American Silversmiths

Fighting the rainy day blues

2010-01-23T17:01:00.000-08:00

Forced inside by three days of pounding rain, I started fiddling about once again with a graphing program called GenoPro. I took a snippet of my tree project, the Fletcher and Bennett families of Philadelphia, and added the partnership (red) and business (green) connections between the various members.

(click on image for a larger view)

Unfortunately, image size limitations make it hard to get too elaborate with the information presented or lay out a more polished presentation, but I think it still makes a pretty interesting visual web of activity. I wonder how many football fields I'd need to map out all 5,540 makers?

It never fails

2010-01-21T19:16:00.000-08:00

I put up a new build and ten minutes later I find some nice tidbit to add. Today, it is an interesting piece by two New York City silversmiths, Gerritt Onckelbach (the pan) and Jesse Kip (the lid).

which was loaned from a private collection for the 1956 exhibition Colonial Silversmiths, Masters & Apprentices at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

The pan is engraved P over I C above a fleur-de-lys for Jean and Catherine (Carre) Pintard and L P over 1733 for their son, Lewis Pintard. And this brings me to a real regret I have with the structure of the web pages I build. The whole point of my little study has been an attempt to discover overlooked family connections and this is a perfect example of the site's failure. In this case, Lewis Pintard married Miss Susanna Stockman in 1759. Her sister Hannah married Elias and her brother Robert married Annis, both children of the great Philadelphia/Princeton silversmith Elias Bondinot, but how can I display this interesting merging of lines and makers? I have uncovered many similar gray interconnections, but how to set them off? Simply putting up all the pages in the tree (setting aside the time it takes to code and upload 250,000+ files) does not make obvious these crossing threads in the web, no matter how copious the notes I add. I have looked at just about every program around and none have an easy way of graphically displaying all the convoluted crossings and re-crossings I have traced out. The closest I have found is Genopro, but it requires hours of manual fiddling to produce useful charts and then can't produce a usable set of htm files or much of anything else past my own monitor display.

Oh well. . .

5,540 as the rain comes down

2010-01-21T12:08:00.000-08:00

Research update

2010-01-18T10:55:00.000-08:00

Some additional names; time for a new build
Amidon, Luther -- Merchant
Amidon, Luther Shumway -- Merchant
Brabrook, Alfred -- Manufacturer
Brabrook, George -- Manufacturer
Brabrook, George Hale -- Manufacturer
Dorrance, Edwin Frink -- Jeweler
Dorrance, George E. -- Jeweler
Forman, Benoni Bradner -- Silversmith
Kidder, Albion O. -- Jeweler
Munson, John -- Pewtersmith
Robinson, John West -- Jeweler
Smith, Samuel L. -- Silversmith
Whitney, George Carpenter -- Silversmith

Research update

2010-01-10T14:10:00.000-08:00

Craftsmen added since the last site build of 25 December:
Bailey, Joseph -- Clockmaker
Ball, George -- Silversmith and jeweler
Claggett, Thomas -- Clockmaker
Cornell, Walter -- Clockmaker
Cunningham, Erastus Brainerd -- Silversmith
Cutter, Henry P. -- Jeweler and watchmaker
Durkee, Franklin Denison -- Jeweler and watchmaker
Durkee, Lewis Purse -- Jeweler and watchmaker
Emmons, Martin W. -- Silver refiner
Field, Ambrose Spencer -- Watchmaker
Gilchrist, Charles A. -- Jeweler
Mershon, Ralph Smith -- Jeweler and watchmaker
Noyes, Leonard W. -- Clockmaker
Quinby, Henry Clay -- Jeweler and watchmaker
Rawson, Erskine Ebenezer -- Jeweler
Sargent, Frederick Herbert -- Silverplater
Sherman, Martial -- Clockmaker
Smith, Martin Snyder -- Jeweler
Sylvester, Joseph Burnall -- Clockmaker
Tyler, Charles Russell -- Silversmith
Uffington, Thomas Spoone -- Gold beater
Warren, Leonard -- Jeweler and watchmaker
Warren, Lorenzo D. -- Jeweler and watchmaker
Weaver, Devalson G -- Jeweler
Whiting, Gamaliel Bradford -- Clockmaker
Woodward, Joseph -- Silversmith

A few more directories added

2010-01-05T15:39:00.000-08:00

New York City 1808
New York City 1827
New York City 1843
Buffalo 1849

Main directory index

And quickly, as the clock ticks down. . .

2009-12-31T15:16:00.000-08:00

Two more directories:
Boston 1823
Philadelphia 1843
Now, where's that champagne. . ?

As the year wanes

2009-12-28T11:23:00.000-08:00

I have now added a silversmith-related transcription of McElroy's 1839 Philadelphia City Directory, to the thirty others on the site. There are quite a few familiar names here, but a good number of new ones, too.

