CLOCKS
[Illustration]
UNTIL about 1600, clocks were made chiefly for public buildings or
for the very wealthy, who only could afford to own them; but with
the seventeenth century began the manufacture of clocks for ordinary
use; these clocks were of brass, and were known as chamber clocks.
The earliest form in which they were made was what is now called the
“birdcage” or “lantern” clock. Inventories in this country from 1638
to 1700 speak of clocks with valuations varying from £2 to £20, and
occasionally a “brass clock” is specified. This must refer, as some of
the others may also have done, to the lantern clock.
[Illustration: Illus. 339.—Lantern or Bird-cage Clock, First Half of
Seventeenth Century.]
The lantern clock in Illustration 339 is owned by William Meggatt,
Esq., of Wethersfield. The illustration shows the form of the clock,
from which it naturally derived the names “lantern” and “birdcage.” The
clock is set upon a bracket, and the weights hang upon cords or chains
passing through openings in the shelf; the pendulum also swings through
a slit in the shelf.
The dial projects beyond the frame of the clock, and is six inches
in diameter, and there is but one hand. The dome at the top is
partially concealed by the frets above the body of the clock. Different
clock-makers had frets of their own, and the design of the fret is
often a guide for determining the date of such clocks. The one upon the
clock in Illustration 339 is what was called the “heraldic fret” from
the small escutcheon in the centre, and it was used upon clocks made
from 1600 to 1640. The fret with crossed dolphins was in use from 1650,
and is the pattern of fret most frequently found upon these clocks.
The long pendulum must have been a later substitution, for it was not
commonly used until 1680, clocks up to the time of its invention having
the short or “bob” pendulum. There is no maker’s name upon this clock.
Illustration 340 shows a “lantern” clock in the house of Charles
R. Waters, Esq., which has a fret of a later period, and the long
pendulum. The dial is slightly larger than the one in Illustration 339,
and upon it is engraved the name of the maker, Jno. Snatt, Ashford.
This name is not in Britten’s list of clock-makers, so it is probable
that Jno. Snatt was a country clock-maker. The clock was made about
1680. The brackets are modern.
[Illustration: Illus. 340.—Lantern Clock, about 1680.]
[Illustration: Illus. 341.—Friesland Clock, Seventeenth Century.]
A clock which was made during the seventeenth century is shown in
Illustration 341. It is known as a Friesland clock, from the fact that
clocks of this style are common in the north of Holland, having been
in use there over two centuries. The pendulum of this clock swings
above the shelf. The frame rests upon four wooden feet, and its sides
and back are of glass. The face and ornaments are made of lead, the
ornaments being gilded, except the parrots at each side, which are
painted in vivid parrot greens. The mermaids upon the bracket are
painted in colors, and the face also is painted, the whole making a
gay bit of decoration. The Friesland clocks generally have mermaids
and parrots as part of the decoration of clock and bracket. There is a
small brass dial in the centre of the face, which can be set for the
alarm. Friesland clocks were in use in the seventeenth century in this
country, probably having been brought here by Dutch settlers. This
clock is owned by the writer.
Bracket clocks were made during the last years of the seventeenth
century with wooden cases, and they were very popular during the
eighteenth century. They generally have a brass handle at the top by
which they can be carried. A bracket clock with brass face and sides
may be seen upon the mantel in Illustration 388. It has the plate of
the maker over the dial, with the name Daniel Ray, Sudbury, probably an
English clock-maker. This clock was made about 1760.
[Illustration: Illus. 342.—Bracket Clocks, 1780-1800.]
Illustration 342 shows two bracket clocks in the collection of the
late Major Ben: Perley Poore. The larger one has the top made in the
arch form instead of the bell top like the clock in Illustration 388,
and this would place its date about 1780. The name upon this clock,
George Beatty, Georgetown, was that of the owner. The smaller clock
has an inlaid case, and was evidently made after Sheraton’s designs of
1790-1800. Both clock-cases are of mahogany.
