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SMITHSONIAN
INSTITUTION
[Illustration]
UNITED STATES
NATIONAL MUSEUM
BULLETIN 231
WASHINGTON, D.C.
1964
Publications of the United States National Museum
The scholarly publications of the United States National Museum include
two series, _Proceedings of the United States National Museum_ and
_United States National Museum Bulletin_.
In these series are published original articles and monographs dealing
with the collections and work of the Museum and setting forth newly
acquired facts in the fields of anthropology, biology, geology, history,
and technology. Copies of each publication are distributed to libraries
and scientific organizations and to specialists and others interested in
the various subjects.
The _Proceedings_, begun in 1878, are intended for the publication, in
separate form, of shorter papers. These are gathered in volumes, octavo
in size, with the publication date of each paper recorded in the table
of contents of the volume.
In the _Bulletin_ series, the first of which was issued in 1875, appear
longer, separate publications consisting of monographs (occasionally in
several parts) and volumes in which are collected works on related
subjects. _Bulletins_ are either octavo or quarto in size, depending on
the needs of the presentation. Since 1902 papers relating to the
botanical collections of the Museum have been published in the
_Bulletin_ series under the heading _Contributions from the United
States National Herbarium_.
FRANK A. TAYLOR,
_Director, United States National Museum_.
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents,
U.S. Government Printing Office
Washington, D.C., 20402--Price $1.00 (Paper Cover)
[Illustration: Frontispiece.--"Washington as a Surveyor." Engraving
reproduced from Washington Irving's _Life of George Washington_ (New
York: 1857, vol. 1).]
EARLY AMERICAN
SCIENTIFIC
INSTRUMENTS
_and Their Makers_
SILVIO A. BEDINI
_Curator of Mechanical
and Civil Engineering_
MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
WASHINGTON, 1964
Contents
Page
Acknowledgments ix
Preface xi
THE TOOLS OF SCIENCE 3
Philosophical and Practical Instruments 3
The Need for Instruments 6
Colonial Training in Instrument Making 8
THE MATHEMATICAL PRACTITIONERS 15
The Rittenhouse Brothers 15
Andrew Ellicott 19
Owen Biddle 21
Benjamin Banneker 22
Joel Baily 24
Reverend John Prince 24
Amasa Holcomb 26
INSTRUMENTS OF METAL 27
Pre-Revolutionary Immigrant Makers 27
Post-Revolutionary Immigrant Makers 30
Native American Makers 33
New Hampshire 34
Vermont 34
Massachusetts 36
Rhode Island 43
Connecticut 45
Ohio 49
New York 51
New Jersey 53
Delaware 54
Maryland and Virginia 54
Pennsylvania 58
INSTRUMENTS OF WOOD 65
The Use of Wood 65
Surviving Instruments 69
Compass Cards 75
Trade Signs 75
The Makers 80
Joseph Halsy 80
James Halsy II 84
Thomas Greenough 85
William Williams 93
Samuel Thaxter 97
John Dupee 104
Jere Clough 105
Andrew Newell 106
Aaron Breed 107
Charles Thacher 107
Benjamin King Hagger 109
Benjamin Warren 112
Daniel Burnap 117
Gurdon Huntington 118
Jedidiah Baldwin 123
Thomas Salter Bowles 124
THE NEW ERA 130
THE NATIONAL COLLECTION 131
Appendix 153
Surviving Wooden Surveying Compasses 153
Mathematical Practitioners and
Instrument Makers 155
Bibliography 172
Index 177
Acknowledgments
The writer wishes to acknowledge his great indebtedness to the various
compilations relating to clockmakers and instruments which have been
consulted in the preparation of this work, and which have provided an
invaluable basis for it.
He is especially grateful for the generous and interested assistance of
the many who have cooperated in making this work possible. Particular
credit must be given to Mrs. H. Ropes Cabot of the Bostonian Society;
Mrs. Mary W. Phillips of the Department of Science and Technology of the
U.S. National Museum; Prof. Derek J. de Solla Price, Avalon Professor of
the History of Science at Yale University; Mr. Stephen T. Riley,
Director of the Massachusetts Historical Society; and Mr. Charles E.
Smart of Troy, New York.
Preface
Within recent years fairly exhaustive studies have been made on many
aspects of American science and technology. For example, there have been
numerous works relating to clocks and clockmakers, so that the collector
and horological student have a number of useful sources on which to
rely. More recently there has been a series of publications on the
development of American tools and their makers. Until now, however, no
systematic study has been attempted of the scientific instruments used
in the United States from its colonial beginnings. While several useful
regional lists of instrument makers in early America have been compiled
from advertisements in contemporary newspapers and published as short
articles, these, however, are fragmentary, and are inadequate to the
need for documentation in this field.
With the rapidly growing interest in the history of science, it becomes
necessary to have a more complete background for the student and the
historian alike. It is desirable to have a more comprehensive picture of
the work of the scientific practitioners of the earlier periods of
American scientific development, and of their tools. At the same time it
is essential to have a history of the development and distribution and
use of scientific instruments by others than the practitioners and
teachers. The role of the instrument maker in the American Colonies was
an important one--as it was in each epoch of the history of science in
Europe--and it deserves to be reported.
