444 South Olds Avenue Hartford, Michigan 49057-1355
I am still in shock over this good news. I met Mr. John Parrett,
the son of the late Dent Parrett, maker of Parrett tractor at the
Michigan Fly wheelers Show in South Haven, Michigan, September 8,
2000, and what a surprise! He was asked to come to the show to see
the beautifully restored Parrett tractor and to test-drive it.
The tractor is now owned by Dewayne Bogard. It sat for many
years at the late Alfred Woods Repair Shop. Mr. Bogard restored the
tractor in just three months. What a beautiful tractor, and in mint
condition. Mr. Bogard asked John Parrett to drive the tractor and
Mr. Parrett told me that he grew up on a Parrett tractor. He was so
happy behind the wheel you could see that he was feeling sixty
years younger. A couple of days later I called John Parrett and
talked with him. I had to tell him I saw him drive the tractor
through the show grounds all the way to his car, with Mr. Bogard
standing on the draw-bar. John Parrett told me that his father, the
late Dent Parrett, was also a consulting engineer and designed
numbers one, two and three for the Duplex Tractor Company of Battle
Creek, Michigan. He believes that they moved to Minneapolis,
Minnesota. He also said that Bradley Tractor Company made Bradley
tractors for a short time to supply Sears-Roebuck farm stores. John
Parrett says that Parrett Tractors made a little over a hundred
tractors; he thinks that the actual figure was 104. The local
dealer for Parrett tractors was R. B. Collins in Benton Harbor,
Michigan.
John T. Parrett is also a consulting engineer and worked at Ross
Carrier in Benton Harbor, Michigan, from 1927 to 1938.
