notice in a newspaper in 1808 to notify the public that he and his son
Truman Hanks, in partnership, had "surveyors compasses upon the
Rittenhouse improved plan" in addition to such other commodities as
brass cannon, bells from their own foundry, clocks, goldsmith's items,
and stocking looms.[48]
Ziba Blakslee (1768-1834), of Newton, worked as a clockmaker, goldsmith,
and bell founder and he advertised that he made and sold surveying
instruments.[49]
In New Haven, Clark Sibley and Simeon Marble organized the firm of
Sibley & Marble and advertised that in addition to repairing swords and
cutlasses, clocks and watches, they also repaired mathematical and
surgical instruments.[50]
[Illustration: Figure 23.--Brass surveying compass made about 1790 by
Peregrine White (1747-1834) of Woodstock, Connecticut. USNM 388993.]
One of the instrument makers of New England who has remained relatively
unknown was Benjamin Platt (1757-1833), who was born in Danbury,
Connecticut, on January 3, 1757.[51] He married Adah Fairchild of the
same city in 1776, and it is believed that he must have completed his
apprenticeship by that date inasmuch as apprentices usually were not
allowed to marry.
It is not known how long Platt worked in his native city, but by 1780 he
had moved to Litchfield, where he worked in gold, silver, and brass. He
became established as a clockmaker and produced tall case clocks and
other types. In 1787 he was in New Milford, a town adjacent to Danbury,
where he produced surveying compasses (see fig. 24). Three years later,
in 1790, he was at Milford, where he invented a "Compass for measuring
distance in hilly country." In 1793 he returned to New Milford, where he
made a clock to order for Eli Todd, and by 1800 he had moved to
Lanesboro, Massachusetts.
_Ohio_
Benjamin Platt was the migratory type. In 1817 he migrated from
Lanesboro to Columbus, Ohio. His son, Augustus Platt (1793-1886), also
made mathematical instruments (see fig. 25) in Columbus. In 1809 a
grandson, named William Augustus Platt was born. When the child's mother
died, Benjamin and Adah Platt adopted the boy, and when he came of age
he went into the watchmaking trade. William Platt married Fanny Hayes,
sister of President Hayes.[52] His shop was listed in the 1843 city
directory; it was the first jewelry and clock and watch store in the
community.
An interesting account of instrument making in Ohio is found in the
report of a missionary, John Heckewelder. He mentioned the brothers
Joseph and Francois Devacht who worked as watchmakers and instrument
makers in Gallipolis, Ohio. Writing in 1792, Heckewelder stated that
"the most interesting shops of the Workmen [in Gallipolis] were those of
the Goldsmiths and Watchmakers. They showed us work on watches,
compasses, sundials finer than I have ever beheld."
[Illustration]
[Illustration: Figure 24.--Brass surveying compass made by Benjamin
Platt (1757-1833) of New Milford, Connecticut, about 1795-1800. Shown in
original wooden case and separately (opposite page). Photos courtesy
Ohio State Museum.]
_New York_
There were relatively few makers of mathematical instruments in New York
City before the end of the 18th century. Perhaps the earliest was John
Bailey, who moved from Fredericksburg, Virginia, to Fishkill, New York,
in 1778. He was a cutler by trade, and he made and sold surgical
instruments.[53]
"Bulmain & Dennies" at 59 Water Street in New York were the appointed
agents to sell the "Perpetual Log or Distance Clock to find a ship's way
at sea." The device had been patented in the United States, and one of
the instruments was displayed at the bar of the Tontine Coffee House,
according to an advertisement in the July 23, 1799, issue of the _New
York Gazette and General Advertiser_.
H. Caritat, at 153 Broadway in New York, imported and sold "The
Planispherical Planetarium." This item was described in an
advertisement[54] as "a graphic representation of the earth, in twelve
particular positions during its revolutionary course around the sun, as
also of the Moon's revolution around the earth, together with literal
description of parts and motions, etc." The advertisement also stated
that Caritat sold "Carey's newly improved Terrestrial and Celestial
Globes which omitted the Constellary Configurations."
[Illustration: Figure 25.--Surveying theodolite made by Augustus Platt
(1793-1886) of Columbus, Ohio, in the early 19th century. Photo courtesy
Ohio State Museum.]
