Part 7

In 1773 Williams married Joyce Shillcock, the daughter of his landlord. During the Revolutionary War, Williams saw active service as a private in Captain Mills' company, of Col. Jeduthan Baldwin's regiment of artificers, during the years 1777-1779. In 1780 he served in Captain Pattin's company of General Knox's artillery, which was stationed at West Point.[101]

With the conclusion of the war Williams returned to the craft of instrument-making in his shop, at No. 1 Long Wharf. In 1782 his wife, Joyce, inherited the property from her mother, the widow Hannah Shillcock, following the latter's death in that year. In the following May it is recorded that Williams purchased the warehouse and land on the north side of State Street from Benjamin Brown, a trader. By a separate deed, he and his wife released to Brown the warehouse and land which had been the property of his father-in-law in exchange for a clear title to one-half share of the store and land under it "which is next to the street called King Street." On February 7, 1784, he bought a share of the lower division at Long Wharf, No. 7, from Arnold Welles. On May 17 of the same year he succeeded in buying out Brown's half share of the lower division of Long Wharf at Nos. 1 and 7, and at the same time he deeded to Brown one-half share of No. 7 Long Wharf, together with all its dockage and wharfage. Finally, on January 20, 1785, Williams and his wife deeded to Brown all rights to land of No. 7 Long Wharf, reserving for himself his rights in the flats, wharfage, and dockage.

On March 23, 1787, Williams deeded to Joseph Helyer, a blockmaker, the store and land under same, and half the wharfage properly belonging to Lot No. 1. On October 20 of the same year he sold to Brown a part or share of No. 7 Long Wharf, and on March 24, 1788, he purchased land with a wooden store at State Street and Long Wharf from Benjamin Brown. On June 26 he bought the land and store of Joseph Helyer on the north side of Long Wharf.

Williams engaged in only two more transactions before his death. On March 28, 1790, he mortgaged to Joseph Greene, a merchant, the land with wooden store at the head of Long Wharf on the northeast side of State Street; this mortgage was cancelled on May 29, 1793. On October 1, 1791, he deeded to Benjamin Brown a one-half share or 1/48th of all the dockage and wharfage of Long Wharf that appertained to one-half of Lot No. 1, which he had previously purchased from Welles as noted, as well as 1/48th of the proprietor's purchase of Gordon's lands and buildings adjoining the Wharf.

Williams died on January 15, 1792, at age 44. The administrator of his estate was a merchant named Abraham Quincy. By order of the Supreme Court, in order to settle his estate, Williams' store building at No. 1 Long Wharf was ordered sold at public auction. Although on the site of the Crown Coffee House, it was a new building erected in 1780 after the Coffee House had burned. The purchaser appears to have been John Osborn, a merchant, because on May 10, 1793, Quincy, Williams' administrator, deeded to Osborn the land with wooden store at Long Wharf on State Street.[102]

The only instrument made by Williams which appears to have survived is a Davis backstaff (fig. 49) marked "By Wm. Williams, King Street, Boston, for Malachi Allen, 1768"; this instrument is now in the collection of the Peabody Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. It is to be noted from this inscription that this instrument was an early example of Williams' work, produced at the age of 20, prior to the opening of his shop at the Crown Coffee House.

In 1770, when Williams opened his shop, the carved sign of "The Little Admiral" (fig. 37) was installed in front of the Crown Coffee House, and Williams' establishment was thereafter designated by this symbol.[103]

In his shop at No. 1 Long Wharf, Williams exercised his crafts of instrument-and clockmaking, and he made and sold a large assortment of instruments, as well as time glasses which measured from one quarter minute to two hours.

The name of Williams appears also in the Day Books of Paul Revere. Under date of April 16, 1792, there is the following entry:

Mr. William Williams Dr To Engravg plate for hatt bills 0-18-0 To 2 hund prints 0-6-0.

From June 24, 1792, to January 28, 1797, Revere entered 12 charges against Williams for 8,500 hat bills for the total amount of £14/15/0.[104]

_Samuel Thaxter_

Closely associated with the name of William Williams is that of another instrument maker of Boston, Samuel Thaxter (1769-1842). Thaxter was born in Hingham, Massachusetts, on December 13, 1769, the son of Samuel and Bathsheba (Lincoln) Thaxter. His father, who had been born in Hingham in 1744, was married on December 27, 1768, and he became the father of six children, of whom Samuel was the eldest. Samuel Thaxter, Sr., was apparently a man of means, for he is listed as a "Gentleman" and a loyal subject of King George. He resided on North Street in Hingham, near Ship Street. He died on the island of Campobello at the age of 44 years on May 27, 1788.[105]