5,490 for the Solstice

2009-12-24T15:18:00.000-08:00

Another new build and another 50 craftsmen, including

Babcock, Courtland -- Jeweler
Balch, William Duncan -- Watchmaker
Bard, Edmund Howe -- Manufacturer
Bard, George J. -- Manufacturer
Bard, James D. -- Manufacturer
Bard, John -- Manufacturer
Bard, Jonathan Sprague -- Silversmith
Bentley, Burr S. -- Jeweler and watchmaker
Bond, Charles -- Watchmaker
Bowden, Joseph B. -- Jeweler
Brown, Joseph Newman -- Silversmith
Carpenter, George Forest -- Silver burnisher
Carpenter, Thomas Saunders -- Jeweler
Carpenter, William Harvey -- Silversmith and silverplater
Child, True Woodman -- Clock and watchmaker
Cox, Joseph -- Watchmaker
Cranston, George King -- Jeweler
Dodd, Stephen Baldwin -- Silversmith and watchmaker
Dumesnil, Antoine -- Silversmith, jeweler, and watchmaker
Fairbanks, Sewell Whitcomb -- Jeweler and watchmaker
Harris, Samuel -- Silversmith
Hodges, George Frank -- Jeweler
Hodges, Leonard -- Jeweler
Hodges, Lewis Tiffany -- Jeweler
Hodges, Milton -- Jeweler and watchmaker
Jerome, Oscar Lyman -- Clockmaker
Jones, George Amasa -- Silversmith
Marcy, Frederick Ithamar -- Jeweler and manufacturer
Moore, Edward Chandler -- Silversmith
Moore, Edward D. -- Jeweler
Moore, John Chandler -- Silversmith
Moore, John Washington -- Silversmith
Morse, Nathan Tingley -- Jeweler
Payne, Thomas -- Jeweler and watchmaker
Rogers, Charles Milton -- Jeweler
Smith, Charles H. -- Jeweler and manufacturer
Stearns, Elijah Cady -- Jeweler and watchmaker
Stearns, John R. -- Silversmith
Stearns, William Ripley -- Jeweler
Stevens, Evelyn E. -- Clockmaker
Stevens, Zachariah -- Pewtersmith
Todd, Edward -- Manufacturer
Todd, Henry Hobart -- Manufacturer
Young, Almyron -- Jeweler and clockmaker

Research update

2009-12-18T16:01:00.000-08:00

Craftsmen added since the last site build of 11 December:
Babcock, Courtland -- Jeweler
Balch, William Duncan -- Watchmaker
Bard, Edmund Howe -- Manufacturer
Bard, George J. -- Manufacturer
Bard, James D. -- Manufacturer
Bard, John -- Manufacturer
Bard, Jonathan Sprague -- Silversmith
Bowden, Joseph B. -- Jeweler
Brown, Joseph Newman -- Silversmith
Carpenter, George Forest -- Silver burnisher
Carpenter, Thomas Saunders -- Jeweler
Carpenter, William Harvey -- Silversmith and silverplater
Dumesnil, Antoine -- Silversmith, jeweler, and watchmaker
Harris, Samuel -- Silversmith
Hodges, George Frank -- Jeweler
Hodges, Leonard -- Jeweler
Hodges, Lewis Tiffany -- Jeweler
Hodges, Milton -- Jeweler and watchmaker
Marcy, Frederick Ithamar -- Jeweler and manufacturer
Moore, Edward Chandler -- Silversmith
Moore, Edward D. -- Jeweler
Moore, John Chandler -- Silversmith
Moore, John Washington -- Silversmith
Morse, Nathan Tingley -- Jeweler
Rogers, Charles Milton -- Jeweler
Smith, Charles H. -- Jeweler and manufacturer
Stevens, Zachariah -- Pewtersmith
Todd, Edward -- Manufacturer

5440 (or Fight)

2009-12-08T07:46:00.000-08:00

I have put up a new build, having added 32 more craftsmen to the project. I am particularly pleased to include William Giffing of Geneva NY by his daughter's marriage to John Henry Parsons. I strongly suspect that Giffing is a son of William Giffing of New York City, whose son Christopher (already in the tree) was a well respected silversmith in the city for more than 40 years.

Allen, Charles Bruce -- Jeweler
Ballard, Oscar -- Jeweler
Bliss, Egerton Ames -- Jeweler
Bliss, Herbert F. -- Jeweler
Bliss, Hiriam Adolphus -- Silversmith
Burhans, John S. -- Jeweler
Carpenter, Edward Everet -- Jeweler
Chapin, Issac Marion -- Silversmith and watchmaker
Chapin, Otis -- Jeweler
Chapman, Henry -- Jeweler
Chapman, Henry William -- Jeweler
Clark, Jerome A. -- Jeweler
Clay, Henry Roby -- Silversmith and jeweler
Crafts, Charles Dwight -- Jeweler and watchmaker
Crafts, William Wright -- Jeweler and watchmaker
Dunster, Henry -- Jeweler
Foster, John Carter -- Jeweler
Foster, Stephen Bartlett -- Jeweler and watchmaker
Frazee, Richard Henry -- Jeweler
Gerould, Marcus James -- Jeweler and watchmaker
Giffing, William -- Silversmith
Halliwell, Thomas S. -- Watchmaker
Harris, Winslow Maxwell -- Merchant
Henry, William Claflin -- Jeweler
Kingman, Eugene -- Jeweler
McNear, Samuel -- Silversmith
Phillips, Charles -- Jeweler
Skinner, Herbert H. -- Jeweler
Stebbins, James Knox -- Jeweler and watchmaker
Walker, Albert -- Jeweler
Walker, Dudley -- Silversmith
Walker, William -- Jeweler

Research update

2009-11-17T08:38:00.000-08:00

Craftsmen added since the last site build of 08 November:
Atmar, Ralph -- Silversmith and jeweler
Brett, Rufus Emery -- Jeweler
Crocker, James G. -- Jeweler
Evans, Henry -- Jeweler and watchmaker
Evans, Theodore -- Jeweler and manufacturer
Foster, Frank Mortimer -- Jeweler
Foster, James Anthony -- Jeweler
Kendall, James -- Silversmith and jeweler
Kendall, Jesse -- Silversmith and jeweler
Lawrence, Nathan -- Pewtersmith and designer
Miner, George Hunnington -- Jeweler
Moir, John -- Jeweler
Moir, William -- Jeweler and watchmaker
Smith, Eben -- Pewtersmith