In 1785 M. Morris of New York City made and sold his own invention of a
"Nautical Protractor for the price of One Dollar." In an advertisement
in _The Independent Journal or the General Advertiser_ of May 25, 1785,
he explained that the device was for use in the construction of globular
maps and Mercator charts. He also made another protractor for attaching
to the end of a ruler for measuring distances on charts. He planned to
publish a treatise on the subject of his inventions.
James Youle, a cutler and mechanician with a shop located first on Fly
Street and then at 64 Water Street "at the Sign of the Cross-Knives and
Gun," sold a large variety of cutlery and hardware for gun repair. He
also made surgical instruments. He died in February 1786 at the age of
46 as the result of an injury to his chest from a breaking grindstone
while working in his shop. He was survived by a widow and nine children
and was succeeded in business by his son John Youle.[55]
_New Jersey_
One of the few instrument makers known to have worked in New Jersey was
Aaron Miller of "Elizabeth-town." He was first noted in the New York
newspapers in 1748 when he notified the public that, in addition to
clocks, he made compasses, chains for surveyors, and church bells, for
which he maintained his own foundry. When he died in 1771 he left all
his tools to a son-in-law, Isaac Brokaw.[56]
Another craftsman who is entitled to being included as an instrument
maker was Richard Wistar. When Casper Wistar died in 1752, his son
Richard succeeded him as owner of the famous glass works. In addition to
window glass and glassware, Richard Wistar also produced such special
products as retorts for use in chemistry and "electerizing globes and
tubes," as well as bottles for Leyden jars that Benjamin Franklin had
urged him to attempt in the early 1750's.[57]
_Delaware_
George Crow (ca. 1725-1771/72) of Wilmington, Delaware, was apparently
well established as a clockmaker in the community by the time of his
marriage in 1746 to Mary Laudonet. They had four children, and Crow's
two sons followed his trade. George Crow was active in civic affairs,
and in addition to clocks, he produced surveying compasses, several of
which have survived.[58]
_Maryland and Virginia_
Brief mention has already been made of the Chandlee family of
clockmakers and instrument makers of the 18th century. The founder of
the line and first of interest was Benjamin Chandlee, Sr., who migrated
in 1702 from Ireland to Philadelphia, where he was apprenticed to Abel
Cottey, clockmaker, and eventually married his daughter. His son
Benjamin Chandlee, Jr. (1723-1791), worked as a clockmaker in
Nottingham, Maryland, where he produced instruments as well as clocks. A
fine example of a brass surveying compass--inscribed with his name, and
which is believed to have been made for the Gilpin family in about
1761--is on exhibition in the Chester County Historical Society. He had
four sons, and a few years before his death he established the firm of
Chandlee & Sons, the name of which was changed to Ellis Chandlee &
Brothers a year before he died.
The oldest of Benjamin Jr.'s four sons was Goldsmith Chandlee
(c.1746-1821). After serving an apprenticeship with his father,
Goldsmith moved to Virginia and worked near Stephensburg (now Stephens
City). He eventually established himself at Winchester and built a brass
foundry and a shop where he produced clocks, surveying compasses,
sundials, apothecary and money scales, surgical instruments, compasses,
telescopes, and other items in metal. Numerous examples of his clocks
and instruments have survived. Their fine quality attests to the claim
that he was one of the foremost craftsmen of the 18th century. Several
of his surveying compasses exist in modern collections. An instrument
(fig. 26) that he made about 1794 for a surveyor named Robert Lyle is in
the writer's collection; an almost identical instrument that Chandlee
made for Lawrence Augustine Washington, George Washington's nephew, is
exhibited in the library at Mount Vernon, Virginia.
[Illustration: Figure 26.--The label of Goldsmith Chandlee. In the
collection of Ohio Historical Society, Ohio State Museum.]
Ellis Chandlee (1755-1816) also was apprenticed to his father, and he
worked with his brothers in the shop. He established the firm of Ellis
Chandlee & Brothers, in 1790, shortly before his father's death. The
firm was dissolved in 1797 when the youngest brother, John Chandlee,
left the firm. Ellis continued in partnership with his other brother,
Isaac Chandlee (1760-1813), until about 1804, producing clocks,
surveying instruments, and other metal articles. Their products were
signed "Ellis and Isaac Chandlee, Nottingham," or, in the case of a
surveying compass in the collection of the Chester County Historical
Society, "E. & I. Chandlee, Nottingham." Isaac Chandlee also produced
clocks and instruments under his own name only, for there are a number
of surviving clocks and surveying compasses signed in such manner (see
fig. 28).[59]
[Illustration: Figure 27.--Brass surveying compass with outkeeper made
by Goldsmith Chandlee (c. 1746-1821) of Winchester, Virginia, for Robert
Lyle. Over-all length, 14-1/2 in.; diameter, 7 in. Instrument, in
original wooden case, bears ink signature of Robert Lyle. In collection
of the writer.]
