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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



October, 1913 



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Old clock made in 

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Old clock of the Terry type. Made by 

 Seth Thomas. Eagle above the clouds 



later we find many able men of this 

 trade were located in Pennsylvania, 

 Delaware, New Hampshire, Rhode 

 Island and even Maryland. Unlike 

 England, America had, however, no 

 clockmakers' guild or company, from 

 which, like in various trade guilds 

 in England, a complete list of 

 names of its members can be obtained with the dates of 

 their term of membership. Thus an English clock or 

 watch can readily be traced and identified as to its maker 

 and value, but in America, owing to the lack of organiza- 

 tion and record, aside from possibly a thousand names of 

 early American clockmakers, many are unknown to-day, 

 and their work, of which there were excellent examples, 

 has entirely disappeared. After 1800, in the shelf clocks 



(not the long-case) it was 

 customary for the maker to 

 paste a paper inside of the 

 case, in the center of which, 

 in bold type, were his name 

 and that of the town in 

 which the clock was made 

 with divisions on either side 

 devoted to "Directions — 

 To Keep this Clock Run- 

 ning," and "To Keep this 

 Clock in Order." At the 

 bottom was invariably the 

 admonition: "Warranted, if 

 Well Used." Often, in old 

 clocks, this paper has been 

 destroyed or is missing, but 

 the character and decora- 

 tion of the dial and case usu- 

 ally make it possible to de- 

 termine its origin. 



Many works were im- 

 ported from England and 

 Holland, in the early days 

 of the Colonies, without 

 the cases, owing to their 

 size and bulk, and often 

 were hung without the case 

 An old Banjo clock by a maker to save the trouble and ex- 

 contemporary with Willard pense of supplying one. 



Bristol, Connecticut, 

 825 



Old clock made by Elisha Hotchkiss, 

 1815. View of Stoke-Pogis Church 



Some of these works were boxed 

 in, others were not, and were 

 made to run until they were 

 completely clogged with dust and 

 dirt. Those which were not en- 

 cased were known as "Wag-on- 

 the-wall" clocks, a term originally 

 applied by country people. Clocks 

 illustrative of this type, without cases, are not very rare and 

 many of these are of German origin inasmuch as many of 

 them were brought over for use in America by the early 

 German settlers in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. The dials 

 of such clocks usually are of white enameled wood, with 

 decorations depicting figures, flowers and scenes. These 

 clocks have works of wood and are wound by pulling down 

 the opposite end of the chain to which the weight is attached. 

 The "Wag-on-the-wall" is 

 also to be found of English, 

 Dutch and of Swiss make. 

 It is one of the quaintest 

 types of old clocks Refer- 

 ring again to the cases, 

 it was the custom for 

 journeymen and cabinet- 

 makers to make cases for 

 the works, which were 

 turned and carved with a 

 fine eye to line and propor- 

 tion. These were carried 

 throughout the country by 

 peddlers on horseback, 

 often four or five at a 

 time and averaged in price 

 from £3 to £11, and even 

 more. The earliest work, 

 though, of American clock- 

 makers, represents the his- 

 tory of church and town 

 clocks — the first of which 

 was made by E b'e n e z e r 

 Parmelee, who built the first 

 town clock in New Eng- 

 land, in Guilford, Conn., 

 where he worked and lived. 

 The "Sign of the Dial" was A fine example of Friesland Wall 

 the distinguishing sign of Clock, about 1780 