To make a comprehensive study of American scientific instruments and
instrument makers in the American Colonies is no simple matter, partly
because of an indifference to the subject in the past, and partly
because of the great volume of sources that must be sifted to accomplish
it. Such a project would require an organized search of all published
reference works relating to the field and associated topics, of all
contemporary newspapers for advertisements and notices, of civil records
filed in state and community archives, of business account-books and
records that have been preserved, and of business directories of the
period under consideration. In addition, such a study would require the
compilation of an inventory of all surviving instruments in private and
public collections, and a correlation of all the data that could be
assembled from these sources.
The present study attempts only in part to accomplish this aim, being no
more than a preliminary compilation of the scientific instruments known
to have been used during the first two centuries of American colonial
existence. It merely attempts to assemble all the data that is presently
available in scattered sources, and to organize it in a usable form for
the student and historian of American science. A supplement relating to
19th-century instruments and instrument makers is in progress.
The most that is hoped for the present work is that it will be of
temporary assistance, serving to bring forth additional information on
the subject from sources not previously available or known.
_February 1, 1964_ S.A.B.
EARLY AMERICAN
SCIENTIFIC
INSTRUMENTS
_and Their Makers_
_The Tools of Science_
Philosophical and Practical Instruments
Development of the sciences in the American Colonies was critically
dependent upon the available tools--scientific instruments--and the men
who made and used them. These tools may be separated into two groups.
The first group consists of philosophical instruments and scientific
teaching apparatus produced and employed for experimentation and
teaching in educational institutions. The second includes the so-called
"mathematical instruments" of practical use, which were employed by
mathematical practitioners and laymen alike for the mensural and
nautical needs of the Colonies. It is particularly with this second
group that the present study is concerned.
It has been generally assumed that scientific instruments, as well as
the instrument makers, of the first two centuries of American
colonization were imported from England, and that the movement declined
by the beginning of the 19th century with the development of skilled
native craftsmen.[1] This assumption is basically true for those
instruments grouped under philosophical and scientific apparatus for
experimentation and teaching. Almost all of these items were in fact
imported from England and France until well into the 19th century.
Likewise, the very earliest examples of mathematical instruments for
surveying and navigation in the Colonies were imported with the settlers
from England. It was not long after the establishment of the first
settlements, however, that the settlers, and later the first generation
of native Americans, began to produce their own instruments. Records
derived from historical archives and from the instruments themselves
reveal that a considerable number of the instruments available and used
in the Colonies before 1800 were of native production. Apparently,
relatively few instrument makers immigrated to the American continent
before the end of the Revolutionary War. Later, with the beginning of
the 19th century, makers of and dealers in instruments in England and
France became aware of the growing new market, and emigrated in numbers
to establish shops in the major cities of commerce in the United States.
Quite possibly the few instrument makers trained in England who
immigrated to the Colonies in the early epoch of Colonial development
may have in turn trained others in their communities, although no
evidence has yet been found. Perhaps more data on this aspect of the
subject will eventually come to light.
There is reason to believe that a few mathematical practitioners and
instrument makers lived and worked in the New England colonies as early
as the first century of colonization.
The evidence, frankly meager, consists of two items. The first is a
reference relating to James Halsie of Boston. In a land deed made out to
him in 1674 he was referred to as a "Mathematician."[2] Halsie was
listed as a freeman of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1690. He
apparently was the forbear of the several members of the Halsy family of
instrument makers of Boston of the 18th century, mentioned later in this
study. It is uncertain whether the use of the term "mathematician" in
this connection meant an artisan, but if not it may be inferred that
Halsie was a practitioner.
The second piece of evidence is even more slender; it consists of an
inscription upon a dialing rule (fig. 1) for making sundials and charts.
The instrument is of cast brass, 20-7/16 inches long and 1-11/16 inches
wide. The date "1674" is inscribed on the rule together with the name of
its original owner, "Arthur Willis." The instrument almost certainly was
produced by the school of Henry Sutton, the notable English instrument
maker who worked in Threadneedle Street in London from about 1637
through 1665. The name and date inscriptions are consistent and
contemporary with the workmanship of the rule, and were probably
inscribed by the maker for the original owner. It is conceivable that
Arthur Willis was an Englishman and that the rule was brought into this
country even in relatively recent times. However, it is claimed that the
rule was owned and used by Nathaniel Footes, surveyor of Springfield,
Massachusetts. Nathaniel Footes, believed to have been originally from
Salem, subsequently moved from Springfield to Wethersfield, Conn. The
instrument was later owned and used in Connecticut not later than the
early 19th century[3] by the forbears of Mr. Newton C. Brainard of
Hartford, Connecticut. If records relating to Willis as a resident of
the New England colonies can be recovered, it may then be possible to
establish whether he worked in the Colonies as a mathematical
practitioner in the 17th century. His name is included on a tentative
basis.
[Illustration: Figure 1.--Dialing rule made of brass and inscribed with
the name "Arthur Willis" and the date "1674." Allegedly used by
Nathaniel Footes, surveyor of Springfield, Massachusetts. Photo courtesy
Newton C. Brainard, Hartford, Connecticut, and the Connecticut
Historical Society.]
