“A Fine Craftsman in the Best Tradition” Isaiah Lukens and His Clock-Making Trade by Elizabeth Fox
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© 2020 National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Inc. Reproduction prohibited without written permission. “A Fine Craftsman in the Best Tradition” Isaiah Lukens and His Clock-Making Trade By Elizabeth Fox Author’s note: The title of this article, “A Fine Craftsman shift from traditional craftsmanship to mechanization in the Best Tradition,” is taken from a description of during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, as the Lukens found in Ferguson.1 This article contains selected emergence of a capitalist labor economy gradually excerpts from my graduate thesis, Like Clockwork: The replaced skilled artisans and journeymen with wage Mechanical Ingenuity and Craftsmanship of Isaiah earners. This situation quickly progressed with new Lukens (1779-1846). inexpensive methods in clock manufacturing, orchestrated by clock makers such as Eli Terry of Connecticut. Although noted How different is my feeling on horology scholars have recognized a return to the city of brotherly Lukens’ contributions to the love!! There is jealousy and trade, few of his existing clocks, rivalry, but also science and apart from his famous 1828 clock intelligence, and trade and money movement in the Pennsylvania not the only things which occupy State House, are well documented the mind.—Joseph Henry to or widely published.5 Additionally, Alexander Dallas Bache, no apprenticeship indenture, October 25, 18392 daybook, or other personal records of his trade have come to light. Fortunately, numerous objects, A period of intellectual ferment correspondence, scientific reports, and economic growth transformed and manuscripts, namely the 1847 Philadelphia’s urban society by auction catalog of Lukens’ estate the first half of the 19th century. by W.S. Berrell & J.S. Burr, attest Despite losing its status as the to his commercial success in clock- nation’s leading trade port, making.6 This article will primarily Philadelphia buzzed with industrial Figure 1. Isaiah Lukens, ca. 1800. Attributed discuss Lukens’ origins and activity when the construction of to Rembrandt Peale (1778–1860). Oil on influences on the clock-making trade manufactories, turnpikes, and canal canvas, 21 x 27 in. COURTESY OF THE ATHENAEUM OF during the rise of industrialization in systems around 1820 dramatically PHILADELPHIA, PHILADELPHIA, PA. 19th-century Philadelphia. reorganized artisan labor and drove the city toward scientific progress. Throughout these Origins of Isaiah Lukens post-Revolutionary developments, mechanics formed the Born in 1779 to Seneca Lukens and Sarah Quinby, the backbone of the city’s preindustrial trades.3 Within this eccentric Isaiah Lukens inherited mechanical abilities assemblage of craftsmen stood Isaiah Lukens (1779–1846), from his relatives, many of whom represented the oldest who promoted himself as a skilled clock maker and watch colonial settlers and tradesmen of Pennsylvania. His maker, silversmith, instrument maker, inventor, and great-uncle John Lukens achieved fame as Surveyor tinkerer of all things mechanical (Figure 1). Lukens created General for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1761. his clocks and devices with innovative forms and functions Using his scientific and mathematical expertise, he that personify the industrious American spirit. assisted fellow clock maker David Rittenhouse and the Originally from Horsham Township, PA, Isaiah Lukens American Philosophical Society in their astronomical was a renowned scientific mechanic of the Early observations of the transit of Venus in 1769 and of Republic.4 After serving as apprentice to his clock maker Mercury in 1776. Their published findings allowed father, he set out from Horsham in 1811 to establish his astronomers to accurately measure distances to celestial own trade in Philadelphia, where he developed a greater objects, which significantly brought Philadelphia’s understanding of the mechanical arts. His creations scientific community to international recognition. consisted of such items as tall case and tower clocks, air However, Isaiah Lukens gained invaluable knowledge rifles, and odometers, classifying him as a jack-of-all- of clock-making from his father Seneca Lukens (1751– trades. In diversifying his trade, Lukens embraced the 1829), a Quaker clock maker in Montgomery County 142 March | April 2020 • NAWCC Watch & Clock Bulletin nawcc.org © 2020 National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Inc. Reproduction prohibited without written permission. who not only constructed 8-day tall case clocks but also served prominent roles as the community’s citizen farmer.7 A number of surviving clocks with Seneca’s signature reflect his extraordinary craftsmanship. Their wooden cases exemplify