The earliest mention of tall clocks in inventories is in the latter
part of the seventeenth century, where they are always spoken of as
“clock and case.” The use of the long pendulum was probably the cause
of the development of the tall clock from the “lantern clock,” which
had often a wooden hood over it; and when the long pendulum came into
use in 1680, the lower part of the tall clock-case was made to enclose
the pendulum, and sides and a glass front were added to the hood. The
first cases were of oak or walnut, and the dials were square, but
early in the eighteenth century the arched top was added to the dial,
suggested perhaps by the shape of the dome.
The ornaments which fill in the spandrels, or corners of the face, are
somewhat of a guide to the date of a brass-faced clock. The earliest
spandrels had cherubs’ heads with wings, and this design was used from
1671 until 1700, when more ornaments were added to the cherub’s head.
Later came a still more elaborate design of two cherubs supporting
a crown, until about 1750, when the scrolls were made without the
cherubs, but with a shield or head in the centre of the spandrel.
Illustration 343 shows two tall clocks which were owned originally by
Thomas Hancock, from whom John Hancock inherited them. Thomas Hancock
was a wealthy resident of Boston in 1738 when he wrote thus to London,
ordering a clock of “the newest fashion with a good black Walnut Tree
Case Veneered work, with Dark, lively branches; on the Top instead of
Balls let there be three handsome Carv’d figures. Gilt with burnish’d
Gold. I’d have the Case without the figures to be 10 feet Long, the
price 15 not to exceed 20 Guineas, & as it’s for my own use, I beg your
particular Care in buying of it at the Cheapest Rate. I’m advised to
apply to one Mr. Marmaduke Storr at the foot of Lond^n Bridge.”
[Illustration: Illus. 343.—Walnut Case and Lacquered Case Clocks,
about 1738.]
Which of these two clocks was sent to fill this order we cannot
tell. The clock with “Walnut Tree Case Veneered work, with Dark,
lively branches” has the name plate of “Bowly, London,” probably
Devereux Bowley, who lived from 1696 to 1773 and who was master of the
Clock-Makers’ Company in 1759. The gilt ornaments are missing from
the top, so we do not know whether they were the ones so carefully
specified in the letter. Both clocks may date to 1738. The clock with
the lacquered case has the name “Marm^d Storr, foot of London Bridge,”
the same to whom Thomas Hancock had “been advised to apply.” This clock
has the “Balls” at the top to which he objected. Possibly the zealous
friend may have sent both clocks. The one with a walnut case is now
owned by the American Antiquarian Society, to which it was presented,
with other pieces bought from the Hancock house in 1838, by John
Chandler of Petersham. The clock with lacquered case was also bought
from the Hancock house, and is now in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts,
to which it is loaned by Miss Lucy Gray Swett.
A clock-maker well known in and around Boston in the last half of the
eighteenth century was Gawen Brown, who had a shop on State Street, and
who made the clock upon the Old South Church, in Boston. A letter is
still preserved which he wrote asking permission to make a clock for
the Society, and he “Promises and Engages that the same shall be put Up
and continued there forever.”
[Illustration: Illus. 344.—Gawen Brown Clock, 1765.]
This handsome offer was made in 1768 but not until 1774 did the town
act, when they voted to “purchase the Clock of Gawen Brown.”
[Illustration: Illus. 345.—Tall Clock, 1780.]
A Gawen Brown clock is shown in Illustration 344, made for his
father-in-law, the Rev. Mather Byles. The case is pine painted and the
shape of the top and the general appearance would indicate that it was
an early effort made before 1768. It is still running in the rooms of
the Bostonian Society, in the Old State House in Boston.
The clock in Illustration 345 was made by Gawen Brown, and is in a very
handsome mahogany case. It is also owned by the Bostonian Society.
Illustration 346 shows a clock owned by the writer, and is given as an
example of the use of curly maple, of which the entire case is made. It
is unusually tall, over eight feet in height.
The clock in Illustration 347 was made by David Rittenhouse, in
Philadelphia, and is owned by Charles D. Clark, Esq., of Philadelphia.
David Rittenhouse was a maker of clocks and mathematical instruments,
and an astronomer. He held various positions of importance, and was
State Treasurer of Pennsylvania during the Revolutionary war, and
President of The American Philosophical Society. This clock has a very
handsome case of mahogany with fine inlaying, and possesses seven
dials. The large dial has three hands, two for the hours and minutes,
and the third to point the day of the month. This is set on the first
day of each month. At the two upper corners are two small dials, one of
which is set to designate which of the twelve tunes shall be played,
and the other has on it “strike” and “silent,” also for the tunes.