The Need for Instruments
The production and use of scientific instruments in the American
Colonies reflected colonial development in education and in territorial
and economic expansion, and closely paralleled the same development in
England, where the first mathematical practitioners were the teachers of
navigational and commercial arithmetic and the surveyors employed in the
redistribution of land following the dissolution of the monasteries. As
the communities became established and the settlers gained a foothold on
the soil, their attention naturally turned to improving their lot by
expanding the land under cultivation and by trading their products for
other needs. The growth of the communities became increasingly rapid
from the end of the 17th century, and the land expansion closely
paralleled the development of trade. The educational institutions placed
greater emphasis on the sciences as their curriculums developed.
Particularly there was a greater preoccupation with the sciences on the
part of the layman because of the need for knowledge of surveying and
navigation.
The colonial school curriculum was accordingly designed from the
practical point of view to emphasize practical mathematics, and there
was an increasing demand for instruction in all aspects of the subject.
One of the earliest advertisements of this nature appeared in _The
Boston Gazette_ in March 1719. In the issue of February 19 to March 7
the advertisement stated that:
This day Mr. Samuel Grainger opens his school at the House formerly
Sir Charles Hobby's, where will be taught Grammar Writing after a
free and easy manner in all the usual Hands, Arithmetick in a
concise and Practical Method, Merchants Accompts, and the
Mathematicks.
He hopes that more thinking People will in no wise be discouraged
from sending their children thither, on the account of the reports
newly reviv'd, because these dancing Phaenomena's were never seen
nor heard of in School Hours.
The advertisement was further amplified in its second appearance, in the
issue of March 21-22, 1719:
At the house formerly Sir Charles Hobby's are taught grammar,
writing, after a free & easy manner in all hands usually practiced,
Arithmetick Vulgar and Decimal in a concise and Practical Method,
Merchants Accompts, Geometry, Algebra, Mensuration, Geography,
Trigonometry, Astronomy, Navigation and other parts of the
Mathematicks, with the use of the Globes and other Mathematical
Instruments, by Samuel Grainger.
They whose business won't permit 'em to attend the usual School
Hours, shall be carefully attended and Instructed in the Evenings.
R. F. Seybold[4] has noted that: "In advertisements of 1753 and 1754,
John Lewis, of New York City, announced 'What is called a New Method of
Navigation, is an excellent Method of Trigonometry here particularly
applied to Navigation; But it is of great use in all kinds of measuring
and in solving many Arithmetical Questions.' James Cosgrove, of
Philadelphia, in 1755, taught 'geometry, trigonometry, and their
application in surveying, navigation, etc.,' and Alexander Power, in
1766, 'With their Application to Surveying, Navigation, Geography, and
Astronomy'." These subjects were featured also in the evening schools of
the colonial period, maintained by private schoolmasters in some of the
larger communities for the education of those who could not attend
school in the daytime.
According to Seybold, surveying and navigation were the most popular
mathematical subjects taught. Some explanation is to be derived from the
statement by Schoen[5] that: "In the days when the 'bounds' of great
wilderness tracts were being marked off by deep-cut blazes in the trees
along a line, a knowledge of land surveying was a useful skill, and many
a boy learned its elements by following the 'boundsgoer' in his work of
'running the line.' And those who did not actually take part in running
the line must have attended many a gay springtime 'processioning' when
neighbors made a festive occasion out of 'perambulating the bounds'."
"Vague land grants and inaccurate surveys," he adds, "made the subject
of boundary lines a prime issue in the everyday life of colonial homes."
At the same time there was interest in the other aspects of the
mathematical sciences. As early as 1743, for instance, a Harvard
mathematician named Nathan Prince advertised in Boston that if he were
given "suitable Encouragement" he would establish a school to teach
"Geography and Astronomy, With the Use of the Globes, and the several
kinds of Projecting the Sphere" among other things.[6] A decade later,
Theophilus Grew, professor in the academy at Philadelphia which has
become the University of Pennsylvania, published a treatise on globes,
with the title:
_The Description_ and _Use_ of the _Globes_, Celestial and
Terrestrial; With Variety for _Examples_ for the Learner's
_Exercises_: Intended for the Use of Such Persons as would attain
to the Knowledge of those _Instruments_; But Chiefly designed for
the _Instruction_ of the young _Gentlemen_ at the _Academy_ in
Philadelphia. To which is added Rules for working all the Cases in
Plain and Spherical Triangles without a Scheme. By _Theophilus
Grew_, Mathematical Professor. Germantown, Printed by Christopher
Sower, 1753.[7]
Thus, the need for practical mathematical instruments for the surveyor
and navigator became critical in proportion to the need for men to make
and use them, and it is not surprising to discover that the majority of
the instruments produced and advertised by early American makers were
for surveying, with nautical instruments in second place. Generally, the
surveyors were not professionals; they were farmers, tradesmen, or
craftsmen with a sound knowledge of basic arithmetic and occasionally
with some advanced study of the subject as taught in the evening
schools. The surveying of provincial and intercolonial boundaries
required greater skill, however, as well as a knowledge of astronomy,
and this work was relegated to the scientific men of the period.
