is difficult to determine. Authorities on Revere's engravings agree that
it could have been engraved by Revere but are unable to state it
positively. It has been suggested that the entry in Revere's day book
indicates that he merely printed the compass cards for Warren and that
he did not engrave a plate. The charge for the work bears out this
supposition; and furthermore, Revere's bills seemed to make a definite
distinction between the engraving of plates and actual prints. Whether
or not Revere was responsible for making the original engraving remains
to be determined, but it is very probable that he printed the compass
card of the instrument in the Streeter Collection of Weights and
Measures at Yale.
[Illustration: Figure 63.--Page from the "day books" of Paul Revere with
entry for the printing of compass cards for Benjamin Warren of Plymouth.
In collection of Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston.]
_Daniel Burnap_
One of the best known and most respected names among Connecticut
clockmakers is that of Daniel Burnap (1759-1838) of East Windsor. Burnap
was born in Coventry in 1759 and served an apprenticeship with Thomas
Harland, clockmaker of Norwich. In about 1780 Burnap opened his own
establishment, where he combined the crafts of clockmaking,
cabinetmaking, and engraving of brass, in all of which he was greatly
skilled. One of his apprentices was Eli Terry, who later achieved fame
in the craft in his own right.[118]
Burnap's business included clients in Windsor, Hartford, and Coventry,
as well as some of the leading merchants and cabinetmakers of the nearby
cities and towns. Although clockmaking was the primary business in which
Burnap engaged, he also had a large trade for his surveying instruments,
silver spoons, gold beads, harness and saddlery hardware, and shoe
buckles.
Burnap prospered, and in about 1800 he moved back to his native town,
Coventry. There he purchased a large farm and erected a shop and a
sawmill, and in due course became the leading citizen of the community.
He died in 1838, leaving a valuable technological record in the
completeness of his journals and account books. A study of the entries
of his day books and ledgers (see fig. 64) reveals that Burnap did a
substantial amount of business in surveying compasses, chains, and
protractors. Among his shop equipment after his death there was found an
unfinished protractor, but no examples of his instruments are known
except for a compass dial, inscribed with his name, that was discovered
recently in the collection of a midwestern historical society.[119]
It is significant to note that Burnap made instruments of varying
quality. For instance, he charged three different prices for his
surveyor's compasses. The highest-priced compasses cost L6; they were
made of brass, and were of the more elaborate conventional type used by
surveyors. A few examples that appeared in his records cost L4; these
also were made of brass, but probably were of a simpler form. Several
entries list surveying compasses priced at L2 and L2/8. One of these was
made for Capt. Solomon Dewie (1750-1813) in September 1790 for L2/8. At
the same time, Burnap charged him L0/1/6 for touching the needle of
another compass.[120] The entries in Burnap's account books do not state
that these inexpensive compasses were constructed of wood, but it seems
to be sufficiently conclusive that they were.
_Gurdon Huntington_
Gurdon Huntington (1763-1804) was not primarily a maker of scientific
instruments, but he was established as a goldsmith and clockmaker. He
was born in Windham, Connecticut, on April 30, 1763, the son of
Hezekiah and Submit (Murdock) Huntington.[121]
[Illustration: Figure 64.--Entry in the manuscript ledgers of Daniel
Burnap (1759-1838) of East Windsor and Coventry, Connecticut, for sale
of surveying compass in 1790. Reproduced from the Burnap shop records in
the collection of Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford.]
The Huntington family was one of the most important in Connecticut
colonial history. Gurdon's father, Hezekiah, was in service during the
Revolutionary War, going to Boston as a major with the first troops
raised in Connecticut. When in Boston he witnessed the miserable
condition of the arms then in the hands of the soldiers. Major
Huntington went immediately to Philadelphia, where Congress was in
session, and proposed to the Congress that he would return to his home
in Windham and that there he would open a manufactory for repairing
muskets and other arms. He claimed to have been the first man to have
made a gun in the Colonies.
Gurdon was too young to have served in the Revolution, but he
undoubtedly worked in his father's gun manufactory as a boy. In due
course he learned the trades of goldsmith and clockmaker and established
his own shop in Windham, which, according to an advertisement (fig. 65)
in _The Connecticut Gazette_ of June 11, 1784, was "a few rods north of
Major Ebenezer Backus' store."