Above, the moon shows its phases and the sun rises and sets every day.
Upon the round dial below, the planets revolve around the sun.
[Illustration: Illus. 346.—Maple Clock, 1770.]
[Illustration: Illus. 347.—Rittenhouse Clock, 1770.]
Illustration 348 shows a tall clock in a mahogany case made about 1770.
The maker’s name is Richard Simestere, Birmingham, but I can find no
record of him in Britten or elsewhere. The shape of the clock-case,
particularly the top, is modelled after a Chippendale design.
[Illustration: Illus. 348.—Tall Clock, about 1700.]
The columns at the corners of the case, sometimes fluted and sometimes
plain, are characteristic of Chippendale, and appear on the majority of
tall clocks made after 1760. This clock is owned by Francis H. Bigelow,
Esq., of Cambridge.
After the War of the Revolution enamelled or painted dials took the
place of brass dials in this country, to a great extent, the chief
reason being, of course, their smaller cost. The works were made by
clock-makers who sold them to pedlers, and they took them, four or five
at a time, into the country towns to sell; the local cabinet-maker made
the case, while the local clock-maker put his own name upon the dial.
During the latter years of the eighteenth century, there was a fashion
for using moving figures above the dial, a ship heaving upon the waves
being the favorite. Many clocks have a painted moon, which rises
and sets each month. Miniature tall clocks were made at this time,
corresponding in proportions to the tall clocks.
[Illustration: Illus. 349.—Miniature Clock and Tall Clock, about 1800.]
Illustration 349 shows a tall clock and a miniature one, both made
about 1800, with painted faces. The tall clock has the name upon its
face of Philip Holway, Falmouth. The case is mahogany, and the twisted
pillars have brass bases and caps. The brass ornaments upon the top
are rather unusual, a ball with three sprays of flowers. The clock was
bought in Falmouth by the writer. The small clock has the name of Asa
Kenney upon the face. Its case is inlaid with satinwood and ebony. This
little clock belonged to the late Sumner Pratt of Worcester, and is now
owned by his daughter, Miss E. A. Pratt.
Illustration 350 shows a clock owned by Mrs. E. A. Morse of Worcester.
The case is beautifully inlaid with satinwood, holly, ebony, and two
varieties of mahogany.
[Illustration: Illus. 350.—Tall Clock, 1800-1810.]
It has the painted moon above the dial, and plays seven tunes—one tune
being played each hour during the day. The tunes are
Hob or Knob,
Heathen Mythology,
Bank of Flowers,
Paddy Whack,
New Jersey,
Marquis of Granby,
Amherst.
Amherst is the psalm tune which this pious clock plays upon Sundays, to
atone for the rollicking jigs which are tinkled out upon week-days. All
of the tall clocks illustrated in this chapter have brass works, but
many were made with wooden works, and in buying a clock one should make
sure that the works are of brass.
Illustration 351 shows two sizes of a kind of clock occasionally found,
which winds by pulling the chain attached to the weights. These clocks
were made in Europe; the smaller one, which is owned by the writer,
having the label of a Swiss clock-maker. The larger clock belongs to
Irving Bigelow, Esq., of Worcester. Both date to the first quarter of
the nineteenth century.
[Illustration: Illus. 351.—Wall Clocks, 1800-1825.]
The most famous name among American clock-makers is Willard. There were
three Willard brothers,—Benjamin, Simon, and Aaron,—clock-makers
in Grafton, Massachusetts, in 1765. Benjamin and Simon established a
business in Roxbury, and in December, 1771, Benjamin advertised in the
_Boston Evening Post_ his “removal from Lexington to Roxbury. He will
sell house clocks neatly made, cheaper than imported.” February 22,
1773, he advertised that he “at his shop in Roxbury Street, pursues the
different branches of clock and watch work, and has for sale musical
clocks, playing different tunes, a new tune each day, and on Sunday a
Psalm tune. These tunes perform every hour.... All the branches of the
business likewise carried on in Grafton.” The third brother, Aaron,
may have remained in Grafton, for he went from there later to Roxbury,
as fifer of a company of minute-men, in the first days of the War of
the Revolution. Simon Willard remained in the same shop in Roxbury for
over seventy years, dying in 1848 at the great age of ninety-six years.
