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- Story 1:
Robert McKechnie was born in Ireland (place unknown) about 1810. He married Margaret Watters in Cardross Parish, Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on 9 March 1833. Their son, Robert McKechnie, was born in Glasgow 16 June 1834. He emigrated to Canada, married Isabelle Ross (17 Jan 1858) and settled in Dundas, Ontario.
Alternative Story
Two immigrant Scotsmen, John Bertram and Robert McKechnie, entered into partnership in 1863 in a small plant which they named Canada Tool Works, in Dundas, Ontario. This was the beginning of the John Bertram and Sons Company Limited, a Canadian pioneer in machine tools manufacture, known now as Bertram Machine and Tool Company, a division of Levy Industries Limited.
Before the partnership was formed, John McKechnie had operated a small pattern and machine shop making planers, molding machines and shapers for wood. By the time John Bertram joined him, the new era of large-scale railroad production had inaugurated a demand for maintenance tools and engineering equipment for car and locomotive shops, and was boosting the production of metal machine tools. McKechnie & Bertram gradually discontinued the manufacture of woodworking tools and by the 1880's the firm was making a variety of standard machine tools as well as others specially designed for the locomotive industry, such as car wheel lathes, car wheel borers and a multiple spindle drill. Later, as stationary steam engines were replaced by electric power, the company supplied machine tools that were used in manufacturing the large generators and motors required for production and use of electricity.
The McKechnie & Bertram partnership continued until Robert McKechnie's retirement in 1886. John Bertram died in 1906. His eldest son, Alexander (later Brigadier-General Sir Alexander Bertram) became President, and his brother Henry, Secretary-Treasurer. Alexander, Chairman of the Shell Committee during World War I, was knighted for his work in organizing munitions manufacturing in Canada; his brother Henry organized Bertram's for war production and supervised the development of the necessary new machine tools.
Third Story
McKechnie & Bertram was founded in 1863 in Dundas, Ontario; their manufactory was known as the Canada Tool Works. The founders were Robert McKechnie (1836-?) and John Bertram (1829-1906). McKechnie & Bertram was a major supplier to railway companies, especially the Canadian Pacific Railway. In 1872 they had 150 employees.
McKechnie & Bertram became John Bertram & Sons in 1886; the Canada Tools Works name was also used for many years. In 1901 the name became John Bertram & Sons Co., Ltd. to comply with Canada's new Companies Act.
Within a few years of their inception in 1864, McKechnie & Bertram manufactured a broad line of woodworking machinery, including planers, matchers, molders, tenoners, shapers, scrollsaw, and lathes. This line continued until at least 1888. Over time, the woodworking machinery products were gradually dropped in favor of the machine tools. This process was essentially complete by 1901, when their products were "machine tools, machines, and pulp and paper machines".
In about 1908 the machine-tool line was sold to Niles-Bement-Pond Co. of Jersey City, NJ. In 1951 the Bertram family sold the rest of the John Bertram company to a holding company, Russell Industries, Ltd. of Toronto. The company subsequently changed hands several times, but retained the Bertram name. In 1974 it became Orenstein & Koppel Canada, Ltd. The doors finally closed in 1986. In 1996 their Dundas factory was demolished to make room for condominiums.
- from "Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947" (ancestry.com)
Robert McKechnie, 95, residing Dundas, Wentworth, ONT, born IRL, died on 6 Nov 1902 in Wentworth Co of old age.
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1807 - 1902 (94 years)