On Christmas Day, 1785, Gurdon was married in New London to Temperance
Williams of Groton. In 1789 their first child, Marvin, was born, and in
October of the same year the Huntingtons moved from Windham to Walpole,
New Hampshire. No reason can be found for the move, other than the
possibility that Gurdon might have anticipated greater opportunity in
the new community. There he applied himself to his trade as goldsmith
and clockmaker, but apparently he was not very successful. His family
grew, and by the time of his death there were eight children. Possibly
in an effort to supplement his income, Huntington served as postmaster
of the community. In about 1797, seven or eight years after he had moved
to Walpole, his father and mother joined him there, and it is believed
that Major Hezekiah may have worked as a gunsmith during that period.
Eventually the senior Huntington returned to Windham, Connecticut, where
he died in 1807.[122]
Meanwhile Gurdon Huntington struggled on until his death on July 26,
1804. He died insolvent, which created a considerable problem in view of
the large family he left behind him. Huntington's estate was
administered by Asa Sibley, a clockmaker in Walpole. Sibley had moved
to Walpole from his home in Woodstock, Connecticut, in the 1790's and he
remained there until 1808, when he again returned to Woodstock. Gurdon
Huntington's widow removed to Bloomfield, Ohio, with her children, and
she died there on May 25, 1823. Most of her children settled in
Bloomfield, but several of them moved to New Hartford, New York.
[Illustration: Figure 65.--Advertisement of Gurdon Huntington
(1763-1804) in _The Connecticut Gazette_, June 11, 1784. In collection
of Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford.]
[Illustration: Figure 66.--Views of wooden surveying compass made by
Gurdon Huntington, clockmaker in Walpole, New Hampshire, between
1789-1804. Made of cherry with folding brass sighting bars, the
instrument is 14 in. long and 5-1/2 in. wide. In collection of the
writer.]
Several examples of Huntington's clocks are known to exist in private
collections in the United States. However, only one example of his
scientific instruments appears to have survived. This is a surveying
compass (fig. 66) made of wood, with brass sighting bars and a painted
dial under glass with a steel needle. The dial is inscribed "G.
HUNTINGTON/WALPOLE." The instrument, which is in the collection of the
writer, is made of cherry wood, with a riveted ball-and-socket joint of
brass for insertion on a tripod.
[Illustration]
_Jedidiah Baldwin_
Jedidiah Baldwin (fl. 1790's) was another early New England clock and
instrument maker, but little is known of his early life. He was a
brother of Jabes Baldwin (c. 1777-1829), who worked as a clockmaker in
Salem and Boston after serving an apprenticeship with Thomas Harland in
Norwich, Connecticut.
Jedidiah Baldwin also served an apprenticeship with Harland. In 1791 he
was working in Northampton, Massachusetts, as a member of the firm of
Stiles and Baldwin, and from 1792 to 1794 he was a member of the firm of
Stiles and Storrs, in partnership with Nathan Storrs.[123] In about 1794
Baldwin moved to Hanover, New Hampshire, where he became the local
postmaster, and where Dartmouth College records his death.
Only one existing instrument is known to have been made by Baldwin; it
is a wooden surveying compass with a brass dial having two scales, one
for degrees and one for eight divisions per 90 deg.. The dial is inscribed
"JED BALDWIN/HANOVER." According to its present owner, Mr. Worth
Shampeny of Rochester, Vermont, the compass was used for surveying in
Vermont during the early 1800's.
Another Jedidiah Baldwin worked as a clockmaker in Morrisville, New
York, from 1818-1820 and then in Fairfield, New York; he appears also in
the city directory of Rochester, New York, as a clockmaker during the
years 1834-1844. He may have been a son or grandson of the first
Jedidiah, or a nephew.
_Thomas Salter Bowles_
Thomas Salter Bowles (c. 1765-?) is another elusive New England
instrument maker about whom little information is available. He is
believed to have been the son of Deacon Samuel and Hannah (Salter)
Bowles, born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, probably between 1765 and
1770. His father was born in 1739; his mother, who was the daughter of
Captain Titus Salter, was born in 1748 and died in 1831.[124] Deacon
Bowles was clerk of the Brick Market in Portsmouth from 1801 to the time
of his death, November 3, 1802. There is a minimum of information
available from church and city records in the community, but it is
believed that he was a member of one of the offshoots of the established
Puritan Church, and hence he would not appear in its records. He kept
the lower school in the Brick School House on State Street for a number
of years.
It is believed that the Bowles family first came to Portsmouth during
the few years immediately before the beginning of the Revolutionary War.