Samuel Thaxter, as well as several generations of his family before him, was born in the old Thomas Thaxter mansion that was built by the settler of that name in 1652. During the Revolution Samuel's father, Maj. Samuel Thaxter, concealed Tories from the Committee of Safety in a blind passage with a secret door in the old house. From there he smuggled them to Boston. At the massacre of Fort William, Major Thaxter was one of those captured by the Indians. While tied to a tree, he saw two French officers, and demanded whether this was the treatment they gave to commissioned officers. They allowed him to go free and he dragged himself to Fort Edward. Meanwhile, his comrades had reported him missing in action, and Dr. Gay preached his funeral sermon in Hingham shortly before Thaxter's return. The old Thaxter mansion was torn down in 1864.[106]

Young Samuel Thaxter moved from Hingham to Boston, where he is first heard of in 1792. On June 14, 1792, Thaxter married Polly Helyer, the niece of William Williams.

Within a month after the sale of Williams' property at public auction, Thaxter acquired the instrument-making business. Apparently the new owner of the premises required the business to move, and Thaxter established himself at No. 9 Butler's Row. A month after the Williams auction Thaxter announced his new location in an advertisement (fig. 50) in _The Columbia Centinel_ of May 22, 1793.

Thaxter's new location was a wooden store structure, on the north side of Butler's Row that was owned by Andrew Hall and Eunice Fitch in 1798. It was in the rear of the north side of State Street, running from Merchants Row to the water.

By 1796 Thaxter had moved from this location to No. 49 State Street, on the north side opposite to Broad Street, a brick store owned by Joseph Lovering & Sons, tallow chandlers. He continued to do business at this address until 1815, when he moved to 27 State Street, on the opposite side of the street. The new location was in a brick dwelling, opposite Merchants Row, that was owned by Joseph Clough, a housewright.

In about 1825 Thaxter moved his business once more, to 125 State Street, the east corner of Broad Street. This building was occupied by Charles Stimpson, Jr., a stationer who was one of the publishers of the _Boston Annual Advertiser_, which was annexed to the Boston Directory of 1826. The building was owned by Jonathan Phillips, the first mayor of Boston. In the cellar of the building was a victualler named Augustus Adams.[107]

The dominating feature of Thaxter's shop from the time it was opened was the carved figure of "The Little Admiral," the trade sign first used by Williams.

The firm of Samuel Thaxter eventually became Samuel Thaxter & Son, and it continued with that name until past the middle of the 19th century. Samuel Thaxter died in April 1842 at the age of 72 years. The entry for the firm in the 1843 City Directory listed S. T. Cushing as the new owner. From the initials, it seems likely that his full name was Samuel Thaxter Cushing, and that he was the grandson of the original Samuel Thaxter. S. T. Cushing continued to be listed as the owner of the firm until 1899, when he was succeeded by A. T. Cushing, presumably a son of the former. The old store was finally demolished in 1901.[108] Comparison of a photograph of the building just before its demolition with a copy of Thaxter's trade card (fig. 51) of the mid-19th century shows that the building underwent little change in the period. The "Little Admiral" is barely visible in both views.

In 1796, shortly after his marriage, Thaxter made his home on

Fish Street (now North Street), but in 1800 he was living at 54 Middle Street (Hanover Street). By 1807 he had moved to a new home on Fleet Street. His last home address, at the time of his death, was 41 Pinckney Street.[109]

In the collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society there is a receipted bill (fig. 55) from Samuel Thaxter dated July 1, 1801, to Sam Brown, for touching up and repairing nine compasses for the French corvelle _Berceau_.

_John Dupee_

John Dupee of Boston apparently was another instrument maker of the pre-Revolutionary period actively engaged in producing wooden surveying compasses. Three wooden instruments with his compass card exist in private and public collections. The instruments are quite similar: the wood in each case is walnut or applewood, with an engraved paper mariner's compass card; a schooner at sea is figured within the central medallion, and inscribed within the riband enclosing it are the words "Made and Sold by JOHN DUPEE Ye North Side of Swing Bridge Boston New Eng." One of the instruments is owned by the South Natick [Massachusetts] Historical Society; a second example is in the collection of the Bostonian Society; and a third is owned by a private collector.

There is no record of a maker of scientific instruments or clocks by the name of Dupee, although the name John Dupee occurs in the city records of Boston during the early decades of the 18th century. An advertisement in the February 9, 1761, issue of _The Boston Gazette_ states that

ISAAC DUPEE, Carver, Advertises his Customers and others, that since the late Fire (on Dock Square) he has opened a shop the North side of the Swing-Bridge, opposite to _Thomas Tyler's_, Esq.; where Business will be carried on as usual with Fidelity and Dispatch.

