Dexter M. Ferry

Dexter Mason Ferry (August 8, 1833 – November 10, 1907) was a businessman from Detroit, Michigan who founded D.M. Ferry & Co., at one time the largest seed company in the world. Early life Dexter M. Ferry was born in Lowville, New York on August 8, 1833, the son of wagonmaker Joseph N. and Lucy Mason Ferry. When Dexter was three, his father died, and his mother moved to Penfield, New York, where Dexter spent his school years. When he was 16, Dexter Ferry began working on a farm, earning $10 per month, and attending school in the winter. In 1851, he began working for Ezra M. Parsons of Rochester, New York, and entered school there. A few months later, Parsons secured a position as an errand boy for Ferry at the S.D. Elwood & Company of Detroit, a stationery firm, and in 1852 Ferry moved to Detroit. He was soon promoted to salesman at the firm, and later bookkeeper. D.M. Ferry & Co. In 1856, Ferry got into the seed-growing business as a junior partner, along with Milo T. Gardner and Eber F. Church, of M.T. Gardner & Company (also known as Gardner, Ferry, and Church). The first year, the company did $6000 in business and it continued to be stable, but unremarkable, until 1865, when Ferry bought out Gardner's share and took over the company. Ferry changed the company name to Ferry, Church & Co, and two years later, when Church retired, changed the name again, this time to D.M. Ferry & Co. Ferry introduced several innovations in the seed-vending business. He sold only fresh seed, increasing germination rates and establishing a reputation for quality. Ferry was among the first to sell seeds in small packets.