One of the most important craftsmen of Maryland was Frederick A. Heisely
(1759-1839). A native of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, he served an
apprenticeship there with John Hoff, the master clockmaker, from 1777 to
1783. Heisely served in the Revolution. In 1783, presumably upon the
completion of his apprenticeship, he married Catherine Hoff, the
clockmaker's daughter. He moved to Frederick, Maryland, where he
established his own clockmaking shop and where he specialized in making
mathematical instruments. A tower clock made in Frederick is in the
collection of the U.S. National Museum. Heisely returned to Lancaster to
become Hoff's partner, and worked with him until 1802. He then moved his
shop to Harrisburg and worked there until 1820. He moved once more, this
time to Pittsburgh where he advertised himself as a "Clock, Watch and
Instrument Maker," with a shop at No. 6 St. Clair Street.
[Illustration: Figure 28.--Brass surveying compass made by Goldsmith
Chandlee for Laurence Augustine Washington in about 1795. In the library
at Mount Vernon. Photo courtesy the Mount Vernon Ladies Association of
the Union.]
George Heisely (1789-1880), Frederick's son, who was born at Frederick,
Maryland, achieved note in his own right as a maker of clocks and
instruments. He worked at Second and Walnut Streets in Harrisburg. He
is credited with being the person who selected the melody of "To
Anacreon in Heaven" for "The Star-Spangled Banner," while he was serving
as a member of the Pennsylvania State Militia.[60]
_Pennsylvania_
A number of instrument makers worked in Philadelphia, which was one of
the important shipping centers during the 18th century and consequently
one of the important markets for nautical instruments.
Probably the earliest Philadelphia instrument maker of record was Thomas
Godfrey (1704-1749) who was born in Bristol Township. After serving an
apprenticeship, Godfrey developed his own business as a glazier and
plumber. He is stated to have done the major part of the glazing of the
State House in 1732, as well as similar work on Christ Church. He also
worked for Andrew Hamilton and for James Logan.
Godfrey had a natural inclination and interest in science and
mathematics, which may have been further encouraged by his friendship
with Benjamin Franklin, who resided in the same house. Godfrey was also
a fellow member of Franklin's Junto.
In 1730 Godfrey invented an improved backstaff or Davis quadrant, and
loaned the instrument to Joshua Fisher to be used in the latter's survey
of Delaware Bay. It is claimed that the location of Cape Henlopen was
established on Fisher's map (published in London in 1756) by means of
Godfrey's instrument. James Logan became interested in the improved
backstaff invented by Godfrey and at Logan's request, the instrument was
taken on a voyage to the West Indies by a Captain Wright for the purpose
of testing it.[61]
At the same time Logan sent a description of the instrument to London to
the Royal Astronomer, Edmund Halley. No acknowledgment was made, and in
1734 Logan sent a second description to Sir Hans Sloane and to Peter
Collison for forwarding to the Royal Society. The arrival of this
description coincided with the submission of the description of a
similar instrument to the Society by its vice president, James Hadley.
The Royal Society decided in favor of both inventors, and Godfrey was
awarded the equivalent of 200 pounds in household furniture.
[Illustration: Figure 29.--Brass surveying compass made by Isaac
Chandlee (1760-1813) of Nottingham, Maryland. Photo courtesy Ohio State
Museum.]
Godfrey is often confused with his son, also named Thomas Godfrey
(1736-1763), who worked as a watchmaker in Philadelphia, and
subsequently became active in literary arts.
Benjamin Condy (fl. 1756-1792, d. 1798) was an instrument maker with a
shop on South Front Street in Philadelphia. As early as 1756 he worked
for most of the merchant shippers of the port, supplying them with a
considerable number of sand glasses that ranged from the quarter-minute
to the two-hour varieties. Although he made his own mathematical
instruments, it is likely that he imported the sand glasses. According
to Customs House clearances of 1789, he had imported from London on the
ship _Pigou_ "three cases of merchandise" valued at L160/17/6 with a
duty of $32.19, which may have included sand glasses.[62]
When Condy retired in 1792 he was succeeded in business by Thomas Biggs
at the same address. Biggs had originally served an apprenticeship with
Condy, and then fought for the American cause in the Revolution for five
years. Following the termination of his military service he had engaged
in instrument making in New York for eight years before returning to
Philadelphia, his native city. Biggs prospered and his advertisements
continued until early in 1795.