As the increasing preoccupation with subdivision of land and with
surveying led to a greater demand for suitable instruments, it was the
skilled craftsmen of the community, such as the clockmaker and the
silversmith, that were called upon to produce them. Superb examples also
were produced by the advanced scientific men, or "mathematical
practitioners," of the period.
Colonial Training in Instrument Making
One may well ask, where did these native craftsmen acquire the knowledge
that enabled them to produce so skillfully the accurate and often
delicate mathematical instruments? There were a number of possible
sources for this knowledge. The first source lies in England, where some
of these craftsmen could have studied or served apprenticeships. After
completing their apprenticeship with English mathematical practitioners,
they may have immigrated to the Colonies and taught the craft to others.
This seems to be entirely plausible, and was probably true, for example,
of Thomas Harland the clockmaker, Anthony Lamb, and perhaps several
others. However, these were the exceptions instead of the rule, since a
biographical study of the instrument makers in general reveals that they
were for the most part native to America. It is not likely that the one
or two isolated practitioners that had been trained in England could
have taught so many others who worked in the same epoch.
[Illustration: Figure 2.--Title page of _The Surveyor_ by Aaron
Rathborne, published in London in 1616. The book was one of the sources
of information for American makers of mathematical instruments.]
Another source for this knowledge of instrument making was probably the
reference works on the subject that had been published in England and in
France. As an example, Nicolas Bion's _Traite de la Construction et des
Principaux Usages des Instruments de Mathematique_, which had been first
published in 1686, was translated into English by Edmund Stone in 1723,
and went into several English editions. Copies of this work in English
undoubtedly found their way to America soon after publication. Other
popular works were Aaron Rathbone's _The Surveyor_, which appeared in
London in 1616 (see fig. 2); William Leybourn's _The Compleat Surveyor_,
in 1653; and George Atwell's _Faithfull Surveyour_, in 1662. Other works
popular in the Colonies were R. Norwood's _Epitome, or The Doctrine of
Triangles_ (London, 1659) and J. Love's _Geodasia, or the Art of
Surveying_ (London, 1688).
These works undoubtedly inspired similar publications in America, for
many books on surveying and navigation appeared there before the
beginning of the 19th century. Chief among them were S. Moore's _An
Accurate System of Surveying_ (Litchfield, Conn., 1796), Z. Jess's _A
Compendious System of Practical Surveying_ (Wilmington, 1799), Abel
Flint's _Surveying_ (Hartford, 1804), and J. Day's _Principles of
Navigation and Surveying_ (New Haven, 1817).
The published works were unquestionably responsible for much of the
training in the making of mathematical instruments in America, although
no documentary evidence has yet been recovered to prove it.
Another important influence on early American instrument-making which
must be noted was that of the clockmaker as an artisan. A comprehensive
study of surviving instruments and related records has revealed that
only a few of the many clockmakers working in the American Colonies in
the 18th century made mathematical instruments. Yet, a large proportion
of the surviving surveying and nautical instruments produced before 1800
were the work of clockmakers. Classic among these must be noted the
instruments produced by the brothers David and Benjamin Rittenhouse (see
p. 15 and figs. 3 and 4), as well as the fine surveying instruments made
by four separate members of the Chandlee family, whose clockmaking
traditions began early in the 17th century (see p. 54).
[Illustration: Figure 3.--Transit telescope made by David Rittenhouse
and used by him for the observation of the transit of Venus in 1769.
Brass, 33-1/2-in. tube on a 25-in. axis, with an aperture of 1-3/4 in.
and a focal length of 32 in. Photo courtesy the American Philosophical
Society.]
[Illustration: Figure 4.--Surveying compass marked "Potts and
Rittenhouse." Believed to be the work of David Rittenhouse in
partnership with Thomas Potts. Photo courtesy the American Philosophical
Society.]
Finally, one must not overlook the fact that examples of English and
other European instruments were available in the Colonies, and that at
least some of the early colonial makers undoubtedly copied them. It is
apparent from some surviving early American instruments that the
materials, designs, dimensions, and details of European prototypes had
been deliberately copied. It is possible to see in public collections,
for instance, a Davis quadrant of English manufacture exhibited beside a
later example, signed by a New England maker, which comes
extraordinarily close to duplicating it in every feature.
As with the presumed influence of published works, the practice of
copying imported instruments cannot be documented, but it must have been
engaged in by many of the unschooled New England instrument makers. By
this means some may even have profited to the degree that they became
professional craftsmen without benefit of formal apprenticeship.
Yet it is remarkable that although numerous instruments were produced by
native artisans, in addition to the substantial number which were
imported before the end of the 18th century, relatively few specimens
have survived in public collections as well as in private hands. Despite
the exhaustive combing of attics and barns throughout the country by
dealers in antiques and by avid collectors during the past several
decades, the number of surviving instruments now known is incredibly
small in comparison with the numbers known to have been made locally or
imported before the beginning of the 19th century. Since instruments are
not items which would ordinarily be deliberately discarded or destroyed,
or melted down for the recovery of the metal, this small percentage of
survival presents a puzzle which has not been resolved.
[Illustration: Figure 5.--David Rittenhouse. Engraving from portrait by
Charles Wilson Peale.]
