengler and L. Ziegler & Co.

• Industrial Advance of Rochester 1884, pg. 85.

  We have before made some general editorial remarks upon the character of those manufacturing enterprises, which have done so much to promote the fair fame of this city as a producing center. Taking up such industries in detail, however, it becomes necessary to devote a brief space, at least, to the house of J. S. Graham & Co., which, in the line of woodworking machinery, occupies a prominent position in the industrial community and is entitled to due consideration.

  The house was founded in 1867 as Connell, Gleason & Graham and so continued until 1872, when the present personelle was adopted. The plant is comprised in a commodious building, occupying two floors 150x42 feet in dimensions. Thirty expert mechanics find occupation here, and all their operations are conducted under the personal supervision of the members of the firm, who are practical men in every sense of the term.

  The manufacture of heavy planing, re-sawing machines and molding machines forms the leading specialty of the house. These machines are made from patterns and designs of their own and they have met with great favor from the trade as being the best, strongest, most simple and easily operated machinery of the kind in the market, and have proved to be valuable to the wood-working trade.

  Besides the above the house manufactures Improved Automatic Knife-Grinding Machines, Self-Feeding Gang Ripping Machines, Patent Improved Power Mortises, Tenoning Machines, Patent Band Scroll and Saw Machines, Sand Papering Machines, Patent Sash Dove-Tailing Machines, besides various other useful appliances. All the productions of the house are constructed with unusual care and accuracy, and of the best and most durable materials. Many of the incidental improvements are due to long experience and patient observation on the part of the members of the firm, to the result that perfection shall be as nearly attained as human ingenuity and brains can achieve.

  The members of the firm are J. S. Graham and John Kane, both residents of Rochester, and as before said, gentlemen of large experience in the business.

  The house publishes a beautifully illustrated and comprehensive catalogue, which will be sent on application, as well as details and estimates, if required.

  In conclusion, we can but say that in all respects this house is adequate to meet any demands that may be made upon its resources, and those interested in its products will find by corresponding with it, that many advantages will accrue from the formation and maintenance of business relations with it.

• The Jan. 11, 1902 issue of The Age of Steel magazine reported that "The J. S. Graham Machine Company's large plant at Rochester, N. Y. was totally destroyed by fire, the damage being estimated at $100,000."  The destruction of their plant more than likely marked the end of this business.  In 1904, J. S. Graham was appointed president of the Rochester Gas Engine Company and it was reported that his interest in the "Graham Machine Company" was sold to the A. T. Hagen Company.
• An article in the March 1904 issue of Engineering Magazine states that the Rochester Gas Engine Company had announced that they had re-organized with J. S. Graham as President, and that "Messrs. J. S. and W. J. Graham have been manufacturers of machinery in the city of Rochester for many years, under the name of The Graham Machine Company, and have recently disposed of their interests to the A. T. Hagen Company."
  
• According to Planers, Matchers and Molders in America, this firm was still around in 1897.