Aaron Willard built a shop in Boston and made a specialty of tall
striking clocks.
[Illustration: Illus. 352.—Willard Clock, 1784.]
Illustration 352 shows a clock owned by Dr. G. Faulkner of Jamaica
Plain. Inside the clock is written in a quaint hand, “The first short
time-piece made in America, 1784.” Dr. Faulkner’s father was married at
about that date, and the clock was made for him. It has always stood
upon a bracket upon the wall, and has been running constantly for one
hundred and seventeen years. Upon the scroll under the dial is the
inscription “Aaron Willard, Roxbury.” The case is of mahogany, and
stands twenty-six inches high. Upon the lower part are very beautiful
scroll feet, turning back. The upper part stands upon ogee feet, and
can be lifted off. The glass door is painted so that it forms a frame
for the dial.
Mr. Howard, the founder of the Howard Watch Company, has told me that
the Willards invented this style of clock as well as the style known as
the banjo clock. Mr. Howard was born in 1813 and when he was sixteen he
started to learn his trade in Boston, in the shop of Aaron Willard, Jr.
I have not been able to find that clocks of this style were made in
England at all, and they seem to be purely American, but in Britten’s
“Old Clocks and Watches and their Makers” is an illustration of an
astronomical clock made by Henry Jenkins, 1760 to 1780, with a case
very similar in shape to these clocks, and with a top like the centre
one of the three in Illustration 353. Aaron Willard may have obtained
his idea from such a clock. The clock in Illustration 352 is the
earliest one that I have heard of.
Illustration 353 shows three clocks made some years later, probably
about 1800 to 1815. The clock with the ogee feet is a Willard clock,
and belongs to W. S. G. Kennedy, Esq. The clock with the door of
bird’s-eye maple and the inlaid fan-shaped top is owned by Mrs. E. A.
Morse. The third clock is owned by the writer.
[Illustration: Illus. 353.—Willard Clocks, 1800-1815.]
[Illustration: Illus. 354.—Hassam Clock, 1800.]
Another New England clock-maker of long and picturesque life was
Stephen Hassam, sometimes called Hasham. He was born in 1761, and is
said to have lived to be over one hundred years old. He was a witness,
when a boy, of the battle of Bunker Hill from the steeple of a church
in Boston, and he lived until after the beginning of the Civil War.
He moved from Boston to Grafton and then to Worcester, where he
learned the clock-maker’s trade, perhaps with the Willards who lived
in those towns at about that time. He established himself finally in
Charlestown, New Hampshire, where he lived and made clocks, which
are highly valued for their excellent qualities, as well as for the
associations with the name of the centenarian clock-maker.
A clock similar in size, and also in design, to the last four
illustrated is shown in Illustration 354. It was made by Stephen Hassam
and bears his name. It is owned by Charles H. Morse, Esq., and has
always stood since it was made, about 1800, upon a mahogany bracket in
the corner. The case is of very finely grained mahogany.
Simon Willard patented in 1802 an improved time-piece, which Mr. Howard
says is the clock now known as the “banjo” clock. Illustration 355
shows a clock bought by the writer in a country town from an old man
who called it a time-piece, which is the name given it in the country,
“banjo” being suggested to the modern mind by the shape of the upper
part. The sides of the clock are of mahogany. The glass door to the
face is convex and is framed in brass, and the ornaments at the sides
of the clock are also of brass.
[Illustration: Illus. 355—“Banjo” Clock, 1802-1820.]
The long glass in the middle of the case is framed like the door of
painted glass in wood gilt. The turned ornament on the top of the clock
and the bracket below it are of wood gilt. Plainer clock-cases of this
shape were of mahogany without the bracket below.
[Illustration: Illus. 356.—Presentation Clock.]
Aaron Willard, Jr., entered his father’s employ in his shop in Boston
in 1823, and continued the business for forty years. When one considers
that members of this family manufactured clocks for over one hundred
years, it does not seem singular that so many clocks are found with the
name of Willard upon them.
Occasionally one finds a banjo clock with striking attachment, but they
are not common.