The natural assumption would be that the three instruments were produced in Isaac Dupee's shop after 1761, perhaps by the carver's son. The use of an engraved compass card indicates that the instruments were not unique, and that a number of others were produced or contemplated. On the other hand, it is likely that the maker produced other types of instruments utilizing such a card, such as mariner's compasses.

_Jere Clough_

Another instrument maker, presumably of Boston, is Jere Clough. The only instrument bearing his name known at present is a surveying compass (fig. 56), made of wood, in the Streeter Collection of Weights and Measures at Yale University. Clough's name does not appear on any of the lists of instrument makers or clockmakers, yet it is a name that is fairly prevalent in Boston. In 1741, for instance, one Joseph Clough of Boston was a maker of bellows. He produced bellows of all types--for furnaces, refiners, blacksmiths, braziers, and goldsmiths.[110]

_Andrew Newell_

An instrument of considerable significance is another wooden surveyor's compass, in the collection of the Yale University Art Gallery. This compass (fig. 57) is made of rich brown San Domingo mahogany with sighting bars of boxwood. A mariner's card, set into the opening with a metal vernier scale, is in the usual form of the mariner's compass card of the 18th century; it is executed as a line engraving. A ship and the Boston harbor lighthouse are featured in the central medallion. On a riband encircling the medallion is the inscription "Made by ANDW. NEWELL East End of the MARKET BOSTON," Engraved in script at the southern tip of the star is the signature "N. Hurd Sct."

Relatively little is known about Andrew Newell (1749-1798) except that he was a maker of mathematical instruments. An entry in the first Boston directory, in 1789, listed "Andrew Newell, instrument maker, 61 State Street." The directory of 1796 mentioned Newell as having a shop on the "East side of the Market," the address that appears on the surveying compass.

Two years later the Boston directory listed Andrew Newell and Son, and in 1800 the listing included only the name of Joseph Newell, who may have been the son. Another mathematical instrument maker named Charles Newell may have been another son of Andrew Newell; his name does not appear in the city Directory until in the 19th century. An instrument with the signature "Newell & Son, Makers, East End of Faneuil Hall, Boston" is in the collection of the Bostonian Society.

An important feature of the Newell instrument is the fact that the engraver of the compass card was Nathaniel Hurd (1729-1777), the peer of goldsmiths and engravers of the colonial period. This compass card is a previously unrecorded example of Hurd's work, and constitutes a work of art, making the compass a historic scientific instrument.[111] The compass was presented to the Yale University Art Gallery by a Yale alumnus, Mr. Henry G. Schiff of New York City. No other examples have thus far been found.

_Aaron Breed_

Aaron Breed (1791-1861) is a relatively unknown maker of mathematical instruments who worked in Boston into the 19th century. He specialized in nautical, mathematical and optical instruments, with an address at 173 Broad Street, and another at No. 2 Rowe's Wharf, "At the Sign of the Quadrant." Breed made surveying instruments in brass and in wood. A brass instrument is in the Henry Ford Museum, and a wooden instrument is in the collection of Old Sturbridge Village. The latter is fashioned from walnut with an engraved compass card inscribed "Aaron Breed Boston."

_Charles Thacher_

The name of Charles Thacher appears on the compass card of a wooden surveying compass (fig. 58) in the collection of the Mariners' Museum, Norfolk, Virginia. No record of this maker has been found, but the engraved compass card indicates that he probably worked in New England.

_Benjamin King Hagger_

Benjamin King Hagger (c. 1769-1834) was the scion of two well-known families of instrument makers in New England, so it is not surprising that he worked in the same craft.

It is believed that Hagger was born in Newport, Rhode Island, about 1769, the son of William Guyse Hagger and of a sister of Benjamin King. Although his father made instruments--at first in partnership with Benjamin King, and then working alone--in Newport at least as late as 1776, the family appears to have moved after the Revolution. William Guyse Hagger's name did not appear in the 1790 census of Newport, and it is presumed that he moved with his family to Boston.

Benjamin King Hagger was listed in the first city directory of Boston in 1789 as "a mathematical instrument maker" with an address on Ann Street; he was only 20 years of age at this time.

On November 10, 1793, Benjamin King Hagger, "mathematical instrument maker," purchased land with buildings on Prince Street near Snow Hill Street from one Peter Greene. Two years later, on December 1, 1795, Hagger, now listed simply as a "merchant," purchased a brick house, a wooden house, and a shed with land from William Ballard, a tailor of Framingham and an heir of Samuel Ballard. The property was located on the east side of North Street, south of Mill Creek. At the time of purchase, Hagger mortgaged the property to Ballard, and also mortgaged to him the house and land previously purchased from Greene.

