Early American Scientific Instruments and Their Makers Part 2

Joel Baily

Still another 18th-century pract.i.tioner 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 lat.i.tude and longitude of each. In the same year Baily was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society.

Reverend John Prince

Another noteworthy mathematical pract.i.tioner of the period was the Reverend John Prince (1751-1836) of Salem, Ma.s.sachusetts. 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]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 13.--t.i.tle 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, Ma.s.sachusetts, Holcomb became a surveyor in 1808. An autobiographical sketch noted that "he manufactured about this time a good many sets of surveyors instruments--compa.s.ses, 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 advertis.e.m.e.nt 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, Bra.s.s, 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 advertis.e.m.e.nt:

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 bra.s.s, 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 gla.s.ses, spying gla.s.ses, of all lengths, spectacles, reading gla.s.ses for near-sighted people or others; also spying gla.s.ses 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, gla.s.ses, "as well as Spectacles, single reading and burning gla.s.ses, and where he also polished scratch'd gla.s.ses." In July 1797 he moved to 106 Pearl Street where he sold green goggles, thermometers, and opera and spy gla.s.ses, in addition to an a.s.sortment 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 advertis.e.m.e.nts 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

G.o.dfrey's newly invented quadrant, for taking the lat.i.tude or other alt.i.tudes 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 a.s.sembly 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 advertis.e.m.e.nt 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 gla.s.s, 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 Compa.s.ses, with agate centre needles; chains and Protractors ..."[18]

A most interesting instrument that has recently come to light is a bra.s.s 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 lat.i.tude 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 princ.i.p.ally to the making of surveying compa.s.ses 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.

George Evans was another instrument maker who arrived from London after the end of the Revolution. He established himself in a shop at 33 North Front Street in 1796, where he sold imported instruments as well as stationery, Bibles, and cloth. He died in 1798.[20]

Thomas Dring, who migrated from England, settled in Westtown Township of Chester County, Pennsylvania, where he was first noted in the tax records of 1786. He married Hanna Griffith, a native of the region, and their son, Jeptha Dring, subsequently was mentioned as a carpenter by trade, and a vagrant by inclination, who could quote Shakespeare from memory. According to local legend, Dring raised money from a number of townspeople for the purpose of purchasing clocks for them in England. He set sail for his homeland in about 1798 and never returned.

Although the tax records for 1796 described Dring as an "Optician" he was also a clockmaker and maker of scientific instruments. At least three of his tall-case clocks have survived, and a stick type of barometer which he made for Edward and Hannah Hicks in 1796. The instrument is now in the collection of the Chester County Historical Society. It measures 39 inches in height, and is signed on the thermometer dial THOMAS DRING/West Chester. This instrument (fig. 14) is one of the very rare barometers produced in America in the 18th century.

Another craftsman who emigrated from England was Robert Clark, who opened a shop at 5-1/2 Church Street in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1785. In that year he announced himself as a

Math., Optical and Philosophical Instruments maker and Clockmaker from London ... As the Advertiser has lately had an opportunity of working and receiving instruction under the first masters in the above branches in Great Britain, flatters himself that he shall give satisfaction to those who may be pleased to favor him with their orders ... for Surveyors compa.s.ses, Quadrants, Telescopes, Microscopes, Spirit Levels, etc.[21]

W. Fosbrook was another craftsman originally from London. He was a cutler and maker of surgical instruments, with a shop in Beekman's Slip in New York City in 1786 or earlier. He specialized in leg irons and rupture trusses, and he made instruments and files for setting the teeth as well as standard items for surgeons.[22]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 14.--Barometer made in 1796 by Thomas Dring of West Chester, Pa., for Edward and Hannah Hicks. Photo courtesy the Chester County Historical Society.]

Several immigrant instrument makers established themselves in Philadelphia during the same period. John Denegan (or Donegan), stated to have been "late from Italy," moved his shop in March 1787 to the corner of Race and Fourth Streets at "the sign of the Seven Stars".[23]

There he made barometers and thermometers as well as gla.s.ses for philosophical experiments. It seems too much of a coincidence that in October 1787 an instrument maker named Joseph Donegany established a shop at 54 Smith Street in New York City,[24] where--according to an advertis.e.m.e.nt in the October 17, 1787, issue of _The New York Daily Advertiser_--he made "thermometers, barometers and sold hydrostatic Bubbles and hygrometers for proving spirits, and also ... gla.s.ses for experimental purposes." It is probable that Denegan and Donegany were one and the same; since Denegan was stated to have been of Italian origin, the name may originally have been "De Negani."

Joseph Gatty advertised himself as an "Artist from Italy" with a shop at 341 Pearl Street in New York City where he "made and sold every simple and compound form of barometer and thermometer as well as curious Hygrometers for a.s.saying spirits which show the actual strength with the greatest precision and are not liable to be corroded, in addition to several new Philosophical Instruments of his own invention, and all types of artificial fireworks."[25] By 1796 Gatty (or Gatti?) had moved to Philadelphia where he had a shop at 79 South Front Street and advertised the same items that had appeared in his advertis.e.m.e.nts in New York. The Philadelphia directory for 1800 listed Gatty as a "Weather Gla.s.s Maker."[26]

Native American Makers

Comparatively speaking, the greater proportion of the early American instrument makers were native born. Among these were to be found a substantial number of artisans trained as clockmakers who subsequently produced scientific instruments to meet the surveying and nautical needs of their communities. Together with the other craftsmen throughout the colonies who established and advertised themselves specifically as instrument makers, they produced a large number of the mathematical instruments used in the American Colonies in the 18th century. A careful study of their regional distribution reveals that most of them were concentrated in the major coastal cities of commerce.