Revolutionary War. Later, with the beginning of the 19th cen- 

 tury, makers of and dealers in instruments in England and France 

 became aware of the growing new market, and emigrated in num- 

 bers to establish shops in the major cities of commerce in the 

 United States. 



Quite possibly the few instrument makers trained in England 

 who immigrated to the Colonies in the early epoch of Colonial 

 development may have in turn trained others in their communities, 

 although no evidence has yet been found. Perhaps more data on 

 this aspect of the subject will eventually come to light. 



There is reason to believe that a few mathematical practitioners 

 and instrument makers lived and worked in the New England 

 colonies as early as the first century of colonization. 



The evidence, frankly meager, consists of two items. The first 

 is a reference relating to James Halsie of Boston. In a land deed 

 made out to him in 1674 he was referred to as a "Mathematician."- 

 Halsie was listed as a freeman of the Massachusetts Bay Colony 

 in 1690. He apparently was the forbear of the several members of 

 the Halsy family of instrument makers of Boston of the 18th 

 century, mentioned later in this study. It is uncertain whether the 

 use of the term "mathematician" in this connection meant an 

 artisan, but if not it may be inferred that Halsie was a practitioner. 



The second piece of evidence is even more slender; it consists of 

 an inscription upon a dialing rule (fig. 1) for making sundials and 

 charts. The instrument is of cast brass, 20/i6 inches long and 

 1 ^Xe inches wide. The date "1 674" is inscribed on the rule together 

 with the name of its original owner, "Arthur Willis." The in- 

 strument almost certainly was produced by the school of Henry 

 Sutton, the notable English instrument maker who worked in 

 Threadneedle Street in London from about 1637 through 1665. 

 The name and date inscriptions are consistent and contemporary 

 with the workmanship of the rule, and were probably inscribed by 

 the maker for the original owner. It is conceivable that Arthur 

 Willis was an Englishman and that the rule was brought into this 

 country even in relatively recent times. However, it is claimed 

 that the rule was owned and used by Nathaniel Footes, surveyor 

 of Springfield, Massachusetts. Nathaniel Footes, believed to have 

 been originally from Salem, subsequently moved from Springfield 

 to Wethersfield, Conn. The instrument was later owned and used 



^ James Savage, A Genealogical Dictionary oj the First Settlers of New England 

 (Boston, 1860), vol. 2, p. 341. 



