Owen Biddle

Figure 10

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.Figure 11.—Zenith sector with focal length of 6 ft., made by David Rittenhouse and revised by Andrew Ellicott. Described inJournal 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 theMaryland 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 theMaryland Journal:

Good Encouragement will be given to either Clock or Mathematical instrument makers, by the subscriber, living in Baltimore-Town. Andrew Ellicott.

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 watch-maker. 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 theLibrary Company. The expedition was described in theTransactions of the American Philosophical Societyin 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.

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'sTables, James Ferguson'sAstronomy, and Leadbeater'sLunar 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 maileda copy of hisBenjamin Banneker's Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia And Maryland Almanac and Ephemeris For the Year of Our Lord, 1792to 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]

Figure 12

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.

Figure 13

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.

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.

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]

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]

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 inThe Boston Gazettein the issue of July 16-23, 1739, there had

Arriv'd here by Capt.GerryfromLondonJohn 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.

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 theBoston Evening Postfor December 12, 1743, and again in theBoston Evening Postfor 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 theNew 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 ofThe New York Gazette or The Weekly Post Boythere 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 ofThe 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 hebecame 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 inThe New York Packetwhere 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. Overthe 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 Philada. 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.

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.

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 dialTHOMAS 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 compasses, 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 andfiles for setting the teeth as well as standard items for surgeons.[22]

Figure 14

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 glasses 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 advertisement in the October 17, 1787, issue ofThe New York Daily Advertiser—he made "thermometers, barometers and sold hydrostatic Bubbles and hygrometers for proving spirits, and also ... glasses 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 assaying 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 advertisements in New York. The Philadelphia directory for 1800 listed Gatty as a "Weather Glass Maker."[26]

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.

Figure 15

Figure 15.—James Wilson, first American maker of globes. From a sketch by John Ross Dix in Ballou's Pictorial Drawing Room Companion (Boston, 1857), vol. 12, p. 156.

Among the artisans who combined clockmaking with instrument making before the beginning of the 19th century was Benjamin C. Gilman (1763-1835) of Exeter, New Hampshire. He made mathematical instruments and clocks in addition to working as a silversmith, clockmaker, and hydraulic engineer.

A New England instrument maker who had a most unusual career was James Wilson (1763-1855) of Bradford, Vermont. He was a native of Francestown, New Hampshire, where he was born in a log cabin and brought up on a farm. In 1796 he purchased his own farm, at Bradford.

Figure 16

Figure 16.—Globe made by James Wilson (1763-1855) of Bradford, Vermont. Diameter is 13 in. Photo courtesy Houghton Library, Harvard University.

When a young man of 36 he saw a pair of globes at Dartmouth College in neighboring Hanover and tried to duplicate them. He made balls of wood turned from solid blocks, covered them with paper, and finished them off with lines and drawings. He later improved this method by coating the wooden balls thickly with layers of paper pasted together. He then cut the globes into hemispheres, removed the wooden molds, and joined the paper shells to make the globes.

Wilson next proceeded to procure copper plates of the necessary sizes for his globes, and he projected his maps on them in sections. He received a few lessons in engraving from Amos Doolittle of New Haven, but he was otherwise completely self-taught.

Wilson exhibited the first edition of his globes in Boston in 1814. They created a sensation, and many persons asked to see the maker, but Wilson was reluctant to come forward because of his coarse clothing and rustic manners. He was greatly encouraged, however, by the public interest in his work, and he continued to make globes in Bradford (see fig. 16). In about 1815 Wilson and his three sons, all of whom were as ingenious as the father, formed a company to manufacture globes in Albany. There they produced terrestrial and celestial globes, the latter showing as many as 5,000 stars. Wilson produced a new set of plates in 1826 and made globes in several sizes. Even after he had reached the age of 83 years he constructed an excellent planetarium, engraving the large copperplate himself.

Wilson was married three times and was the father of 14 children. He died at the age of 92 in March 1855 at Bradford.[27]

A surprisingly small number of the Massachusetts craftsmen working before the end of the 18th century produced scientific instruments. Among the very earliest were several members of the King family of Salem. Daniel King (1704-1790) was born in Salem on November 17, 1704. At the time of his death Rev. William Bentley spoke of him as a "maker of Mathematical Instruments" and a "teacher of Mathematics."[28]

Figure 17

Figure 17.—Brass surveying compass made by Stephen Greenleaf (fl. 1745) of Boston. Photo courtesy New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord.