_The Mathematical Practitioners_
The Rittenhouse Brothers
Notable among the American practitioners was David Rittenhouse
(1732-1796) of Norristown and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who was
established as a clockmaker and surveyor in Philadelphia by 1749. He
surveyed the boundary between Pennsylvania and Delaware in 1763 with
instruments of his own design and construction. Six years later, in
1769, he successfully calculated the transit of Venus and later
observed that planet with astronomical instruments he had constructed
himself. In the following year, 1770, he built the first American
astronomical observatory, in Philadelphia. Two orreries that he designed
and built--at the University of Pennsylvania and at Princeton
University--survive as outstanding examples of American craftsmanship.[8]
Several of his surveying and astronomical instruments are exhibited in the
collections of the U.S. National Museum. David Rittenhouse is credited
with being the originator of a declination arc on the surveying compass,
a feature to be copied by a number of later instrument makers.
David's brother, Benjamin Rittenhouse (1740-c.1820), served in the
Revolution and was wounded at Brandywine. He superintended the
Government's gunlock factory at Philadelphia in 1778 and achieved
recognition as a maker of clocks and surveying instruments (see fig.
8).[9] During one period of his career he worked in partnership with his
brother David. An interesting advertisement appeared in the May 14,
1785, issue of _The Pennsylvania Packet_:
WANTED, An ingenious Lad not exceeding 14 years of age, of a
reputable family, as an Apprentice to learn the Art and Mistery of
making Clocks and Surveying Instruments. Any lad inclining to go an
apprentice to the above Trade, the terms on which he will be taken
may [be] known by enquiring of Mr. David Rittenhouse, in
Philadelphia, or at the subscriber's house in Worcester township,
Montgomery county. Benjamin Rittenhouse.
[Illustration: Figure 6.--Astronomical clock made by David Rittenhouse
for his observatory at Norristown, Pa., and used by him for the
observation of the transit of Venus in 1769. Unembellished pine case
83-1/2 in. high, 13-1/4 in. wide at the waist with a silvered brass dial
10-5/8 in. diameter. Photo courtesy the American Philosophical Society.]
[Illustration: Figure 7.--Orrery built by David Rittenhouse for the
University of Pennsylvania. The center section shows the motions of the
planets and their satellites and the right-hand section the eclipses of
the Sun and Moon. The case, considered to be an outstanding example of
colonial cabinet-work, was made by John Folwell.]
[Illustration: Figure 8.--Brass surveying compass inscribed "Made by
Benjamin Rittenhouse, 1787." Photo courtesy Ohio State Museum, Columbus,
Ohio.]
[Illustration: Figure 9.--Portrait of Andrew Ellicott (1754-1820) by
unknown artist.]
Andrew Ellicott
A name closely associated with that of the Rittenhouse brothers was that
of Andrew Ellicott (1754-1820) of Solebury, Pennsylvania, and Ellicotts
Mills, Maryland. Andrew was the son of Joseph Ellicott, the clockmaker
and pioneer industrialist who founded Ellicotts Mills. Although a
Quaker, Andrew (fig. 9) served in the Revolution, and he became one of
the most distinguished engineers of the new republic. He worked as a
clockmaker and instrument maker from 1774 to 1780. In 1784 he ran the
boundary between Virginia and Pennsylvania and in the following year he
was a member of the survey that continued Mason and Dixon's line. In
1785 and 1786 he served on the Pennsylvania commissions that surveyed
the western and northern boundaries of the state, and in 1789 he served
on the commission that fixed the boundary between New York and
Pennsylvania. Between 1791 and 1793 he surveyed the site of the city of
Washington, D.C., and redrew L'Enfant's plan for the city.
In early 1793 Ellicott was appointed commissioner by the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania for the project of viewing and locating a road from Reading
to Presque Isle, now Erie. It was an extremely difficult undertaking,
but Ellicott completed the work by the autumn of 1796, including laying
out the towns of Erie, Warren, and Franklin.
In May 1796 Ellicott was commissioned by President Washington to survey
and mark the boundary line between the United States and the Spanish
Province of Florida in accordance with the provisions of the
Pinkney-Godoy Treaty of October 27, 1795. This line was to begin at the
point where the 31st parallel of north latitude intersected the
Mississippi River, and to proceed thence along that parallel eastward to
the Appalachicola River for about 400 miles.
In 1801 Ellicott was offered the position of surveyor general of the
United States by President Jefferson. Ellicott declined, but
subsequently accepted the secretaryship of the land office of
Pennsylvania, a post he held until 1808.
In 1811 Ellicott became commissioner to represent Georgia in locating
the Georgia-North Carolina boundary, a project on which he was engaged
for the major part of the following year.
In 1815 President Madison appointed Ellicott professor of mathematics at
West Point, with the rank of major. This is an appointment he kept until
his death in 1820. It was interrupted in 1817 when the Government
required his services as astronomer to locate a portion of the United
States-Canadian boundary in accordance with the fifth article of the
Treaty of Ghent.
[Illustration: Figure 10.--Transit and equal-altitude instrument (left)
made by Ellicott in 1789 and used by him in the survey of the boundary
between the United States and Florida and in other surveys. USNM
152080.]