[Illustration: Illus. 357.—Willard Timepiece.]
Illustration 356 shows a clock called a presentation or marriage clock.
It is owned by Dwight M. Prouty, Esq., of Boston, and it was made for
an ancestor of Mr. Prouty, when he was married, as a wedding gift. The
decorations are in light colors, pink and blue with gold, very delicate
and suitable for a bride. Upon the square glass door, painted above
the centre is “S. Willard” and below it “Patent.” The bracket is gilt.
Illustration 357 shows another Willard time-piece, with a mahogany case
and gilt mouldings and bracket. Upon the door is painted the battle
between the _Constitution_ and _Guerrière_. The name A. Willard is
painted upon the long glass. This clock belongs to Francis H. Bigelow,
Esq.
[Illustration: Illus. 358.—Willard Timepiece, 1802-1810.]
The clock in Illustration 358 has the name Willard upon the face. The
case is mahogany, and the mouldings which frame the glass and the
bracket beneath the clock are japanned in colors. It belongs to Charles
A. Moffett, Esq., of Worcester.
[Illustration: Illus. 359.—Lyre Clock, 1810-1820.]
The clock in Illustration 359 is of an entirely different style, and
the case, the lower part of which is lyre shaped, is very beautifully
carved with scrolls, which are finished in gilt. There is no maker’s
name upon this clock, which belongs to Frank C. Turner, Esq., of
Norwich.
The clock in Illustration 360 is in the lyre shape usually seen, which
was made as a variation from the banjo. Such clocks are found of wood
finished in gilt, or like this clock, in the natural wood, which is
mahogany in most cases. The carving is generally in the same design,
but some have the lyre strings, made of wood or brass.
[Illustration: Illus. 360.—Lyre-shaped Clock, 1810-1820.]
Eli Terry was the first of another famous family of American
clock-makers. He started in business in 1793, in Plymouth, near
Waterbury, Connecticut, a town well known ever since for its clocks
and watches. His first clock was made a year earlier, a wooden clock
in a long case with a brass dial, silver washed. He manufactured the
works for tall clocks, selling them to pedlers, who took them into the
country to dispose of. In 1810 Seth Thomas with Silas Hoadly bought
the Terry factory, and continued the manufacture of clocks for long
cases. Eli Terry in 1814 invented a wooden shelf-clock, called “The
Pillar Scroll Top Case, with pillars 21 inches long resting on a square
base, dial 11 inches square, table below dial 7 inches by 11.” This
clock sold for fifteen dollars, and was made in enormous quantities.
Illustration 361 shows two clocks, one an Eli Terry “Pillar Scroll
Top” clock, with carved pillars similar to the ones upon pieces of
furniture of that period. The other clock was made by Terry at about
the same time. Inside each of these clocks is pasted a paper upon
which is printed the following: “Patent Clocks, invented by Eli Terry,
Plymouth, Connecticut.”
[Illustration: Illus. 361.—Eli Terry Shelf Clocks, 1824.]
“Warranted if well used. N.B. The public may be assured that this
kind of Clock will run as long without repairs and be as durable and
accurate for keeping time as any kind of Clock whatever.” These clocks
are owned by D. Thomas Moore, Esq., of Westbury, Long Island.
[Illustration: Illus. 362.—French Clock, about 1800.]
From the time when such mantel clocks were manufactured in great
numbers, the fact that they were cheap and good time-keepers put the
tall clock out of the market, and its manufacture practically died out
soon after, so that but few tall clocks were made later than 1815-1820.
Illustration 362 shows a French clock with onyx pillars, and elaborate
Empire brasses. The large ornaments at the side of the dial are of
wood gilt. The middle of the dial is occupied by a beautifully wrought
design in brass, of an anvil and grindstone, each with a little Cupid.
Upon the quarter-hour one Cupid sharpens his arrow at the grindstone,
running the grindstone with his foot upon a treadle, and at every hour
the other Cupid strikes the anvil with his hammer the necessary number
of strokes. A brass figure of a youth with a bow stands below the dial,
in front of the mirror in the back of the clock. The base is of black
marble. I have seen several clocks similar with the onyx pillars, but
none with such beautiful, hand-wrought brass in the face and upon the
case.