sophisticated late–18th- century Philadelphia Chippendale designs. Elements such as scrolled pediments, quarter columns, and carved flame finials indicate that Seneca relied on regional cabinet makers to create the casework (Figure 2). Seneca also incorporated popular models of dials and mechanisms in his clocks, which were made of imported brass and decorative elements from England and would have been assembled in his workshop. These mechanical timepieces include 8-day Figure 2, left. Tall case clock. Movement by brass movements, auxiliary dials, and Seneca Lukens. The case maker is not identified. almanacs, which were first introduced This is probably from Horsham, PA, 1792. Walnut (primary), 8-day brass movement with in 1730 to predict the moon’s phases. painted dial. Inscribed “Seneca Lukens-Samuel Seneca assiduously promoted his trade Maulsby 1792.” Height: 98 in. (8.17 ft.). Above, by signing his clocks alongside their Close-up of the dial. COURTESY OF POOK & POOK, INC. order number and date.8 Isaiah Lukens demonstrated his mechanical proficiency at an early perhaps as the eldest child, with no heirs age. Charles Jones Wister, Jr., the of his own, he fulfilled important duties son of Isaiah Lukens’ colleague from involving the care of his family’s estate. Germantown, wrote that Isaiah was Nevertheless, after he obtained greater “a very agreeable companion, though knowledge of the mechanical sciences, when pre-occupied with any mechanical Isaiah resolutely worked to establish problem that incidentally presented himself as a prosperous urbanite. The itself…he might have passed for the legacy of his family, including his great- dullest of men,” since he would “spend uncle John Lukens and father Seneca the whole evening over a mechanical Lukens, shaped the formative years of his puzzle, for instance, and when solved, clock-making trade and inspired one of jump up, order his horse, and be gone Horsham Township’s craft dynasties. without one word having passed his lips 9 till he bade goodnight.” Before his move The Art of Keeping Time: to Philadelphia, Lukens apprenticed Lukens’ Clock Commissions with his father and received a common English education under his tutelage. After accruing enough shop experience His apprenticeship to Seneca would to establish his own trade, 35-year-old have been typical of other Montgomery Isaiah moved in 1811 to Philadelphia, County clock makers. At age 14, young where he was first listed in 1813 as men procured experience in the trade a “turner, &c.” at 173 High Street, under the supervision of a relative or friend working as ultimately becoming the city’s notable “town clock master clock maker. After two to seven years of training, maker and machinist” in his shop at the back of 171 High 12 these adolescents became journeymen or master clock Street. George Escol Sellers, whose father Coleman makers who could purchase their own farms and pay Sellers befriended Lukens, recalled him living “in his shop taxes in Pennsylvania by age 21, thus becoming tied [formerly a two story stable], sleeping in an adjoining to the land.10 Isaiah continued to serve in his father’s room, taking his meals at an old hostelry on Market Street. 13 shop in 1803, even after turning 21.11 The reasons Isaiah He called his shop his wife, and he really loved it” (Figure remained in Horsham until late adulthood are unclear; 3). Until his death in 1846, Lukens created a plethora of timepieces that ranged from astronomical regulators to nawcc.org NAWCC Watch & Clock Bulletin • March | April 2020 143 © 2020 National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Inc. Reproduction prohibited without written permission. Figure 3. High Street, from Ninth Street, Philadelphia by William Russell Birch (1755– 1834). Hand-colored engraving on wove paper, 8 ⁷/₁₆ × 11 ³/₁₆ in. From Birch WR. The City of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, North America. Philadelphia: W. Birch & Son, 1800. Plate 12. COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, CORCORAN COLLECTION, WASHINGTON, DC. tower clocks, seven of which are known to survive. He made his first tower clock for Loller Academy after its founding on February 12, 1812. Located in Hatboro, PA, only a mile from his childhood home and father’s shop, the academy was established through the estate of the late Robert Loller, Montgomery County’s distinguished educator and judge. In his will, Loller expressed a desire to found an academy or seminary near his property in Hatboro. The construction of Loller Academy, which cost more than $11,000, included a two-story structure with a cupola containing Lukens’ clock and a bell cast by the foundry of George Hedderly.14 Restored to its original condition, the clock encompasses clockwork features such as steel escapements, huge strike weights, and knife-edge suspension that supported the 10-foot pendulum (Figure 4).