[Illustration: Figure 11.--Zenith sector with focal length of 6 ft.,
made by David Rittenhouse and revised by Andrew Ellicott. Described in
_Journal of Andrew Ellicott_ (Philadelphia, 1803). USNM 152078.]
Ellicott was a member of a number of learned societies, including the
American Philosophical Society, the Society for the Promotion of Useful
Arts of Albany, and of the National Institute of France.
Ellicott constructed a number of instruments for surveying and
astronomical observation, and he designed and used others that were
produced by his friend David Rittenhouse[10] (see figs. 10, 11). Of
particular interest in connection with Ellicott's career as a clockmaker
and instrument maker are two advertisements that appeared in the
Baltimore newspapers. The first one was in the _Maryland Journal and
Baltimore Daily Advertiser on April 7, 1778_:
Ellicott's Upper Mills, April 4, 1778. Wanted, a person acquainted
with the Clock-Making business, and able to work by directions.
Such a person will meet with good encouragement by applying to
Andrew Ellicott, sen.
The second advertisement, in the same vein, appeared in the May 16,
1780, issue of the _Maryland Journal_:
Good Encouragement will be given to either Clock or Mathematical
instrument makers, by the subscriber, living in Baltimore-Town.
Andrew Ellicott.
Owen Biddle
Another mathematical practitioner associated with David Rittenhouse in
his observations of the transit of Venus was Owen Biddle (1737-1799) of
the North Ward, Philadelphia.
In early life Biddle was an apothecary and a clock and watchmaker. In
his shop "next door to Roberts warehouse" he sold clock and watch parts
and tools. From 1764 to 1770 he advertised himself as "Clockmaker, and
scientist, statesman and patriot." As a Quaker, he participated actively
in civic and patriotic affairs of Philadelphia. During the American
Revolution, in spite of his religious affiliation, he fought for the
defense of the Colonies and was appointed Deputy Commissioner of Forage.
Evidencing sincere repentance, he was permitted to rejoin the Society of
Friends.
In 1769 Biddle took an active part in the preparations made by the
American Philosophical Society for the observation of the transit of
Venus. With Joel Baily he was sent to Cape Henlopen, Delaware, with a
large reflecting telescope borrowed from the Library Company. The
expedition was described in the _Transactions of the American
Philosophical Society_ in 1771 in an article entitled "An Account of the
Transit of Venus, over the Sun's Disk, as observed near Cape Henlopen,
on Delaware Bay, June 3rd, 1769 by Owen Biddle, Joel Baily and (Richard
Thomas) Drawn by Owen Biddle." In addition to his trade in clocks and
watches, Biddle also made mathematical instruments and was well known in
his native city as a merchant, inventor, and ironmaster.
Benjamin Banneker
A name that is too often ignored in the history of science in colonial
America is that of a free Negro, Benjamin Banneker (c. 1734-1806) of
Baltimore. A farmer by occupation, Banneker was the son of a native
African slave and a free mulatto woman. In his spare time he attended
the school of a Quaker farmer; the only book he owned was the Bible.
When he was a young man he acquired a watch from a trader, and from it
he developed his love of science and instruments. Although he had never
seen a clock, he constructed one based on drawings he made from the
watch. Banneker was called upon to assist in the construction of the
mills for the Ellicotts, and it was natural that his clock, which was
the marvel of the Negro settlement, should come to the attention of
Joseph Ellicott. Ellicott became interested in Banneker's thirst for
knowledge and allowed him the use of his tools, scientific instruments,
and technical books. Among the books were Mayer's _Tables_, James
Ferguson's _Astronomy_, and Leadbeater's _Lunar Tables_. Banneker
absorbed these and other works that he borrowed and went on to explore
the wonderful new world they opened up for him. He pursued astronomical
studies, and within three years he began to make calculations (fig. 12)
for an almanac. After completing the calculations for the year 1791, he
went on to produce a set of calculations for 1792. During this period he
mastered the use of surveying instruments and made a firsthand study of
tides in the region. His great opportunity came when Andrew Ellicott was
chosen to make a survey for the city of Washington and hired Banneker as
an assistant. While thus employed, Banneker completed his almanac and
gave it to George Ellicott, Andrew's cousin, as a subject of possible
interest. Apparently George Ellicott turned it over to the Honorable
James McHenry of Baltimore, who in turned submitted it to the
Philadelphia firm of Goddard & Angell, who published it (fig. 13).
Banneker mailed a copy of his _Benjamin Banneker's Pennsylvania,
Delaware, Virginia And Maryland Almanac and Ephemeris For the Year of
Our Lord, 1792_ to Thomas Jefferson, who was so impressed with it that
he forwarded it to the Marquis de Condorcet, secretary of the French
Academy of Sciences. After his work with Ellicott had been completed,
Banneker retired to his farm to produce almanacs annually until 1802.
When he died in 1806 he was eulogized before the French Academy by the
Marquis de Condorcet, and William Pitt placed his name in the records of
the English Parliament.[11]
[Illustration: Figure 12.--Letter from Benjamin Banneker to George
Ellicott dated October 13, 1789, regarding astronomical data for the
compilation of Banneker's almanac. Photo courtesy Maryland Historical
Society.]
