John Alexander Chisholm

John's father owned the 'Oakville Basket Factory', which exposed him to industrial machinery from a young age, giving him the opportunity to develop skills in mechanical engineering.

In 1890 their invention passed field tests in New York state and the brothers soon formed a partnership with Robert P. Scott as the Chisholm-Scott Company.

[2] These machines could remove as many peas from pods as 600 workers could do by hand, vastly improving the efficiency of this branch of agriculture.

For example, they developed an apparatus for spreading air exhaust to eliminate pea aphids during an epidemic of the insects in Maryland.

John and Sarah moved to Rochester, New York and later to Washington D.C., although they kept a summer home in Oakville named 'Mt.