Thomas Pryor made instruments in a shop on Chestnut Street in 1778, but
he evidently retired from business in the 1790's because the city
directory of 1795 listed him merely as "gentleman." He is reported to
have been one of those who, from the State House Yard, witnessed the
transit of Venus.[63]
Among the early makers of mathematical instruments in Philadelphia
was William Dean (?-1797), who is believed to have been working in that
city as early as 1778. His name first appears in local directories in
June 1792, where his shop address was listed as No. 43 South Front
Street. Later he advertised that he made and sold "Surveying
instruments--Telescopes, Sextants, Quadrants--and every article
requisite for navigation, surveying, levelling, &c...."
According to details which were noted in his last will, which was dated
June 1, 1797, and filed and proved in the following month, Dean's death
appears to have been preceded by a long illness. He designated his two
sisters as his executrices, and the fact that his will specified the
appointment of a Mr. Thomas Yardley, Jr., as guardian of his three
children indicates that he may have been a widower at the time of his
death.
A surveying compass by this maker was recently brought to light in, the
Clark County Historical Society, Springfield, Ohio, by Dr. Donald A.
Hutzlar of the Ohio State Museum. The instrument is a plain compass in
brass without levels, 13-1/2 inches in length, and with a 5-inch needle.
The dial is marked "DEAN PHILAD^a." The wooden cover for the instrument
is marked with the names of previous owners and dates, as follows:
Jno. C. Symes, Aug. 10, 1778
I. Ludlow, 1791
Henry Donnel, July 24, 1794
Jonathan Donnel, 1796
John Dyherty
Thomas J. Kizer, 1838
David J. Kizer, '78.
A description of this instrument in "_The History of Clark County,
Ohio_" by A. P. Steele, published in 1881 by the W. H. Beers Co. of
Chicago, adds considerably to its interest as a historical record of
American scientific instruments and their use: "Col. Thomas Kizer, the
veteran surveyor, has in his possession a compass made by Dean of
Philadelphia; this instrument was owned and used by his father, David
Kizer, who obtained it from John Dougherty about 1813; Dougherty got it
from Jonathan Donnel. This relic is marked I. Ludlow, 1791; Henry
Donnel, 1794; J. Donnel, 1796, John Dougherty, 1799; these marks are
rudely scratched upon the cover of the instrument, and bear every
evidence of being genuine; there is no doubt but that this old compass
was used in making the first surveys in this county, or that it is the
identical instrument used by John Dougherty, in laying off Demint's
first plat of Springfield, and by Jonathan Donnel on the survey of 'New
Boston.'" It is to be noted that some discrepancies exist in the listing
of names and dates of the previous owners between Steele's _History_ and
those which actually appear on the cover of the instrument. Steele
apparently made the changes he deemed necessary in his account of the
instrument.
Between 1791 and 1795 the same address was also occupied by a cooper
named Michael Davenport, and from 1797 to 1801 by "the Widow Davenport,"
presumably widow of Michael. From 1802 to 1804 the same address is
listed for William Davenport, "Mathematical Instrument Maker,"
apprentice to William Dean, and believed to be the son of Michael.
During the next ten years Davenport's address was 45 South Front Street,
and then, to 1820, was 25 South Front Street.[64] Several brass
surveying compasses bearing his name have survived.
Another maker of mathematical instruments about whom nothing further is
known is Charles Taws, who was listed in this manner in the Philadelphia
directory of 1795.
[Illustration: Figure 30.--Brass surveying compass marked "F. Heisely
Fred:*town." In collection of Ohio Historical Society, Ohio State
Museum.]