It is known that a Thomas Bowles and a Samuel Bowles both signed the
Association Test on August 14, 1776, promising to oppose the hostile
proceedings of the British fleets and armies. Furthermore, one of the
principal taxpayers in Portsmouth in 1770 was a firm named Griffith and
Bowles, which paid L17 in taxes in 1770. The name of the Bowles who
formed part of this firm is not known, but it was either Samuel or the
first Thomas Bowles. The other partner was Nathaniel S. Griffith, a
watchmaker. It is possible that a tradition of instrument making existed
in the Bowles family even then.[125]
On file in the office of the City Clerk in Portsmouth are two
certificates of marriage made out by Thomas Salter Bowles. The first is
for his marriage to Hannah Ham, a ceremony performed on September 21,
1809, by Joseph Walton, one of the pastors of a church dissenting from
the Puritan regime. Hannah was the daughter of William Ham, a brother of
Supply Ham (1788-1862), a noted local clockmaker. Bowles may have served
an apprenticeship in that shop before he married Hannah. Two other
members of the Ham family--George Ham and Henry H. Ham--worked as
watchmakers in Portsmouth in the same period.
A search of the cemeteries has indicated that Hannah Ham Bowles died in
1811, age 20. She is buried with her infant son in North Cemetery.[126]
Thomas Bowles's second marriage certificate in Portsmouth is for his
marriage on September 29, 1813--two years after Hannah's death--to Abiah
Emerly Bradley of Haverhill, Massachusetts.
Little is known about the work of Bowles as an instrument maker except
through a few of his instruments. He is listed in the first Portsmouth
directory, of 1821, as a "mathematical instrument maker" with a place of
business on Daniel Street; his home was given as Austin Street in
Portsmouth. He did not appear in the city's directories of 1827 and
1834. It is assumed that he may have left Portsmouth in the interim,
possibly to settle in his wife's home town of Haverhill.
Three instruments signed by Bowles have survived, and all show signs of
considerable wear. They are surveying compasses made of walnut, having
maple sighting bars and a silvered brass vernier set under the glass.
Two examples, one in the Streeter Collection of Weights and Measures at
Yale University and one owned by this writer are almost identical in
size, form, and details. The only variation is that the Yale example
(fig. 67) has a bubble level under a brass strip set into one end, an
item lacking in the other example (fig. 68).
The compass card, made from a line engraving, is identical in each of
the three examples. A floriated fleur-de-lis on the North point has a
compass and square at its base, and the name T. S. BOWLES is on a riband
over it. Adorning the East point is an American eagle bearing a shield
with stars and stripes and clutching arrows in one claw and a laurel
twig in the other. In a ring within the central medallion is inscribed
(see fig. 68), "* T. S. BOWLES * PORTSMOUTH, N.H. *"
[Illustration: Figure 67.--Wooden surveying compass made by Thomas
Salter Bowles of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. With spirit level. Made of
birch, the compass is 13 in. long and has a diameter of 6 in. In the
Streeter Collection of Weights and Measures, Yale University.]
The most interesting of the three instruments was acquired by the
Dartmouth Museum as part of a collection of the late Frank C. Churchill,
an inspector in the Indian Service. The instrument (fig. 69) is a
quarter circle with a compass in its center and sighting bars mounted on
a swinging arm that reads the angle of the brass scale on the arc by
means of a vernier. It is mounted on a wooden tripod with the customary
ball-and-socket joint, which permits it to be placed on a vertical
plane. A built-in plumb bob at the side helps to establish the
vertical.[127]
Interesting features of this instrument are two inscriptions engraved on
the brass strip on the top of the dial. One states that it was "INVENTED
BY P. MERRILL ESQ." and the other relates that it was "MADE BY JOHN
KENNARD NEWMARKET." No information about P. Merrill has been found, and
it is presumed that it was he who conceived the idea of combining the
various elements into a single instrument and that it was made under his
direction by Kennard.
[Illustration: Figure 68.--Wooden surveying compass made by Thomas
Salter Bowles (1765/70-post 1821) of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Made of
walnut, it is 12 in. long and has a diameter of 5-3/8 in. With walnut
sighting bars. In collection of writer.]
[Illustration]
[Illustration: Figure 69.--Wooden surveying instrument inscribed
"Invented by P. Merrill, Esq." and "Made by John Kennard, Newmarket."
Made of walnut, 7-3/4 in. long; in its original pine case, with cover.