Hagger was listed as a ship chandler in the following year when on March 24, 1796, he deeded part of his land on Prince Street to William and George Hillman, minors.

On June 22, 1796, three months later, Hagger, now listed as "mathematical instrument maker, and ship-chandler" deeded to a mariner named Thomas Wallis a house and land that formed part of his original purchase near Copp's Hill from Peter Greene. Then on July 21, 1796, he purchased from William Ballard all his right to the brick house and land on North Street (Ann Street), at the same time mortgaging the property to William Ballard, Jr., of Framingham. This mortgage was cancelled on April 11, 1798.[112]

These negotiations took place before marriage. A report of the Record Commissioners of Boston, states that "William King Hagger of Boston and Mehitable Ballard of Framingham were married October 6, 1796." The entry appears to be in error because the marriage intentions had read "Benjamin King Hagger." It is presumed that Mehitable was the daughter of William Ballard, the tailor of Framingham, from whom Hagger had bought his house on Ann Street, south of Mill Creek.[113]

Benjamin King Hagger is listed in the city directory of Boston for 1798 as a "mathematical instrument maker" on Ann Street. This, however, is the last listing for his name in Boston, as his name does not appear in the 1803 or subsequent directories.

Shortly after 1798 Hagger appears to have left Boston together with his wife, and it is probable that he established himself as an instrument maker in another Massachusetts community, at present unknown. In about 1816 Hagger moved with his family to Baltimore and continued his instrument-making business.

The records of the 1850 Federal census of Baltimore indicate that two of Hagger's sons, John W. and William G. Hagger, had been born in 1800 and 1806 respectively, in Massachusetts, presumably in the community to which Hagger had moved from Boston before moving once more to Baltimore.

According to Matchett's Baltimore directory for 1824, Hagger was a "mathematical and optical instrument maker" with a shop at 57 South Street. His advertisement in the directory stated that he

Respectfully acquaints his fellow citizens that he executes all orders in the line of his business with punctuality and confidently professes to give satisfaction to his employers, from the experience of a regular apprenticeship and 37 years practice.

This indicates that Hagger completed his apprenticeship in 1787, when he was 18, and since then had been established in his own business or had worked for another as a journeyman instrument maker. His first advertisement in the Boston directory appeared in 1789, wherein his shop was listed as being on Ann Street.

Hagger died in Baltimore on November 8, 1834, at the age of 65, after a residence of 18 years in that city.[114]

Thus far only one instrument by Hagger has been found--a wooden surveying instrument or semicircumferentor (fig. 59). It is in the possession of the writer.

_Benjamin Warren_

Production of wooden surveying compasses was not limited to Boston. Another instrument maker who produced them was Benjamin Warren (c. 1740-?) of Plymouth, Massachusetts. The name of Benjamin Warren was a fairly common one in Plymouth, being a name handed down in the family from father to son for at least five generations before 1800. The first Benjamin Warren at Plymouth was married in 1697, and his son Benjamin (2) was born in 1698. Benjamin (2) was married in due course, and his son Benjamin (3) was born in 1740. The third Benjamin was the father of Benjamin (4), who was born in 1766. In 1789 Benjamin (4) married Sarah Young, the daughter of Daniel Young, and their son Benjamin (5) was born in 1792. The Benjamin Warren who operated the shop in Plymouth probably was Benjamin Warren (3), who was then about 45 years of age.[115]

A search of _The Plymouth Journal & Massachusetts Advertiser_ has revealed several advertisements and notices (fig. 60) about Benjamin Warren from which some information can be derived about the man and his business during this period. The first known notice dated March 19, 1785, probably is the most important one. Later in the same year, on August 16, 1785, Warren published the following notice:

WHEREAS on Friday Morning of the 5th inst. eloped from the House of the subscriber, _Inholder_ in Plymouth, JOHN MOREY, of NORTON, of tall stature, & round shoulder'd. Had on when he absconded, a shabby claret coloured coat, adorned with patches, and a pair of dirty smoak'd coloured breeches; without knee-buckles; and an old flopped hatt, defaced with grease.

As he appeared to be an enterprising genius, without abilities, politeness or honesty, and went off in an abrupt and clandestine manner; a reward of _Sixpence_ will be paid, to any person or persons, who will persuade or induce the said Morey to make his appearance once more to the subscriber.

It is obvious that Warren was not considerably concerned about the return of John Morey, for the reward offered was scarcely conducive to obtain the public's cooperation. Warren's first ventures with public sales must have been successful, for early in the next year, in the issue of January 3, 1786, he announced that

_Benjamin Warren_,