The making of instruments in glass appears to have been a specialized
business in the Colonies, because those who worked in this field do not
appear to have produced instruments in other materials. One of these
makers of glass instruments--specifically barometers, thermometers and
"Glass Bubbles to prove spirits, of different kinds"--was Alloysius
Ketterer. He maintained a shop in the house of a Charles Kugler at "the
sign of the Seven Stars," corner of Race and Fourth Streets in
Philadelphia, in 1789. He moved to another address in Race Street in
1790 and was eventually succeeded in business by Martin Fisher, who
increased the number of types of glass instruments made and sold at the
shop.[65]
Henry Voight (1738-1814) was a man with a varied career. Of German
ancestry, he was trained as a clock-and watchmaker, and he was a skilled
mechanic. He operated a wire mill in Reading, Pennsylvania, in 1780 and
moved shortly thereafter to Philadelphia, where he established a
clockmaker's shop on Second Street. He became a close friend of the
inventor John Fitch in about 1786, and in the following year he became a
shareholder in Fitch's company for producing steamboats. In 1792 he
entered into a short-lived partnership with Fitch to manufacture steam
engines. In 1793 he invented a process for making steel from bar iron.
In the same year President Washington appointed Voight to the position
of chief coiner of the Philadelphia Mint, and he continued in that
position until his death in 1814. He was closely associated with David
Rittenhouse, Andrew Ellicott, Edward Duffield, and others.
Although there is no record of Voight's career as an instrument maker,
there is nevertheless some evidence that he worked in that field. In the
collection of the U.S. National Museum there is a brass equal-altitude
telescope (fig. 31) made about 1790, that is signed "Henry Voigt." His
name was spelled "Voigt" and "Voight" interchangeably.
Henry's son Thomas Voight worked as a clockmaker on North Seventh Street
in Philadelphia around 1811. He was the maker of a tall case clock,
ordered by Thomas Jefferson, that Jefferson's daughter presented in 1826
to her father's physician, Dr. Dunglison, for settlement of medical
services.[66]
There were several instrument makers in provincial Pennsylvania, but the
majority of such craftsmen worked in Philadelphia. Dr. Christopher Witt
(1675-1765), an emigrant from England, worked in Germantown from about
1710 to 1765. He was well known locally as a medical doctor, scientist,
"hexmeister", clockmaker, and teacher. It is traditionally claimed that
he produced mathematical instruments in addition to timepieces. He
described the great comet of 1743 and built his own 8-foot telescope.
One of his apprentices may have been Christopher Sower (1693-1740), of
Germantown and Philadelphia, who achieved renown as a doctor, farmer,
author, printer, papermaker, and clockmaker. He also produced
mathematical instruments.[67]
George Wall, Jr., of Bucks County, was the author of a pamphlet on the
subject of "a newly invented Surveying Instrument, called the
Trigonometer." The instrument was described and illustrated in the
pamphlet, which was published in Philadelphia in 1788. Washington's own
copy, bearing the inscription "To the President of the United States
from the Author" is in the collection of the Boston Athenaeum.
George Ford of Lancaster maintained a shop on West King Street, probably
from the end of the 18th century until 1840. There he made tall case and
other clocks, surveying compasses, and other instruments for the retail
trade. However, he "did not push the business of Watchmaking and
Clockmaking so hard, for the manufacture of nautical instruments and
surveyors instruments was a more important part of his business."[68]
Upon his death in 1842 he was succeeded by his son George Ford II.
Thomas Mendenhall repaired clocks and mathematical instruments in a shop
on King and Queen Streets in the borough of Lancaster in 1775.[69]
John Wood of Philadelphia was a wholesale supplier of parts for
clockmakers and watchmakers. According to a notice in the May 7, 1790,
issue of _Pennsylvania Packet_, he had "pocket compasses, steel magnets,
Surveying compass needles, surveyors chains, etc." Since no mention was
made of making or mending instruments, it is probable that Wood was
merely importer and wholesaler.
Another instrument maker of Philadelphia about whom little is known is
Bryan Gilmur, who worked at the close of the 18th century making
instruments and, possibly, clocks.[70]
James Jacks (also listed as James Jack) first worked as clockmaker and
watchmaker in Charleston, South Carolina, in the 1780's; he later moved
to Philadelphia where he maintained a shop on Market Street where he
sold a variety of instruments. In the June 5, 1797, issue of _The
Federal Gazette_ he announced that, in addition to jewelry, clocks and
watches, he "also had for sale mathematical instruments in cases very
compleat; Surveyors Compasses and Theodolites; ship's Quadrants; Fishing
Rods and Reels; Billiard Balls and sheet ivory; silver and plated coach,
chaise and chair Whips."
[Illustration: Figure 31.--Equal altitude telescope, 17 in. long, made
and signed by Henry Voight (1738-1814) of Philadelphia. USNM 311772.]
_Instruments of Wood_
The Use of Wood