Joel Baily
Still another 18th-century practitioner was Joel Baily (1732-1797), a
Quaker of West Bradford, Pennsylvania. In addition to his trade as a
clockmaker and gunsmith, Baily achieved local eminence as an astronomer,
mathematician, and surveyor.[12]
In 1764, at the time that Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon established
their headquarters near his farm, Baily was the local surveyor.
Obtaining employment with the expedition, he worked with Mason and Dixon
until the completion of their survey in 1768. Baily was subsequently
employed by Mason and Dixon to build pine frames for carrying the
20-foot rods to be used in the second measurement of courses from the
Stargazers' Stone southward.
In 1769 Baily was appointed by the American Philosophical Society to
work with Owen Biddle in setting up the station at Cape Henlopen for
observation of the transit of Venus. In 1770 he again worked with Biddle
in taking the courses and distances from the New Castle Court House to
the State House Observatory in Philadelphia for determining the latitude
and longitude of each. In the same year Baily was elected a member of
the American Philosophical Society.
Reverend John Prince
Another noteworthy mathematical practitioner of the period was the
Reverend John Prince (1751-1836) of Salem, Massachusetts. The son of a
hatter and mechanic, Prince studied natural philosophy under John
Winthrop at Harvard and received his B.A. degree in 1776. He was a
student of divinity under Samuel Williams and was ordained in 1779 at
the First Church in Salem. Although an amateur of the sciences, Prince
became a skilled maker of scientific instruments. He made, sold, and
repaired instruments for the use of numerous colleges, schools, and
academies, including Brown, Dartmouth, Rutgers, Harvard, Union, Amherst,
and Williams. Among other accomplishments, he effected "improvements" on
the lucernal microscope and the air pump.[13]
[Illustration: Figure 13.--Title page of one of Banneker's almanacs. The
portrait of Banneker was made by Timothy Woods in 1793 for the publisher
and reproduced by woodcut. Banneker's first almanac was published in
Philadelphia in 1792.]
Amasa Holcomb
Although he was born in the 18th century, Amasa Holcomb (1787-1875)
properly belongs to a later period. An astronomer and telescope maker of
Southwick, Massachusetts, Holcomb became a surveyor in 1808. An
autobiographical sketch noted that "he manufactured about this time a
good many sets of surveyors instruments--compasses, chains, scales,
protractors and dividers, some for his pupils and some for others."[14]
Instruments of Metal
Pre-Revolutionary Immigrant Makers
According to present evidence, only a few makers of metal instruments
emigrated from England to the Colonies before the beginning of the
Revolutionary War. A slightly larger number emigrated after the war had
ended. In almost every instance, the immigrant instrument makers settled
in the major cities, which were the shipping centers of the new country.
The reason is obvious: in these cities there was the greatest demand for
nautical and other instruments.
One of the earliest immigrant instrument makers arrived in Boston in
1739. According to an advertisement that appeared in _The Boston
Gazette_ in the issue of July 16-23, 1739, there had
Arriv'd here by Capt. _Gerry_ from _London_ John Dabney, junr. who
serv'd his time to Mr. Jonathan Sisson, Mathematical Instrument
Maker to his Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales. Makes and sells
all sorts of Mathematical Instruments, in Silver, Brass, or Ivory,
at Reasonable Rates, at Mr. Rowland Houghton's Shop the north side
of the Town Huse in Boston.
N.B. Said Dabney, sets Loadstones to a greater Perfection than any
heretofore.
Dabney's master, Jonathan Sisson (1694-1749) originally of Lincolnshire,
with a shop in the Strand, London, was a well-known maker of optical and
mathematical instruments in the early decades of the 18th century. He
was particularly noted for the exact division of scales, and examples of
his work are to be found in the major collections.
Dabney's name appeared again several years later, in the Supplement to
the _Boston Evening Post_ for December 12, 1743, and again in the
_Boston Evening Post_ for December 19 of the same year, with the
following advertisement:
To be shown by John Dabney, Mathematical Instrument maker, in Milk
Street, Boston, on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday Evenings, from five
to eight o'clock, for the Entertainment of the Curious, the Magic
Lanthorn an Optick Machine, which exhibits a great Number of
wonderful and surprising Figures, prodigious large, and vivid, at
Half a Crown each, Old Tenor.
In New York City, one of the earliest immigrant instrument makers was
Charles Walpole, who established a shop at a corner in Wall Street,
according to a notice in the May 26, 1746, issue of the _New York
Evening Post_. The announcement stated that Walpole was a "citizen of
London" and that at his shop "all sorts of Mathematical Instruments,
whether in silver or brass, are made and mended...."
In the May 21, 1753, issue of _The New York Gazette or The Weekly Post
Boy_ there was an announcement by the widow of Balthaser Sommer who
lived on Pot-Baker's Hill in Smith Street in New York City and who
advertised herself as a "grinder of all sorts of optic glasses, spying
glasses, of all lengths, spectacles, reading glasses for near-sighted
people or others; also spying glasses of 3 feet long which are to set on
a common Walking-Cane and yet be carried as a Pocket-Book."