Following Daniel's death, his business in instruments was inherited by his son Benjamin King (1740-1804), of Salem. Benjamin specialized in producing nautical instruments, and several of his Davis quadrants have survived in public collections. When he died on December 26, 1804, Reverend Bentley wrote that King was " ... a Mathematical Instrument maker, in that branch which immediately regarded practical navigation by quadrant and compass. He supported a very good character through life & was much esteemed."[29]

Another of the very early mathematical instrument makers in Massachusetts was Stephen Greenleaf (see fig. 17), who kept a shop on Queen Street opposite the prison in Boston where

He makes and Mends all Sorts of Mathematical Instruments, as Theodolites, Spirit Levels, Semicircles, Circumferences, and Protractors, Horizontaland Equinoctial Sun Dials, Azimuth and Amplitude Compasses, Elliptical and Triangular Compasses, and all sorts of Common Compasses ... N.B. He sets Load Stones on Silver or Brass, after the best manner.[30]

Jonathan Dakin worked as a mathematical balance-maker "at the Sign of the Hand & Beam, opposite to Dr. Colman's Meeting House" where he made a variety of scale beams in 1745.[31]

An interesting advertisement by Rowland Houghton appeared in the January 17-24, 1737, issue of theBoston Gazette. Houghton announced that he had "lately improv'd on his new Theodolite, by which the Art of Surveying is rendered more plain & easy than heretofore." Houghton was active in the political scene in Boston, as evidenced by the fact that in various issues of theBoston Gazettefor January and February 1739 he is listed variously as "Commissioner," "Proprietors' Clerk" and as "Collector."

Isaac Greenwood, Jr. (1730-1803), was born at Cambridge, where he married Mary I'ams in 1757. He maintained a shop where he combined the business of mathematical instrument maker and ivory turner, and also imported hardware. After the Revolution, he engaged in dentistry, specializing in making artificial teeth and in the manufacture of "umbrilloes." Paul Revere apparently did printing for him on five different occasions between 1762 and 1774, and in about 1771 engraved his trade card, which read:

ISAAC GREENWOOD, Ivory Turner Next door to Doctor John Clark's at the North End Boston. Turns all sorts of work in Ivory, Silver, Brass, Iron, Horn, Wood, etc. Such as Billiard Balls, Tea Boards, Scallopdand Plain Salvers, Decanters ...[32]

Isaac's father, Isaac Greenwood, Sr., was "Professor of Mathematicks and Natural and Experimental Philosophy" at Harvard. In theBoston Gazettefor February 19-26, 1728, there appeared the following notice of his installation:

On the 13th of this Month at Ten in the Morning, The Honorable & Reverend Overseers of the College at Cambridge, met the Corporation in the College Hall, to Inaugurate Mr. Isaac Greenwood into the Office of Professor of the Mathematicks, and Natural and Experimental Philosophy, lately founded by that great and living Benefactor to this Society, Mr. Thomas Hollis of London Merchant. The Rev. President being detain'd by illness,Mr. Flint the Senior Fellow perform'd the part of Moderator, began with Prayer, and then Pronounc'd a Latin Oration proper to the Occasion: Mr. Wiggleworth Divinity Professor, read the Founders Instructions. Mr. Greenwood took the Oaths and made the Declarations required in them: and pronounc'd a Latin Oration. The Rev. Mr. Appleton Pray'd: and Singing part of the 104 Psalm concluded the Solemnity. After which the Overseers & Corporation repair'd to the Library; till the Publick Dinner in the Hall was ready, where all the Gentlemen Spectators of the Solemnity were hansomely Entertained.

Greenwood continued to teach privately for a decade. In various issues ofThe Boston Gazetteof 1738 and 1739 he featured an advertisement, the text of which always stated:

Such as are desirous of learning any Part of Practical or Theoretical Mathematics may be taught by Isaac Greenwood, A.M. &c. in Clark's Square, near the North Meeting House, where Attendance will be given between the Hours of 9 and 12 in the Forenoon, and 2 and 5 in the Afternoons.N.B. Instructions may also be had in any Branch of Natural Philosophy, when there is a sufficient Number to attend.[33]

N.B. Instructions may also be had in any Branch of Natural Philosophy, when there is a sufficient Number to attend.[33]

John Bailey II (1752-1823) of Hanover and Lynn, Massachusetts worked as a clockmaker from about 1770. His father, John Bailey I, and his brothers Calvin and Lebbeus also were clockmakers. Bailey married Mary Hall of Berwick, Maine, and settled in Hanover where he made scientific instruments and clocks. A brass surveying compass in the collection of the New York Historical Society is inscribed "J. BAILEY HANOVER1804."[34]

Undoubtedly the best known instrument maker in Massachusetts was Joseph Pope (1750-1826), of Boston, who was described by contemporaries as the "local mathematician, watch-maker and mechanical genius." In 1787 he completed the construction of a gear-driven orrery displaying the motions of the solar system in a horizontal plane with eccentric and inclined orbits. At each of the twelve corners were mounted cast bronze figures, claimed to have been carved in wood by Simeon Skillin and cast in bronze by Paul Revere. Although the instrument was made for Harvard, the university lacked funds for its purchase. Accordingly, it held a public lottery which realized a substantial sum in excess of the £450.3.0 paid to Pope, and the orrery was delivered in December 1788.[35]The orrery (fig. 18) has survived and is part of the collection of historical scientific instruments at Harvard University.

According to a statement in theBoston Gazettefor February 16, 1789, an apparatus for displaying planets in their proper orbits by means of wires was made and exhibited in Boston by Bartholomew Burges.