The compass card and dial (see opposite) were made by Thomas Salter
Bowles of Portsmouth. In Frank C. Churchill Collection, Dartmouth
College Museum, Hanover, New Hampshire.]
Some data on Kennard is available in a history of Newfields (formerly
Newmarket) by Reverend Fitts. John Kennard was born in Kittery, Maine,
in 1782. He learned the trade of clockmaker in Portsmouth, New
Hampshire, presumably working with the members of the Ham family or
others. On July 3, 1806, he married Sarah Ewer. He lived for various
periods in Nashua and Concord before moving to Newfields in 1812. He
lived in the Palmer house (which was burned in September 1899), and he
kept a store in the little community and also served as its postmaster
from 1822 to 1824. The post office was the only public office in the
town until the cotton mills were built on the Lamprey River in 1823.
Kennard later built and occupied the Kennard house on Piscassic Street,
which was subsequently owned by Jeremiah Towle and has since been
burned. In December 1830 he established an iron foundry together with
Temple Paul and the Drake family, but in 1834 he sold his interest to
Amos Paul and others. He was the father of six children and he died in
1861. During his lifetime he had specialized in making tall case and
banjo clocks.[128]
_The New Era_
The beginning of the 19th century saw increased trading and shipping
resulting from the economic development of the new republic, and the
westward surge brought increased preoccupation with the settlement of
communities and the development of land areas. As a consequence, the
demand for instruments likewise increased.
Whereas during the 18th century and until some time after the end of the
Revolutionary War probably not more than a dozen instrument makers and
dealers are known to have emigrated from England or elsewhere to make
their homes and careers in the American Colonies, the beginning of the
19th century saw substantial numbers of English and French instrument
makers and dealers immigrate to the United States, to establish shops in
the major centers of trade.
And whereas the names of scarcely a hundred mathematical-instrument
makers who worked in the American Colonies during the 18th century are
known today, the names of hundreds of similar 19th-century craftsmen and
dealers are to be found.
As Derek Price[129] has so cogently stated: "For scientific instrument
makers, one need only examine the nineteenth century city directories of
Boston, Philadelphia and New York to find hundreds of names of craftsmen
and firms. It is, to be sure, an antiquarian research, for one does not
expect to find great discoveries coming from these people. But just as
in Europe, it is a populous trade, influential in the growth of science
and highly effective in spreading and intensifying the itch for
ingenious instruments and devices. It is by these men that the basic
skills of the Industrial Revolution were populated...." By such means
did American science and technology come of age.
_The National Collection_
_Early American Scientific Instruments and Related Materials in the
United States National Museum, Listed by Makers and Users_
ADAMS, GEORGE; Fleet Street, London. (See Ellicott, Andrew; Surveying
Instrument.)
BARDIN, W. & T. M.; 16 Salisbury Square, Fleet Street, London. (See
Priestley, Joseph: Globes.)
BENNET, N. (fl. 1777); Middleboro, Mass., or Middleboro, Pa. _Alidade_,
plane table, scale 7-7/8 in. radius, compass 5-3/8 in. long. Brass scale
and sights with compass in wooden box. Instrument inscribed "N.
Bennet--Middlebor 1777." Although the name of this instrument maker does
not appear on list of English or American makers, it is believed that he
was American. USNM 319076.
ELLICOTT, ANDREW (1754-1820); Baltimore, Md. _Instrument Box_ for
astronomical instruments. Made of rosewood, with a hinged top, green
felt underlining, brass lock, size 3 in. by 3 in. by 11 in. Owned and
used by Andrew Ellicott for storage and transportation of small
astronomical equipment.
Gift of John E. Reynolds, Ellicott's great-grandson, of Meadville, Pa.,
in 1932. USNM 310418.
_Journal_ and _Astronomical Notebook_, manuscript written by Andrew
Ellicott while locating the U.S. boundary line between the United States
and the Spanish territory of Florida, 1797-1801. Contains day-by-day
entries of experiences, field notes, and calculations made by Ellicott.
The major part of the manuscript was published in _The Journal of Andrew
Ellicott_.[130] Bound volume with brown leather covers, end opening,
marked "And. Ellicott," 6-1/2 in. by 8 in. by 2 in. First page has
signature "Andrew Ellicott 1788."
[Illustration: Figure 70.--Pages from manuscript "Journal and
Astronomical Notebook" (USNM 310417) written by Andrew Ellicott while
locating the boundary between the United States and the Spanish
territory of Florida. These pages relate to the observations made in
1799 at the cord of the guide line on Mobile River for determining the
latitude.]