John Benson emigrated from Birmingham, England, and established a
lapidary and optical store in May 1793 at 12 Princess Street in New
York, where he produced miniatures, lockets, rings, glasses, "as well as
Spectacles, single reading and burning glasses, and where he also
polished scratch'd glasses." In July 1797 he moved to 106 Pearl Street
where he sold green goggles, thermometers, and opera and spy glasses, in
addition to an assortment of jewelry. In September 1798 he was
established at a new location, 147 Pearl Street, "At the sign of The
Green Spectacles" where he specialized in optical goods. He featured for
rent or sale a "Portable Camera Obscura" for the use of artists in
drawing landscapes. His advertisements chronicled each change in
location in the issues of _The New York Daily Advertiser_.
A craftsman whose name is well known in scientific circles was Anthony
Lamb, who advertised in 1753 as a mathematical instrument maker living
on Hunter's Key, New York. He claimed that he could furnish
Godfrey's newly invented quadrant, for taking the latitude or other
altitudes at sea; hydrometers for trying the exact strength of
spirits, large surveying instruments in a more curious manner than
usual; which may be used in any weather without exception, small
ditto which may be fixed on the end of a walking stick, and
lengthened to a commodious height, gauging instruments as now in
use, according to an act of assembly with all other mathematical
instruments for sea or land, by wholesale or retail at reasonable
rates.[15]
Lamb had served an apprenticeship with Henry Carter, a mathematical
instrument maker in London. In July 1724 he became an accomplice of
Jack Sheppard, a notorious burglar, and was arrested and sentenced to
the gallows in 1724. As he was awaiting execution on the gallows at
Tyburn, his sentence was commuted to transportation to Virginia for a
period of seven years, inasmuch as this was his first offence. After he
had completed his term of seven years in Virginia he moved to
Philadelphia, where he opened a shop as an instrument maker and a
private school for teaching technical subjects. The curriculum included
surveying, navigation, and mathematics. Although his enterprises
prospered, he moved to New York. There he married a Miss Ham and
established himself in a respectable position. Lamb's first
advertisement in New York appeared on January 23, 1749. He died on
December 11, 1784, at the age of 81, and two days later he was eulogized
in _The New York Packet_ where he was mentioned as "a steady friend to
the liberties of America."
John Lamb (1735-1800), Anthony's son, learned and practiced his father's
craft for a time and worked as a partner in the firm of A. Lamb & Son.
He subsequently became a wine and sugar merchant, achieved considerable
wealth, married well, and was accepted by the gentry of the city. He was
a firm patriot and from 1765 he was active as the leader of the Sons of
Liberty. He served in several major engagements in the American
Revolution and in 1783 was brevetted a brigadier-general.[16]
The immigrant instrument makers were not confined to those working in
glass, however. One of the earlier immigrant craftsmen was Charles
Blundy, a London watchmaker who established himself on Church Street in
Charleston, South Carolina, in 1753. He notified the public that in
addition to watches he sold thermometers of all sizes and types.
Presumably his merchandise was imported from England.[17] He was absent
from the city between 1753 and 1760 but returned and continued in
business in the latter year.
Another pre-Revolution immigrant was Thomas Harland (1735-1807), a clock
maker who settled in Norwich, Connecticut, in 1773. It is claimed that
he sailed from England on one of the ships carrying the tea destroyed by
the Boston Tea Party. Over the course of the years his business
prospered to such a degree that he hired from ten to twelve apprentices
at one time. Some of the leading American 18th-century clockmakers
served apprenticeships with Harland. In 1802 his newspaper notice stated
that he had for sale "Surveyors Compasses, with agate centre needles;
chains and Protractors ..."[18]
A most interesting instrument that has recently come to light is a brass
sundial made in Philadelphia in 1764. The dial, about 10-1/2 inches in
diameter, is signed by the maker, "Daniel Jay Philad^a. fecit." It is
dated 1764 and inscribed with the name of the person for whom it was
made, "James Pemberton." In the center is "Lat. 40," which coincides
with the latitude for Philadelphia. The style of the dial is very much
in the English tradition of the period, indicating that Jay was probably
an emigrant trained in England.
Post-Revolutionary Immigrant Makers
A large proportion of the English craftsmen who came to the American
Colonies after the Revolution settled in Philadelphia, There was John
Gould for instance, a mathematical instrument maker from London who had
opened a shop at 47 Water Street by 1794. He sold nautical, surveying,
and optical instruments as well as mirrors, presumably all imported from
England. He moved to 70 South Front Street "At the Sign of the Quadrant"
in 1796. He was succeeded in business in 1798 by Thomas Whitney, another
emigrant from London. Whitney made and sold instruments (see fig. 85) in
Gould's former shop, and featured also a vast array of department store
merchandise. John Whitney, who may have been his son, was listed at the
same address in the Philadelphia directory of 1801 as a "Mathematical
Instrument Maker and Optician."[19]
In the Philadelphia directory and register for 1821 Thomas Whitney
advertised that he
... presents his sincere thanks to his friends and the public and
respectfully soliciting the continuation of their favors, wishes to
inform them that he has devoted his attention principally to the
making of surveying compasses for 16 years past, and has made 500
of them; the good qualities of which are well known to many
surveyors, in at least 16 of the States and Territories of the
Union ... [he also makes] many other instruments, protractors,
gunner's Calibers and quadrants, etc.