Mention must also be made of several members of the Folger family of Nantucket, Massachusetts. Peter Folger (1617-1690), founder of the American branch of the family, emigrated from Norfolk, England, in 1635 and occupied himself in Nantucket as blacksmith, schoolmaster, watchmaker, and surveyor. He was a grandfather of Benjamin Franklin. Another notable descendant was Maria Mitchell (1818-1889), professor of astronomy and director of the observatory at Vassar College.

The best known member of the family was Walter Folger, Jr. (1765-1849), a self-taught clockmaker and watchmaker with great interest in the sciences. A telescope that he produced about 1818 was considered to be the finest in the country at that time. His greatest achievement was a tall case astronomical clock that he devised and constructed; it was completed in 1790 and is considered to be the most complicated domestic clock on record.[36]Folger also produced quadrants and compasses, and made astronomical observations. His observations of the solar eclipse of September 17, 1811, were published in 1815 inMemoirs of the Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Probably one of the most significant of the surviving early American scientific instruments is a pair of gunners' calipers made and used byPAUL REVERE(1735-1818) of Boston. The calipers are made of incised brass, measuring 7 inches in length and 1-3/4 inches in width. They are signed on the reverse side with the name "Revere" in the style of script signature used by this maker in many of his engravings. The design of the instrument is substantially different from that which is commonly found in English, French, and German gunners' calipers of the period, and was probably Revere's own. (See figs. 19, 20.)

Figure 18

Figure 18.—Orrery by Joseph Pope completed in 1787 for Harvard University. Engraved plates and bronze figures were made by Paul Revere. The orrery is 6-1/2 ft. in diameter and 6-1/2 ft. high. The twelve figures at the corners are said to have been carved in wood by Simeon Skillin and cast in bronze by Paul Revere. Photo courtesy Harvard University.

It is believed that these calipers, which are preserved in the collection of the Bostonian Society in Boston, were probably used by Revere in 1775-1776. This was the period during which he was in charge of ordnance repairs for the Continental Army, and involved in various ventures for the manufacture of gunpowder and the casting of cannon. There is no evidence of other scientific instruments made by Revere, lending some weight to the belief that these calipers were made for his own use.

Figure 19

Figure 19.—Brass gunnery calipers made and probably used by Paul Revere (1735-1818). The calipers are 7 in. long and 1-3/4 in. wide.

Figure 20

Figure 20.—Reverse side of gunnery calipers, showing the inscribed signature. Photos courtesy the Bostonian Society, Boston, Mass.

Other Massachusetts instrument makers include Gideon Fairman (1774-1827) of Newburyport who was a partner of William Hooker in the firm of Hooker & Fairman, which dealt in mathematical instruments before 1810.[37]Fairman later moved to Philadelphia,where he was associated with the engraving firm of Draper, Murray & Fairman.

At the end of the 18th century Samuel Emery was making mathematical instruments in Salem, at the same time that John Jayne was engaged in the same work in that community.[38]

John Potter of Brookfield, Massachusetts, produced surveying instruments in the last quarter of the 18th century. A graphometer signed with his name and dated 1785 is in the collection of the firm of W. & L. E. Gurley in Troy, New York.

One of the earliest and most important of the instrument makers of Rhode Island was Benjamin King (1707-1786), of Newport. He was the son of Capt. Samuel King of Salem, Massachusetts, where he was born and baptized on March 13, 1707. He was a brother of Daniel King of Salem. Benjamin eventually moved to Newport, where he married Mary Hagger in July 1742. They had four children: Benjamin, Mehitable, Samuel, and Mary. He established himself as a respectable businessman in the community, and in 1759 or 1760 he became the senior partner in the importing and retailing firm of King & Hagger, "near the sign of Mr. Pitt," dealing in general merchandise, mathematical and nautical instruments, and stationery. William Hagger was probably the junior partner, and may have been King's brother-in-law. King began making his own instruments for sale, surviving examples dated as early as 1762. The partnership was dissolved early in the 1760's. In 1766 Benjamin King was importing, making, and selling quadrants and other instruments "At the Sign of the Mathematical Instruments" next to the Golden Eagle on Thames Street. His son Samuel King occupied the same premises, where he dealt in paints and artists supplies.

When the British occupied Newport, King moved to North Kingstown, but he returned after the British vacated the city. He was 79 when he died in 1786, and his son Samuel King succeeded him in business.[39]

William Guyse Hagger (c. 1744-1830?), born in Newport, is believed to have been the son of William Hagar and Mary Knowlton. He was a quadrant maker (see fig. 21). In 1774 he headed ahousehold that consisted of his wife, five children, and a colored servant. Whether it was he or his father who was the partner of Benjamin King cannot be determined with certainty. When Newport was occupied by the British, Hagger moved to Cranston, where he joined the Pawtuxet Rangers and served as a sentinel at Pawtuxet Fort in 1778. No members of the Hagger family appear in the 1790 census of Newport, but a William Hager is reported as having died in Boston in 1830 at the age of 82. It seems likely from the age and dates that it was William Hagger the elder who worked as a partner in the firm of King & Hagger, which was established in 1759 or 1760.[40]

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