[Illustration: Figure 71.--Folding plate from Andrew Ellicott's "Journal
and Astronomical Notebook" (USNM 310417), relating the results of
observations made in February 1800 with the large and small sectors for
determining Ellicott's position on St. Mary's River.]
Formerly the property of Ellicott's eldest daughter, Jane Judith
Ellicott, from whom it passed to her youngest son, William Reynolds. It
was inherited by the latter's son, John Reynolds of Meadville, Pa., who
presented it as a gift to the U.S. National Museum in 1932. USNM 310417.
FIGURES 70, 71.
_Pocket Slate_ 7-1/4 in. long and 4 in. wide, with wooden frame 7-1/4
in. long and 4 in. wide. Slate 5-3/4 in. long and 2-1/2 in. wide. Part
of field equipment used by Ellicott.
Gift of Charles Ellicott of Dansville, N.Y., in 1960. USNM 318292.
_Quadrant_ of brass made and used by Ellicott. Quadrant has a radius of
12 in., is on a stand 17 in. high, and has the original lenses. Simple
construction with easy adjustment, accomplished by means of two plumb
lines. A tangent screw for slow motions was designed and added in 1885
by Andrew Ellicott Douglass, Ellicott's grandson. Instrument was made by
Ellicott about 1790 and was used in running the southern boundary of the
United States in 1796 and 1800, and on other surveys.
Deposit of Andrew Ellicott Douglass of Tucson, Ariz., in 1931. USNM
152081. FIGURE 72.
_Surveying Instrument_, with brass disk 10-1/2 in. in diameter laid off
in degrees, minutes, and seconds with vernier points. Two telescopes,
one fixed and the other revolving. The instrument is mounted on a tripod
or Jacob's staff by means of a socket on the underside. Complete with
original painted pine case. The name of the maker, "G. Adams London," is
engraved on the dial.
George Adams (1704-1773) was mathematical instrument maker to King
George III. After serving an apprenticeship from 1718, he made
instruments for the East India Company in 1735 and 1736, and established
a shop at "Tycho Brahe's Head" at the corner of Raquet Court, Fleet
Street. He specialized in terrestrial and celestial globes and
microscopes. Following his death he was succeeded in business by his son
George Adams the Younger (1750-1795), who also served as
mathematical-instrument maker to the king.
This instrument is believed by the donor to have been used by either
Andrew Ellicott or by his son-in-law David Bates Douglass.
Gift of Charles B. Curtis of Litchfield, Conn., in 1945. USNM 312932.
[Illustration: Figure 72.--Brass quadrant made by Andrew Ellicott about
1790 and used for running the southern boundary of the United States
about 1796 and 1800, and on later surveys. USNM 152081.]
_Telescope_, consisting of a brass tube 3-1/2 in. long with an aperture
of 2-3/4 in.; on its original brass tripod, with a serviceable
altazimuth mounting. Late 18th century. Made by "W. & S. Jones/135
Holborn/London."
The firm of "W. & S. Jones" was a partnership of two brothers, Samuel
and William Jones, opticians, who worked at 30 Lower Holborn and at 135
Holborn in London, from 1793. They bought the copyright to the books of
George Adams, and subsequently largely carried on the original business
of the Adams instrument makers.
In _The Journal of Andrew Ellicott_ its author describes this instrument
as the first of "Two Acromatic Telescopes for Taking signals, with
sliding tubes, one of them drew out to upwards of 4 feet, and the other
to about 15 inches, the latter for its length is remarkably good, it
shows the satellites of Jupiter very distinctly."
Deposit of Andrew Ellicott Douglass of Tucson, Ariz., in 1899. USNM
152082. FIGURE 73.
_Telescope_, draw type, made of brass with acromatic lens, length 11 in.
Incomplete, and maker not known. The second of the instruments described
in _The Journal of Andrew Ellicott_ as an acromatic telescope. Used for
taking signals, with sliding tubes, which draw out to about 15 in. It
was considered to be remarkably good for its length, and showed the
satellites of Jupiter very distinctly.
Gift of Andrew Ellicott Douglass of Flagstaff, Ariz., in 1931. USNM
152085.
_Transit and Equal Altitude Instrument_, made entirely of brass, with
original lens now broken. The instrument is described by Ellicott in the
following extract from _The Journal of Andrew Ellicott_: