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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. THE FURNITURE CRAFT COMMUNITY

OF PORTSMOUTH, NEW HAMPSHIRE

1798-1837

Johanna McBrien

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the University of Delaware in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Early American Culture

Spring 1996

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 1383431

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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. THE FURNITURE CRAFT COMMUNITY

OF PORTSMOUTH, NEW HAMPSHIRE

1798-1837

Johanna McBrien

Approved: Catherine E. Hutchins, M.A. Professor in charge of thesis on behalf of the Advisory Committee

Approved: *ZJUU(jU l d - Jamey Curtis, Ph.D. Director of the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture

Approved- V fl/__ John/y. Cavanaugh, Ph.D. Interim Associate Provost for Graduate Studies

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PREFACE

As the only seaport in the state of New Hampshire, Portsmouth has

garnered interest over the decades from scholars pursuing studies on the history

and formation of the state, and on the exploration of topics related to the

mercantile coastal community. Its location on the Piscataqua River has led to its

inclusion in regional studies of the timber and milling history. Numerous articles

and papers have also focused on the rich architectural and building traditions that

were a direct result of the commerce and influx of merchants and artisans central

to this bustling coastal port.

The furniture of Portsmouth, often stylish and at times eccentric, has

prompted twentieth-century scholars to research and publish articles on the objects

and craftsmen of this town. The resulting studies are few and are often focused on

a limited group of objects or artisans.

The attribution of furniture made in Portsmouth and surrounding

communities to shops in Salem and Boston, Massachusetts; the discovery that

Portsmouth was a major contributor to the furniture craft; and the need for further

research prompted the publication of a book on the subject in 1993 in conjunction

with an exhibition. The publication, Portsmouth Furniture: Masterworks from the

iii

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. New Hampshire Seacoast. was undertaken by Brock Jobe, then Chief Curator of

the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities in Boston, and a team

of researchers and writers, including myself.

The intent of the Portsmouth furniture book was to thoroughly examine

the furniture produced in the town. A necessary element to the understanding of

the furniture, was an examination of the craft community. In tandem with the

research undertaken for the furniture section of the book, I focused on individuals

in the cabinetmaking trade. Brock Jobe’s primary area of interest was the

eighteenth century, and my focus was on the federal and early empire era. This

examination of the craftsmen active in Portsmouth in the early nineteenth century

resulted in the work that follows and was condensed for the essay, "Portsmouth

Furniture Making, 1798-1837," which appeared in the publication, Portsmouth

Furniture.

In order to understand the context in which the furniture was produced

in Portsmouth, I explored many aspects of the community of Portsmouth as a

whole and the artisans involved directly and indirectly with the furniture trade.

Investigation into the cultural context of the town included research on the

economic and mercantile activity, as well as the architectural environment.

Examination of the craft community involved research into shop practices, artisan

relations, familial ties, craftsman migration, patrons, marketing, shop locations and

business arrangements. Fortunately an account book of late federal and early

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empire period craftsman, Samuel Dockum, survives. As one of the artisans on

whom the second half of this work focuses, the account book, although one of

probably many used, was a useful tool in understanding Dockum’s business

practices and the Portsmouth furniture industry at the time. The material in the

account book was culled to form an appendix of Dockum’s clients, their

occupations, places of business and residences. In addition, the material was

assembled into several graphs delineating his shop production over the four-year

period from 1829-1834 (appendices F, G).

The purpose of this thesis is to complement the extensive furniture

study of the region and to offer information on the craft practices of this small

community relative to larger craft centers in the early nineteenth century. While

equal attention was not devoted to every subject because of the magnitude of the

work, this study provides a basis for understanding the craft community and

provides groundwork for future related studies.

Many people assisted me with research, suggestions, and editorial

criticism, and I offer my appreciation to these individuals:

The person who introduced me to this material and alongside of whom

I worked in the research phase of the furniture section of this project was Brock

Jobe, currently Deputy Director of Collections, Interpretation, and Conservation at

the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum. His high spirits and enthusiasm

for the subject made him a pleasure to work with as well as an invaluable teacher

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. and good friend. I also thank fellow past colleagues, Anne Doneghy, Martha Pike,

and Richard Nylander in the Curatorial Department, Nancy Curtis in the

Publications Department, and Loma Condon in the Archives Department at the

Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities in Boston, Massachusetts.

James Garvin, Architectural Historian for the State of New Hampshire,

and his wife Donna-Belle Garvin, Curator or Collections at the New Hampshire

Historical Society, were two of the most supportive and helpful people throughout

the research and writing phases of this project. James Garvin gave his unerring

wisdom, shared his thoughts, and was pivotal in his support throughout the six

years that have encompassed my efforts on this subject. His wife, D. B., is one of

the kindest people I have yet had the pleasure to know and was most generous with

her knowledge and years of research of New Hampshire history, craftspeople, and

furniture.

My research for this project took me to many institutions in and around

Portsmouth. The Portsmouth Athenaeum offered shelves of books and documents

made accessible and clear with the assistance of Kevin Shupe, Carolyn Eastman,

Jane Porter, Jeannette Mitchell, Ronan Donohoe, Robert Dunn, and Louise

Tallman. They all became involved in the project and were most helpful in more

ways than one could hope. Richard Candee, Director of the American Studies

Program at Boston University and Chair of the Special Collections Committee at

the Athenaeum, openly shared and exchanged information with me on many

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subjects related to Portsmouth for which I thank him. Richard also provided

editorial criticism of the essay for the book.

Strawbery Banke Museum was another institution that I frequented in

Portsmouth. My appreciation extends to Gerald W. R. Ward, then Curator of

Collections and now Associate Curator of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,

Carolyn Parsons Roy, Karin Cullity, Rodney Rowland, and Jane Nylander, then

Director of Strawbery Banke and now Director of the Society for the Preservation

of New England Antiquities. Nancy Noble of the Portsmouth Public Library was

also of invaluable assistance. The Masons at St. John’s Masonic Temple were

generous of their time and good will while I examined the account book of Samuel

Dockum. My appreciation also to all those associated with the historic houses of

Portsmouth.

Among the many individuals that I would like to thank are Ronald

Bourgeault, owner of Northeast Auctions in Hampton, New Hampshire, who

graciously provided me with lodging in his grand Wendell House in Portsmouth for

a summer of research, and for his friendship over the years. William Upton,

Nancy Goss, William and Joan Lyman, Elaine Wilde, and Martha Fuller Clark I

also thank for their ideas, sharing of research, and support. In Claire Nagle I

found another who enjoyed the many discoveries to be made and who also realized

the disappointments at times, and who shared my wanderings through Portsmouth

cemeteries. My appreciation also to two people who originally lit the spark for my

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studies in American furniture and material culture as an undergraduate at Boston

University, John T. Kirk and Robert Blair St. George, now Professor Emerata, and

Graduate Chair, Folklore and Folklife Department, University of Pennsylvania,

respectively.

Numerous people at the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum

were of tremendous assistance. Neville Thompson, Librarian of the Printed Book

and Manuscript Collection, was an invaluable aid through the many late hours at

the library. Bert Denker, Director of the Decorative Arts Photographic Collection

was also most gracious in his assistance. Patricia Eliott of the American Studies

Program offered constant encouragement and good humor. Many heartfelt thanks

to my classmates for their encouragement, ideas, and comments. In particular I

thank Lisa L. Lock, Tracey Winters Beck, and Jessica Beels.

Several people also read drafts in various stages of this thesis. Bernard

L. Herman, Director of the Center for Architecture and Engineering and a

Professor in the Art History Department, shares an enthusiasm for Portsmouth and

has focused his efforts on the architectural history and planning of the town. His

thoughts and helpful criticism have therefore been very useful over the course of

the research and writing phases of the thesis. Many ideas were also shared by J.

Ritchie Garrison of the University of Delaware, Charles Hummel, Adjunct

Professor of the Winterthur Program, Philip Zimmerman, then Director of

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Curatorial Collections at Winterthur and currently a curatorial consultant, and

Philip Zea, Curator at Historic Deerfield.

Special appreciation is intended for the following two individuals:

Robert F. Trent, former Curator and in Charge of Furniture at Winterthur Museum

and currently head of fine and decorative arts at Baldwin’s Book Bam, West

Chester, Pennsylvania. As one of my thesis advisors, Bob offered his thoughts on

the furniture industry and his knowledge of craftsmen as well as his criticism of

this thesis. He is one of the most creative and dedicated professors I have known

and I am honored to have been one of his students.

I am deeply indebted to the thorough assistance and attention given by

my primary thesis advisor, Catherine E. Hutchins, former Director for

Publications, Winterthur Museum, and currently an independent editor and

consultant. I appreciate Kate’s patience throughout the many drafts of the

Portsmouth furniture essay and her very helpful criticism. She has been invaluable

in the thesis phase of this long project in keeping me on track and prompting me to

complete this project. Her thoughtful editorial comments and understanding of the

subject matter were pivotal all the way through my work on this paper, and I thank

her immeasurably.

In closing I thank my brother Mason McBrien of Northeast Auctions,

Hampton, New Hampshire, who sat through many hours with me at the

Portsmouth Athenaeum canvassing newspapers for relevant information and for

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subject matter were pivotal all the way through my work on this paper, and I thank

her immeasurably.

In closing I thank my brother Mason McBrien of Northeast Auctions,

Hampton, New Hampshire, who sat through many hours with me at the

Portsmouth Athenaeum canvassing newspapers for relevant information and for

time spent at the New Hampshire Bureau of Vital Statistics locating genealogical

information. Appreciation also to my husband David Ruggiero who coaxed me on

a regular basis to finish this thesis.

Particular heartfelt appreciation to the Lois F. McNeil Fund, and to

those who believed in my future contributions to the field and made possible my

fellowship to the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture.

Photography credits:

Photographs of furniture and portraits by J. David Bohl, Society for

the Preservation of New England Antiquities.

All other photographs by the author.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE ...... iii

LIST OF FIGURES...... xiii

ABSTRACT ...... xv

CHAPTER

1 INTRODUCTION ...... 1

2 HISTORICAL AND ECONOMIC BACKGROUND...... 8

3 THE PORTSMOUTH CRAFT COMMUNITY...... 17

Introduction to the Craft C om m unity...... 17 The Craft C om m unity...... 19 The Furniture of Portsmouth...... 24 T r a d e ...... 32 The Built Environment and Artisan Shops ...... 38 Conclusion...... 48

4 THE ERA OF LANGLEY BOARDMAN ...... 59

Introduction ...... 59 Shop Practices and Organization...... 66 Shop Size and Production...... 78 Marketing ...... 88 Capital and Diversification of Investments...... 90 Conclusion...... 98

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5 THE ERA OF SAMUEL DOCKUM ...... 121

Introduction ...... 121 Shop Practices and Organization...... 125 Shop Size and Production...... 144 Marketing ...... 156 C onclusion...... 159

6 CONCLUDING REMARKS ...... 179

APPENDICES

A Furniture and Allied Craftsmen, 1800-1840 ...... 181 B Shop Locations of Furniture and Allied C raftsm en...... 198 C Inventory of William Senter ...... 224 D Inventory of Langley B oardm an...... 228 E Mortgage of Shop Inventory of Samuel D o ck u m ...... 229 F Patrons in Account Book of Samuel Dockum ...... 230 G Account Book Shop Production, Samuel Dockum 1829-1834 ...... 265

REFERENCES...... 272

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 Portrait of Langley Boardman. Collection of the Portsmouth Historical Society. Photograph by J. David Bohl. Courtesy of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities ...... 3

Figure 2 Portrait of Samuel Dockum. Collection of the Portsmouth Historical Society. Photograph by J. David Bohl. Courtesy of the Society for the Preservation of New England A ntiquities ...... 4

Figure 3 Desk and Bookcase, Judkins and Senter, Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Collection of William E. Gilmore and Terri C. Byer. On loan to the Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire. Photograph by J. David Bohl. Courtesy of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities ...... 26-27

Figure 4 Work Table, Ebenezer Lord, Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Collection of the New Hampshire Historical Society. Photograph by J. David Bohl. Courtesy of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities ...... 29-30

Figure 5 Invoice of Furniture on the Brig Hannah. 1813. Photograph by the author ...... 37

Figure 6 Map of the City of Portsmouth. J. G. Hales, 1813. Photograph by the a u th o r...... 39

Figure 7 Detail of the Map of the City of Portsmouth. Photograph by the author ...... 44

Figure 8 Serpentine Chest-of-Drawers, Langley Boardman, 1802. Collection of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities. Photograph by J. David Bohl. Courtesy of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities ...... 62

xiii

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Figure 9 Serpentine Chest-of-Drawers, Thomas Needham, 1813. Private Collection. Photograph courtesy Christie, Manson, and Woods, International, New York ...... 63

Figure 10 Advertisement for Langley Boardman. New Hampshire Gazette. April 5, 1799. Photograph by the a u th o r ...... 64

Figure 11 Advertisement for Judkins and Senter, New Hampshire Gazette. October 25, 1808. Photograph by the author ...... 76

Figure 12 Advertisement for William F. Lawrence. New Hampshire Gazette. March 23, 1824. Photograph by the author ...... 129

Figure 13 Advertisement for Samuel Dockum. New Hampshire Gazette , February 18, 1834. Photograph by the author ...... 132

Figure 14 Samuel Dockum Account Book Page, Jonathan Judkins Account, 1829. Photograph by the author ...... 150

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT

This study of the Portsmouth, New Hampshire, furniture industry spans

the years 1798-1837. These specific years coincided with the arrival of federal-era

craftsman Langley Boardman from Ipswich, Massachusetts, and the collapse of the

empire-period shop of Samuel Dockum in the economic panic of 1837. The

careers of these two entrepreneurial craftsmen fall into two distinct eras defined by

local and national economic factors, business trends, and the emergence of a new

nation and the expectations of markets.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the relationships among

cabinetmakers active in early nineteenth-century Portsmouth, with a focus on the

shop practices and community influence of Boardman and Dockum in the furniture

industry. Their careers illustrate the advances made by the trade in the rapidly

expanding market of the republic.

This study complements examinations of the development of the

cabinetmaking trade during the early decades of the nineteenth century in other

coastal communities such as Salem and Boston, Massachusetts, New York, and

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Although smaller in scale, the activity and goals of

craftsmen in Portsmouth were similar. The differences seen in this smaller seaport

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. town offer a microcosm in which to further understand craftsmen and their

working environment in the years of the early republic and to broaden the focus of

related studies to include smaller urban communities on the edge of rural America.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

The early decades of the nineteenth century in Portsmouth represented a

golden age of shop production, furniture manufacture, and labor relations. By the

third and fourth decade of the century the craft reacted to increased external

competition and a decrease in production quality that became representative of the

local furniture industry for the remainder of the century.

More than a hundred craftsmen in Portsmouth worked in cabinetmaking

and allied trades during the first three decades of the nineteenth century. Several

left behind documents that attest to their skills, but only a few objects can be

securely attributed to specific craftsmen. Two men, Langley Boardman and

Samuel Dockum, dominated the cabinetmaking trade. There were a number of

skilled contemporary cabinetmakers, but these two entrepreneurs excelled beyond

their peers and propelled their industry forward and were leaders in their respective

eras.1 Boardman and Dockum each had goals of entrepreneurial gains, as did their

contemporaries. The economic times of each era, the structure of their businesses,

and natural business skills dictated to a large extent their relative success. The

prominence each man felt in his circle is reflected in the paintings they

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. commissioned; they were the only cabinetmakers in Portsmouth known to have sat

for their portraits (figs. 1, 2)2

Langley Boardman succeeded in the first quarter of the nineteenth

century by founding his business in an era of prosperity and catering to a clientele

who could afford the most fashionable products. An adroit entrepreneur, he

diversified his investments and interests and created a business beyond the scope of

any of his peers. He reacted to changes in the industry and facilitated production

by expanding his shop beyond its spacial confines. After purchasing a large,

centrally located building, he organized an integrated network of adjoining

businesses with allied craftsmen working in tandem or individually as market

demand and his needs required. Boardman therefore could hire independent

artisans who worked in his building for piecework opportunities while not

employing them full-time. These allied craftsmen could continue to retain their

individual freedom to run their own shops. While still operating within the craft

tradition of jobbing out work, Boardman brought artisans together under one roof

and therefore increased productivity, saved unnecessary wage expenses and was

one step away from uniting artisans in a single large-scale business.

Samuel Dockum continued Boardman’s efforts toward consolidation and

united the essential elements of the industry within a single shop. Dockum was

operating in a time marked by increased competition from a growing network of

land trade routes and coastal commerce, economic swings, and by a dramatic

expansion of the size of the middle class. The increase in capital for many people

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Figure 1

Portrait of Langley Boardman

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Figure 2

Portrait of Samuel Dockum

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led to demands for a wide range of products, from furniture to hangings, lighting,

and decorative objects. These demands led to a need for showrooms and

warehouses, increased marketing, increased productivity, more affordable goods,

and cost-cutting measures. These factors in turn led to changes in worker relations

and skill requirements. As the nation expanded and developed, many factors

affected businesses in this era and are integral to understanding the community and

the furniture crafts in Portsmouth.

Important as New Hampshire’s urban center was, Portsmouth operated

on a smaller scale than did many other coastal ports. The furniture industry is a

reflection of this. Local craftsmen entered into expanded trade and external

competition, yet their shop organization, although more sophisticated than that of

their eighteenth-century predecessors, did not match the levels of shop organization

and production evident in larger coastal communities. Even though the

cabinetmaking business was changing, Portsmouth shops retained many older craft

traditions. Furniture continued to be hand-made with human or animal power, and

although shop owners took on more managerial roles, they maintained strong ties

with their respective craft while simultaneously entering into the advanced

marketing and manufacturing required of the era.

The careers of Boardman and Dockum represent the rapidly changing

environment of the early decades of the new nation. Each man’s business ventures

paralleled and responded to the varying economic circumstances of his time.

Boardman and Dockum represented two different phases of shop production and

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had a measurable impact on the direction of the industry within Portsmouth.

Industrialization was inevitable and this thesis demonstrates how two men

responded to the changes around them and within their communities.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Notes

Chapter One

INTRODUCTION

1. For discussions on the ability of individuals to make an impact on a community or industry, see Burton W. Folsom, Jr., Urban Capitalists: Entrepreneurs and the Citv Growth in Pennsylvania’s Lackawanna and Lehigh Regions (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1981), esp. pp. 3-9; Margaretta Lovell, "‘Such Furniture as will be Most Profitable’: The Business of Cabinetmaking in Eighteenth-Century Newport," Winterthur Portfolio 26, no. 1 (Spring 1991):48-49.

2. The portrait of Langley Boardman hangs in the office of the historic John Paul Jones House in Portsmouth as do the portraits of Samuel Dockum and his wife. Dockum also commissioned a second portrait of himself that remains in the family.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Chapter 2

HISTORICAL AND ECONOMIC BACKGROUND

Located on the Piscataqua River three miles ftom the Atlantic Ocean

and below a series of riverways that extend far into the forests of New Hampshire

and Maine, Portsmouth’s deep harbor provided an ideal situation for commerce via

the ocean and inland settlements. First settled in 1623, incorporated into the

jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1641, New Hampshire was granted

status as a separate territory under the control of the Royal Council in 1680.

Traders and strategists were quick to recognize the benefits of the swift river and

harbor that never froze in winter. Portsmouth, situated on the hilly southwest

bank, attained position of prominence in its region’s economic, political and social

realm from the very beginning.

The investors and settlers of the seventeenth century formulated the

economic future of Portsmouth. Fishing off the Isles of Shoals provided

livelihoods for some, but the industry that carried the community into the

nineteenth century was grounded in the vast virgin forests. By the mid-seventeenth

century there were fifteen sawmills along the Piscataqua; fifty years later, that

number had increased to sixty.1 The mills provided lumber for export for a

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thriving shipbuilding industry, and for the building of grand houses owned by

merchants whose riches came from investments and trade.

As the eighteenth-century progressed, Portsmouth continued to attract

merchants, traders, and craftsmen to its environs. By 1768, Portsmouth was the

leading North American exporter of bricks, shingles and pine boards to the West

Indies.2 Merchants had established trading routes with Newfoundland, southern

ports, the Caribbean, southern Europe, and England.3

Portsmouth’s economic environment after the Revolution was

characterized by periods of success and stagnation. Ships continued to engage in

the triangular trade with the West Indies and in intercoastal trade. Britain

restricted trade between the United States and the remaining British colonies.

After the war, rather than seek alternate routes, as Boston and Salem did to the

East Indies, Portsmouth continued to sail to the West Indies, concentrating on trade

with the Spanish, French, and Dutch colonies there.4 Not until 1795 did

Portsmouth begin to diversify its trade routes.5 The war between France and Great

Britain resulted in the loss and capture of 61 Portsmouth ships between 1795 to

1800.6

There was a great boom of self-reliance and entrepreneurial spirit in the

town and the nation in the 1790s and the early 1800s. An active seaport,

Portsmouth was home to wealthy merchants who demanded a constant supply of

vessels, lavish homes, and appropriate furnishings to embellish their surroundings.

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They relied upon local craftsmen for the construction of their ships and homes. In

addition they had the option of purchasing goods imported from Europe or from

ports along the Atlantic seaboard, but seem to have persisted in patronizing local

artisans.

The Portsmouth economy reached its height of activity in 1807, with

exports valued at $680,000. The December 1807 passage of the Embargo Act,

however, caused exports in 1808 to drop to $125,059.7 After a brief three-year

period of recovery, Portsmouth, as well as other coastal communities, suffered

during of the War of 1812.

The constant and visible presence of British vessels off the coast was

unsettling to residents and encouraged some people to move inland for fear of

attack. The continual patrol of enemy ships greatly diminished foreign and coastal

trade. In an effort to regain losses, merchants turned to privateering, ventures in

which great quantities of income were gained or lost.

Following the signing to the Treaty of Ghent, Portsmouth revived its

old trade routes but never attained the level of commerce reached in the first

decade of the nineteenth century. The French placed restrictions on exchange with

the West Indies; trade declined from 103 vessels in 1806 to 44 in 1816.8

Nonetheless, merchants continued to rely on shipping as a means of livelihood and

in 1824 Portsmouth was described as "a town, whose prosperity, and even

existence depends on commerce. "9 Foreign and coastal trade worsened between

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the years 1827 and 1831: Tonnage dropped from 20,672 to 8,790. Exports in

1830 amounted only to $96,184 and imports to $130,828.10

Even the timber industry, which had been a staple for commerce,

suffered under competition from Maine. The once-rich New Hampshire forests

had been over-harvested, forcing export merchants to seek lumber from elsewhere.

It thus became increasingly difficult for them to compete with less expensive

lumber exports from the vast forests of Maine. Merchants therefore entered into

the carrying trade to supplement their losses. By the late 1820s, New Hampshire

timber was no longer a viable commodity. The Portsmouth shipbuilding industry,

however, continued to produce vessels through government commissions and

remained active until the 1860s.

The changes in commerce during the forty-year period between 1798

and 1837 set the pace for the nature of domestic industries and manufacture in

New Hampshire and Portsmouth. In search of new markets and employment,

merchants turned their investments away from the seas and toward agriculture and

manufacturing.

The post revolutionary expansion of domestic production resulted from

the realization that the country needed to be self-sufficient and raise capital.

Entrepreneurs ventured into land speculation, banking, and transportation, which

resulted in increased personal wealth and increased demands for goods by a

growing population. These factors resulted in changes in the production process of

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goods as well as an expansion of marketing techniques. The feeling of self-

reliance and need to diversify led to industrialization in the north. Expansion

coincided with an increase in banks in the state, the first of which was chartered in

Portsmouth in 1792; by 1832 there were twenty one banks in New Hampshire, half

a dozen of which were located in Portsmouth.

By 1804 New Hampshire investors built the first cotton mill; the first

woolen mill was opened in 1812. Along the major riverways countless mills were

built, which in turn spurred mill towns such as Manchester, Dover, and Concord.

Portsmouth experienced its boom in industry from the late 1810s to the 1830s with

the incorporation of a grist mill, wagon company, woolen mill, textile factory, iron

foundries, hosiery factory, steam factory, sugar refinery, distilleries, fishing and

whaling companies, and a bleaching factory. The owners of some of these

ventures were merchants rather than manufacturers and were unfamiliar with

running factories. By the 1840s the woolen mill and iron foundries had failed.11

Portsmouth was economically eclipsed by interior industrial settlements, and many

Portsmouth merchants invested in interior towns rather than into their own, which

hastened the decline of Portsmouth.12

Industrial development in Portsmouth also was hampered by a series of

national economic panics and depressions caused by overextension of loans,

speculation, and the changing market economy.13 The first post-war depression hit

in 1819 with results that lasted until 1823. Bank loans on speculation had been

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made too freely and with money that did not have proper backing. Speculation and

expansion in the West slowed, sending banks across the country reeling.

Portsmouth was affected by a local panic in 1827/1828 caused by an overextension

of loans by banks eager to encourage development and in response lent too freely

with loose terms. The worst panic in this period to hit Portsmouth was that of

1837, which caused economic failures throughout the nation, particularly in the

northeast.14 The banking industry was a major contributor to the panic, suspending

payment to clients in silver and gold and lessening the number of circulating bank

notes. The over-extension of credit led to the crippling or dissolution of many

businesses.15 The citizens of Portsmouth were so distressed that they called a

general meeting and agreed to voice confidence in the local banks and accept bank

bills in place of gold and silver specie.16

The economy also was affected by the state government, which

decreased the number of charters granted to companies from 34 in 1836 to only 9

in 1838. The result was virtual stagnation, yet the government continued to hold

back industrial expansion until the mid 1840s. By that time, however, the effects

of governmental inaction had curtailed textile expansion to the detriment of the

state and the benefit of competing states such as Massachusetts and Connecticut

that had continued to expand their manufacturing industries during this time.17 As

one outspoken critic complained in 1844, "[it is] only by means of the same kind

of industry that our own town [of Portsmouth] can grow."18

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Early in the 1790s, transportation routes had been built to increase

potential markets. In 1794 the Piscataqua bridge connected Dover with

Newington, and two years later in 1796, the First New Hampshire Turnpike made

travel easier between the Piscataqua bridge and the Merrimack River. The bridge

was extended to join with Kittery, Maine in 1822. Unfortunately for Portsmouth,

Middlesex Canal was opened in 1815 and this facilitated transportation along the

Merrimack River from Boston to Concord, New Hampshire.19 The canal therefore

allowed ships from Massachusetts to bypass Portsmouth on their way inland and

travel directly into the state. This exacerbated the loss of revenue into Portsmouth.

The growth and contraction of the Portsmouth furniture industry in

many respects parallels the changes outlined above. Early in the nineteenth

century, craftsmen of longevity reaped the bounty of a strong economy.

Subsequently a tide of artisans entered and left the community as the economy

dictated. In response to a changing marketplace and environment, the traditional

craft system also underwent a series of adaptations. It is this series of

developments that will be examined in the following pages.

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Chapter Two

HISTORICAL AND ECONOMIC BACKGROUND

1. See James L. Garvin, "That Little World, Portsmouth," in Portsmouth Furniture: Masterworks of the New Hampshire Seacoast (Boston: Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, 1993; University Press of New England), pp. 14-15.

2. Ronald H. Quilici, "The Portsmouth Maritime Society: Social Diversity in a Colonial Maritime Community," Historical New Hampshire 30, no. 2 (Summer 1975): 101.

3. Garvin, p. 15.

4. Samuel Justus McKinley, "The Economic History of Portsmouth, New Hampshire" (Ph.D. diss., Harvard University, 1931), pp. 227-28.

5. Ray Brighton, They Came to Fish, vol. 2 (Portsmouth: Ray Brighton, 1973), p. 235. Unlike many of its northern counterparts, Portsmouth merchants chose not to pursue trade ties with the Orient.

6. George A. Nelson, Customs Records. Portsmouth. New Hampshire, vol. 3, Builders. Masters. Owners, and Importers (Portsmouth: Portsmouth Athenaeum, 1979), p. 12.

7. The Embargo went into affect December 22, 1807. See Timothy Pitkin, A Statistical View of the Commerce of the United States (Hartford. Conn.: Charles Hosmer, 1816), pp. 51-53, chart III, table I.

8. McKinley, p. 242.

9. Memorial of the Merchants. Ship Owners and Others of Portsmouth in the State of New Hampshire (Washington, D.C., 1824), Collection of the New Hampshire Historical Society.

10. McKinley, p. 244.

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11. Andrew Peabody, "The Wealth, Industry, and Resources of Portsmouth," lecture presented at the Portsmouth Lyceum, November 12, 1844, Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts.

12. John W. Durel, "‘Historic’ Portsmouth: The Role of the Past in the Formation of a Community’s Identity," Historical New Hampshire 41, nos. 2, 3 (Fall/Winter 1986): 101. For a discussion of business trends for this period, see Thomas M. Doerflinger, A Vigorous Spirit of Enterprise (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1986), pp. 125-36.

13. David B. Cole, Jacksonian Democracy in New Hampshire. 1800-1851 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1970); William G. Saltonstall, Ports of Piscataqua (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1941); Laura Fecych Sprague, "Patterns of Patronage in York and Cumberland Counties, 1784-1830," Agreeable Situations: Society. Commerce, and Art in Southern Maine. 1780-1830 (Kennebunk, Maine: The Brick Store Museum, 1987; Boston: Northeastern University Press), p. 171.

14. Marybeth Norton, et al., A People and A Nation. 2nd ed., vol. 1 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin & Co., 1986), pp. 231, 240-41; Cole, pp. 106-09.

15. Alex Groner, The American Heritage History of American Business and Industry (New York: American Heritage Publishing Co., 1972), p. 96.

16. Cole, p. 129.

17. Cole, pp. 194-209.

18. Peabody, p. 9.

19. Cole, pp. 43, 81.

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THE PORTSMOUTH CRAFT COMMUNITY

Introduction to the Craft Community

In 1800 Portsmouth was the twelfth largest community in the United

States, and until 1850 it supported the largest concentration of residents in New

Hampshire.1 To place the population in perspective with nearby urban

communities, in 1801 there were 5,500 people residing in the town. This figure is

slightly more than half that of Salem, Massachusetts, and only a fifth that of

Boston at the same period.2

The beginning of the nineteenth century was marked by unparalleled

population growth in Portsmouth, evident again only with the advent of the 1850s.3

Prosperity borne of flourishing shipping and commerce laid the foundation for an

active craft community. From 1800-1820, twenty-two cabinetmakers, ten

cabinetmaker/joiners, eight chairmakers, four chairmaker/joiners, three turners,

two carvers, eleven ornamental painters, three upholsterers, one seller of bedding,

four saddlers, one looking-glass manufacturer, three wallpaper hangers, and nine

watch and clockmakers practiced their trades in Portsmouth: a total of sixty-five

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craftsmen related to the furniture industry (appendix A).4 The thirty-two

cabinetmakers and cabinetmaker/joiners active in Portsmouth compares with

seventy-one in Salem and one-hundred and twenty-two in Boston at the same time

period.5

A generation separated these craftsmen from those who entered the

community in the second portion of this study. By then the economic environment

was harsher as was the business climate.6 Sue cabinetmakers and one

cabinetmaker/joiner from the first decade of the century were still working in their

craft through the 1820s; three were still active into the 1830s. One of these men,

Langley Boardman, trained at least two of the artisans entering the craft

community at this later time.

There were forty-five cabinetmakers, two cabinetmaker/joiners, nine

chairmakers, one turner, three carvers, fourteen ornamental painters and gilders,

four upholsterers, sue saddlers, two looking-glass manufacturers, and eleven watch

and clockmakers working in Portsmouth in the 1820s and 1830s: a total of ninety-

seven craftsmen related to the furniture industry. The forty-seven cabinetmakers

compares with one-hundred and nineteen working in Salem for this twenty-year

period; figures for Boston cabinetmakers have not yet been compiled.

Changes in the industry are reflected in some of the numbers provided

above. With one exception, the dual occupations of cabinetmaker/joiner and

chairmaker/joiner disappeared as the crafts became more specialized, and artisans

chose between one or the other distinction. The number of cabinetmakers doubled

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between the two eras, with a tremendous increase in the decade between 1830 and

1840 when there were twenty-six new cabinetmakers in Portsmouth. The total

number of chairmakers remained steady between the two periods, but in reality

those active in the business declined by half in the 1830s. This decrease reflects

the increased competition from outside sources with large numbers of imported

chairs entering Portsmouth from Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, and the

integration of chair-making into the cabinetmaking business. The number of

decorative painters remained steady, possibly in response to the hundreds of

unpainted chairs entering the market. Wallpaper suppliers and bedding shops were

absorbed into the multi-functional warerooms, where many of the upholsterers,

turners, and carvers also worked by the 1830s.

The marked increase of cabinetmakers in the 1830s appears to indicate

a healthy economy. In reality, the dramatic increase points to a weak economy.

Partnerships changed frequently during this ten year period, usually lasting two

years before dissolution and the formation of new partnerships. Craftsmen entered

and left the town with a rapidity previously unseen in Portsmouth, and

cabinetmakers struggled to compete in a tightening market wrought by outside

competition and financial woes.7

The Craft Community

As a port town, Portsmouth attracted skilled craftsmen in search of

broader markets and steady work. The cabinetmakers of the eighteenth century,

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several of whom had migrated from the British Isles and had provided the

community with the English-inspired furniture of the rococo era, were in the

waning years of their careers.8 By the nineteenth century, a new breed of

craftsmen was ready to cater to the newest group of prosperous merchants eager to

display their wealth.

Many of these incoming artisans had learned their trades in surrounding

rural outlying communities and moved to Portsmouth to establish their businesses;

some came as apprentices to learn a trade in Portsmouth and remained.9 Still

others arrived from towns in Massachusetts, between the communities of Boston

and Newburyport.10 The journeymen who migrated to Portsmouth during this

period were drawn by the promise of success in an active port community rather

than by family ties. The reliance on kinship ties had been stronger in the

eighteenth century, and as the opportunities available through expansion and

enterprise broadened, kinship ties were not as important as they had been in

preceding centuries." There was a shift from familial connections to associations

of skill in business. The possibilities for economic success drew many skilled

artisans away from their families and into communities with established kinship

networks that were challenged by outside competitors. Once new families were

ensconced, successive generations usually continued in the craft.12 At least twelve

of the Portsmouth trained cabinetmaker journeymen and apprentices during this

forty year period remained in town, established their own shops, and passed along

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their trade, encouraging familial networks by leaving tools and businesses to their

sons, sons-in-laws, cousins, or nephews.13

As some artisans were related by kinship ties, others were associated

through religious affiliations. Cabinetmaker Langley Boardman and upholsterer

William Sowersby were members of the North Congregational Church, as were

cabinetmakers Samuel Wyatt, George Walker, George Osborne, chairmaker Josiah

Folsom, and ornamental painter Samuel Beck among others. Boardman and

Sowersby worked in affiliation with one another in the early nineteenth century and

both went on to change their religious association to the Universalist faith.14

Boardman’s colleagues and prime competitors, Jonathan Judkins and William

Senter, of the firm Judkins and Senter, also became Universalists as did

clockmaker John Gains.15

Boardman’s wife and children remained members of the North

Congregational Church. Although Boardman’s death is recorded in the North

Church record book, he died owning "one half of a wall pew in Universalist

Meeting House" and several years before his decease, he purchased a burying plot

through the South (Universalist) Church.16 That plot, located in Proprietor’s

cemetery is at the base of a long series of plots in which Jonathan Judkins, William

Senter, Joseph Somerby, and Boardman’s nephew Ebenezer Lord and their families

are buried.17 While the headstones for the latter craftsmen are of standard size,

Boardman chose to immortalize his place in the community with a large tomb

emblazoned with his name; the tomb is one of only two in Proprietor’s cemetery.

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The communal and religious ties endured into the 1820s and 1830s.

Samuel M. Dockum and Edmund M. Brown were partners from 1827-1829 and

operated the first prominent second-generation cabinet shop in Portsmouth. Both

were members of Central Baptist Church and both were buried in Union Cemetery.

An account book kept by Samuel Dockum after the dissolution of their partnership

includes three-hundred-and-ninety-four clients, fifty-nine of which (or 15%) were

also Central Baptists.18 Four out of the nine apprentices and journeyman

cabinetmakers working for the shop were affiliated with the same church,

indicating a sense of community but not to the exclusion of other religions or

craftsmen.19 A Baptist journeyman working for Dockum at the time, Alfred T.

Joy, later formed a partnership with Dockum, further indicating Dockum’s close

association with the church and his choice of business partners.

Religious and kinship ties were only partial means of establishing

oneself in the community. Shop owners looked beyond traditional connections

and expanded their reach into the pool of eligible workers. With the influx of

craftsmen into Portsmouth there were advertisements in the local newspapers

requesting the services of apprentices. Newspaper advertisements placed by

artisans were similar in format to one placed by sign and ornamental painter,

Henry Bufford: "WANTED an active lad from 13 to 15 years of age as an

apprentice to the Painting business, one whose disposition is naturally good will

meet with suitable encouragement.On occasion these arrangements failed, and

masters advertised instead for runaway apprentices. Henry Bufford himself was

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once a runaway apprentice. His master, London-trained ornamental painter George

Doig, had advertised for an apprentice in 1799.21 Five months later he printed in

the same paper: "One Dollar Reward, Absconded from the subscriber on the 4th

August last, an indentured apprentice named Henry Bufford, twenty years old."22

The dispute was apparently resolved, for three years later in 1803, Henry Bufford

advertised both for his painting business and for an apprentice of his own.23 A

related incident surrounded the relationship between cabinetmaker Ebenezer Lord

and his apprentice Woodbury Gerrish. Gerrish ran away from Lord’s shop in

1833, but in 1837 he was still in Portsmouth and in partnership with Lord’s son-in-

law Charles Colcord. After the economic downturn of 1837, Gerrish went

bankrupt and in 1838 returned to Lord’s shop as a journeyman, apparently having

made amends.

Cabinetmakers who had earned their apprenticeship in early nineteenth

century Portsmouth usually had a solid grounding in the community and had active

careers in the later decades. The unsettled economic environment of the later

decades hampered craftsmen, however, and stability and economic success became

a struggle to maintain. The cabinetmakers who worked through the 1820s and

1830s often needed the foundation of partnerships with one another that left an

intricate overlapping trail of craftsmen as well as reused shops.24 Those who

progressed beyond apprentice status in the 1830s, usually experienced economic

hardships and a lack of capital, and after starting and losing their own shops

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returned to either working with their masters, in large wareroom and warehouse

shops, joined in unsteady, short-lived partnerships, or left the craft entirely.

The woodworking industry in Portsmouth was composed of branches in

cabinetmaking, joinery, chairmaking, turning and carving trades and the support of

ornamental painting and upholstery. Interrelationships and reliance among

craftsmen were formed through contracts with piecework and the sharing of tasks.

The probate accounts of cabinetmakers often list both debts owed by fellow

craftsmen for unfinished work or credit earned for objects. The 1827 account of

cabinetmaker William Senter, for example, notes a schedule of bills collected from

chairmaker John Grant, Jr., Senter’s partner Jonathan Judkins, and from Dockum

and Brown.25 Incidentals such as errands were also run for one another. The 1809

account book of Portsmouth hardware merchant, Abraham Wendell, lists among

many other instances, William Senter accepting a prospect lock for prime

competitor and apparent colleague, Langley Boardman.26

The Furniture of Portsmouth

The prosperity present in Portsmouth from the late eighteenth into the

early nineteenth century spurred a growing population in need of housing and

furnishings. In comparison to eighteenth-century fashions, imported English

furniture was conspicuously absent from early nineteenth-century Portsmouth

documents and households. The leading patrons of Portsmouth, headed by John

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and Woodbury Langdon, were primarily Democratic-Republicans, who looked to

local craftsmen to provide them with furniture and homes.27

The built environment was undergoing a surge in grand federal houses

and in turn there was a need to hire craftsmen to make the furniture with which to

furnish them. Merchant John Peirce was one of many residents who built a

remarkable neoclassical house in post-revolutionary Portsmouth. His house was

designed with classical articulation and decorative elements, and was furnished

with objects in the latest styles, including a circular settee (made to fit within the

grand circular staircase) which Peirce probably commissioned from Langley

Boardman.28 In 1808 merchant James Rundlet commissioned Boardman to make

furniture for his grand three-story mansion several blocks down Market Street from

Pierce’s house: Boardman himself built a new three-story federal dwelling located

midway between these two clients’ homes.

The new forms introduced into Portsmouth at the turn of the century

included lolling chairs, sewing tables, sideboards and cellarets. These forms

entered the standard retinue of furniture production and were interpreted by local

artisans with a regional emphasis on the use of native woods, primarily birch,

which was integrated with imported hardwoods such as mahogany, rosewood, and

subicu. Among the most widely recognized decorative aesthetics of Portsmouth

furniture from the early nineteenth century are contrasting panels of flame-birch

veneer with mahogany surrounds, and in the instance of case pieces, a drop-panel

along the face of the skirt (fig. 3).

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Figure 3

Desk and Bookcase, Judkins and Senter

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Furniture made in the 1820s into the 1840s lost much of its local

regional character and assumed a look similar to furniture made elsewhere along

the New England coast. The furniture of this later era was made primarily of

mahogany and mahogany veneers with bold decorative elements (fig. 4). The

generalized appearance of this later furniture was probably due to the increase in

coastal imports into the town at this time and from the desire to make furniture

with a more universal appeal. Pressures from increased production needs and

changing shop arrangements may also have contributed to the standardization of

furniture that was not as time-consuming to produce.

Documented Portsmouth furniture from this later period is rarer in

comparison with the many extant objects made in the first few decades of the

century. A plausible reason for the different survival rates is that generations have

held onto objects made in grand eras of hand craftsmanship while disposing of

objects from subsequent periods, even though many Portsmouth pieces were still

largely made by hand later in the century. A sense of ancestor worship and

romanticism remained intact through the retention of objects from the economic

boom years of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and hence many

federal-style objects and some early empire-style furniture remains in Portsmouth.

The furniture available in the early nineteenth century, as in preceding

centuries, was either "bespoke" custom-order work, or retail work meant for

export or sale to customers who would purchase from a showroom in front of the

shop. The advent of increased marketing in the 1820s along with changes in shop

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Figure 4

Work Table, Ebenezer Lord

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production and employ, gave less emphasis to custom work and a greater emphasis

to retail and wholesale production and to showrooms in large warerooms and

warehouses with shops on second and third floors or in separate buildings.

While changes were occurring in the retail portion of the cabinetmaking

business, there were concurrent changes in shop divisions as a means to economize

production. The most prominent development was a move toward specialization,

which had been a part of the furniture industry since the craft of chairmaking

separated itself from cabinetwork in late seventeenth century England.29

The standardization of parts within the cabinet industry was evident by

the late eighteenth century with the advent of price books in England and the

colonies, a result of wage disputes among masters and journeymen. The books

were divided into sections with distinctions between tasks, with an emphasis on

the standardization of components. Journeymen could therefore ideally be paid

according to the manner in which their products compared with those illustrated in

the price books rather than receive payment at the whim of their masters.30

As pressures to increase production and compete on a larger scale

compounded with the passing years of the nineteenth century, craftsmen strove to

cut their production costs. The tradition of piecework and jobbing work out to

independent craftsmen continued in the smaller shops, but larger shops, such as

that owned by Samuel Dockum, began to integrate trades in one business with craft

specialization, divisions in labor, and the use of unskilled craftsmen.31 On the

fringe of industrialization and moving toward factory-style production, Dockum’s

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business included crafts once separated by individual shops; still he continued to

rely on other independent artisans on an as-needed basis. Unlike Boston, New

York, and Philadelphia, Portsmouth did not become a community with a major

furniture industry. Although advertising and business organization did enter the

early industrial phase, Portsmouth’s furniture trade never attained full factory

production.

Trade

As a seaport, Portsmouth continuously received imported goods and

exports. Weekly newspaper advertisements listed an array of products shipped

from the West Indies, southern ports, and abroad, and they also announced the

imminent sailing of cargo ships leaving Portsmouth for both domestic and foreign

ports. Cabinetmakers in town took advantage of sea transport, both as a means to

export their furniture and as a means to receive English or French textiles,

hardware and foreign woods. Furniture was also a commodity that was imported

from coastal ports and abroad. As such it provided competition, particularly for

craftsmen working from the 1820s to the 1830s.

The competition offered by imported furniture before 1820 was limited.

The few furniture imports into Portsmouth during the early decades of the century

provided inspiration for design both to the craftsmen and to the fashionably

conscious consumer. Imported furniture arrived primarily as venture cargo and

was sold at auction. In 1811 auctioneer Samuel Larkin offered "8 sets fancy

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chairs, of different pattern; 8 do [sets] flat top do [fancy chairs], 11 do [sets]

Bamboo do [fancy chairs]; the above Chairs were made in Salem, are well made

and finished in an elegant and masterly style. "32 Surviving manifests from Salem

for furniture exports from 1790-1810 list Portsmouth as a destination for venture

cargo only in two instances; the majority of Salem export furniture went to Boston,

southern ports, and the West Indies.33

Cabinetmakers advertised infrequently before 1820, relying on word-of-

mouth publicity and reserving newspaper announcements for notification of a

change in address.34 When furniture was included in advertisements, it was of

local manufacture; products of other regions went unmentioned.35 The only

craftsmen who advertised their wares and drew comparisons to imported goods

were chairmakers, who felt the impact of competition from coastal goods well

before their colleagues in the cabinet trade. In 1797 and 1798 Josiah Folsom

advertised that he sold chairs "as cheap as can be purchased at BOSTON or

elsewhere."36 Cabinetmakers did not feel compelled to follow suit until the 1820s.

During the 1820s and 1830s, the quantity of imported furniture

increased, particularly fancy chairs. The increased demand by the middle class

forced cabinetmakers to promote their ability to supply imported furniture.

Advertisements for furniture newly arrived from New York and Boston were most

common.37 In 1827 Samuel Dockum advertised he had large quantities of chairs

from these ports, and at one point he imported as many as one thousand at a

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time.38 Piano-Fortes of Boston manufacture were also mentioned in these

advertisements.39

Manuscripts that survive from the eighteenth century depict an active

export trade from Portsmouth. In a five year period from 1768-1773, Portsmouth

exported 4,900 pieces of furniture, the majority of which were chairs, making it

the third leading exporter of furniture behind Philadelphia and Boston.40 An

account of 1771-1772 lists 562 chairs, 103 desks, and 35 tables exported to the

West Indies.41 Furniture exports continued into the nineteenth century, the extent

of which can only be gleaned from the survival of local furniture in coastal and

foreign ports, impost books from destinations and scant documents, as the custom

records have not survived.42

The limited number of nineteenth century documents indicate that when

cabinetmakers exported furniture they acted as their own agents or sold their

merchandise through middlemen. Their options included working through

commission merchants who assumed the risks of losses at sea but who also

received the profits; acting together as organized cooperative ventures; assuming

the risks themselves and acting as their own agents; or consigning the furniture

through another cabinetmaking firm.43

In 1816 Isaac Pinkham sent a shipment of furniture on the schooner

Zephvr. which was wrecked off the coast. Fortunately for Pinkham, the contents

were saved and his furniture was put up at auction.44 Whether he had acted as his

own agent or had hired a middleman is unknown, as is the extent of money that he

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received from a local Portsmouth auction in comparison to income he would have

received from export markets. In 1823 John Grant, Jr. sent six cases of furniture

to New Orleans aboard the brig Martha and Jane.45 He apparently acted as agent,

as only his name is listed on the invoice. Three years earlier a group of craftsmen

chose another option and hired Joseph Burden of the same brig Martha and Jane to

sell their furniture as their agent along coastal ports. Burden may have been the

captain or, more likely, the commission merchant; either way, he was not a

resident of Portsmouth and likely conducted this manner of business regularly.

Langley Boardman and nephew Ebenezer Lord acted as their own shippers in an

account from 1820, but whether they sent the cargo as individuals or as a

cooperative venture is uncertain; Lord sent six chairs and Boardman sue pieces of

mahogany.46

Perhaps the most detailed accounts of furniture export and craftsman

involvement during this time is an invoice of shipments sent from Portsmouth on

the brig Hannah bound for Savannah in 1818. Chairmaker John Grant, Jr., sent

"at his risk" Windsor chairs and rocking chairs worth $116 with Capt. Reuben S.

Randall.47 Grant requested that "the above chairs you [Randell] will please dispose

of at private sale if possible if not at Auction and remit the Effects to Messers

Judkins and Senter after deducting the freight [$7] and your commissions [5

percent of the sales] and incidental charges. From the arrangement made with

Randell, Grant assumed the risk of cargo and therefore of loss with Randell in a

gamble to gain the maximum return from his chairs, apparently to repay a debt

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owed to die firm of Judkins and Senter. This appears to have been the situation,

given that Judkins and Senter sent a cargo of their own on the same shipment and

acted as their own agents. Exporting a much larger quantity of furniture, Judkins

and Senter sent sixteen cases of furniture including bureaus, sideboards, dressing

tables, and wash stands worth a total of $561 (fig. S).48 Like Grant, they assumed

the risk of shipment.

Portsmouth craftsmen also sent shipments to the interior of the state

selling either up the riverways or across land as the hinterlands became more

readily accessible through a series of turnpikes begun early in the century, but

trade remained primarily along the coastal communities where access was relatively

easy and more cost efficient than long overland excursions. Local merchants

working outside Portsmouth continued to rely on Portsmouth craftsmen to furnish

their homes as did local customers and those with coastal or riverside access.49

Benjamin Lapish of Durham placed several orders for chairs from Josiah Folsom

and also purchased furniture from Samuel Wyatt. Langley Boardman, the firm of

Brown and Joy, and Isaac Pinkham also had accounts with clients in Durham.50

Occasionally inland craftsmen would attempt to enter the Portsmouth market.

Concord, New Hampshire, cabinetmaker Levi Bartlett advertised in Portsmouth

papers from 1806 until 1812, but he was the only outside cabinetmaker to do so

until the 1820s and 1830s.51

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Figure 5

Invoice of Furniture on the Brig Hannah. 1813

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Trade with interior regions was limited. Overland shipments cost

more. Furthermore interior communities had well-established trade routes with

Massachusetts and thus focused their efforts on trade with their southern neighbors.

Many of the inland residents had migrated from Massachusetts and maintained

close ties with their home state. Trade with Massachusetts was commenced along

faster routes such as the Merrimack River, which brought goods directly in and out

of Newburyport. The opening of the Middlesex Canal in 1803 facilitated

shipments from Boston to Concord, New Hampshire, and the Merrimack valley.

In addition, the Connecticut River provided a trade route to eastern Vermont and

western New Hampshire from Hartford.52

The Built Environment and Artisan Shops

Most of the structures in Portsmouth were built of local timber.

George Washington on his first visit to the town in 1789 commented that "The

houses are almost entirely of wood. On wondering at this, as the country is full of

stone and good clay for bricks, I was told that on account of the fogs and damp

they deemed them wholesomer, and for that reason preferred wood buildings. "53

The presence of tightly spaced wooden buildings contributed to three

separate fires over an eleven-year period, which with each conflagration, changed

the face of the built environment and stressed the business communities. The area

repeatedly under siege was the primary business district, which stretched from the

center of town to the waterfront (fig. 6).

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Figure 6

Map of the City of Portsmouth

K xm .A X .vrn

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The first nineteenth-century fire began on the 26th of December, 1802: It swept every building up to the corner of Court Street; then both sides of Daniel Street about one third of the way down—every building both sides and all through Market Street, and about half through Bow Street, nearly to the [South] Church. Every building through Fore Street. . . every store and house through Ladd Street and part of Congress Street.54

The fire destroyed 120 dwellings and shops and caused $300,000 worth

of damage.

Every European Goods Store (two or three only excepted) were destroyed, The whole beauty of the town is gone! We understand that the greater part of the West-India, English and India Goods, were saved; the Hard-Ware Goods principally fell victims to the flames.55

The affects of the fire on the cabinet and craft community were

minimal. The hardware supply, including a new shop "full of Hardware Goods"

owned by H. & P. Penhallow, was curtailed, which no doubt slowed production.

Ornamental painter George Dame lost his residence as did saddler Benjamin

Sweetser. The cabinetshop operated by George Beck and the shop of clock and

watchmaker John Gains were also engulfed. To reassure clients and remain

competitive, Gains placed an advertisement informing his clients that "in

consequence of the late fire he has removed to Congress Street. . . and continues

his business as usual."56 Those whose goods were destroyed by the fire were given

aid geared to their income level and losses. Both George Dame and George Beck

received sizeable compensation, which was gathered from residents of Portsmouth

and towns as far away as Savannah, Georgia.57

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Although devastating, the fire allowed for the rebuilding of what had

been "the most populous and compact part of the town."58 The merchant Samuel

Coues in a letter of 1804 noted "This town is greatly improved since the fire. The

streets are much wider, and the new buildings which are numerous are (with very

few exceptions) made of Brick and a considerable number of them are fire

proof. "59

Just four years after the first, on the 24th of December 1806, the town

was alerted to another fire. Although of smaller scale and not as damaging to

commerce, this blaze spread along Bow street from wooden stores built since the

last fire to the newly erected St. John’s Church and parsonage. An editorial in

The New Hampshire Gazette noted that "[the fire] should most thoroughly

convince the people of Portsmouth not only of this, but of every seaport town, of

the utility and importance of building in brick."“ The shops of cabinetmakers

were spared in this second conflagration. Bow street consisted of buildings in

which rum, brandy, sugar, and other stores were kept, which no doubt contributed

to the blaze. In an effort to assist local commerce, the newspaper opined:

Though the loss of property has been very great, the consequences of the fire will not be felt as in 1802 . . .; and we have the pleasure of informing our brethren in the country that the business in this town will suffer no interruption, and that they may calculate on finding as good prices for their produce and as prompt pay as they did last year.61

The most damaging of the three fires to engulf Portsmouth occurred on

the evening of 22nd December 1813. Thought to be the work of an arsonist, the

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fire ravaged the town, destroying fifteen acres of land, again along primary

business and waterfront districts. Accounts put the number of buildings destroyed

at between 244 and 272.62 Many of the merchants who had been burned out

during the 1802 fire had rebuilt along Broad (later renamed State) and Buck Streets

and with this fire, their buildings were once again destroyed, sending many into

financial ruin. The pier, built in 1796 and the most advanced in Portsmouth, held

long expanses of stores, all of which were lost in the fire. As with the two

preceding fires, financial assistance was garnered from outside communities, but

unlike earlier town disasters, the reimbursements were only made for a quarter of

the losses, the total of which amounted to between $250,000 and $350,000. The

losses incurred from the fires prompted the legislature to pass an act that

"authorized the Selectmen to widen the streets, and prohibited the future erection

of wooden buildings of more than twelve feet in height."63

As in the fire of 1802, several craftsmens’ shops were engulfed in

flames. The Judkins and Senter shop on Broad Street was among them as was the

shop of the upholsterer Joseph Bass. William Badger, Jr.’s, house on Daniel

Street was also destroyed. Cabinetmaker Samuel Wyatt who had purchased Tobias

Harrold’s shop on Daniel Street, had moved to Dover the previous year in 1812

for fear of British attack and had sold his lot one month prior to the fire.64 The

building was destroyed in the fire and had Wyatt remained in town, he would have

been among those who lost their businesses. Fortunately for the cabinetmakers and

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allied craftsmen, most survived the fires without losses to their shops, although

their businesses were affected by the losses of others in the community.

The three fires dramatically altered the landscape of Portsmouth. The

western side of Court Street to this day remains composed primarily of large

domestic wooden buildings, in contrast to the waterfront area, which was rebuilt

almost entirely in brick. The fires resulted in the need for relocation of those who

lost housing. One manner of accommodation resulted in an increase in the number

of multi-family dwellings. There was also a rise in speculative housing and

quickly-fabricated structures.65 Portions of town along the waterfront again

underwent a series of changes in the 1820s when Portsmouth became a port of

entry, which gave quick rise to tenement housing built for laborers and immigrants

from England, Ireland and Europe.66

The built landscape of Portsmouth in the early decades of the century

was comprised of a nonsegregated environment, where shops punctuated the

landscape, abutting merchants and artisans buildings as well as dwelling houses.67

Possibly as a result of the relatively small size of Portsmouth, the different trades

within the woodworking craft were spread throughout the center section of town.68

The locations of shops congregated around the most active business regions,

namely Broad (later State) Street, Congress Street, Daniel, Penhallow (formerly

Ark Street), Market, and Fore Street, which later was incorporated into Market

Street (figs. 6, 7; appendix B).69

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Figure 7

Detail of the Map of City of Portsmouth

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In the third and fourth decades of the nineteenth century, second- and

third-generation craftsmen located their shops primarily on Market Street, and this

trend continued at least into the mid nineteenth century and maybe beyond.70 The

shift to a concentration of shops is probably related to increased competition and a

need to appeal to the ease of the consumer.71 It may also be indicative of a

national business trend present to separate work place from home.72

The evidence is inconclusive as to whether shop location was an

important aspect in attracting clientele. When shops were spread throughout

Portsmouth in the earlier decades, the same clients patronized shops several streets

away from each other and from a client’s dwelling.73 Later in the period of study,

many of the shops were centrally located, providing easy access to a variety of

shops in close proximity. The client/patron relationships are more likely related to

associations through churches, politics, friends, or business connections than to

shop location.

During the forty-year period of 1800-1840, craftsmen either leased or

purchased the building in which they worked and at times purchased the land on

which the structure stood. Craftsmen in different trades tended to have varying

rates and types of occupancy. Ornamental painters appear to have been renters for

the majority of their careers, tending to inhabit rooms in dwelling houses or lofts

above unrelated stores.74 Cabinetmakers, chairmakers, and upholsterers either

owned their property and remained rather sedentary, or moved around town

holding leases an average of two to four years in a variety of building types.75

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The presence of shops in or beside dwelling houses was quite common

in the early decades of the century. A typical newspaper advertisement promoting

the rental of a shop, read: "a comfortable dwelling house on High Street consists

of the following: one kitchen, one sitting room, shop and three chambers and

garret."76 When retired cabinetmaker George Gains died in 1810, his "large and

commodious dwelling house . . . [had] four rooms and a shop on the lower

floor."77 Probate inventories also reveal shop arrangements in homes. The 1821

estate inventory of joiner William Ellery, for example, describes his house and

shop as "a lot of land with dwelling-house and workshops on the same. "78 It is

possible that Ellery’s shop was adjacent to his house or located within, the

phrasing is unclear as to the specific location of either. Cabinetmaker William

Senter’s primary business location had been with Jonathan Judkins on Broad Street.

When the partnership dissolved a year prior to his death, he maintained stock in

the business and created a work and storage space at his home. In his widow’s

dower partition, she is given "the sitting room, with room now occupied as a

shop."79

Shops were most frequently located on the second floors of buildings

occupied by unrelated businesses as this advertisement notes: "To Be Let A brick

Store on Spring-Hill in Portsmouth . . . two convenient chambers in the third

story, suitable for a Painter, Cabinet-Maker or Chairmaker. "*° Craftsmen other

than painters, who rented these spaces tended to be smaller contributors to the craft

than those who could afford to purchase or lease larger spaces.

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By the nature of the craft business, shop locations accommodated

themselves to reuse by fellow mechanics. Buildings or rooms were adaptively

reused by artisans of the same craft or by different members of the trades.

Cabinetmaker William Senter purchased the building and lot used of upholsterer

Joseph Bass; Senter and his partner, Jonathan Judkins remained there for nineteen

years. When Langley Boardman moved from his shop on Ark Lane (later

Penhallow Street), painter William Bowles advertised that he had just removed to

Langley Boardman’s former shop.81 Two years later in 1808, Bowles advertised

the building for lease as "a convenient house and shop."82 A location frequently

reused was the shop occupied by cabinetmaker Samuel Wyatt. Owned in the

eighteenth century by cabinetmaker Robert Harrold, the shop was deeded to

Robert’s son, Tobias Harrold in 1792.83 Tobias mortgaged the shop in 1802 and

two years later defaulted the property to joiner Robert Ham who turned the

mortgage over to joiner John Miller who was granted the property in 1807.84 In

1811 Miller sold the shop to cabinetmaker Samuel Wyatt who lived in it for one

year before leaving the community in 1812.85

Craftsmen who were establishing themselves in the 1820s and 1830s

worked in a somewhat different shop environment than their predecessors. Larger

shops began to combine their workrooms with showrooms in one building in a

different manner than previously done. Rather than have the showroom in front

with shop behind, the showroom encompassed the first floor while workrooms

were placed above. Cabinetmakers Samuel Dockum, Edmund Brown, Alfred T.

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Joy, Ebenezer Lord, and John Somerby, who were economically fortunate to run

these larger shops, owned or rented buildings that consisted of several stories, all

of which were used for their business. The majority of other cabinetmakers in

town continued to rent individual small shops, either in lofts or in buildings

previously used by earlier craftsmen, or ran their shops from their homes in the

old manner.

Conclusion

The craft community working from 1800 to 1840 continued many of

the eighteenth-century traditions based on kinship ties, trade, cooperation, living

and shop arrangements, and the craft of furniture making. The economic and

marketing changes that occurred in the 1820s and 1830s affected all who worked in

Portsmouth at the time. Some craftsmen were crowded out of the industry, others

still continued their craft in much the same manner as earlier artisans, while others

took on an entrepreneurial bent and pushed forward with the changing

environment.

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Chapter 3

THE PORTSMOUTH CRAFT COMMUNITY

1. Census of the United States: Heads of Families. New Hampshire, Rockingham County, 1850, microfilm roll 437-38, M432. Ray Brighton, They Came to Fish, vol. 1 (Portsmouth: Portsmouth 350 Inc., 1973), p. 80. By 1832 Portsmouth dropped in ranking to the twenty-fifth largest community in the United States. David B. Cole, Jacksonian Democracy in New Hampshire. 1800-1851 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1970), p. 11.

2. Gazetteer of the State of New Hampshire (Boston: John P. Jewett, 1849), p. 151.

3. In 1800 there were 5,339 people in Portsmouth. The number of residents increased to 6,934 by 1810 and to 7,327 in 1820. Gazetteer of the State of New Hampshire, p. 151.

4. See the Census of the United States: Heads of Families. 1800-1810, 1830-1850; the 1807 Occupational Tax List compiled by Richard Candee; the 1815 Voter List, and the Portsmouth City Directories and other publications at the Portsmouth Athenaeum; newspaper announcements in the New Hampshire Gazette. Oracle of the Dav. and the Portsmouth Journal at the Portsmouth Athenaeum and the New Hampshire Historical Society; tax assessment records at the City Hall and library; surviving bills and documents; probate and deed records at the Rockingham County and Strafford County Court Houses; and inferior court records at the Concord State Archives. These figures only represent the shop masters and journeymen craftsmen found in public records and documents. Information of laborers and apprentices is scarce and therefore was not included.

5. Margaret Burke Clunie, "Salem Federal Furniture" (Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1976); Page Talbott, "The Boston Furniture Industry, 1800-1830" (Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1974).

6. The population in Portsmouth in 1830 was 8,082 and decreased to 7,887 in 1840. Gazetteer of the State of New Hampshire, p. 151.

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7. A similar situation is related by Donna-Belle Garvin, "A ‘Neat and Lively Aspect’: Newport New Hampshire as a Cabinetmaking Center," Historical New Hampshire 43, no. 3 (Fall, 1988):221.

8. Two eighteenth-century British immigrants continued to work into the nineteenth century. Joseph Bass was an upholsterer from London who ran his last upholstery advertisement in the New Hampshire Gazette (NHQ), April 22, 1800. Concurrently he advertised the sale of garden seeds, noting the continuation of his upholstery business. Bass discontinued advertising from upholstery but the notices for garden seeds continued until March 31, 1807 when he was 63 years old. Bass died in 1822 at the age of 78 (May 14, 1822 inventory, docket 10462, Rockingham County Court House [RCCH], Exeter, New Hampshire). Ornamental painter George Doig, advertised as a painter from London in 1775 and continued in the business until his death in 1817 at the age of 61 (NHG, February 4, 1817).

9. For example, the cabinetmakers Isaac Pinkham and Alfred T. Joy came from Durham, Ebenezer Lord from New Market, Jonathan Judkins from Salisbury, Edmund Brown from Stratham, and Samuel Dockum from Greenland, New Hampshire.

10. Upholsterer William Sowersby moved from Boston, cabinetmaker Langley Boardman was from Ipswich and Salem, and John P. Somerby was from Newburyport.

11. Brock Jobe, "The Boston Furniture Industry, 1720-1740," in Boston Furniture of the Eighteenth Century, ed. Walter Muir Whitehall (Boston: The Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 1974; Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia), p. 1. Peter Dobkin Hall, The Organization of American Culture. 1700-1900: Private Institutions. Elites, and the Origins of American Nationality (New York: New York University Press, 1984), pp. 20-23, 44-46, 69-75.

12. In the first generation of nineteenth-century craftsmen, Langley Boardman employed his first cousin, Ebenezer Lord. Boardman’s two sons, John and Charles followed their father’s entrepreneurial business inclinations. Jonathan Judkins employed sons John, Leonard, and Daniel. William Senter employed brother John T. Senter who operated a turning shop before he left for the army. Painter Henry Bufford worked with son Marcellus. Tobias Harrold took over the shop of his immigrant father, Robert and left town bankrupt in 1808. In the second generation of craftsmen, chairmaker Henry Beck employed his nephew Joseph Simpson, who left Portsmouth after 1827 and moved to Newmarket. Samuel Dockum’s daughter married out of the profession, unlike Ebenezer Lord’s daughter who married journeyman Charles Colcord, who worked for Lord. Lord also employed his son Charles E. Lord, and a nephew David Chapman.

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Upholsterer John Somerby partnered with his son, cabinetmaker Joseph Somerby, who later left town. Boardman apprentice Andrew Lewis teamed up with William Badger, an apprentice of Lord’s and then with George W. Jenness. The third generation was not traced extensively because the time frame surpasses 1837 and only craftsmen associated with earlier artisans were examined. Most of the individuals either worked for Dockum or Lord. Edmund Brown partnered with his brother-in-law Thomas P. Treadwell as well as with son James C. Brown (age 22 in 1850 census). Alfred T. Joy who apprenticed with Boardman, employed his son William G. Joy (age 15 in 1850 census). There were exceptions to the continuation of the craft to successive generations. Cabinetmaker Solomon Cotton, for example, bequeathed his stock and tools to his son Joseph in 1805 (December 14, 1805 inventory, docket 7474, RCCH). Apparently Joseph chose not to follow his father’s trade for his father’s probate account notes that his stock and tools were sold. No record of Joseph Cotton exists in Portsmouth after this date indicating that he left the community.

13. Andrew Lewis and Alfred T. Joy served as apprentices under Langley Boardman, and Ebenezer Lord worked for Boardman as a journeyman; Charles Colcord and Woodbury Gerrish served under Ebenezer Lord as apprentices and journeymen; Samuel Dockum apprenticed under Mark Durgin; George W. Jenness, William G. Nowell, John and Joseph Somerby, and Alfred T. Joy all worked under Samuel Dockum as apprentices or journeymen; Henry Beck apprenticed under chairmaker Josiah Folsom; and Joseph Simpson apprenticed under Henry Beck. Painter Henry Bufford left to his son Marcellus, "all the tools which I may have belonging to my trade at my decease" (August 1854 inventory, docket 16894, RCCH). Marcellus remained in Portsmouth and chose to continue in his father’s trade.

14. Records of the South Church, vol. 2, Baptisms and Admissions, 1808-1833, MS 4 1772-1913, Portsmouth Athenaeum.

15. Massey et al. to Hutchings, et al., December 8, 1817 deed, 216:93, RCCH; Wiggins et al., to Boardman et al., December 8, 1829 deed, 258:475, RCCH. Records of the South Church, vol. 1, Baptisms and Admissions, 1752-1806, MS 39, Miscellaneous Records, Portsmouth Athenaeum.

16. Names of the Members of the First Church Christ of Portsmouth (Portsmouth: Miller and Brewster, 1828; C. W. Brewster, 1838, 1842). Langley Boardman, September 12, 1833 inventory, docket 12564, RCCH. South Church Charity Fund to Langley Boardman, September 15, 1831 deed, 265:360, RCCH.

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17. The marked difference between the size of Boardman’s tomb and the stone markers for Judkins, Senter, Lord, and Somerby indicate the financial margins that separated the men. Boardman’s tomb is only one of two in the Proprietor’s section of the burying ground.

18. First Baptist Record Book, 1826-1878; 1840 List of Members, MS 20, boxes 1-2, Special Collections, Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In 1827 there were nine churches and denominations in Portsmouth: Congregational, Catholic, Episcopalian, Universalist, Methodist, First Baptist, Calvinist, Christian Scientist, and Sandemanian. The fact that only 15 % of Dockum’s clientele was Baptist, does not strongly indicate that there was a loyal association based upon religious affiliation.

19. For a comparison of the importance placed on religion and business connections, see Margaretta M. Lovell, "‘Such Furniture as Will be Most Profitable’. The Business of Cabinetmaking in Eighteenth-Century Newport," Winterthur Portfolio 26, no. 1 (Spring 1991):27-62.

20. NHG. December 26, 1809.

21. NHG. March 20, 1799.

22. NHG. January 22, 1800.

23. NHG. April 12, 1803; May 3, 1803. The advertisement states that "he continues to carry on his business" indicating that he had opened his shop previous to 1803, probably in 1801 after his twenty-first birthday.

24. Samuel Dockum worked with Edmund T. Brown from 1827-1829, during which time George W. Jenness, Alfred T. Joy, Asa Libby (who left town thereafter), William G. Nowell, John Somerby, and John Stickney all worked for the firm. From 1837-1844, Brown formed a partnership with Alfred T. Joy, a past journeyman of Dockum and Brown. By 1837 George W. Jenness formed a partnership with Andrew Lewis, former apprentice of Langley Boardman. Jenness then became a partner with past fellow artisan William G. Nowell. Andrew Lewis became a partner from 1834-1837 with William Badger, past apprentice of Ebenezer Lord. Charles Colcord, apprentice and son-in-law of Lord, formed a short-lived partnership from 1837-1838 with fellow apprentice Woodbury Gerrish, before returning to work with Lord.

25. William Senter, January 29, 1827 inventory, docket 11376, RCCH.

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26. Abraham Wendell Account Book, Blotter C, November 1809-February 1810, Wendell Collection 5, B-l to B-4, Baker Library, Harvard Business School, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

27. The primary period literature on the emphasis of domestic manufacture and support includes Tench Coxe, A Statement of the Arts and Manufacture of the United States in the Year 1810 (Philadelphia: A Coraman, Jr., 1814) and Alexander Hamilton, Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the Subject of Manufactures. 1791 (Philadelphia: Joseph R. A. Skerrett, 1824). For debates on the promotion and protection of domestic manufacture see, Michael Brewster Folsom and Steven D. Lubar, eds., The Philosophy of Manufactures (Boston: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1982).

28. John Peirce, Esquire, October 18, 1815 inventory, docket 8909, RCCH.

29. Benno Forman, American Seating Furniture (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1988), pp. 54, 243.

30. For a listing of English and American price books, see, Charles Montgomery, American Furniture: The Federal Period in the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum (New York: Viking Press, 1966), pp. 488. See also, Kane, "Design Books and Price Books for American Federal-Period Card Tables," in The Work of Many Hands: Card Tables in Federal America. 1790-1820. Exhibition Catalogue (New Haven: Yale University Art Gallery, 1982), p. 52.

31. The workrooms run by Duncan Phyfe in New York City are an example of such a shop outside of Portsmouth where, during the most profitable period, Phyfe employed over 100 workers. See Nancy McClelland, Duncan Phyfe and the English Regency (New York: William R. Scott, Inc., 1939), p. 123.

32. NHG, October 22, 1811.

33. Clunie, p. 303, chart IV. Comparisons of furniture exports from Portsmouth must be referred from newspaper accounts and bills; customs records for this period are missing.

34. In contrast, chairmakers advertised more often than cabinetmakers. Chairmakers were operating on levels of mass production before cabinet shops, and styles changed more rapidly than with larger case furniture, necessitating a different manner of production. Chairmakers also adapted more advanced marketing techniques not tapped by the cabinetmakers until the 1820s.

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35. Cabinetmakers from inland towns, particularly Concord, the state capital after 1808, had advertised furniture from Boston since the turn of the century. Because many inland residents had contacts in Massachusetts or had family from Massachusetts, there were strong commercial ties between the regions earlier in the century.

36. NHG. September 19, 1797; January 3, 1798.

37. Talbott notes that information gathered from the 1832 Documents Relative to the Manufacturers indicated that "all of their [chair and cabinetmakers] goods were disposed of in Massachusetts." The same was noted for cabinetmakers in Cambridge, West Cambridge, Charlestown, Roxbury, and Waltham. Apparently the information gathered somehow overlooked the trade environment of the time.

38. NHG. February 27, 1827.

39. NHG. July 23, 1839. S. L. Gordon advertisement (Edmund’s Town Directory. Portsmouth: Joseph M. Edmunds, 1839).

40. Account from a British customs record book as noted in Brock Jobe, ed., Portsmouth Furniture: Masterworks From the New Hampshire Seacoast (Boston: Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, 1993; University Press of New England), p. 55.

41. Jobe, ed., p. 55; Mabel Munson Swan, "Coastwise Cargoes of Venture Furniture," The Magazine Antiques 55. no. 4 (April 1949):279.

42. Surviving customs records from Savannah, for example, indicate that furniture from Portsmouth was imported into the town on several occasions in the early nineteenth century. See Catherine W. Gross, "The Sources of Furniture Sold in Savannah, 1789-1815" (Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1967), p. 14, table 6.

43. Advertisements placed by commission merchants appeared by the second decade of the century in Portsmouth. See George M. Brown and Company advertisement as commission merchants out of New Orleans (NHG. April 14, 1818), and Andrew Smith advertisement as a commission merchant out of Richmond, Virginia (Portsmouth Journal. November 24, 1821). For discussions of cooperative and single craftsman venture cargoes in Salem and Ipswich, Massachusetts, see Swan, p. 280; Clunie, pp. 30, 47.

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When cabinetmakers died, their estates often collected against owners of ships who owed money to the craftsman for shipments of furniture sold in other ports. See the probate account of William Senter in which he was owed $48.68 from the owners of the ship Montgomery (docket 11376, RCCH).

44. New Hampshire Fire and Marine Insurance Company, Records, box S, folder 19, Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

45. Invoice from the Brig Martha and Jane. December, 1823, box 6, Wendell Collection, Baker Library.

46. Freight of Schooner Washington, owners Reuben S. Randall and Jacob Wendell, January 22, 1820, Wendell Collection, case 6, Baker Library.

47. John Grant, Jr., to Captain Reuben S. Randall, invoice from the Brig Hannah. March 11, 1818, case 3, box 6, Wendell Collection, Baker Library.

48. Judkins and Senter to Captain Reuben S. Randall, invoice from the Brig Hannah. March 11, 1818, case 3, box 6, Wendell Collection, Baker Library.

49. A letter from Isaac Wendell of Dover to brother Jacob Wendell of Portsmouth notes Isaac’s purchases from the firm of Judkins and Senter. Isaac Wendell to Jacob Wendell, April 18, 1809, box 2, Wendell Collection, Portsmouth Athenaeum.

50. Benjamin Lapish Papers, box 1, Durham Historical Society, Durham, New Hampshire; collection 1, box 8, Diamond Library, University of New Hampshire.

51. NHG. September 9, 1806; June 9, 1807; April 5, 1808; November 7, 1808; January 24, 1809; June 20, 1809; October 10, 1809; December 31, 1811 which ran into 1812; Donna-Bell Garvin, James L. Garvin, John F. Page, Plain and Elegant. Rich and Common: Documented New Hampshire Furniture. 1750-1850. exhibition catalogue (Concord: New Hampshire Historical Society, 1979), p. 140.

52. Garvin, et al., p. 12; George A. Nelson, comp., Customs Records. Portsmouth. New Hampshire, vol. 2, Commerce. Shipbuilding. Immigration (Portsmouth: Portsmouth Athenaeum, 1979), pp. 5-8.

53. Diary entry of George Washington, 1789; quoted in Thomas Bailey Aldrich, An Old Town Bv The Sea (Boston: Houghton Mifflin & Co., 1893), p. 35.

54. NHG. December 28, 1802.

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55. "Distressing Conflagration," NHG. December 28, 1802.

56. NHG. January 25, 1803.

57. An Account of Funds Paid to the Sufferers by the Fire of December 1802, Portsmouth Papers, Fire Records Folder, 1803-1809, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston.

58. Bernard L. Herman, "Built Landscapes: Vernacular Architecture in Urban Landscapes" (paper presented at Strawbery Banke Museum, July 17, 1990), p. 15.

59. Samuel E. Coues to his aunt Rebecca Hopper, 1804, Miscellaneous Letters, Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

60. NHG. 30 December, 1806.

61. NHG. December 24, 1806, "Distressing Calamity!"

62. Edmund’s Town Directory (Portsmouth: Joseph M. Edmunds, 1839), p. v; C. S. Gurney, Portsmouth Historic and Picturesque (Portsmouth: Strawbery Banke Museum, 1981; Peter E. Randall), pp. 116-17.

63. Nathaniel Adams, Annals of Portsmouth (Exeter: C. Norris, 1825), p. 390.

64. John Miller, joiner to Samuel Wyatt, January 5, 1811, deed 189:401; Ruth and William Miller, administrators, to Samuel Wyatt, November 1813, discharge, RCCH.

65. Herman, p. 16.

66. For in-depth examinations of the transformation of housing in the early stages of urban growth, see Elizabeth Blackmar, Manhattan for Rent. 1785-1850 (Ithica: Cornell University Press, 1989), pp. 4-9; Stuart M. Blumin, The Urban Threshold: Growth and Change in a Nineteenth Century American Community (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976), pp. 1-9, 221; Richard Candee, "Landscapes of Expectations: Building, Rebuilding, and Industry in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 1790-1850," pp. 32-39, early version of the forthcoming publication, "Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Brick Act of 1814: Building, Rebuilding and the Failure of Social Controls" (paper presented at the Old Sturbridge Village Research Colloquium, Sturbridge, Mass., April 1992), pp. 32- 39; Herman, pp. 1-25.

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67. For discussions on merchant and artisan housing an on shop arrangements, see Candee, pp. 5-21; Thomas Doerflinger, A Vigorous Spirit of Enterprise: Merchants and Economic Development in Revolutionary Philadelphia (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1986), p. 37; Sean Wilentz, Chants Democratic: New York Citv and the Rise of the American Working Class. 1788-1850 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1984), pp. 35-36, 400. The latter two books focus on communities larger than Portsmouth but share many transferable patterns.

68. This is similar to the shop locations in Salem, Massachusetts. See Clunie, pp. 290-297.

69. The primary business district for shops of all trades was bounded on the south by Broad and Buck Street, on the north by Congress, Market and Fore Streets (the same street but at opposite ends), on the west by Middle Road and on the east by the river. The wharves along Water Street were most active for shipping interests.

70. Edmund Brown, Charles Colcord, Samuel Dockum, Alfred T. Joy, Upholsterer William Lawrence, Andrew Lewis, and Ebenezer Lord (in the 1840s and 1850s) were all located on Market Street at varying times through their careers.

71. This centralization of shops was also recorded for Boston. Earlier in the century, as with Portsmouth, Boston shops were less uniformly congregated. By the 1830s, a quarter of the craftsmen in Boston were centered around two blocks. See Talbott, pp. 13-15.

72. Herman, p. 15.

73. Jacob Wendell, for instance, purchased furniture both from Langley Boardman and the firm of Judkins and Senter during the same time period.

74. These living arrangements were found for ornamental painters working in Portsmouth: John S. Blunt, William Bowles, Samuel Beck, Henry Bufford, George Dame, George Doig, and J. K. Gilman. The mobility of ornamental painters is probably due to the nature of their work, which did not require a great deal of tools and equipment. Their transient occupation may also have been a factor, although most of the ornamental painters in Portsmouth remained in the town for the entirety of their careers, with the most noted exception being portrait and ornamental painter, John S. Blunt.

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75. Blackmar, Manhattan for Rent, pp. 5-6, notes that merchants were aware of a rising artisan class and began to purchase property as rental units. The prices for real estate increased and therefore many wage earners could not afford to own property and were forced to rent shop space. Whether this trend was true for Portsmouth is questionable. Real estate speculators did purchase and rent property, but how much this affected Portsmouth craftsmen is uncertain.

76. NHG. June 23, 1812.

77. NHG. December 11, 1810.

78. William Ellery, joiner, July 25, 1821 inventory, RCCH.

79. Senter, docket 11376.

80. NHG. May 21, 1805.

81. NHG. May 27, 1806.

82. NHG. April 5, 1808.

83. Osborne’s New Hampshire Spy. April 3, 1792.

84. Tobias Harrold to John Miller, August 1, 1807, deed 180:210, RCCH.

85. John Miller to Samuel Wyatt, January 5, 1811, deed 189:401, RCCH.

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THE ERA OF LANGLEY BOARDMAN

Introduction

Portsmouth extends along the Piscataqua River and has the most favorable situation for trade. . . . More than 200 ships may be seen in this port.1

A traveler passing through the community of Portsmouth, New

Hampshire, in 1797 remarked on the naturally deep harbor of the town that

attracted merchants and commerce to its port. A year later, Langley Boardman,

who was to become one of the most prominent craftsmen of federal-era

Portsmouth, arrived. Probably drawn by the lure of the flourishing waterside

community with its thriving mercantile trade, Boardman began a career that

spanned three decades, he trained several of the longstanding second generation

craftsmen, and was integral in the formation of the furniture industry of the next

century.

Langley Boardman was baptized at the South Church in Ipswich,

Massachusetts, June 19, 1774. The last child of Thomas and Elizabeth How

Boardman, Langley was only two years old when his father passed away.2 When

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Langley was nine, his mother married merchant Richard Homan.3 Too young to

begin a traditional apprenticeship at this age, Boardman presumably lived with his

mother and step-father until the commencement of his indenture, no earlier than

age fourteen and possibly as late as age seventeen.4

Langley’s uncle, Francis Boardman of Salem, was likely of

considerable influence in Boardman’s life during his early years. A trader in West

Indies goods, Francis Boardman was in a position to introduce young Langley to

the coastal community of Salem and to trade and commerce. An influential

member of the Salem community, Boardman selected prominent architect and

carver Samuel Mclntire to design and build his house in Washington Square.5 This

dwelling would have provided Langley with the opportunity to familiarize himself

with fashionable furnishings and architecture as well as to meet important

craftsmen and social contacts.

The similarity in technical details and appearance of Boardman’s

furniture made in Portsmouth compared with furniture produced by Salem

craftsmen in the federal era indicates that he apprenticed in Salem. Past authors

have hypothesized that Boardman trained with Mclntire through the contact

provided from his uncle.6 The absence of carved details on Boardman’s furniture

as well as the non-integration of Mclntire’s distinct furniture forms into

Boardman’s Portsmouth furniture repertoire, however, suggest that he apprenticed

with a yet unidentified craftsman.

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In 1795, Boardman was twenty-one and probably working as a

journeyman. From 1795 until 1797 he was taxed in Salem as an individual poll,

which indicates he worked in someone’s shop rather than owned a shop of his

own.7 A comparison of form and construction techniques employed in furniture

made by Thomas Needham of Salem (1780-1850) and by Boardman after his

arrival in Portsmouth, strongly suggest that Boardman worked alongside Needham

at some point (figs. 8, 9). As Needham was younger than Boardman and in the

early years of his apprenticeship at this time, the similarity in craftsmanship

between the two is likely related to a shared master who probably employed

Boardman as a journeyman before he left for Portsmouth.8

By July of 1798, Boardman was twenty-four and had moved to

Portsmouth, where he rented a workshop on Ladd Street in the heart of the

business district.9 A year later in 1799 he announced a long list of ready-made

furniture forms not previously advertised in town (fig. 10).10 These fashionable

objects of urban influence included lady’s secretaries, night-tables, and lolling

chairs.11 For the next decade, Boardman dominated the Portsmouth furniture

industry with products that rivaled related examples in Salem and Boston. More

surviving furniture produced during these years is associated with Boardman’s shop

than from any other cabinetmaker in Portsmouth.12

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Figure 8

Serpentine Chest-of-Drawers, Langley Boardman, 1802

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Figure 9

Serpentine Chest-of-Drawers, Thomas Needham, 1813

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Figure 10

Advertisement for Langley Boardman

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As Boardman established a clientele and the acceptance of the new

fashion grew, other craftsmen moved to Portsmouth to begin their careers. After

1808 the firm of Jonathan Judkins (1780-1844) and William Senter (1783-1827)

opened a cabinet shop on Broad Street and competed with Boardman for the upper-

tier market. Judkins was bom in Salisbury, New Hampshire, where he probably

trained. Senter was from Londonderry, New Hampshire, but may have

apprenticed in Portsmouth.13 Unlike Boardman’s Salem-based craftsmanship,

Judkins and Senter concentrated on manipulating local woods such as birch

veneers, to produce flashy, vibrant contrasting surfaces (fig. 3).

Other local craftsmen recognized the popularity of Boardman’s forms

and Judkins and Senter’s veneered style and copied them. Soon enough, even

Boardman and the firm of Judkins and Senter shared particular construction

techniques as well as minor stylistic nuances.14 The common construction and

stylistic details imparted a regional quality to the furniture produced within

Portsmouth, which distinguished it from other coastal products. Although there

were other cabinetmakers in Portsmouth producing furniture, these two firms

defined the regional parameters and remained the leading competitors for the

remainder of the first quarter-century.

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Shop Practices/Organization

When Langley Boardman arrived in Portsmouth in 1798, his shop

practices resembled those of his predecessors and colleagues. Within several

years, he expanded his shop and his relationships with other craftsmen until he had

organized the largest and most productive shop in the community. He continued to

work in the trade until his death in 1833, still retaining a thriving business among

second and third generation craftsmen active in the next phase of the industry,

which he had played an integral part in launching in Portsmouth.

Boardman changed his shop location three times in the first five years

of his residence.15 He moved from Ladd Street to Ark Lane at some point in 1801

and a year later began to purchase properties along Congress Street, one of the

major venues in town. His economic status apparently improved for he intended to

own his next shop rather than lease as he had previously done. His plans for

ownership, in fact, were quite grand as he continued to purchase buildings along

Congress Street for the next thirteen years until he controlled an entire block,

which consisted of at least four buildings and two shops.16

Boardman moved to the Congress Street block in 1803 after the

purchase of a brick house and adjoining shop.17 Boardman leased the house to its

current occupant and used the shop as his own.18 Boardman remained at this

location at least until 1827, two years after he had purchased half a block bounded

by Court, Jafffey, and Church Streets, on which he built a cabinetshop and stores

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that he occupied until his death in 1833.19 Shop space in Boardman’s final building

was rented to joiners John E. Barnes and Alfred M. Badger, and to cabinetmaker

Andrew Lewis, once an apprentice of Boardman’s, and after his tenure, the

cabinetmaking firm of J. H. and W. Pickering.20

Boardman’s move to Jaffrey Street after his long tenure on Congress

Street may be related to a number of factors. Jaffrey Street put Boardman closer

to the firm of Judkins and Senter, and possibly allowed him to use the publicity as

a marketing tactic to intimidate the rival firm. Between 1814 and 1819 Boardman

had rebuilt the Congress Street block to house a tavern that served as a hotel and a

stage house; and a large hall, furnished with a second floor assembly room. Why

he then waited eight years to move his shop is unknown. The move may have

related to a change in his shop practices as well as those of the allied craftsmen

who worked with him in his building, all of whom had moved elsewhere by 1820.

Regardless of the move, his shop continued to remain the most profitable business

in the trade.21

The wording of Boardman’s first advertisement in 1798 introduced him

to Portsmouth and noted that the "smallest favors would gratefully be

acknowledged." A year later he offered a variety of furniture forms. In 1800 his

Ladd Street shop was an established business. In accordance with the traditions of

apprenticeship, the six apprentices listed as residing in his house would have

worked in his shop, a number that exceeded the young men in the households of

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other cabinetmakers at the same time.22 By 1810 Boardman increased the number

of apprentices to seven.23 The figures are inconclusive regarding the number of

journeymen, as they traditionally resided outside the shopowner’s dwelling.

Therefore, a completely accurate account of shop size is indeterminable.

The names of some of the apprentices and young journeymen working

for Boardman are in surviving documents and newspaper accounts; five of his

apprentices, for example, fetched supplies that range from linseed oil, sandpaper,

files, and hardware.24 These men are listed by last name as Wiggin, Johnson,

Lewis, Sherburne, and Lord. One of the five apprentices, Andrew Lewis, and

journeyman Ebenezer Lord, remained in Portsmouth to become masters of their

own cabinetshops. Edward Sherburne ran away from Boardman and left

Portsmouth; he later died off the coast of Lisbon.25 Wiggin and Johnson either

moved away or changed occupations as there are several men with both last names

listed in Portsmouth after this date. Two other apprentices are known to have

worked for Boardman: George Clifford, son of Exeter joiner Ebenezer Clifford,

and Alfred T. Joy. George Clifford died at sea off the coast of Havannah, and

Alfred Joy became a journeyman and then one of the more prominent Portsmouth

cabinetmakers in the 1830s.26

The only assured kinship link that can be tied to Boardman’s shop is

with Ebenezer Lord.27 Although Boardman had two sons, John How and George

Clifford, Boardman chose to educate them in businesses other than his own as a

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means of projecting their careers upward beyond that of a tradesperson. His elder

son, John How Boardman, became a physician and son George Clifford Boardman

became a shipmaster.28

Lord, like Boardman, was a native of Ipswich. The seventh child of a

feltworker and tavemkeeper, Lord was a first cousin of Boardman’s.29 Lord first

appeared in records under Boardman’s employ in 1809 in his twenty-first year.30

Although he should have been taxed in either 1809 or 1810 as a citizen of

Portsmouth, and possibly included in the census as a head of household, Lord was

absent from town records until his twenty-third year in 1811 when the tax list

listed him as a cabinetmaker; the lag may have resulted from a late apprenticeship

or continued living arrangements with Boardman, for whom he worked through

1816.31 Lord went on to become a prominent cabinetmaker in Portsmouth,

particularly in the 1820s and beyond. He continued kinship ties within the trade

by training his son Charles to be a cabinetmaker; allowing his daughter Susan to

marry an apprentice Charles C. Colcord; and allowing daughter Lucy to wed his

nephew, apprentice David Chapman. Kinship ties between Lord and Boardman

remained strong and emphasized the bond between the families: Lord’s daughter

Susan had Boardman as her middle name, and Lord served as guardian to

Boardman’s son George’s children after their father’s death in 1840.

The laborers, apprentices, and journeymen who worked in Boardman’s

Congress Street shop were craftsmen specializing in the cabinet trade. Their tasks

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ranged from running errands, seasoning wood, laying out and cutting patterns,

making dovetails and mortise-and-tenons, fitting case pieces and joined chairs

together, crafting frames for upholstered furniture, and finishing and refinishing

the wood surfaces. In accordance with tradition, certain functions in the cabinet

trade were hired or "jobbed" out to specialized craftsmen such as turners, carvers,

upholsterers, and painters.32 This form of contract labor was a means of

streamlining a business while using craftsmen on an as-needed basis.

In the entrepreneurial climate of the early Republic, Boardman

expanded upon the work relations of traditional shops. Rather than continue to

work with allied craftsmen in a separate business environment, Boardman brought

artisans together in a cooperative unified craft venture by leasing them space in his

buildings and by selling them abutting property in exchange for furniture-related

goods. He extended this property-for-services arrangement with other craftsmen as

well through the sale of lots on the outskirts of town. In addition to the real estate

investment potential, the shop arrangement that Boardman was organizing probably

spurred his purchase of the block of buildings on Congress Street.

As the leasor and dominant craftsman of the Congress Street block,

Boardman oversaw artisans who worked in all of the major aspects of furniture

production, from the turning and manufacturing of products to finishing them in

paint or upholstery. In that series of adjacent buildings, Boardman created a work

environment based upon traditional methods of cooperation between shops for

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contract work, yet by gathering the members of the cabinet trades in close

proximity he encouraged a level of efficiency among them that when utilized,

would allow them and him to speed production and manage costs. Craftsmen

continued to retain their traditional independent status, to advertise, and to produce

goods for their own businesses, but they did so in an innovative group situation

where they could rely on one another for business and support.

Boardman began to assemble craftsmen in his Congress Street block

before he himself moved to the location. In 1802 he sold a lot on Vaughan Street

with buildings, in back of what was to be his own shop, to upholsterer William

Sowersby.33 With this sale, Boardman in essence cornered the upholstery trade in

Portsmouth until the third decade of the nineteenth century. Sowersby was the only

tradesman in Portsmouth who advertised as an upholsterer. Although there were

businessmen in town who sold bedding, curled hair and feathers, these men were

more retailers than furniture upholsterers; those who advertised as saddlers may

have had the skill to upholster seating furniture in leather.34

Once Boardman moved to Congress Street he continued to bring allied

craftsmen to his series of shop locations. Boardman rented out rooms in the

building in which his shop was housed and in the dwelling and shop purchased

from the estate of cabinetmaker George Gains.35 Three of the eight ornamental

painters in town during the first two decades of the century, George Dame,36

Henry Bufford,37 and J. K. Gilman38 all rented space either within Boardman’s

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shop or in the second-floor painting room. Both Dame and Bufford’s

advertisements noted the painting of furniture forms; contract work between the

painters and Boardman would have been easily fulfilled.

Chairmaker Henry Beck also rented shop space in Boardman’s block

where he manufactured fancy, bamboo, and Windsor chairs for a span of ten

years.39 Beck employed a number of turners in his shop. Although specialized

Windsor chairmakers, they may have done occasional contract work for Boardman

in addition to the two turners working elsewhere in town, one of whom was turner

John T. Senter, probably the brother of cabinetmaker William Senter. Until 1812

John T. Senter’s shop was on Vaughan Street, either on Boardman’s block or

across the street.40 Although related to Boardman’s main competitor, Senter may

have received contract work from Boardman because of his proximity, and may

have even leased his shop from Boardman.

The concentration of craftsmen within a series of related buildings was

a precedent in Portsmouth. What made the situation even more dramatic was that

a fellow craftsman orchestrated the arrangement rather than a real estate magnate

or merchant who simply rented to whomever would lease or purchase property. In

point of fact, Boardman was both an artisan and a real estate developer/investor.

Boardman speculated in land throughout Portsmouth. Two of his series

of purchases included fourteen lots along a new lane, Joshua Street, in 1806, and

four lots on Cabot Street, which he bought in 1807; both of these streets were side

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streets off Middle Street, a newly prominent road that lead out of Portsmouth.41

Boardman sold all of the lots to tradespeople with the exception of one lot that he

sold to a mariner. Boardman established business relationships through the sale of

lots to craftsmen. The majority of these artisans elected to pay Boardman in goods

and services rather than cash. In essence Boardman had arranged a clever system

of contract work and assured his shop of a continual flow of guaranteed goods and

services over an extended period of time.

The mortgages differed for each craftsman and depended upon the trade

of the individual. From sailmakers Joseph Walker, Jr., and John Nelson,

Boardman received sailcloth bedbottoms for a five year period.42 Neighbor and

upholsterer William Sowersby purchased a lot from Boardman on Joshua Street in

exchange for upholstery work—a very convenient arrangement since Sowersby’s

shop was adjacent to Boardman’s on the Congress Street block.43 Chairmaker

Henry Beck, who rented space from Boardman on Congress Street, paid his

mortgage for his Cabot Street lot "in Chairs at cash price."44

Painter and glazier Ebenezer Pike paid his mortgage in painting and

stock.45 Unlike the ornamental painters who worked in Boardman’s buildings, Pike

was a house and architectural painter. On numerous instances Boardman was hired

to do work other than furniture production, and he would have needed a painter

like Pike for those jobs. Hatter Nathaniel Seaward, tailor Nathaniel T. Moulton,

and cordwainer John Mitchell paid Boardman in hats, tailor work, and shoes,

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presumably to clothe Boardman’s apprentices, and possibly his family as well,

thereby fulfilling one of his obligations as a master.46 For payment of ten lots,

Boardman received "joiners work. "47 The joiner’s work may have been intended

for the manufacture of furniture parts such as bedsteads, construction of crates in

which to export furniture, or for various construction jobs that Boardman’s

business offered.

Of the lots on Jaffrey and Cabot Street, only two went to cabinetmakers.48

In 1806 cabinetmaker Samuel Wyatt paid for his Joshua Street lot through a cash

mortgage rather than with cabinetry. It is possible that Wyatt’s services were

unnecessary to Boardman who had a fully operational cabinet-shop, several means

of receiving contract work, and possibly established relationships with other

craftsmen. Cabinetmaker John Adams also paid Boardman in cash through a

mortgage arrangement rather than through goods. Adams was a journeyman

cabinetmaker rather than a master who owned his own shop. As a journeyman,

Adams was unable to supply Boardman cabinet work for he was employed in

another cabinet shop. Adams therefore had to pay for the land in cash rather than

in goods.

The deeds and mortgage arrangements Boardman made with other

craftsmen allow an examination of his shop practices and they confirm the value of

the proposed interactions with artisans who worked in his Congress Street

buildings. By combining his interest in real estate with the business practices of

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his cabinet trade, Boardman had expanded his reach within the craft community

and strengthened his business ties among those with whom he contracted services.

Boardman’s system of exchange of land for products had a basis in the age-old

barter system used in leui of money exchanges.49 His intent was based on

traditions of craft relations and was geared toward the economical and profitable

running of his business in an expanding market. Rather than trade for food and

shelter, his barter agreements through mortgages, in addition to the craft

environment he created around his shop, led to an advanced managerial style of

running a business that went virtually untapped by his competitors.

The only other cabinetmaking business in Portsmouth known to have

worked in conjunction with a close network of adjoining shops was the firm of

Jonathan Judkins and William Senter. Judkins and Senter had formed a partnership

by 1808 and took a room over the saddlery shop of Nathaniel B. March on Broad

Street.50 Although March made saddles, he may also have upholstered seating

furniture in leather and worked with Judkins and Senter. By October, they had

moved to a shop on the more visible corner of Broad and Pleasant Streets (fig.

II).51 Neighbor Josiah Folsom had a chairmaking shop across the street until he

left the industry and became a merchant trader in 1812.52 That same year, William

Senter’s brother, turner John T. Senter, left his shop near Boardman and moved

into a building adjoining Judkins and Senter’s, that was owned by the firm. Given

the familial relationship between the two, it is probable that John T. Senter worked

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Figure 11

Advertisement for Judkins and Senter

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on a contract basis for his brother and his partner. Unfortunately, John T. Senter

managed money and finances poorly and after being brought to court on several

occasions by his brother and by the firm, he left Portsmouth in 1815 and joined the

navy.53

Soon after John T. Senter vacated, chairmaker Henry Beck advertised

that "he has taken an apartment in a shop belonging to Judkins and Senter. This

move coincided with Boardman’s suit against Beck for unpaid obligations. Beck

remained in the same location until he retired in 1828 and may have worked with

his neighbors either through contract work or sales of chairs, particularly since

Judkins and Senter and later Judkins, sold chairs in addition to case pieces.

Chairmaker John Grant, Jr., was also drawn to this area of town and opened a

shop on the opposite side of Broad Street that he operated from 1821 to 1827; he

probably competed as well as cooperated with Beck and with Judkins and Senter.

The working environment around the firm of Judkins and Senter

appears to have been based upon relationships with chairmakers and craftsmen

related to the chairmaking trade. The firm was located away from many of the

shops rented or owned by allied artisans but was amidst the chairmakers in town,

who eventually grouped in one area. Although on a much smaller scale than

Boardman’s, the firm apparently focused its business efforts around craftsmen who

produced similar items, and it possibly forged working relationships with them.

Chairmakers, it seems, were aware of the business connections with Judkins and

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Senter and moved their shops nearby. The firm’s few land transactions were not

geared to particular artisan groups, and were based on cash mortgages rather than

exchanges of goods and services. When Judkins and Senter did advertise barter

exchanges it was a request for produce in trade for furniture, quite different from

Boardman’s arrangements.55

Shop Size and Production

The shop size and output of Judkins and Senter’s firm, although

Boardman’s leading competitor, was dwarfed by Boardman’s business. At the

height of business in the years between 1810 and 1820, with a peak output in 1812

before the war, the firm produced fashionable furniture and exported large

shipments of furniture overseas.56 Even though it was outproducing every

competitor except Boardman, its business standing was substantially below

Boardman’s. In the 1817 tax list, Boardman had the twentieth highest tax rate in

Portsmouth. While his total tax base included lands, buildings and shares in

stocks, the taxable value of his stock-in-trade was ten times that of Jonathan

Judkins and William Senter.57 The 1821 tax assessment, valued Boardman’s worth

at $21,043.90. The next wealthiest cabinetmaker was Jonathan Judkins at

$1,201.50.“ In 1826, the last year of the partnership before Senter’s death in

1827, both Judkins and Senter were taxed on $400 worth of stock-in-trade;

Boardman’s taxable stock-in-trade was $3,100. The value of Judkins and Senter’s

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stock was greater than that of other cabinetmakers in Portsmouth in 1826, but once

Jonathan Judkins was working alone, the comparable value of his stock-in-trade

was soon eclipsed by the stock of more aggressive, youthful, second generation

craftsmen. On the other hand, in comparison to all of Portsmouth’s

cabinetmakers, chairmakers, turners, upholsterers, and painters, Boardman’s stock-

in-trade continued to exceed the value of all others until his death. The differences

in value of shops and stock is a reflection of his expanded business ventures, shop

size, level of production, and longevity.

Shop inventories highlight other facets of Boardman’s position in the

cabinetmaking community. In 1827 William Senter’s house and the shop he shared

with Jonathan Judkins were both appraised; six years later Langley Boardman’s

estate was likewise appraised (appendices C, D).59 At Boardman’s death in 1833,

his stock-in-trade was valued at $1,000, a third of its worth in 1826. The figures

provided by the tax assessments differ slightly from the value added in the

inventories. The value of furniture in Judkins and Senter’s shop was $537.73 in

1826. That of Boardman’s in 1833 was $972; neither figure includes the value of

the tools and lumber (both of which would have been included in the assessors

figures), nor does it account for variances in currency.

William Senter’s inventory is quite detailed, in large part because the

three men who appraised the estate were very familiar with the trade: Langley

Boardman, Ebenezer Lord, and Samuel Dockum. In contrast Boardman’s estate

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was appraised by merchants and landowners rather than craftsmen because of the

diversity of his estate, hence the treatment of tools and equipment is cursory.

The furniture in Senter’s inventory was spread between his home and

the firm’s shop. A storage room in Senter’s dwelling had eighteen articles and

some unfinished furniture. The shop had fifty-three pieces of furniture, mostly

finished. Because the finished furniture is listed first, followed by some unfinished

frames and wood stocks, it appears that the majority of the furniture was placed in

a separate room, probably a showroom in the front of the store. Most furniture

forms are represented by single pieces, although there are several that have

variations to them, such as the seven different types of bedsteads and eight models

of bureaus.

Boardman’s shop inventory included ninety-one pieces of finished

furniture and six unfinished frames. The separation between finished and

unfinished furniture indicates that the objects ready for sale were also in a separate

room from the shop, probably a display or show room. The listing of some

finished pieces along with the frames suggests that these objects needed further

attention, such as finishes, or were stored in back because they were common

examples of other finished forms.

A comparison of volume produced in each shop through the dollar

value of objects is invalid, given the six-year time difference and fluctuations in the

value of currency. An examination into the quantity of furniture in the shops and

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the amount of board feet of wood in stock provides little more insight into shop

production.60 The twenty-six piece variance between the furniture in the two shops

is a negligible difference. There is more of a division in quantity of board feet of

mahogany present in each shop (Judkins and Senter’s 569 feet; Senter’s 1,593 feet;

and Boardman’s 3,000 feet), but this could relate to a matter of timing. Even

though the differences were slight between the two shops toward the end of each

firm’s business career, Boardman as a single shop master still out-produced his

nearest competitor with resources from two individuals.

A further probe into the question of shop production provides a further

assessment of shop size. Although the number of craftsmen working in each shop

at this time is nearly impossible to obtain from the inventories, particularly

Boardman’s, among the pages of shop tools in the Judkins and Senter inventory,

there are two shop desks, presumably for Judkins and Senter, and six benches

listed. The many sets of tools needed for various tasks are an unreliable indication

of the number of craftsmen per shop, but it is likely that in a single day the six

benches were shared among craftsmen depending upon the task at hand. At least

one of Jonathan Judkins’ sons, John Judkins, worked for the firm by 1825, which

accounts for one of the benches.61 As there were five apprentices working in

Judkins’ shop in 1830, it is likely a similar number worked for the firm four years

previously.62 But myriad questions arise: did the apprentices use single benches

or share with each other or with journeymen as they learned routines? Was there

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usually one apprentice to one journeyman and if so, does that indicate that there

were at least five journeymen in the shop or did some of the apprentices work

under Judkins and Senter? Did each journeyman cabinetmaker work on each of the

six benches, indicating sue journeymen, or were the benches divided among

journeymen cabinetmakers and finishers? Even though the shop was equipped with

sue benches, were all of the benches used?

Boardman’s inventory provides even less detail about the shop size in

the 1830s. A nondescript listing—"Benches, Tools, Grindstone, Lathe, Screw sets

etc. in Work Shop"—is all the information provided on the possible number of

craftsmen in his shop.63 The directories for 1827 and 1834 list journeymen as

working for Samuel Dockum, but none for Boardman nor for the firm of Judkins

and Senter, or Judkins alone. The tax assessments for Boardman’s shop, the

shop’s output, and the quantity of furniture in his inventory indicates, however,

that he had at least as many benches as did Judkins and Senter.

The two inventories also provide insights into the clientele and the type

of furniture produced by these two firms at the close of their businesses. To more

completely understand the material in relation to the craftsmen involved, an

examination of shop practices in the decades preceding the inventories will place

the information within a broader business context. To an extent, these probate

documents indicate the types of goods and specialties that these craftsmen provided

in the earlier decades of their careers.

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Both Boardman and the firm of Judkins and Senter dominated the

market in furniture by catering to the wealthy of Portsmouth. Although there are

bills and accounts that mention furniture produced in the first few decades of the

century by cabinetmakers Samuel Wyatt, Solomon Cotton, John Grant, Jr., and

Isaac Pinkham among others, the records are generally for the sales of middle-

market furniture such as bureaus, bedsteads, stands, or sundry items, or include

charges for related jobs like carving.

The minimal number of bills that survive for other craftsmen in

comparison to those for Boardman and Judkins and Senter may also be a

reflection of their clientele. Account books, letters, and records tend to survive in

greater quantity for people of higher social status than for the average citizen.

Therefore, the greater survival rate for documents relating to furniture and services

offered from the two firms indicates a level of sophisticated patronage and quality

goods.

The customers listed on bills from Langley Boardman are some of the

most prominent citizens of Portsmouth: John Langdon, John Wentworth, James

Rundlet, Nathaniel and John Haven, Jacob Wendell, Capt. Reuben S. Randall, and

John Sherburne among others.64 Boardman may also have made furniture for

merchant John Peirce, for whom the furniture, rather than the bills, survive.65

Some of Boardman’s clients, John Langdon, Captain Randall, and possibly

Nathaniel Haven, also patronized Judkins and Senter.66 Sometimes the clients

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patronized both Arms simultaneously, or in the instance of Jacob Wendell, simply

changed his patronage.

Of the furniture bills for Langley Boardman and for the firm of Judkins

and Senter, the following two accounts indicate the selection of high-style furniture

offered by each business.

From July 16 to August 4, 1802, merchant Jacob Wendell, Esquire,

purchased the following items from Langley Boardman:

one dining table 15.00 one pembroke table 12.00 one commode 27.00 one bedstead 23.00 six fan-back chairs67 10.00 one sideboard 45.00 one easy chair 15.00 one tea tray 5.00 one birch dining table 6.00 one pair of card tables 30.00 188.0068

Wendell continued to purchase furniture from Boardman but apparently

made the majority of his purchases from the shop of Judkins and Senter after 1810.

Among the various accounts is a bill from 1815 to 1816 that documents the sale of

high-style furniture to Jacob Wendell from Judkins and Senter:

for sideboard 70.00 set of chairs 28.00 table & stand 11.00 work table 10.00 making table 6.00

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polishing do. 1.50 — in table stand 3.00 table & stand 14.50 mending lolling chair .25 bedstead 19.00 pieces round hearth 1.50 turning posts for — 3.00 sofa & card tables 70.00 bed cornice 13.00 window do. 7.50 bed top 2.00 260.7569

The majority of bills to Wendell and other clients from Boardman and

Judkins and Senter commonly list finished furniture in combination with charges

for mending previously purchased furniture. An account from 1810 thru 1813 to

Capt. Randall from Langley Boardman illustrates the variety of tasks that

craftsmen managed; this bill also indicates that higher tier craftsmen worked at

their trade year-round rather than split their time between farm chores and the

cabinet trade as did some inland rural counterparts:70

Sept. 1, 1812 to new top to field bedstead 1.50 1811 Nov 26 to one sofa 35.00 Jan. 24 to two-work tables 18.00 to case for do. March 12 to one desk 16.00 May 11 to putting new legs in cot bedstead 0.84 June 14 to one Lollig [s/c] chair 9.00 Aug 7 to repairing two work tables 1.50 Oct. 19 to one crib 3.00 to painting crib 1.50

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Even though fashionable examples of furniture are associated with these

two firms, each refinished furniture, regularly produced such necessary items as

cradles and coffins, repaired furniture, sold lumber for renovating dwellings, and

Boardman offered surveying services.71 These staple jobs were a steady source of

income for artisans on all economic levels and these two firms were no exception.

Both firms, particularly Boardman’s, also supplied furniture and sundry

work for local businesses. Boardman, and probably Judkins and Senter, oversaw

the work rather than actually performed the manual labor, particularly when the

jobs required such tasks as "putting up [a] partition" for the Portsmouth Fire and

Marine Insurance Company, or erecting "staging poles and staging" for the

Portsmouth Academy.72

One of the branches of Boardman’s business involved work with

interior textiles and possibly some interior decoration. Several businesses in

Portsmouth sold wallpaper and carpets, and Boardman’s firm apparendy was hired

to install them.73 By integrating this into his business, Boardman expanded the

repertoire of services he could offer.74 It is possible that he tapped his network of

adjoining businesses and contracted with upholsterer William Sowersby to assist

him with jobs that required "putting down [a] carpet" for one client, or "putting up

curtains" for another.75

At the time the shops were appraised, Boardman and Judkins and

Senter, were still in the midst of furniture production and sales. These two firms

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had dominated the furniture market for thirty-five and eighteen years, respectively.

Each inventory contains furniture of similar forms: card tables, dining tables,

bureaus, work tables, sofas, etc. The furniture listed in their showrooms and

shops was a reflection of their and their clientele’s personal tastes. Boardman, the

older and more established craftsmen, offered furniture that appeared to represent

conservative forms of the earlier eras, such as "2 Work Tables with Bags," while

incorporating newer forms such as "4 one pillared (or pillowed) work tables"

(either a pillar-and-scroll or late empire form) and "4 Large Center tables."

Judkins and Senter appear more actively progressive offering eleven pieces either

in the "French" or "Grecian" manner. Although these forms are absent from

Boardman’s inventory, shop bills prove that he indeed sold furniture in both styles

during the late 1820s until the year of his death in 1833.76

The presence of large quantities of mahogany at each shop indicates

that the majority of furniture produced in both firms was made from this wood

probably much of it in veneer form. The listings of local woods such as pine and

birch— "2 pine night tables" and "8 set Birch Field Bedposts" in Boardman’s

inventory, and "2 pine night tables," "2 pine dressing tables," "1 pine writing

desk," and nine pieces of birch furniture in Judkins and Senter’s shop; four more

pieces of birch furniture in addition to a "lot [of] birch stuff cut" in Williams

Senter’s house—indicate the production of a range of furniture. Throughout their

careers, Judkins and Senter had produced more documented furniture with birch

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accents than had Boardman, and it appears that the local birch wood continued to

be favored by the firm.

Marketing

In the early decades of the century, cabinetmakers in Portsmouth

continued to market their products in much the same manner as their predecessors

and colleagues in other trades: primarily by word-of-mouth. With the exception of

advertisements placed by Windsor chairmakers, who were aggressive advertisers,

Portsmouth newspapers were generally devoid of announcements regarding the sale

of furniture.

As the 1820s progressed, younger cabinetmakers used frequent

advertising as a marketing strategy to promote their furniture and businesses

(appendix B).77 This increased local competition may have led Boardman to seek

markets beyond Portsmouth and export his furniture. The first known instance of

his sending furniture abroad is in 1820 although he probably entered this market

years previously.78 Boardman continued to export furniture during this time, as

indicated by a shipment sent in 1825 on the "Ship Charles of Portsmouth, [which]

cleared at Portland [Maine] for Buenos Ayres by L. Boardman, with furniture and

other merchandise. "79 Sometime during the decade Boardman sent an agent to St.

Thomas, to oversee the arrival and sale of his furniture, who it was recorded,

"acquired considerable wealth," while there.80 Since Boardman had an associate in

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one of the export destinations, it is possible that he had agents in the other major

ports as well.

Aware of the high profile associated with imported coastal furniture in

1820s and the increased competition from promotions placed by second-generation

local craftsmen, Boardman placed an advertisement that attended to both issues: "A

CONSTANT supply of all kinds of Boston Chairs, [which] may be had at

LANGLEY BOARDMAN’S Furniture Room, No. 1 Vaughan Street."81 This

notice also represented another change, one in the description of his shop.

Boardman was the first cabinetmaker in Portsmouth to use the term,

"furniture room" in an advertisement. Aware of new marketing strategy used in

other coastal communities, Boardman integrated the new terms into his business

and discarded the description of furniture store. Selling furniture in a room

implied a specialized space for the sale of furniture, as did a store, but it also

incorporated a word used in competing communities that intimated a large selection

of goods, the "ware room." This latter term was soon incorporated into the

marketing strategies of second-generation businessmen: Boardman and others of his

era chose otherwise.

Boardman’s purchase of the empty lot on Jaffrey, Pleasant, and Court

Streets in 182S and the subsequent erection of a brick building that encompassed

half of the block, may indicate an aggressive marketing strategy against the nearby

Judkins and Senter.82 Boardman was still active in the cabinet community,

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otherwise he would have chosen to retain his shop on Congress Street or dissolved

the business entirely. The year Boardman opened his business in the new location

coincided with William Senter’s death. Jonathan Judkins continued in the cabinet

and chair-making trade with his sons and by 1829 advertised he had opened a new

shop at the corner of Broad and Court, half a block away from Boardman’s

building.83 Senter continued to be taxed until 1832 for two shops, both at the old

and new location. He may have used one for storage and production and the other

as a separate showroom; however, this is not indicated in his advertisement.

Apparently Judkins acknowledged Boardman’s confrontational move and offered

his challenge.

While the old guard of the cabinet community competed with one

another in the mostly residential section of Portsmouth, the younger craftsmen

rented space in the business district toward the waterfront and increased their

marketing campaigns. Boardman and Judkins remained solidly established in the

community and offered services, attention, quality and expertise possibly

unavailable through the newer generation, and therefore their shop locations were

not as imperative to their business success as for their younger colleagues.84

Capital and Diversification of Investments

One of the keys to Langley Boardman’s success was his business

acumen and his awareness that a shrewd businessman diversifies his interests and

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investments.83 In addition to his cabinet business, Boardman was a part owner in

cargo ships, an active real estate speculator, a shareholder in the Piscataqua Bank

(at one point he was elected to the post of president), an investor in textile mills

and stage companies, an appointed member of Governor’s Council and State Senate

elected by the Democratic Party, then the dominant political force in Portsmouth.86

By 1807, just nine years after his arrival, Boardman’s economic

standing in Portsmouth placed him in the top ten percentiles of taxable heads of

household.87 Based upon his pursuits, which involved a substantial amount of

income, Boardman must have arrived with ready capital to invest.

The source of Boardman’s initial income is uncertain. Within a year of

his arrival he offered an array of high-style furniture, and the following year he

began his real estate purchases; he had to have entered Portsmouth with an

available source of income. Boardman’s inheritance at age two after his father’s

death in 1776 was £43.2.8, hardly enough to launch a career decades later.88

When his step-father Richard Homan passed away in 1803, Boardman was not

among the heirs of the estate and hence received no inheritance from this source.89

His merchant uncle Francis Boardman died intestate in 1792, however, and may

have provided for Langley in some manner.90 If so, then the influx of capital

would have been a huge boost to a twenty-two-year-old fledgling journeyman.

Francis Boardman’s maritime interests also may have contributed to his

nephew’s investments and partial ownerships in trading vessels out of Portsmouth.

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In 1803, five years after his arrival in town, Boardman purchased shares in the

first of ten vessels in which he invested.91 Several ships in which he invested were

either lost within a year of purchase, condemned, or captured, but some were in

operation for several years before they changed hands.92 The James, for example,

made successful runs for the three years Boardman owned shares until it was lost

at sea.93 The risks involved often reaped great rewards if a vessel survived enemy

and pirate attack and returned with a cargo of goods.

Boardman’s most successful investments in shipping were privateering

ventures during the War of 1812. There were sixteen vessels from Portsmouth

involved in contraband trade during the three-year period of the war.94 The most

successful was the Fox, in which Langley Boardman was one of ten investors.

The Fox ran seven voyages from 1812-1815 and returned with cargoes that

commanded an estimated value of half a million dollars.93 Its most successful

mission was in 1813, and by 1814 it claimed $400,000 worth of prizes. Boardman

also held shares in the privateer Macedonian, a vessel that made two successful

voyages with winnings divided among twenty-five shareholders.96

The vessels in which Boardman invested imported sugar, molasses,

cocoa, and salt from the West Indies, and horsehair, wool, and horns from South

America. Unfortunately for scholars, the export customs records for this period do

not survive, but it is likely that he used his partial ownership of these vessels to the

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benefit of his cabinet business to export furniture; he may have also taken

commissions from other cabinetmakers to do the same.

The income generated from his various shipping and privateering

interests account for his financial success during the golden era of the early

nineteenth century and his financial stability during times of economic depression.

The money garnered from these investments also allowed him to reinvest the

earned income into building his cabinetmaking business and to diversifying his

investments further.

A business in which Boardman engaged several years after he entered

Portsmouth and before he invested in shipping ventures, was real estate. From

1800 until 1829 Boardman was actively involved in land speculation and real estate

transactions. Over three decades, he developed several sections of Portsmouth

where artisans and the working-class erected housing. The streets that he

developed, from the initial purchase of land to the subdivision and subsequent sale

of the lots, were Cottar’s Lane, Joshua, Cabot, and Union Streets. The lots were

situated around two of the three dwellings in which Boardman lived at the times

that he developed the surrounding landscapes; the third house was John Gains’ old

house on Congress Street, around which Boardman orchestrated his working

environment.97 Boardman was creating a craft community around himself, while

maintaining a social distance from his fellow craftsmen as the size of each of his

houses was grander than any built by his fellow artisans.

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Boardman entered into land speculation during boom years. The influx

of people and capital into the community spurred demand for houses and land. His

most active involvement in real estate was between 1804 and 1818; the beginning

of which (until 1808), coincided with some of the strongest economic years of the

early century.98 The number of land transactions amounted to 102 plus 330

exchanges through purchase, sale or mortgages; a total of 174 lots of land were

exchanged.99

On a much smaller scale than Boardman’s ventures, other craftsmen

took advantage of the real estate market and either sold property or built houses on

speculation; this group was small, however, and most craftsmen either bought or

sold property relating to their own houses or shops. Judkins and Senter purchased

land throughout town both as partners and as individuals. As a firm, the two built

speculation houses on four lots from 1811 until 1813; individually each purchased

or sold eight lots either for resale or for personal purposes.100 Another craftsman,

joiner John Miller, purchased a seven acre lot in 1811, which he divided into fifty

lots that he then sold for development.101

Joiner Jonathan Folsom also took advantage of real estate speculation.

He teamed up with Langley Boardman and tanner John Abbot for a number of

speculative ventures as the primary builder of the property to be sold.102 The three

joined in partnership after the fire of 1813 devastated the primary business district

of town. The three built the Customs House which they sold to the United States

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Government, developed Ringe Lane, and built four two-story plus attic row houses

on Sheaf Street.103

Boardman primarily acted as single agent in the purchase and sale of

real estate around his three dwellings.104 His first venture into speculation was his

1800 purchases on Pleasant Street and on Cotters Lane (a road that extended from

Pleasant Street to Mill Pond). He sold these lots to artisans or mariners over a

four year period until 1804.

Boardman reserved one Pleasant Street lot with a ready-built dwelling

for his own home.105 Pleasant Street had been the most fashionable road in

Portsmouth during the mid-to-late eighteenth century, and by choosing to live in

this area, Boardman made a statement about his aspirations.106 By purchasing a

dwelling in one of the most prominent areas in town, across from the late

Governor Wentworth’s house, and by diversifying his interests, Boardman was

attempting to enter the elite social hierarchy of the merchant class although his

house was on the fringe of an area largely inhabited by artisans.

This interest in upward mobility was reinforced in 1803 when

Boardman purchased a lot on the north side of Middle Street, an area that the

construction of the Peirce mansion in 1799 had made the attractive district in town

in which affluent merchants of the early nineteenth century lived.107 In 1804

Boardman split the cost of an aqueduct with neighbors John Haven and Jeremiah

Mason. He probably began construction of the house and barn soon afterward,

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which were finished by 1811 when he took out a $2,000 mortgage on the lot and

buildings.108 A week before he negotiated the mortgage, he sold his house on

Pleasant Street for $1,850.109 His relocation to his new house was postponed for

another three years. The previous month, Boardman had purchased the mansion of

George Gains on Congress Street next to Boardman’s cabinet shop for $4,500.110

Apparently the Gains lot became available and Boardman decided to purchase it

and live in this house by his shop and take out a mortgage on his Middle Street

dwelling. Meanwhile he received rental money for the Middle Street house from

tenant, Henry Ladd. Boardman moved into his Middle Street Mansion in 1814

after he paid the mortgage.111

Boardman likely cycled the money he received between 1801 and 1804

from the sale of the lots on Cotters Lane and Pleasant Street into the 1805-1806

purchase of land that extended off Middle Street.112 Once again, Boardman

speculated in property near his dwelling. Besides the Joshua Street lots, Boardman

purchased four lots for resale on nearby Cabot Street from 1809-1810, and on

Austin and Union Streets.

Among the goods and services Boardman received in payment for many

of the lots on Joshua and Cabot Streets, was "joiners work." These craftsmen may

have paid Boardman through tasks needed for his cabinet business, or they may

have built his house. If the latter is the case, the Middle Street dwelling dates to

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the 1806 to 1809 period that these craftsmen were scheduled to repay their

mortgages.

Boardman also involved himself in real estate through rental properties.

Besides renting his own house while he resided in another, Boardman acquired

property upon which dwellings stood and offered them for sale or rent. In 1815,

for instance, Boardman and John Abbot advertised "For Sale or to Let, Two new

and well finished two story Dwelling Houses, one of them being situated on Joshua

Street, the other on the corner of Akerman and Austin Streets. Possession given

immediately."113 Boardman also leased the brick Odiome house on Congress

Street, first to Thomas Treadwell, then to Thomas W. Penhallow, and then in 1813

he offered it for rent again at "reduced war prices."114 Boardman may have been

unable to rent the house, for by the next year, when he moved to Middle Street, he

converted the brick dwelling and the Gains house to the Portsmouth Hotel, Tavern

and Stage House.115 Several years earlier, in 1808, Boardman had purchased

another tavern, the Globe Tavern, located on the road leading from Portsmouth to

Greenland.116

As another way of raising capital from his land transactions, Boardman

acted as a loan agent for smaller artisans. Lacking the requisite strong collateral to

obtain loan money from banks, small businessmen often sought loans from wealthy

merchants through mortgage of property. Among those who sought assistance

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from Boardman was butcher Thomas Currier, who mortgaged a lot and buildings

to Boardman and Abbot for which he paid them in five year installments.117

Langley Boardman’s diversification into shipping and real estate

speculation coincided with his trained livelihood as a cabinetmaker. These other

business interests likely supplemented the growth of his shop and his ability to

become the largest and most prominent cabinetmaker in Portsmouth during his

lifetime.

Conclusion

The early decades of the nineteenth century were an era of business

expansion, during which local manufacture and merchandizing became integral

aspects of business operations, organization, competition, and success. All sectors

of business in Portsmouth were affected to varying degrees as were residents of the

community. Some people took advantage of the expanding economy and reacted

with entrepreneurial drive, while others remained close to their comfortable

traditional roles; each found markets that coincided with their manners of business.

The business opportunities in the new nation were apparent to visitors

traveling through the country, and they remarked on the successes achieved by

people who were able to propell themselves economically upward.118 The

opportunity for financial and social mobility in Portsmouth was outwardly visible

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and the eighteenth-century barriers to mobility seemed less formidable to artisans

who had access to capital and a range of investment possibilities.119

Although many hopeful entrepreneurs remained immobile because of a

lack of capital and an erratic economic environment, some were able to prosper,

and a few individuals succeeded on a larger scale.120 Often the key to success was

expanding into unfamiliar markets and diversifying assets into speculation, risky

trading ventures, manufacturing, and other avenues of potential income.121 Some

craftsmen who undertook capitalist expansions into new business opportunities,

either changed their careers altogether or managed both their trade and business

ventures. Portsmouth chairmaker Josiah Folsom, elected to enter the merchant

community and purchased a wharf and water privileges along South Mill Pond and

traded in West Indies goods, no longer advertising his craft after 1812.122

Portsmouth upholsterer Joseph Bass advertised the sale of garden seeds in

conjunction with his trade and soon thereafter dissolved his upholstery business

altogether.123 In 1816 ornamental painter Henry Bufford advertised the partnership

of Bufford and Gregory, which operated a grocery store that sold West Indies

goods; Bufford continued in his painting business.124

Langley Boardman was alert to the economic advantages available to

those with entrepreneurial drive, and through his craft and investments was able to

propell himself into the position of Portsmouth’s leading craftsman, in size, scope,

and capital.125 Boardman’s system of forming cooperative alliances with

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independent fellow artisans in a close working environment as well as through

mortgage agreements, expanded upon the traditions of contract work. By

streamlining his business and expanding his operations by not having to hire

unnecessary full-time laborers because he jobbed work out to a nearby craft

network, he developed a contained craft community at which his business was at

the epicenter. Although craftsmen worked independently, he had formed a shop

environment with leanings toward specialization that over the next few decades

would incorporate most of the related furniture crafts under one manufactory.

Boardman was probably aware that it was difficult to increase shop

revenues by expanding his business alone, as labor costs still needed to be covered,

whether employed or contracted.126 His series of shop arrangements allowed for

capital from rent, but in order to increase overall income he diversified.

Boardman’s real entrepreneurial success may be in the creative manner that he was

able to capitalize on the investments that he pursued through shipping, and real

estate, by tying them in with his cabinet trade. Through his shipping investments

he increased capital and probably used his connections to export furniture. His

land speculation also earned him income and provided goods and services that he

used in his cabinet business.

Intent upon displaying his upward mobility, Boardman chose to build a

mansion on the exclusive Middle Street trimmed with decorative details in the best

Salem manner.127 The interior elements such as the sheafs of wheat and carved

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bowl of fruit on the mantlepiece are typical of the Mclntire school and reemphasize

his connections with the town in which he trained.128 An indication of Boardman’s

increasing prominence and his rising business status, his moniker changed from

cabinetmaker to merchant (by 1816) to gentleman (by 1822), to esquire (in

1825).129 As he ascended the social ladder Boardman continued his association

with his craft. Up until his death his shop continued to produce high-end furniture.

When he died he was described as "an industrious and successful mechanic . . .

one of that small number, who, when wealth increases, do not abandon their

trades."130

Langley Boardman’s contributions to the furniture industry over the

span of his thirty-year career formed a bridge between eighteenth-century shop

practice and a noticeably different nineteenth-century business environment that

was marked by changes in production, in furniture forms, and in marketing. The

manner in which this new methodology manifested itself can be seen in the shop

practices of Samuel Dockum, a cabinetmaker who first advertised in Portsmouth in

1815 and worked until his death in 1872. It is through Dockum that Boardman’s

business practices were expanded, and through whom the next generation of

furniture craftsmen is explored.

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Chapter 4

THE ERA OF LANGLEY BOARDMAN

1. Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, Under the Vine and Fig Tree: Travels through America in 1797-1799. 1805 with some further account of life in New Jersey, trans. and ed. by Metchie J. E. Budka (Elizabeth, N.J.: New Jersey Historical Society, 1965; Grassman Publishing), pp. 30-31.

2. Thomas Boardman was bom in Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1725 and died June 4, 1776 (Vital Records of Ipswich. Massachusetts, vol. 1, Births [Salem, Mass.: Essex Institute, 1910]; Darling Family Papers, Ipswich Town Library, Ipswich, Massachusetts; inventory, docket 2737, Essex County Court House, Salem, Massachusetts). Boardman is listed as a gentleman in his inventory, which listed a house, bam, and homestead worth £920 and farm tools and animals worth £1,235. Boardsman’s real estate holdings were comprised of building, three farm lots, and wood land worth a total value of £474.96. His wife, Elizabeth, was administrator of the estate.

3. Elizabeth Boardman, September 2, 1783, guardian Bond 2682, ECCH. Elizabeth was placed as guardian to Francis 17 years, Elizabeth 15 years and Langley 9 years, the youngest of Thomas and Elizabeth’s eleven surviving children. Vital Records of Ipswich. Massachusetts, vol. 2, Marriages (Salem, Mass.: Essex Institute, 1909).

4. The original 1562 code of the Statute of Artificers stated a seven year term of apprenticeship. While they may have been the ideal, it has been shown that most young men in the colonies were apprenticed in the cabinetmaking business for between four and seven years. See Ian M. G. Quimby, "Apprenticeship in Colonial Philadelphia" (Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1963), pp. 9, 34, 37, table 2.

5. Captain Francis Boardman’s house was built between 1782-1789 and is illustrated in Sidney Fiske Kimball, Mr. Samuel Mclntire. Carver: The Architect of Salem (Portland, Maine: Southworth-Anthoensen Press, 1940), figs. 48-51.

6. Scholars have also hypothesized that Boardman apprenticed with his father- in-law, Jacob Annable (1732-1807) of Hamilton, a neighboring town to Ipswich. Listed as a yeoman, Annable’s inventory included "three augers, two planes, two saws, [and] old joiners tools" (February 10, 1818, docket 742, ECCH). As a

102

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saws, [and] old joiners tools” (February 10, 1818, docket 742, ECCH). As a yeoman/joiner, living in a rural community of Salem, it is doubtful that Annable taught Boardman the skills needed to produce the fine Salem-influenced furniture made in Portsmouth; Arthur Rice, "Langley Boardman Master Craftsman," New Hampshire Profiles (June 1974):42-45; Donna-Belle Garvin, James L. Garvin, John F. Page, Plain and Elegant. Rich and Common: Documented New Hampshire Furniture. 1750-1850. exhibition catalogue (Concord: New Hampshire Historical Society, 1979), pp. 141-142.

7. Tax Valuations: Sums Total of Polls and Estates for Salem, Massachusetts, 1795-1798, microfilm no. 55, roll 2, Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts.

8. Thomas Needham’s father, cabinetmaker Thomas Needham, Jr., passed away in 1787 and therefore could not have employed his son and Boardman in the 1790s. There were several Thomas Needham’s working in Salem toward the end of the eighteenth century, for more information, see, Clunie, "Salem Federal Furniture" (Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1976), p. 200. Unfortunately, as of yet, no other labeled Salem chests of similar form have been identified and other craftsmen.

9. Oracle of the Dav. July 14, 1798.

10. Also in 1799 Boardman placed a confusing notice in the newspaper that he was "determined to leave this town on the first of June next" (Oracle of the Dav. April 5, 1799). He remained in Portsmouth, for in 1800 is listed in the census as a head of household. The same year he began an active interest in real estate. Either the advertisement was a means of collecting on some loans, or circumstances changed which resulted in his remaining in Portsmouth. Boardman did leave the community for a brief while in 1801 when he married Rachel Annable in Hamilton on January 31 (Vital Records of Hamilton. Massachusetts to the end of 1849 [Salem: Essex Institute, 1908). Real estate transactions place Boardman in Portsmouth in December 1800 and February 1801 (December 17, 1800, deed 157:273; February 15, 1801, deed 156:391).

11. Oracle of the Dav. April 6, 1799.

12. Brock Jobe, ed., Portsmouth Furniture: Masterworks of the New Hampshire Seacoast (Boston: Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, 1993; University Press of New England).

13. Garvin, etal., pp. 148, 151.

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14. Jobe, ed., particularly entry 34.

15. Oracle of the Dav. July 14, 1798;1801; New Hampshire Gazette. August 23, 1803.

16. Boardman purchased the corner lot of land and buildings along Congress Street and Vaughan Streets from William Odiome in 1802 (August 2, 1802, deed 161:330). The following day Boardman sold the rear portion to chaisemaker/upholsterer William Sowersby (August 27, 1802, deed 162:336). In 1803 he purchased the abutting lot from Odiome with a brick house and shop (October 8, 1803, deed 166:38). In 1811 he purchased the house and shop resided in by cabinetmaker/joiner, George Gains into which Boardman moved and lived for three years (January 9, 1811, deed 189:421). In 1815 he purchased the lot and dwelling behind the Gains’ lot from Benjamin Barnard (April 16, 1815, deed 207:75), RCCH.

17. Odiome to Boardman, deed 166:38.

18. Boardman received five years rent from occupant, Thomas Penhallow, for the house (166:38). On December 21, 1811 Boardman placed an advertisement in the New Hampshire Gazette, for the rental of this house and again in 1813, citing that the "rent [is] reduced to war price" (NHG. May 4, 1813). Boardman rented the shop space for the first few months as the advertisement of his move preceded the purchase of the property.

19. Boardman’s inventory lists "One lot of Land Bounded Southerly by Jaffrey Street, Westerly by Church Street, Northerly by land formerly belonging to Joshua Haven and Easterly by Court Street with the Buildings thereon occupied as a Cabinet Makers Shop." In the account to Boardman’s wife, Rachel, the buildings on this lot were "occupied as stores, workshop etc." (November 12, 1833, docket 12564). The lot and buildings were valued at the high rate of $2,100. Boardman purchased this lot from the Honorable Daniel Webster whose house had burned in the 1813 fire (Webster to Boardman, October 11, 1825, deed 246:1, RCCH). Although purchased in 1825, Boardman was not taxed for a building on the lot until 1827 (tax assessment records, 127, Research Room, Portsmouth Public Library).

20. Portsmouth Registry and Directory (Nathaniel March & Co., 1834); NHG. October 14, 1834, "[The] shop lately occupied by Langley Boardman." Lewis moved to Market Street in 1837 (NHG. July 8, 1837). Langley’s son, John H. Boardman placed a rental advertisement for the lofts at Jaffrey and Court Streets a month earlier (NHG. June 27, 1837). The cabinet firm of J. H. and W. Pickering

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rented the space soon afterward (NHG. August 8, 1837); the firm was apparently dissolved within several years as they are not listed in Edmund’s Town Directory (Portsmouth: Joseph M. Edmunds, 1839).

21. Docket 12564; tax assessment records, 1826-1834.

22. Apprentices in other shops averaged between two and four, including those in the shop of Judkins and Senter. The Census of the United States: Heads of Families. New Hampshire, Rockingham County, 1800, microfilm roll 20, M32, lists two women between the ages of 10-26, presumably servants as Boardman was not yet married; three males between the ages of 10-16; and four males in the 16- 26 age bracket, including Boardman.

23. Only joiner/cabinetmaker John Miller had a similar number of apprentices at this time with seven men listed between the ages of ten and twenty-six, himself listed in the next age group. This figure may, however, include children who may not have worked with him. William Senter’s household listed only two males between the ages of sixteen and twenty-six; he was in the next age bracket. Jonathan Judkins is not included in the census returns. Census of the United States: Heads of Families. New Hampshire, Rockingham County, 1810, microfilm roll 25, M252. Records are missing for the 1820 census, and Boardman is absent from the 1830 census.

24. Jacob Wendell, hardware account book, November 14, 1809-February 15, 1810, case 5, box Bl, 13-14. Wendell Collection, Baker Library, Harvard Business School, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Jacob Wendell, hardware account book, 1810, Wendell Collection, Portsmouth Athenaeum. Apprentices for other craftsmen are also noted in these hardware accounts: [Joshua] Simpson delivered items to chairmaker Henry Beck (Simpson was a nephew of Beck’s and later became a chairmaker in Portsmouth); [John] Stockells picked up materials for Samuel Wyatt; and upholsterer William Sowersby’s son gathered items for him. Craftsmen are also listed as delivering goods to one another; William Senter brought materials to Boardman; [George] Doig brought goods to fellow ornamental painters Bufford and Bowles. See also, John and Nathaniel Haven, account books, 1808-1811, MS 1963-37, vol. 3, pp. 1654, 1702, 1716, New Hampshire Historical Society.

25. NHG. February 19, 1811; July 14, 1812.

26. NHG. September 10, 1805, obituary. Alfred T. Joy remained in Portsmouth until 1872 when he moved to his hometown of Durham. He maintained ties with Portsmouth as evidenced by an

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advertisement four years later for the sale of his entire stock of furniture in Portsmouth, probably on consignment at a warehouse (Portsmouth Journal. December 21, 1872; October 28, 1876).

27. It is possible that there was a kinship connection with 1820s + cabinetmaker Edmund Brown. Boardman’s two daughters married Browns: Elizabeth to Dr. Jonathan Brown, and Sophia to Reverend Amos Brown. Boardman’s son, George, gave the surname Brown to his daughter, Elizabeth, as a middle name. Edmund Moody Brown grew up in Stratham but there were Brown’s living in Portsmouth, possibly related to the Stratham branch and somehow to the Boardman’s. A possible connection remains unclear.

28. The relationship between Boardman and the Clifford’s is unknown. The shared names between Langley’s son, George Clifford Boardman, and Ebenezer’s son, George Clifford may only be coincidental. George C. Boardman was the only one of Langley’s four children to marry beneath his social station. George’s wife, Ann Floyd, was Ebenezer Lord’s niece. Boardman’s position as one of the wealthiest citizens in the community placed him above the status of his first cousin, Ebenezer, who had worked as a journeyman for Boardman. George died of a fever while on a voyage and his wife Ann died soon thereafter. Ebenezer Lord became guardian of their two children, Francis Clifford Boardman, bom January 21, 1840, and Elizabeth Brown Boardman, bom December 26, 1839 (March 17, 1840, guardian bond 2635, RCCH).

29. Ebenezer Lord was bom January 10, 1788 to Nathaniel and Lucy Lord. Nathaniel Lord was bom in Ipswich, September 13, 1747. He married Lucy Boardman, bom in Ipswich on July 8, 1749, on July 4, 1771 (Vital Records of Ipswich. Massachusetts, vols. 1, 2, Births. Marriages [Salem: Essex Institute, 1910, 1909]). Lucy Boardman Lord was the daughter of Langley Boardman’s paternal uncle John.

30. Wendell hardware account book, Baker Library; Portsmouth Evening Times. July 16, 1877.

31. Lord joined with the privateer, "First Consul," during the War of 1812 (Portsmouth Evening Times. July 21, 1877; Michael Dunbar, notes). By 1813 he was back at Boardman’s shop as indicated by furniture signed and dated by Lord in that year (Jobe, no. 34). In 1815, Lord became a member of the Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers (Constitution of the Associated Mechanics and Manufacturers [Portsmouth: C. W. Brewster, 1869]). Lord had his own shop by 1817 (tax assessment records, Office of the City Clerk, Portsmouth, New Hampshire).

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32. The practice of jobbing out orders for large amounts of turned parts is documented through the accounts of Solomon Fussell of Philadelphia as early as 1738. See Forman, "Delaware Valley ‘Crookt-Foot’ and Slat-Back Chairs: The Fussell-Savory Connection." Winterthur Portfolio 15 (Spring 1980):41, 45; Don C. Skemer, "David Alling’s Chair Manufactory, Craft Industrialization in Newark, New Jersey, 1801-1854," Winterthur Portfolio 22. no. 1 (Spring 1987): 15.

33. Langley Boardman to William Sowersby, August 27, 1802, deed 162:236, RCCH.

34. The eighteenth-century upholsterer, Joseph Bass, retired from the upholstery business circa 1800 with his last advertisement for upholstery work placed in the NHG. April 22, 1800. He continued to advertise, but for the sale of garden seeds, opening and operating a goods store until his death (May 14, 1822 inventory, docket 10462, RCCH). M. C. Thomas advertised only once in the NHG. July 8, 1817. His stay at Portsmouth was apparently short as he is absent from the 1816 voter list, 1817 tax list, and the 1821 directory. John Reding was a dealer in curled hair. Nathaniel B. March and Benjamin C. Sweetser were saddlers, and William F. Lawrence sold bedding. Not until the 1820s did other furniture upholsterers work in Portsmouth.

35. The Gains family of turners, cabinetmakers, and clockmakers were memorialized in Charles W. Brewster, Rambles About Portsmouth. 2 vols. (Portsmouth: C. W. Brewster & Son, 1859; Lewis W. Brewster, 1869).

36. George Dame advertised in the NHG. March 10, 1807, that "[he] Has removed to the corner of Congress and Vaughan streets, having taken a part of that convenient and pleasantly situated store of Mr. L. Boardman . . . painting, varnishing & gliding as follows . . . bed cornices, Chairs ornamented, and old Chairs repainted, varnished and ornamented. . . ."; Portsmouth Journal. April 2, 1809: "removed to a shop in part of Col. Geo. Gains’s [s/c] dwelling house, Congress Street where he continued the practice of painting and gliding. ..." Dame left Portsmouth in 1811 and as he did not place another advertisement, he probably remained at Boardman’s building until he left the community.

37. Henry Bufford advertised in the NHG. June 27, 1809, "[that he] continues his business as usual in Mr. L. Boardman’s Building, Congress Street. . . where Carriage and Sign Painting is done . . . N. B. Ship and House painting and Glazing in general."; NHG. September 17, 1811, "[that he] continues his business as usual at his painting room directly over No. 1 Boardman’s Building, where he flatters himself after ten years practice . . . in painting and gilding of Signs, Cornices, Dressing Tables, Stands, Chairs. ..." Bufford removed from the shop

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in 1816 (NHG. February 6, 1816), and moved to another second floor shop on the Congress Street block where he is still listed in the 1827 city directory; he had moved by 1834 (The Portsmouth Directory [Portsmouth: B. Foster, 1827]; Portsmouth Registry and Directory [Portsmouth: Nathaniel March & Co., 1834]).

38. J. K. Gilman advertised in the NHG. February 6, 1816,* [that he] has taken the shop in Boardman’s building formerly occupied by Henry Bufford." In this advertisement, Gilman announced the formation of a partnership with John Smith. As this is the only advertisement for either Gilman or Smith, the length of their tenure in Boardman’s building is uncertain.

39. Henry Beck advertised his chair manufactory in the NHG. October 26, 1805, "[that he has] taken a shop in Congress Street, a few doors West of Col. Gains’s [y/c] dwelling house . . . [where he] makes Fancy, Bamboo, and Windsor Chairs." His shop was located in Boardman’s Building. By September 23, 1809 (NHG). Beck removed to a shop on Spring Hill. Three years later he had returned to Boardman’s block "to the chambers over No. 2 Boardman’s Buildings" (NHG. April 12, 1812). He remained there until his move in 1815 to an apartment in a shop belonging to Judkins and Senter (NHG. September 19, 1815).

40. Portsmouth Oracle. January 18, 1812. The advertisement only notes that John T. Senter "has removed from Vaughan-Street"; the date of his initial move to Vaughan Street is unknown.

41. Henry S. Langdon, Esq. to Langley Boardman, cabinetmaker, March 7, 1809, deed 174:138, RCCH; William Cabot of Concord, Massachusetts to Langley Boardman, August 15, 1809, deed 179:11, 13, RCCH.

42. Joseph Walker, Jr. to Langley Boardman, July 11, 1806, deed 176:85, RCCH. Boardman received $172 worth of bed bottoms for the first year and $175 the second year. John Nelson to Langley Boardman, October 19, 1810, deed 188:350, RCCH. From Nelson, Boardman received $70 in bed bottoms due each year for a three-year period.

43. William Sowersby to Langley Boardman, August 23, 1806, deed 176:133, RCCH. Sowersby arranged to pay Boardman $100 in chaisework in one year and then $100 in upholsterers work yearly for the next five years.

44. Henry Beck to Langley Boardman, August 15, 1809, deed 189:82, RCCH. Beck’s arrangement with Boardman was to pay him $100 in chairs in one year, $100 in chairs in two years, $100 in chairs in three years, and $50 cash in three years. Beck did not fulfill this contract and Boardman brought him to court in

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1815 (docket 38210, inferior court records, Rockingham County, New Hampshire Division of Records Management and Archives, Concord, New Hampshire). It is this breach of contract that may have initiated Beck’s removal from Boardman’s Congress Street building to an apartment on Broad Street owned by firm of Judkins and Senter.

45. Ebenezer Pike to Langley Boardman, August 12, 1806, deed 176:131, RCCH. Pike paid Boardman $150 in painting in stock for the first two years, $100 in painting in stock for the third year, and $100 plus interest in cash in the fourth year.

46. Nathaniel Seaward to Langley Boardman, July 17, 1811, deed 194:484, RCCH. Nathaniel T. Moulton to Langley Boardman, May 10, 1808, deed 181:465, RCCH. James Mitchell to Langley Boardman, July 17, 1811, deed 194:485, RCCH. Seaward paid Boardman in $50 worth of hats for four years. Moulton paid Boardman $250 over nine months in tailors work, and the remainder in cash over three years. Mitchell paid Boardman in 450 worth of shoes also for four years.

47. James Dennet to Langley Boardman, July 11, 1806, deed 176:84, RCCH; Isaac Morton, Jr. to Langley Boardman, May 18, 1809, deed 185:421, RCCH; Josiah Peabody to Langley Boardman, March 3, 1806, deed 174:131, RCCH; John and George Perkins to Langley Boardman, December 7, 1809, deed 189:81, RCCH; Daniel Pitman and William Morton to Langley Boardman, March 3, 1806, deed 174:132, RCCH.

48. Langley Boardman to Samuel Wyatt, cabinetmaker, January 7, 1806, deed 176:40, RCCH. Langley Boardman to John Adams, cabinetmaker, September 28, 1810, deed 188:377; Adams to Boardman, deed 188:349, RCCH.

49. Instances of barter exchange include an April 5, 1803 advertisement in the NHG: "Those joiners who are subscribers for the New Hampshire Gazette, and who expressed a wish to pay for their paper in work are requested to call at the Bookstore of the Editors." An advertisement on November 2, 1819, NHG. offered "To Let, a convenient two-story Dwelling-House. Joiner’s work will be received in payment of the rent." Most barter agreements were personal exchanges, and therefore were not published in the papers.

50. NHG. April 12, 1808.

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51. NHG. October 25, 1808. Their shop burned in the fire of 1813 as did the house in which Jonathan Judkins lived. They rebuilt the shop within two months on the same location (NHG. February 1, 1814).

52. Garvin, et al., p. 145.

53. Garvin, et al., p. 147; William Senter versus John T. Senter, 1811, docket 34103; Judkins and Senter versus John T. Senter, 1811, docket 34104, inferior court records.

54. NHG. September 19, 1815.

55. NHG. August 20, 1822; October 12, 1824. Boardman did trade furniture for goods, as indicated by his 1817-1818 purchase of linen in exchange for furniture and cash listed (anonymous account book, 1805-1818, vol. 2, p. 45, Massachusetts Historical Society).

56. Tax assessment records; Joseph W. Hammon, "Jonathan Judkins and William Senter, Federal Period Cabinetmakers of Portsmouth, New Hampshire," paper written for American Decorative Arts, AM860 taught by Jonathan fairbanks of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston University, 1960s, p. 3. Invoice of furniture sent on the Brig Hannah (Jonathan Judkins and William Senter to Reuben S. Randall, March 11, 1818, case 6, Wendell Collection, Baker Library).

57. A Correct List of Taxes, Assessed on the Persons and Property in the Town of Portsmouth, for the year 1817 (Portsmouth: S. Whidden’s Printing Office, 1817), pp. 2, 23, 32, Special Collections, Portsmouth Athenaeum. Langley Boardman’s total tax was $135.18, his stock-in-trade was taxed at $20. Jonathan Judkins’ total tax was $8.97, his stock-in-trade was taxed at $2. William Senter’s total tax was $8.96, his stock-in-trade was also taxed at $2.

58. Bernard L. Herman, Cross-Reference List of 1821 Portsmouth Tax Assessments and 1821 Portsmouth Directory, Office of Architecture and Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware.

59. William Senter, May 8, 1827 inventory, docket 11376, RCCH. Boardman, docket 12564, RCCH. Shops of the first few decades were on a smaller scale and therefore their inventories are incomparable to Senter’s and Boardman’s.

60. This comparison, however, does not account for furniture recently sold or exported, nor does it account for recent shipments of boards.

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61. Jonathan Judkins’ four sons, John, Leonard, Daniel, and Samuel all worked with him at various times until either death or departure left Judkins working on his own in the 1840s. Hammond, p. 7; Garvin, et al., p. 148.

62. Census of the United States: Heads of Households. New Hampshire, Rockingham County, 1830, microfilm roll 77, M19.

63. Boardman, docket 12564.

64. John Langdon Papers, MS 1895-1 V, box 3, folder 9, New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord, New Hampshire; Langley Boardman versus Wentworth, 1815, docket 38657, inferior court records; James Rundlet, ledger B, 1802-1804, Archives, Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, Boston, Massachusetts; Garvin, et al., pp. 22-29; Nathaniel and John Haven, account book, 1808-1811, MS 1963-37, vol. 3, p. 1782, 1654, New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord; household supplies and miscellaneous papers and Furniture 1800-1813, Wendell Papers, Baker Library; Boardman versus Sherburne, 1827, docket 8321, inferior court records; Nicholas Rousselet, account book, MSS Account Books Rousselet, New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord.

65. Jobe, no. 93.

66. John Langdon Papers; Wendell Papers; George Haven, account book, 1809-1811, MS 1984-79, New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord.

67. The presence of fan-back Windsor chairs in a bill from a cabinetmaker, rather than a chairmaker, indicates that Boardman either was acting as an agent for a local chairmaker, possibly Josiah Folsom, or purchased the chairs as imports from another coastal community. As other cabinetmakers in the region were also advertising the sale of chairs, it appears that cabinetmakers were providing competition to the local chairmakers (Levi Bartlet, Salisbury, NHG. September 5, 1806).

68. Mr. [Jacob] Wendell Esq. Bot [st'c] of Langley Boardman, July 16 to August 4, 1802, bill, case 13, household supplies and miscellaneous papers, Wendell Collection, Baker Library.

69. Mr. Jacob Wendell to Judkins and Senter, 1815-1816, bill, case 13, household supplies and miscellaneous papers, Wendell Papers, Baker Library. A number of these articles are illustrated in Garvin, et al., pp. 32-41.

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70. Captain Reuben S. Randall to Langley Boardman, January 26, 1811 to October 14, 1812, bill, case 3, furniture 1800-1813, Wendell Collection, Baker Library. See Philip Zea, "The Fruits of Oligarchy: Patronage and the Hadley Chest Tradition in Western Massachusetts," in Old time New England: New England Furniture. Essavs in Memory of Benno Forman 72 (Boston: Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, 1987), pp. 1-65.

71. As with cabinetmaker George Gains whose shop inventory listed "Box with refuse Coffin furniture" (May 18, 1809 inventory, docket 8121, RCCH), and like other artisans in town, Boardman and the firm of Judkins and Senter made basic items for clients. "The first North Church in Portsmouth . . . paid Mr. Langley Boardman for a Coffin - $6.25" (North Church Papers, January 10, 1815, Portsmouth Athenaeum). "To one cradle" (Langley Boardman to Captain Reuben S. Randall, August 20, 1807); "For mending bedstead, varnishing post caps, for small coffin" (Judkins and Senter to Captain Reuben S. Randall, August 26, 1820, Wendell Papers, Baker Library). Boardman’s accounts were for various services: "Paid Langley Boardman for 2 feet clear boards and for surveying - $33.84," and "Langley Boardman for Plank - $3.05" (Sarah Trip, December 8, 1811 and July 3, 1812 account for repairs etc. on sd. estate, docket 8378, RCCH). Court cases brought by Boardman against clients who failed to pay bills also list a large amount of repair work and maintenance. For example, one case notes the task of "scraping and polishing pair of card tables" (Langley Boardman versus John Wentworth, Esquire, November 2, 1811, docket 38657, inferior court records).

72. Langley Boardman to the New Hampshire Fire and Marine Insurance Company, 1803, bill, New Hampshire Fire and Marine Insurance Company Records, box 9, folder 17, Portsmouth Athenaeum. Nathaniel and John Haven, account book, 1808-1811, vol. 3, p. 1782. Boardman’s shop also made furniture and did sundry jobs for the Union Insurance Company (records, 1815-1821, MSS 1198, Baker Library). Boardman, a member of North Church, billed the Church, for "repairing a bass violin" and "scraping a table" (North Church, papers); Judkins and Senter billed St. John’s Church for "repairing Organ door" (St. John’s Church Records, April 25, 1829, MS27, Portsmouth Athenaeum).

73. In 1813, Charles Peirce supplied Capt. Reuben S. Randall with "7 Rolls of Room Paper" and "5 Yards of Bordering," Wendell Papers, Baker Library; In 1813, Reuben S. Randall made two purchases of 27V£ and 2xh yards of carpeting from Lemuel Draper; in the same year Capt. Randall also purchased "3 Rolls Paper" from the firm of Tappan & Foster," Wendell Papers, Baker Library.

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74. Boardman versus William Ham, Jr., 1817, docket 44035; Boardman versus John Wentworth, 1815, docket 38657 (inferior court records). Thompson Papers, 1803, collection 1, box 8, folder 52, Diamond Library, University of New Hampshire.

75. Langley Boardman to Ebenezer Thompson, bill, 1803, Thompson Papers, Diamond Library; Boardman versus Wentworth, 1815, docket 38657, inferior court records. Several documents reference Boardman’s purchase of linen and tow cloth. He may have used this material for clothing or as mattress ticking to accompany the bedsteads with sailcloth bottoms that he sold (anonymous account book, p. 45; John and Nathaniel Haven, account book, pp. 292, 1702).

76. "2 French bedsteads and 1 workstand - $16.00"; "1 French Bedstead - $4.50" (Langley Boardman to Winthrop Smith, bills, 1829, 1830, account and ledger book, box 1, packet 5, Winthrop Smith Papers, Durham Historical Society; "2 Grecian Pembroke Tables - $25.00" (John H. Boardman, Administrator of the Estate of Langley Boardman, to Winthrop Smith, bill, 1834, packet 3, Winthrop Smith Papers.

77. After William Senter’s death, Jonathan Judkins joined his new colleagues and increased his rate of advertisements. The increase in competition was evident in the allied trades as well. In 1822 ornamental painter Henry Bufford, who announced the formation of a partnership at the same time, commented on the current situation in town: "As there is much competition in the present day, they will manage their work speedily . . . as in any state" (NHG. October 8 to November 12, 1822).

78. Freight of Schooner Washington (January 22, 1820, case 6, Wendell Collection, Baker Library).

79. NHG. May 31, 1825.

80. In a notice published in the NHG. November 21, 1857, it is noted that William P. Furness "went for Mr. Boardman, to St. Thomas, where he acquired considerable wealth" before returning to Portsmouth years later. The dates of his establishment abroad are not given, but in response to other information in the notice, it appears that he was there in the 1820s, possibly earlier as well.

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Deed activity associated with William P. Furness indicates that he was in Portsmouth in 1814 when he sold his share of his father’s estate, and then not again until 1830 when he purchased a lot of land with buildings for $2,200; he soon established himself as a merchant in town (deed 203:439; 261:372; 296:436, RCCH).

81. NHG. October 14, 1823.

82. Boardman is not taxed on the structure until 1827 (tax assessment records).

83. NHG. August 11, 1829; 1829-1832 tax assessment records.

84. Sean Wilentz, Chants Democratic. New York Citv and the Rise of the American Working Class. 1788-1850 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1984), p. 47.

85. Thomas M. Doerflinger, A Vigorous Spirit of Enterprise: Merchants and Economic Development in Revolutionary Philadelphia (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1986), pp. 135-36.

86. Boardman’s inventory includes 50 shares in the Piscataqua Bank, 10 shares in the Salem and Boston Stage Company, 1 share in the Eastern Stage Company, 1 share in the Piscataqua Bridge, 1 share in the Portsmouth Athenaeum, two shares in the Cocheco Manufacturing Company. The total monetary value of these interests was $8,574. Docket 12564; New Hampshire Register and United States Calendar (Concord: J. B. Moore, 1825); Garvin, e ta l., pp. 141-142; Stephen Decatur, "Langley Boardman, Portsmouth Cabinetmaker," American Collector 6, no. 4 (May 1937):4-5.

87. Richard Candee, comp., 1807 occupational list of tax-payers, Portsmouth Athenaeum. Boardman was ranked #133 in a tax base of 1,359 names. Most of his income is likely associated with land transactions, which translated into a high tax base. Boardman may in fact not be as wealthy as he appears compared to merchants whose money was largely invested in non-taxable commerce. See Doerflinger, pp. 65-66.

88. The total value of Thomas Boardman’s estate was 475 pounds and 96 shillings. A third was given to his widow, Elizabeth, to his eldest son, and the remaining third was divided among the other ten children, one child having died. Thomas Boardman, June 4, 1776 inventory, docket 2737, Essex County Court House (ECCH), Salem, Massachusetts.

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89. The total value of the estate was £4,428.17.3 and included up-to-date furnishings. Richard Homan, Beverly Merchant of Ipswich, May 3, 1803 inventory, docket 13750, ECCH. It is uncertain whether Langley received any renumeration from his mother at her death in 1815 as no probate account survives. Vital Records of Ipswich. Massachusetts, vol. 3, Deaths (Salem: Essex Institute, 1908).

90. Paul F. Norton, ed., "Samuel Mclntire of Salem: The Drawings and Papers of the Architect/Carver," notes for perspective publication, Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts.

91. Ray Brighton, Port of Portsmouth Ships and the Cotton Trade. 1783-1829 (Portsmouth: Portsmouth Marine Society, 1986; Peter Randall), pp. 119-120; George A. Nelson, comp.; Customs Records. Portsmouth. New Hampshire, vol. 3, Builders. Masters. Owners, and Importers (Portsmouth: Portsmouth Athenaeum, 1979), p. 38; Richard E. Winslow III, ‘Wealth and Honor’ Portsmouth During the Golden Age of Privateering. 1775-1815 (Portsmouth: Portsmouth Marine Society, 1988; Peter E. Randall), pp. 134, 152, 224, 239.

92. Boardman was part owner of the Schooner Jones Eddv. from 1803-1806 and 1809-1810 when it was lost at sea; Brig Belise. 1815-1816 was also lost at sea as was Brig Evelina. 1815-1816; Brig Wessaweskeag. 1817-1820 was shipwrecked; Brig Luna. 1818-1820 was captured by pirates; Brig Margaret. 1821-18?? was lost at sea; sloop Concord. 1822-1824 was condemned; Brig Renown. 1824-1828 was sold; sloop James. 1830-1833 and the Brig Aquilla. 1832-1833 were lost at sea. Nelson, vol. 3, p. 38.

93. Brighton, pp. 119-20.

94. There were 517 privateering vessels involved in illegal trade against Great Britain along the Atlantic seaboard. Compared to Portsmouth, Maine contributed fifteen vessels while Boston claimed the largest number of ships along the coast with a total of 150. Winslow, p. 133.

95. David B. Cole, Jacksonian Democracy in New Hampshire (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1970), p. 106.

96. Winslow, p. 224.

97. Boardman’s first dwelling house was purchased from Boston merchant David Pearse, Jr. (May 15, 1800, deed 154:280).

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Boardman purchased his second dwelling January 9, 1811 (deed 189:421). This was once the house and shop of deceased cabinetmaker, George Gains located on Congress Street. Boardman lived in Gains’ house while renting out his new house on Middle Street, the land for which he purchased from Jonathan Homer, August 15, 1804, deed 164:500, RCCH. He moved into his Middle Street mansion after 1814. He sold the lots on Joshua, Cabot, and Union Streets from 1806 to 1813.

98. Boardman’s most active year was in 1815, when he expended $9,766 in the purchase of lots or repayment of mortgages.

99. Deeds, RCCH; Arthur Rice, "Langley Boardman, Master Craftsman," New Hampshire Profiles 26, no. 6 (June 1974):45; Boardman, Abbot, et al., in Richard Candee, comp., Grantor/Grantee Deed Lists, Portsmouth Craftsmen, Portsmouth, Athenaeum.

100. Joint lots include: August 8, 1811, deed 195:305; April 15, 1813, deed 200:59; October 29 1813, deed 204:1; November 20, 1813, deed 200:250. William Senter’s lots include: December 12, 1813, deed 204:184; May 2, 1814, deed 204:185; April 1, 1816, deed 207:603; July 20, 1824, deed 241:152; November 8, 1824, deed 204:286; November 8, 1824, deed 241:356; August 4, 1825, deed 243:464. Jonathan Judkins’ lots include: October 14, 1813, deed 200:314; June 15, 1814, deed 204:61; June 27, 1825, deed 307:314; November 30, 1826, deed 250:96; October 2, 1829, deed 260:199; July 30, 1835, deed 279:65 (RCCH).

101. Henry S. Langdon to John Miller, November 22, 1811, deed 194:372, RCCH.

102. John Abbot was also one of the ten investors in the privateer, Fox, which may account for his ability to join Boardman in expensive real estate transactions (Cole, p. 106).

103. August 27, 1817, deed 214:532; October 30, 1815, deed 209:259; November 28, 1815, deed 209:308, RCCH. See also Bernard L. Herman, "Built Landscapes: Vernacular Architecture in Urban Landscapes" (paper presented at the Strawbery Banke Museum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 17 February 1990), p. 16.

104. Boardman’s proximity to artisanal housing and his encouragement of their development around his properties coincides with the findings made by Wilentz, p. 37.

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105. Boardman purchased the land from David Pearse, Jr. in three installments: May 15, 1800, deed 154:280; December 17, 1800, deed 157:273; March 27, 1801, deed 157:415. One lot he kept for himself (deed 154:280), and sold the other Pleasant Street lots to: painter Joshua Pike (February 21, 1801, deed 158:36); mariner Michael Hooker (Pikes old lot, February 27, 1801, deed 158:147); mariner Robert Herrington (December 16, 1804, deed 174:101); mariner Daniel Ramsdell (November 16, 1804, deed 170:124). Boardman sold lots on one side of Cotters Lane to: housewright John Lock (June 25, 1803, deed 165:72); bricklayer Seth Pratt (October 25, 1804, deed 170:125); sailmaker John Nelson (October 10, 1804, deed 171:81 and deed 171:78); bricklayer Samuel Barnard (1804, deed 170:126); housewright William Marshall (November 3, 1804, deed 168:367, RCCH). The other side of Cotters Lane was developed by another speculator from 1807-1810. Research by author, Richard Candee, and Bernard L. Herman.

106. In the early eighteenth century, merchants usually lived down on the waterfront in order to be close to their vessels and business transactions. As the century progressed, merchants moved inland to Pleasant Street. James L. Garvin, "Academic Architecture and the Building Trades in the Piscataqua Region of New Hampshire and Maine" (Ph.D. diss., Boston University, 1983, University Microfilms #83-19977).

107. Homer to Boardman, deed 164:500. Boardman mortgaged the property to Homer on the same day, for which he was discharged in 1808 (deed 171:340; March 8, 1808, deed 182:19, RCCH).

108. Boardman to Jeremiah Mason, Esq. and John Haven, Merchant, August 14, 1804, deed 168:188; Boardman to Thomas Elwyn, Esq., February 14, 1811, deed 189:424, RCCH.

109. Boardman to Thomas Bowles and Thomas Moses, February 5, 1811, deed 190:379, RCCH. He had advertised the house in the NHG. January 11, 1811.

110. Estate of George Gains to Langley Boardman, January 9, 1811, deed 189:421. Boardman mortgaged the building back to the estate the same day for an eighteen-month schedule for the full amount (January 9, 1811, deed 189:422, RCCH).

111. Thomas Langdon Elwyn to Langley Boardman, July 26, 1814, deed 203:509, RCCH.

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112. Boardman received $2,540 for the sale of the Cotters Lane and Pleasant Street lots; most of the purchasers paid outright. Boardman paid $2,700 for the Joshua Street lots, for which he received $6,295 over three and four year mortgages for goods, services, and cash payments.

113. NHG. November 14, 1815. The Joshua Street house could be the house advertised in the Portsmouth Oracle. October 23, 1813, and could either be the lot Boardman sold to Isaac Morton, Jr., joiner, or to sailmaker John Nelson (June 13, 1809, deed 185:420; n.d., deed 195:71, RCCH). There is no deed of sale for this lot back to Boardman and Abbot, hence they may have received it from auction. The Akerman Street dwelling was purchased from joiner Isaac Dow (August 16, 1815, deed 207:256, RCCH).

114. William Odiome, merchant to Langley Boardman, October 8, 1803, deed 166:38; Boardman to John Shackford, mariner, July 29, 1812, deed 199:123, RCCH. NHG. May 4, 1813.

115. C. S. Gurney, Portsmouth. Historic and Picturesque (Portsmouth: Strawbery Banke Museum, 1981; Peter E. Randall), p. 25.

116. Elias Libbey to Langley Boardman, February 8, 1808, deed 181:71, RCCH.

117. Thomas Currier to Langley Boardman, June 5, 1823, deed 237:97, RCCH. See Glen Porter and Harold Livesay, Merchants and Manufacturers: Studies in the Changing Structure of Nineteenth-Centurv Marketing (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1971), p. 62.

118. John Bristed. The Resources of the United States of America (New York: James Eastbum & Co., 1818), p. 58; Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, ed. J. P. Mayer and Max Lemer (New York: Harper and Row, 1966), p. 41; Francis J. Grund, The Americans in their Moral. Social, and Political Relations, vol. 2 (London: Longman, Reese, Orme, Brown, Gren, and Longman, 1837; reprint, New York: Augustus W. Kelley, 1971), pp. 1, 41-42, 135.

119. Peter Dobkin Hall, The Origins of American Culture. 1700-1900: Private Institutions. Elites, and the Origins of American Nationality (New York: New York University Press, 1984), pp. 68-69; according to Jeanne Vibert, "The Market Economy and the Furniture Trade of Newport, Rhode Island: The Career of John Cahoon, Cabinetmaker, 1745-1765" (Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1982), eighteenth-century craftsmen, even if they diversified and entered into local politics, and formed strong economic associations, failed to rise above the middle

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class because of strict social hierarchies. By the early industrial period, the quickly expanding economy allowed and encouraged individual growth and upward mobility.

120. Doerflinger, pp. 47-52; Billy G. Smith, The "Lower Sort" Philadelphia’s Laboring People. 1750-1800 (Ithica: Cornell University Press, 1990), p. 200.

121. Doerflinger, p. 135, refers to this as the "fabric of adversity." After the Revolution and into the nineteenth century, merchants and others explored unfamiliar means of making money; some succeeded while others were ruined. This was the beginning of the industrial revolution. Craftsman involvement in the risks of diversifying investments is explored in Wilentz, p. 36.

122. James Adams, joiner to Josiah Folsom, chairmaker, January 3, 1812, deed 195:382, RCCH.

123. NHG. April 2-22, 1800; NHG. June 14,1803.

124. NHG. January 16, 1816.

125. Boardman can be described as one of the "emerging elite craft entrepreneurs" (Wilentz, p. 37).

126. Vibert, p. 95, after Stephanie G. Wolf, "Artisans and the Occupational Structure of an Industrial Town: Eighteenth-Century Germantown, Pennsylvania," in Working Papers from the Regional Economic History Research Center: Social Change in Earlv Industrial Communities, eds., Glen Porter and William H. Mulligan, Jr., I (Spring 1977):50-51.

127. In New York City, in the early nineteenth century, one-third of the shop masters lived in the same neighborhoods as the merchant elites (Wilentz, p. 35). This does not seem to be the case with Portsmouth, as Boardman is the only master cabinetmaker to live beside Portsmouth’s newest wealthy merchant class. In addition to the composite and carved elements in the Middle Street house, the arrangement of the circular stairway, set in the rear of Boardman’s dwelling, follows a plan by Charles Bulfinch drawn for the Ezekiel Hersey Derby house in Salem of 1795. Whether Boardman knew of these plans is speculative, but this arrangement demonstrates that he was eager to incorporate urban fashions into his house. See Harold Kirker, The Architecture of Charles Bulfinch (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1969), p. 153.

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128. There are a number of carved and applied elements in Boardman’s house that suggest a Salem influence, possibly through imported craftsmen. The formal chimneypiece, for instance, is identical to Samuel Mclntire’s chimney piece installations at both the Derby Mansion in 1799 and the John Gardner House of 1804. AH three are based upon plate XI in William Pain’s The British Palladio (London, 1786). Several other motifs relate to the Mclntire-designed Woodbridge House in Salem, built from 1808-1810. If this combination of elements was influential in the design of Boardman’s house, then it is possible that his house was finished closer to the date of 1811 when he rented it to Henry Ladd. Whether Boardman imported Salem craftsmen or instructed local artisans on the design elements he wanted is unknown. Neighbor James Rundlet, whose house was built from 1807-1808, employed a similar but less elaborate chimneypiece in his house, carved by Exeter craftsman William Dearing (Rundlet-May Accounts, December 1808 and May 1809 cited in Garvin, "Architectural Heritage," p. 449).

129. Aaron Wingate, joiner, to Langley Boardman, merchant, June 4, 1816; deed 210:115; Joshua Neal, merchant, to Langley Boardman, gentleman, February 4, 1822, deed 230:439; Daniel Webster, Esquire, to Langley Boardman, Esquire, October 11, 1825, deed 246:1, RCCH.

130. Portsmouth Journal. August 3, 1833. Hall, p. 43; Wilentz, p. 33.

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THE ERA OF SAMUEL DOCKUM

Introduction

[Samuel M. Dockum] Respectfully . . . manufactures all kinds of CABINET WORK of the best materials, the latest fashions, and with the greatest dispatch. He has lately received from New York, a large assortment of CHAIRS, of the newest fashions.1

As a new generation of craftsmen opened cabinetmaking shops in the

second decade of the nineteenth century, the environment in which their older

contemporaries and predecessors had worked experienced changes in both

manufacture and dispersal. Demand for wide-selections of affordable consumer

goods and increased local and intercoastal competition prompted more aggressive

marketing strategies and transformations in shop organization and in the

production, variety, and sale of goods.

Craftsmen in Portsmouth responded to the effects of early

industrialization in varying degrees. Those men with larger shops adopted many of

the business techniques used in other urban regions, although on a diminished scale

as compared to their coastal competitors. Some men who had smaller operations

adapted by moving their shops closer to the center of the furniture-making hub at

121

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Market, Fore, Penhallow and Congress Streets; others remained on the outskirts of

town (figs. 5, 6; appendix B). The number of small shops in Portsmouth

diminished once owners of larger shops increased their merchandizing efforts in

warerooms and warehouses; for owners of smaller shops had less money to spend

on advertising and could not compete with the larger shops on the same level of

production nor selection of goods. Some of these shops may have wholesaled their

products to the larger businesses as a means of selling their stock.

As the market shifted toward ready-made retail and wholesale sales, the

emphasis shifted toward goods for which shops could compete. Less expensive,

mass-produced furniture, usually chairs, made in Boston, New York, and

Philadelphia often were imported. Large pieces were often locally made. In an

effort to offset increasing market pressures by lowering expenses and striving for

efficiency, specialists from the cabinetmaking trades were combined within single

businesses. This craft centralization marked the next progression beyond Langley

Boardman’s cooperative business arrangements toward a factory-based business

structure.

Samuel M. Dockum succeeded Langley Boardman as the central figure

in the continuing development of the furniture industry in Portsmouth. Dockum

was born either in Portsmouth or in the neighboring town of Greenland in 1792,

six years before Boardman set up his first shop in the town.2 Little is known about

his youth. He trained as a cabinetmaker and carver in Portsmouth under Mark

Durgin.3 Within a year of turning twenty-one, Dockum had established his own

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business, Samuel M. Dockum & Company, in nearby Northwood, New

Hampshire.4

Dockum’s career in Portsmouth was comprised of a series of short-term

partnerships interspersed with extended periods of sole proprietorship (appendix

B). This pattern was similar to the careers of many of his fellow cabinetmakers,

except that most of them bounced from one business relationship to the next with

little time on their own. The practice of forming partnerships and corporations

among craftsmen was indicative of the increasing difficulty that individuals had in

financing a business. Rather than being the sole masters of their shops, as had

been the majority of their earlier counterparts, craftsmen often had to pool their

resources in order to garner enough capital to compete.

Dockum returned to Portsmouth from Northwood in 1815 formed a

year-long partnership with Isaac Pinkham, a cabinetmaker who had established his

business by 1811.5 Their partnership was brief. Within a year they had dissolved

their corporation, although they still maintained business ties through the sale of

"Ranging Timber."6

Dockum remained an independent agent for eleven years. Then in

1827 he and Edmund Moody Brown, Dockum’s junior by twelve years, formed the

partnership of Dockum and Brown.7 They remained in business for two years and

in 1829 placed a notice of dissolution and sold all of their stock and tools.8

Dockum and Brown continued to deal with each other. In 1832 and 1833, Brown

contracted upholstery work and parts from Dockum’s shop.9 Their relations

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soured, and in 1836, Dockum requested his dismissal from the First Baptist Church

of Portsmouth because of a dispute with fellow Baptist Brown over interest due

Brown from the "time of their failure" in partnership seven years previously.10

Dockum again worked for himself for an extended period. Then in 1855 he

formed of a partnership with his nephew, Hanson Adams, the only known kinship

link of Dockum’s career.11

Between 1829 and 1833, Dockum and former partner Brown, were the

major furniture manufacturing competitors in Portsmouth; a parallel to the rivalry

that had existed between Langley Boardman and the firm of Judkins and Senter in

the teens and twenties. By 1834, Dockum’s business received a marked boost and

his stock-in-trade rose substantially above any of his competitors.12 This dramatic

change was apparently a result of the passing of Langley Boardman in November

of 1833. Until his death, Boardman’s prosperous shop had continued to produce

furniture. His passing left a large gap, and Samuel Dockum filled it by the next

year. He may have inherited a portion of Boardman’s clients, and he may also

have purchased some of Boardman’s stock and equipment. Dockum’s success was

enhanced by his ability to hone production procedures and integrate new practices

in furniture distribution and sales. Marketing, warehouses and warerooms, and

centralization of trades within one shop were the means by which Dockum moved

his business beyond the craft environment fostered by Boardman and toward a

comprehensive manufacturing firm.13

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Fortune, however, was not with Dockum for long. Rather than

diversify his assets, as had Boardman, Dockum plowed his profits back into his

business in an effort to expand and keep a visible edge over his competitors. This

meant that Dockum, like other craftsmen who overextended themselves in a single

arena, was vulnerable to economic vicissitudes. The panic of 1837, brought him

to bankruptcy and left Dockum nearly destitute. For the remainder of his career

until his death in 1872, he was unable to regain financial security and his business

fluctuated with every rise and fall of the economy.14 Dockum’s prime competitors,

Edmund Brown and Ebenezer Lord, survived the panic and continued their

businesses: the previous year, Brown had joined forces with Boardman-trained

journeyman, Alfred T. Joy and they went on to be the foremost cabinet firm in

Portsmouth; Ebenezer Lord maintained his business at an even pace.

Shop Practices and Organization

By the 1820s craftsmen within Portsmouth had begun to refocus the

locations of their shops to maximize potential sales. In order "to make it more

convenient" for customers, as Dockum advertised in 1827, craftsmen either leased

or bought shops closer together in the central business district in town, primarily

along the inner end of Fore Street near Merchant’s Row, and on Market Street.15

Between 1815 and 1837 Samuel Dockum moved his shop increasingly

closer to and eventually into the business center of town, all the while expanding

the size and scope of his shop. First he was situated near the Ferryways toward

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the north end of Fore Street during his partnership with Pinkham. After the

dissolution of their business Dockum may have worked out of his house on Bridge

Street while offering furniture for sale in Boardman’s Furniture Rooms on

Congress Street.16 By 1825 he returned to the shop location he had occupied with

Pinkham, and two years later moved farther up Fore Street to a two-story wooden

building along Merchant’s Row. He and Edmund Brown rented a wooden building

across the street the following year, where Brown remained after the dissolution of

their partnership. (Over the years, Brown expanded into furniture rooms at

Number 13 and 14 Merchant’s Row, and across the street to a furniture factory).17

Dockum moved briefly to the corner of State and Ark in 1830 and then to the main

retail venue of No. 13 Market Street.18 Four years later he purchased No. 15,

across the street and over the next four years moved between the two locations.

Besides a change in business locations, craftsmen also began to

reorganize the manner in which they conducted their businesses. The need to keep

more stock on hand and the need for more display space, prompted owners of

larger businesses to expand the size of their shops and separate the areas of sales

and work space into specialized components. Rather than sell their goods from

rooms in the fronts of their cabinet shops, cabinetmakers began to offer their

merchandise on the first floor of buildings, expanding into other floors if quantity

warranted, or in rooms separate from their place of manufacture. Edmund

Brown’s use of buildings on one side of Fore Street for production, for example,

and a building on the other side of the street for a showroom, indicates this change

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in organization and in marketing. As more prominent shops expanded to

incorporate other crafts, they also reorganized the workplace with divisions of

space for the tasks performed by various artisans. This division of work and

showplace provided a more efficient and professional atmosphere for both the

retailer and the clients, and was an indication of the specialization of the individual

business environment as a result of early industrialization.

Langley Boardman had been the first cabinetmaker to institute the

transition from showrooms in the front of shops to separate spaces designated as

sales spaces. His advertisement of 1823 for chairs and cabinet furniture records

the presence of a Vaughan Street "Furniture Room," around the comer from his

Congress Street shops.19 The allure of a separate facility away from the workshop

was a marketing strategy likely intended to elevate Boardman’s showroom to a

level above those of his competitors’ and to create the perception that it was a

more pleasant surrounding for customers. Always the businessman, Boardman

leased space in his new sales location to other craftsmen, one of whom was Samuel

Dockum.20

Over the next decade, other Portsmouth businessmen and craftsmen

followed Boardman’s lead. They retained the concept of a separate showroom but

adopted the term "wareroom" or "warehouse" to indicate a separate retail space.

The term warehouse inferred a large facility stocked with a selection of assorted

goods ready for inspection. In 1824 merchant William F. Lawrence introduced the

term to advertise the goods in his "Bedding Warehouse."21 It was not for another

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ten years, when Lawrence left for nearby Exeter, that a cabinetmaker incorporated

the term to describe his showrooms.22 The introduction of warehouses in

Portsmouth parallels within a few years their presence in Salem, Massachusetts,

where cabinetmakers introduced the format of warehouses after 1827.23

Portsmouth cabinetmakers were slower than their inland counterparts to

alter the appearance and arrangement of their businesses. Craftsmen in some

inland New Hampshire communities had used the terms "warehouse" and

"furniture factory" since 1805 and 1808.24 Interior communities apparently

adopted the new terms faster because their later settlement minimized the weight of

precedent or tradition. Craftsmen in these inland communities easily tapped into

the most up-to-date modes of promotion used by their trading partners in Boston.

Whether these inland cabinet shops integrated the more involved manner of

business that decades later came to be associated with these terms was unexplored.

In his first five years of business, William F. Lawrence offered an

assortment of upholstered items as well as upholstery goods including feathers,

cloth, cushions, and hair at his Bedding Warehouse located on Daniel Street, "a

few doors east of the Market" (fig. 12).25 In 1829 he advertised his departure

from Portsmouth.26 Whether he actually left town is uncertain, for a year later he

was again advertising a business in Portsmouth.27 In the interim, Lawrence had

moved his shop to the more centrally located at No. 6 Market Street and advertised

his expanded business as the "Eagle Furniture and Bedding Warehouse." This was

the first instance that furniture was advertised for sale in a warehouse. By 1833 he

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Figure 12

Advertisement for William F. Lawrence

KEEPS .CONSTANTLY FOR SALE, Russian, French; Sicily, Birds, Ducks, Sea* fowl, Common, Southern, and Northern Live Geese FEATHERS. Northern's: South-American HAIR, in bales, in the rope, and picked. New-Orlean* & Carolina MOSS, in bales, and picked Best Down; Eider Down; Cotton Batting; Sacking Bottoms^ Bedticking of all kind*; Moreans; Fringes; Tassels; Feather Beds of all prices; Bed. Furniture & Carpet Bindings^ Mattresse* of all s u e * and prices; Bell Pulb: Ciickeu; . Marseille* Bed Quilt*; Napoleon Pillows; Curtains; White and Coloured Counterpanes; Under Beds; Paillasses; Woo) and cotton Coverlet*; Hair Seating; Curtain Pina; Blankets; Slireutig*: Chair and Pew Cushions; Eider Down Q nil*; Comfortables v Webbing; Wonted; Coilon Yam* of all numbers. Also, everv description of AMERICAN MANUFACTURED COTTON GOODS. AO Ik* abeveartklr* »r*oC»r*-l»t Whole**!* k RrtailapM ik* m o * km nblt lira* They are vim M H to (in otbocti**, er they can be rvtonel wd (toe i —ejr (eitb the fip«acM) wilt be refanJaA- *Te penoa* p w ck « ia;u « ill iftia, for PoMc H*1*—*. w where caaaWartble qwaecHea ir e w n i f i i h f v will he fUrwW*ed opve very tihtn i t o n e .— tod the r*6lk ta gaaavaJ are mpecUalty nolair* that *11 tW above article* witf be ieM aacheap a* they cm hag wrbai e d b n r atb ef fL*ce.— Call sad C n a la e . AH kinds of V F B O U T K T Work executed in the best manner. (U *A flM and Mattresses of any price made and filled at the shortest notice. CASH and the highest price given for all kinds of Shipping FURS.

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had again moved, this time right to the center of Market Street, to Nos. 14 and 15

where he advertised the sale of his goods in his "five extensive Halls, full stocked

with every description of furniture, some very elegant."28

Rather than produce the furniture himself, Lawrence acted as a

wholesale merchant and "Importer."” He was continually advertising his receipt

of "another invoice of Cabinet Furniture," in the newest fashions.30 Lawrence may

also have accepted furniture on consignment or purchased objects directly from

local craftsmen. The influx of imported furniture and the new manner in which it

was sold must have been startling to the local cabinet trade. Lawrence’s expansive

warehouse represented the first wave of the changing market environment, which

cabinetmakers needed to access if they were to retain their share of the

marketplace.

Samuel Dockum was the first cabinetmaker to respond to the changing

business profile in Portsmouth. Possibly because he had insufficient capital,

Dockum waited for three more years than Lawrence had to notify the public of his

stock of "CABINET FURNITURE, CHAIRS, FEATHERS, UPHOLSTERY

&C. "31 In his shop at no. 13 Market Street, Dockum offered chairs imported from

Boston and bales of furniture feathers. In addition, he informed clients of the

availability of "FURNITURE manufactured by himself" and "all kinds of

Upholstery work done in the neatest styles."

In 1834, the year that Lawrence left Portsmouth, Samuel Dockum

swiftly moved to purchase the building formerly occupied as the "Eagle Ware

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House." Maintaining the momentum of his own and Lawrence’s establishments,

Dockum named his business the "Portsmouth Furniture and Upholstery

Warehouse"; he was the first local cabinetmaker to use this terminology (fig. 13).

Dockum also announced that his firm "hired the chambers . . . at No. 13, West

side Market Street," in essence continuing the lease he already held. Located

across the street from his warehouse, which had five halls for showrooms, the

chambers over No. 13 continued to serve as work space and storage and may have

been used as extra display rooms. Dockum’s expansion in 1833 and particularly in

1834, coincided with his increased stock-in-trade, probably as a consequence of the

passing of Boardman.

Several months after expanding his business, Dockum proudly

advertised that his facilities included "twelve commodious furniture rooms" for the

display of furniture, where he claimed "without fear of contradiction, that his new

stock of goods contains the greatest variety in New Hampshire, and in quality

inferior to none. "32 These rooms were located in a building previously occupied as

a hotel, at No. 13 Market Street. Dockum was renting some of the upstairs rooms

and expanded to the entire building when it became vacant, creating an expansive

series of furniture showrooms stocked with a wide variety and large assortment of

forms, some of which included the "extensive STOCK & FURNITURE &c."

purchased from Lawrence.33 Dockum probably used the rooms to display different

furniture forms, highlighting painted and upholstered furniture and accessories in

separate showcase areas. Concurrently Dockum moved his shop and show rooms

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Figure 13

Advertisement for Samuel Dockum

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to no. 13, combining his business into this one building, reserving some of the

chamber rooms as shops.34

Like Lawrence, Dockum also acted as a wholesale agent, offering

furniture and upholstery at his warehouse and "other articles too numerous to

mention" that were "ready made" and imported from Boston and other coastal

communities. Unlike Lawrence, Dockum was a tradesman who combined his

import business with his cabinet business. In addition to the imported items,

Dockum also sold "constant additions” of furniture "of his own manufacture" at his

warehouse.35

Several of the other cabinet shops expanded through the purchase of

abutting buildings their businesses to cater to the growing consumer demand for

variety and competitively priced furniture. Edmund Brown’s business included

three buildings by 1835, which it continued to occupy into the 1840s after Brown

went in to partnership with Alfred T. Joy in 1837.36 By the late 1830s, Jonathan

Judkins had his shop and showrooms in nos. 23, 24, and 25 Pleasant Street, and

Ebenezer Lord’s business was at nos. 24 and 26 Penhallow Street.37

Dockum was the first cabinetmaker in Portsmouth to attach a business

name (rather than a surname) to his shop, preceding his competitors by three and

four years. The change represented a displacement of the individual and the

advancing of a corporate identity. It suggests that Dockum and others saw

themselves in a more professional manner and were aware of modern urban

business modes.

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Dockum’s unification of the cabinet and upholstery trades within one

business was one response to increasing consumer demands for full-service

establishments.38 With it, he, and later others, gained access to the market for

fashionable upholstered furniture. His customers could select from a variety of

fabric coverings for varied furniture forms, and the upholstering would be done on

the premises.

Through his new facilities, Dockum offered the convenience of a ready

made stock of goods and custom orders. Customers could shop for supplementary

decorative items that probably ranged from lighting devices, brass fireplace

equipment, to miscellaneous ephemera.39 Dockum’s thirteen rooms were well

suited to his multi-purpose business needs. Through his warehouse, Dockum

expanded the traditional role of cabinetmaker to merchant, and to interior decorator

(the latter a duty upholsterers once performed as part of their business).

Consumers responded positively. The amount of upholstery work that Dockum’s

shop performed nearly tripled between 1829 to 1834 (appendix G).40

For the next three years Dockum was the only merchant or

cabinetmaker in town to advertise a furniture and upholstery warehouse. When he

went bankrupt during the Panic of 1837, his competitors moved swiftly to take his

place. The newly formed firm of Brown and Joy assured Portsmouthians that they

had taken "some considerable pains to inform [them]selves of the UPHOLSTERY

business, and will now attend to stuffing new and old Sofas, Cushions, Chairs, &c.

in a neat and workman-like manner" and in the following year changed their

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business name to the "Furniture and Upholstery Warehouse."41 Others also moved

in to fill the gap. John Somerby and Son (Somerby, Sr., was once an upholsterer

for Dockum) advertised in 1837 the opening of their "Furniture and Upholstery

Establishment." By 1838, George Jenness and his partner William G. Nowell

(once apprentice to Dockum), also advertised themselves as "Cabinetmakers and

Upholsterers, and Undertakers. "42

The change in terminology echoed changes in shop organization. The

most noticeable alteration was the union of the upholstery and cabinet trades within

one business. At Dockum’s, this had occurred by the late 1820s: Upholsterer John

Somerby was on staff by 1829 although Dockum’s advertisements for this period

only mention the sale of case furniture. With his hire of John Stickney in 1833,

Dockum had two upholsterers working at his shop, and it was at this date that

Dockum first advertised the sale of upholstered furniture and upholstery items.

Dockum also brought other previously independent trades together

within his shop between the years 1829 to 1837. To speed manufacturing, oversee

the output, and minimize production costs, Dockum hired turners and carvers:

tradesmen that were traditionally contractors.43 In addition to producing turned

elements for furniture sold in his shop, these craftsmen also manufactured parts

that Dockum sold to other shops in town.44

Dockum may have retained some traditional aspects of the cabinet

business by continuing to hire ornamental painters as independent contractors. One

facet of Dockum’s business was the sale of imported chairs. The chairs usually

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arrived painted and ready for sale. If these needed to be touched-up, or if chairs

needed to painted, rather than hire a full-time ornamental painter Dockum turned

to them on an as-needed basis. At several occasions in 1827 and 1828, again in

1834, and briefly in 1835, Dockum advertised that he had hired ornamental

painters, some of whom were from Boston, to finish the imported chairs; the early

advertisements were intended to impress prospective customers, it appears that the

employment of these artisans lasted only until the shipment was painted.45 But by

1834, Dockum seemingly realized that demand for freshly painted chairs required

having an ornamental painter on staff. Upholster John Stickney, after leaving

Dockum’s employ in 1839, worked independently as a painter, so it is possible that

Stickney had also done ornamental painting for Dockum. If so, by hiring

Stickney, Dockum had gained a multifaceted craftsmen who could perform two

separate specialized crafts.

Dockum’s manufacturing output consisted of case furniture and

upholstery work, unlike Boardman, who in an effort to speed production, had

relied upon independent craftsmen working in a loose proximity. Dockum brought

tradesmen together in a single business that he controlled. The artisans involved in

Boardman’s shop community had remained distinct from one another and

maintained their own individual businesses, an arrangement that served the needs

of the craftsmen who wanted to retain their own shops. Dockum’s business, on

the other hand, focused on the company. Artisans were subsumed by one large

business and their independent status was jeopardized.

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The incorporation of specialized areas of production within Dockum’s

shop was an early step toward the industrialization of the furniture industry in

Portsmouth. In structure and organization the business still relied upon skilled

craftsmen, but the need to reduce operating costs and speed production time may

have spurred the owner to minimize expenses by hiring less-skilled workers to

perform redundant tasks. Although the 1833 Documents Relative to the

Manufacturers, indicate that an average of thirty-five individuals worked in each

Portsmouth shop with a disproportionate ratio of six unskilled laborers to one

trained cabinetmaker per cabinet shop, that figure is misleading.46 It does not

indicate the total number of shops tallied. Furthermore it represents a year’s time

and does not account for use of part-time laborers, contract employees, or the ebb

and flow of workers in the craft environment. It does, however, indicate the

presence of a large group of laborers, individuals who often are unrecorded in

other documents. Many of these men may have entered Portsmouth as immigrants

after the town became a port of entry in 1820.47 People migrated from the British

Isles, Holland, Switzerland, and Norway in search of work. Such a group would

constitute a large pool of laborers willing to work for minimal wages, which in

turn, may have hampered the wage earning potential and job security for more

highly trained artisans. The laborers could also be trained quickly to do in simple

or repetitive tasks (frequently needed for furniture manufacture, again jeopardizing

the careers of skilled artisans). Dockum’s accounts reveal his journeymen were

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from Portsmouth or a nearby community, but unfortunately, his accounts only

reference one laborer who went on to become a journeyman in his shop.

Dockum’s shop and Brown’s shop are the only two cabinet businesses

that were markedly larger than their contemporaries at the time of the survey, and

which could possibly have supported such large numbers of individuals; even so,

the numbers in the 1833 publication seem extreme. Four years earlier in 1829, the

firm of Dockum and Brown, for instance, had ten benches in the shop. By 1837,

Dockum had 13 benches in his shop, and each had only one lathe. Even though

more than half of the cabinetmakers are unaccounted for in regards to bench space,

the larger numbers present were probably averaged out by smaller numbers of

cabinetmakers in other shops. The large number of less skilled laborers, although

seemingly disproportionately high, probably includes laborers hired to do the

menial tasks such as carry lumber, run errands, act as clerks in showrooms and

warehouses, or any number of such odd jobs not requiring work at a bench. As

the figures are averages, it could also indicate that the majority of cabinetmakers

hired less-skilled workers, hence their large numbers in the community, and only a

few higher end shops retained the more highly skilled artisans.

These figures correspond with the national movement to hire a cheaper

work force to curtail expenses in response to increased competition; this went

hand-in-hand with the increased division of labor within shops.48 Shop owners

found it more economical to hire unskilled workers or increase the number of shop

apprentices and train them in one aspect of production rather than hire those

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conversant with all the practices of a craft.49 This further eroded the clout and

hence position and wage earning potential of journeyman.

In general, however, the business trend to hire unskilled labor and train

them to do single repetitive tasks does not appear to be an emphasis of the shop

masters in Portsmouth at the time. As had their predecessors, shop masters

continued to advertise their need for apprentices and journeymen. As the decades

progressed, it appears that masters felt it necessary to reassure consumers of

quality craftsmanship by indicating the skill of journeymen they sought. For

example when both Samuel Dockum and the firm of Brown and Joy placed

advertisements for craftsmen after 1835, they stipulated their desire to hire only

"first-rate" journeymen.50

The apparent interest of Portsmouth’s merchant craftsmen in hiring

skilled artisans was based in the tradition of a solid training that began with

apprenticeship. As there were no guild systems to preside over the industry in this

country, craftsmen of varying trades chose to organize a membership forum,

similar to that in Europe designed to maintain a level of professionalism and

quality control.51 In 1803 the most prominent Portsmouth craftsmen in the

community founded the Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers.52

Incorporated as a mutual aid society, it required members to have undergone the

training of a full apprenticeship.53 The association reprinted its by-laws in 1846,

possibly in response to breakdowns in the training system by that time.

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To promote the usefulness and knowledge of its members and their

apprentices, the society established several libraries in Portsmouth. The

Apprentices Library was formed in 1823, exclusively for the free use by

apprentices under the age of twenty-one.54 Equally important was the Mechanic’s

Reading Room founded in 1826, originally for the exclusive use of members, and

later opened to all professions.55

The establishment of these libraries may have been intended to take the

tutorial place traditionally held by masters in the education of apprentices. Their

founding, however, did coincide with a national movement toward the betterment

of society in general.56 Other libraries in Portsmouth separate from the AMM,

included the Athenaeum, established in 1817 for the exclusive use of shareholders

elected by invitation, and the Portsmouth Working Men’s Reading Club formed in

1834 as both a reading and debating club.57

The apprenticeship system continued to operate within the craft

(although the extent of which is uncertain) beyond the end of the forty-year period.

Craftsmen, for example, continued to advertise into the 1840s for "active,"

"ingenious," or "smart" boys as apprentices to the cabinetmaking business.58

Samuel Dockum brought one apprentice, Ezra Robinson, to court in 1835 for

running away and shirking his responsibilities as an apprentice as well as his

commitment to Dockum.59 The tenure expected of Robinson for his apprenticeship

was from 1833 to 1839, a total of sue years; this tenure was an acceptable number

of years for apprenticeship within the craft community.60

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Portsmouth cabinet shops remained distant from the labor strife that

larger coastal cities experienced. Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, cities in

which the furniture industry was in more advanced stages of industrialization did

experience disputes between masters and journeymen as the divisions of labor

within larger shops led to decreased wages and the stagnation.61 This unrest led to

the formation of unions, special interest organizations, and the issuing of price

wage books.62 While a degree of division in labor and specialization was present

in Portsmouth as a result of the changing marketplace, no evidence suggests labor

disputes erupted between cabinet masters and journeymen during this period in

Portsmouth.

A barrier that some journeymen cabinetmakers encountered during the

1830s was in advancing to the status of shop master or to ownership of a

cabinetmaking business.63 In Portsmouth, this stagnation was largely a result of

swings in the economy, particularly after 1837. Woodbury Gerrish, for instance,

was an apprenticed to Ebenezer Lord when he ran away in 1833. Four years later

he formed a partnership with Lord’s son-in-law Charles Colcord. Their business

failed as a result of the Panic of 1837, and Gerrish returned to Lord as a

journeymen in 1838. Many years later, Gerrish left Lord’s shop and opened a

shop of his own.64

Journeymen George W. Jenness and William G. Nowell were aided in

their ascent to shop owners by former master Samuel Dockum. Dockum placed

their first notice of partnership in 1838, and noted that "He would recommend all

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his former customers, who are in want of good furniture, to patronize them."65

Dockum may have also been acting in his own self-interest—Jenness and Nowell

had moved into the shop he had occupied before his bankruptcy, and as he was

without a shop of his own, he may well have offered furniture through their venue.

The transformations in the furniture industry also affected the masters.

As the craft moved from custom order to retail sales, and, in the 1830s, included

the wholesale market, masters juggled the roles of producers, shop managers, and

retailers.66 Through the 1830s, Dockum and others continued to advertise their

role in the production of furniture. Whether they were physically involved in the

daily routines of craftsmanship, when they had to balance orders and oversee the

sales staff and workmen, is uncertain. The names of Dockum, Brown, and Joy,

among other shop masters, continued to be noted on accounts throughout their

careers, with the wording indicating their actual involvement.67 As cabinetmakers

who were professionally trained in the earlier years of the nineteenth century, they

apparently continued to work in their craft even though they had taken on other

responsibilities.

During the 1850s and 1860s, the age of the individual cabinetmaker

was on the wane. Larger, more industrialized firms squeezed out many

individually-run shops.68 In the depressed economic climate the artisanal

population became more transient, which in turn encouraged the hire of cheaper

labor and a breakdown in the craft tradition.69

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The mechanical industrialization of the furniture industry was marked

by variable rates of development and slow adoption of changing technologies.

Portsmouth cabinetmakers continued to rely upon hand-production and hand or

animal-powered tools, essentially the same as those used by artisans one hundred

years earlier. Circular saws and up-and-down saws appear in the 1830s records of

Dockum and his competitors, but these were still animal or human powered, rather

than water or steam driven.70

Even though Portsmouth had two mill ponds and was located on a river

with one of the strongest currents in the country, the majority of cabinet shops

were located away from the waterways and therefore the harnessing of water

power was not a viable option for most cabinetmakers.71 The one exception was

George Walker, whose shop was located on South Mill Pond. In 1814 he

announced the installation of a "water-power lathe by which he could supply all

sorts of turned work for ship’s machinery and all sorts of ornaments."72 The

description of the products Walker produced on the lathe, suggests it was probably

set up for the turning of large-scale objects rather than for small furniture

components. Saw mills continued to be the only source of industrialized power in

the cabinet trade. As cabinetmakers did not have their own facilities to process

raw materials, they relied on local water-powered lumber mills to shape and plane

stock.73

Steam power was introduced into the community after 1840. Rather

than used in cabinet shops, however, it was used in the hosiery and textile

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factories, iron foundries, and sash and door manufactories.74 Even if both power

sources were available in the 1820s and 1830s, the costs of adapting a shop to

water-power or steam-driven machinery were prohibitive for most craftsmen.73

Shop Size and Production

In contrast to Boardman, who entered Portsmouth at a young age and

quickly came to dominate the cabinet trade, Samuel Dockum’s business remained

relatively even to that of his competitors for twenty years.76 After two decades of

trying to establish his reputation and of aggressively marketing his business, he

finally had the largest and most prominent shop in Portsmouth, offering the widest

selection of goods available in the community and catering to all levels of

patronage.

Of his fellow craftsmen, Ebenezer Lord, was Dockum’s early equal.

Through small margins and an extensive stock-in-trade, Lord became the leading

contemporary craftsman in town until Dockum’s rise to prominence the 1830s. As

Langley Boardman’s nephew, Lord may have had some assistance in his career,

but even after Boardman’s death, Lord remained one of the most consistent

cabinetmakers throughout the forty-year period. Maintaining a shop one block

over from the main venue of Market Street, Lord kept a minimal profile through

location, advertisements, and expansion, and remained among the upper tier of

cabinetmakers who provided Dockum and others with continual competition.

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Samuel Dockum’s career strengthened in the late 1820s. Dockum’s

account book allows us to track his growing business for the important years from

1829, when he and Edmund Brown dissolved their partnership, through to 1834

when he purchased Lawrence’s Furniture and Bedding Warehouse prior to his

large-scale expansion. The account book and other records, make it possible to

calculate the size and scope of Dockum’s shop from 1829 until he declared

bankruptcy in 1837.

At the 1829 dissolution of their two-year partnership, Samuel Dockum

and Edmund Brown sold "all the Household Furniture, Stock and Tools contained

in the Shops in Fore street. nTJ In an agreement signed one month prior to their

notice of separation, they mortgaged $548.60 worth of the stock in their shop,

possibly trying to garner money and halt their eventual split.78 Brown also

mortgaged his household goods to his father shortly before he mortgaged the shop

stock.79

Among the items included in the mortgage sale of goods at the Dockum

and Brown auction were ten cabinetmakers’ benches. In comparison to William

Senter’s shop just two years earlier, the size of Dockum and Brown’s shop, as

measured in benches, was larger by four.80 The actual number of craftsmen active

in the shop is uncertain. Who qualified for bench space and whether benches were

shared or used individually is unknown, but the greater number of benches,

suggests at least, that Dockum and Brown ran a larger shop than their first

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generation counterparts, possibly as a result of their more aggressive approach in a

more competitive environment to offer quantity and selection.

Once on his own in 1829, Dockum’s shop contained at least three

people: himself, an apprentice, and a journeyman.81 Even though he was a sole

proprietor, the sharp drop from a shop with ten benches to a shop with three

individuals and an unknown quantity of benches, was substantial. The 1830 census

listed Dockum’s household as containing two males in the fifteen to twenty-year

bracket, and two in the thirty to forty-year bracket, one of whom was Dockum. In

addition, his account book testifies that there was one more journeyman and three

more apprentices who worked for him at this time.82

Dockum continued to increase the number of apprentices and

journeymen, and by 1834 he had between thirteen and fourteen people working in

his cabinet shop. Over the six-year period, all but one of the craftsmen who had

begun working with Dockum still remained at his shop.83 In 1834 Dockum had a

three-fold increase in his stock-in-trade from the previous year, and he maintained

this level over the next three years. By 1837, his shop had fourteen benches.84

The craftsmen who worked at Dockum’s shop either trained as

apprentices and stayed on as journeymen, or were hired in as journeymen without

prior affiliation with Dockum. Of the seven whose birthplaces are known, five

came from towns outside Portsmouth, likely in search of jobs in the coastal

environment. As with the previous generation of craftsmen, associations based on

kinship ties were waning; of the apprentices and journeymen active in Dockum’s

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shop, employment was based on ability and not on family connections. One of

Dockum’s opportunities to perpetuate familial bonds was through the marriage of

his daughter. Rather than marry a journeyman in Dockum’s employ, however, she

instead wed someone outside the craft.85 While Dockum’s contemporaries were

continuing this aspect of kinship connections, Dockum chose otherwise, following

instead Langley Boardman’s lead, possibly in an effort to elevate himself into

higher social standing, particularly as his daughter married a doctor.

In addition to offering insight into the craftsmen active in the shop,

Dockum’s account book also provides information on business relations, and the

customers supporting his shop (appendix F). The 388 people mentioned in the

account book divide into three general categories: workmen, clients, and fellow

craftsmen. At least ten of the people accounted for in the ledger were apprentices

or journeymen. As stipulated in most indenture agreements, apprentices received

clothing, goods, or cash throughout their term. Journeymen received wages, some

goods, and furniture. The journeymen were likely involved in the production of

the furniture they received, which they then could have sold in the warehouse and

taken the income from this source.

The clients who patronized Dockum’s shop from 1829 to 1834 were

comprised of various economic levels. Dockum’s total constituency seems to have

been more varied than that of Boardman’s, with many of his clients from the

emerging middle class. Truckmen, tailors, butchers, grocers, and farmers of

modest means mingle in his accounts with lawyers and merchant traders. The

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majority of his patrons lived in the working-class northwestern and business

reaches of town, with the wealthier clients residing in the southern and

southeastern districts. On occasion, Dockum also sold furniture to residents in

Dover, Exeter, Greenland, and Manchester, New Hampshire; South Berwick,

Maine; and Newburyport and Boston, Massachusetts. The majority of items sent

outside Portsmouth were one-time shipments, which suggests these individual

purchases were in response to advertisements. Rather than purchase through

loyalty, customers in extended communities reacted not to quality of goods or

knowledge of Dockum, but to his marketing tactics that advertised special items

and imports.

Cabinetmakers in other communities also responded to Dockum’s

marketing and advertising by making single purchases. Both Robert Clark and

Seth Sweetser of Newburyport patronized Dockum with only one purchase each: a

sofa frame for $20 and two bureaus for $36 respectively.86 In general, Dockum

supplied furniture in wholesale quantities to vendors for resale. Nathaniel Haskell,

agent for the Newburyport Chair Manufactory, for instance, bought eleven bureaus

and two sofas from 1830 to 1831 worth $365.87 Haskell also sold furniture forms

at his shop, some of which were evidentially made by Dockum. Two years later,

James Cushing of South Berwick, Maine, acquired fifty-seven pieces from Dockum

for resale in his shop.88 George Toppan of Newburyport and Stephen Toppan of

Dover both transacted business with Dockum throughout the years of the account

book.89

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Fellow Portsmouth cabinetmakers also purchased from Dockum.

Cabinetmakers Edmund Brown, Ebenezer Lord, and Andrew Lewis bought

quantities of turned and carved table legs, and carved feet for card tables, bureaus,

and sofas. In 1829 Jonathan Judkins purchased at least seventy carved elements

from Dockum for $85.69 (fig. 14). The year-long series of jobs may relate to the

fact that Judkins was short of help that year.

Brown also paid Dockum to stuff and cover several upholstered items

per month in 1832 and 1833, as Brown had not yet hired an upholsterer for his

business. Other craftsmen, including Langley Boardman, also acquired sets of

veneers, glue, and haircloth numerous times throughout the year. Dockum also

supplied lumber, in one instance, selling enough "pine . . . for 100 bureaus

excepting the bottoms."90 For mast and blockmakers, Dockum’s shop carved billet

heads for ships, and for shop owners carved signs. Painters and joiners bought

varnish and japan and printers purchased turned rollers and press fixtures.

Dockum’s account book in combination with other records also

provides insight into the types of goods that Dockum’s shop offered (appendix G).

As a full-time cabinet shop, the company operated throughout the year, producing

goods strictly related to the furniture trade.91 Jobs were determined not necessarily

by season, but by consumer demand, which was usually heaviest from June to

December.

Although Dockum began his career as a cabinetmaker and carver, after

1830, his business focus shifted to emphasize upholstered items, looking glasses,

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Figure 14

Samuel Dockum Account Book Page

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imported chairs, general furniture forms, and household items. The change in

emphasis reflects the furniture styles of the 1830s for more curvaceous, flat forms

that lent themselves to quick assembly and veneered surfaces. Although his shop

still produced carved items, it was not until 1842 that Dockum began to include

advertisements for house and ship carving again although his business had

continued to offer both services.92 House joinery and ship work were limited to

carving an occasional mantlepiece or ship’s tailboard. References to the latter are

few, and in total account for less than 10% of Dockum’s output from 1829 to

1834.

The account book documents services that Dockum’s shop provided in

addition to the manufacture and sale of furniture and related goods. These include

furniture repair, the manufacture of coffins, architectural work, and ship carving.

Repair included a varied assortment of tasks, including adding rockers to cradles,

mending a portable desk, replacing a leaf on a table, even "putting hair in Bass

viol[in] Bow." Such odd jobs fill the pages of Dockum’s ledger and indicate a

sizeable ongoing business, particularly in 1829. His business in repairs shrank

over the ensuing years probably in response to other obligations and a changing

emphasis focused on the merchandizing and production of goods.

Continuing in the tradition of cabinetmakers as "undertakers," Dockum

also made coffins, although on a limited basis. Over the five year period, he sold

thirty-six coffins, ranging in price from the standard fee of $6 to a costly $55 for a

mahogany version with silver coffin plates, lead lining, and interior box.93

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The area that received the most growth in Dockum’s business was in

upholstery. Even before his shop advertised as a furniture and upholstery

warehouse, Dockum had hired an upholsterer from Newburyport, John Somerby,

and was involved in the trade. The upholstery end of Dockum’s business was

relatively steady between the years of 1829 and 1832, accounting for between

3.4% and 6.8% of yearly business. In 1833 when Dockum first advertised his

ability to handle upholstery, the upholstery portion of the business increased nearly

8% to 14.7%. The following year, requests for upholstery increased another 8.5%

to encompass nearly a quarter of the shop’s output.

Nearly sixty percent of the shop output for upholstery included sales of

curled hair, hair cloth, feathers, and fabrics to other craftsmen and to customers.

A fifth of the upholstery business was involved with the services of hanging

bedsteads and interior decorating. The most heavily advertised portion of the

upholstery warehouse, the upholstered furniture, accounted for a quarter of the

purchases. Customers bought a range of upholstered items including cushions for

$1.50 to sofas ranging from $38 to $45, couches priced at $30 to $50, and spring-

bottom easy chairs that sold for $12.86.94

The area of manufacture that consistently provided the foundation of

Dockum’s business was furniture production. From 1829 until 1833, this portion

of his business increased on a yearly basis from a third to nearly a half of the total

shop production, dropping to the 1831 level of 34.88% in 1834. The 1834

decrease was probably a result of the opening of Dockum’s furniture and

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upholstery warehouse and his corresponding transfer of energy into the upholstery

trade.

Patrons usually purchased one or two pieces of furniture at a time in

conjunction with small sundry items, often returning for subsequent purchases.

The most frequent purchases were fancy chairs priced between $1.25 and $1.50,

rocking chairs at $1 and $2, and smaller items like tables and washstands, the

latter priced at $2 to $5. Not surprisingly, more costly goods, such as Grecian

sofas, couches, French bedsteads, and spring-bottom easy chairs, were ordered

with less frequency. Prices ranged from $.66 for the least expensive chair pattern

to $50 for a Grecian couch.

By 1829, Dockum was already offering the sale of larger quantities of

furniture than had his first-generation colleagues. The 1829 mortgage agreement

that predated the dissolution of the firm of Dockum and Brown listed 167 pieces of

furniture, but because it omits several forms that were later included in auction

advertisements for the sale of the shop contents, it is incomplete. The amount of

furniture in the shop of Dockum and Brown is also skewed by the inclusion of 120

chairs, probably imported. If the chairs are deducted from the total, the number of

case pieces and other furniture forms made by the firm amounts to fifty-seven, a

figure that then compares to the fifty-three pieces of case furniture in the shop of

Jonathan Judkins and William Senter two years earlier.

By the mid to late 1830s, the difference in quantity of goods between

the first and second generation shops was evident. In 1833 there were ninety-

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seven pieces of furniture, exclusive of chairs, listed in Langley Boardman’s shop

inventory. In 1837, Samuel Dockum’s stock-in-trade included over 325 objects

(125 of which were chairs), including: "40 BUREAUS [sic] - 30 prime CARD

TABLES, 5 large Elegant SECRETARYS - 24 PEMBROKE TABLES - 18

SOFAS - 9 DINING TABLES - 20 WORK TABLES..." (appendix E).95

According to the account book, Dockum’s Piscataqua neighbors

purchased most of the furniture offered in his warehouse. During the five years

covered in the account book, he made only four sizable shipments of furniture with

destinations to Portland and South Berwick, Maine and to Boston, Massachusetts;

three were coastal shipments of case pieces, worth a total of $341 in 1832, and the

fourth was a consignment of fifty-seven pieces for which Dockum received

$116.02 in 1833.96 Smaller shipments included a transaction with Boston merchant

upholsterer William Hancock, agent of a furniture and upholstery warehouse, to

whom in 1831 Dockum sold six bureaus at a cost of $12 each.97

Export trade served as a significant outlet for Portsmouth cabinetmakers

in the 1830s. In 1832, shipments of furniture from New Hampshire were valued at

$27,125, with products from Portsmouth accounting for $14,600 of that amount.

Furniture valued at $2,600 was shipped to New Hampshire and Maine, $8,000

worth of objects was sent to the rest of New England, and $4,000 was sold in

South America.98 What portion of this may have been from Dockum’s shop is

unknown.

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Portsmouth cabinetmakers imported chairs and looking glasses from

Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. In Dockum’s case, mass-produced chairs

from Boston, New York, and Philadelphia exceeded the output of his own shop.

In advertisements beginning in 1825 and continuing through 1835, Dockum

promoted his shop’s stock of imported chairs, of which he had between 250 and

1,000 depending upon the shipment.99 In addition to offering the chairs at his

warehouse, Dockum probably also acted as a wholesaler of these chairs to other

cabinetmakers, chairmakers, and store merchants in Portsmouth. His competitor,

Edmund Brown, also advertised imported chairs but in lesser quantities.

Dockum’s account book makes no reference to importing furniture for resale at his

warehouse; however, his advertisements make it unmistakably clear that Dockum

was actively involved in importing objects, specifically chairs, and that he also

purchased chairs brought into town as venture cargo through local auctions.100

Imported chairs soon undercut the market for locally made chairs and,

brought fine chairmaking in Portsmouth nearly to an end. By the 1830s local

chairmakers were forced to change careers or join the larger furniture shops. In

1844, it was lamented that "no chairs except mahogany are made here."101 Only

the small "manufactories" that sprang up in rural communities like New Market

and Rochester, New Hampshire, and relied on cheap materials and cheap labor,

allowed entrepreneurs to produce gaily painted furniture at a low enough cost to

compete successfully with the influx of imports.102

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Marketing

Dockum’s ability to take advantage of the current situations in business

trends expanded to his approach toward marketing and allowed him to implement

new marketing techniques. In the face of increased levels of local and intercoastal

competition, advertising became an important tool. Dockum adopted an aggressive

advertising strategy and, as a result, was the only cabinetmaker in town to maintain

a high business profile (appendix B). His efforts rewarded him with the largest

cabinet business in town.

From 1824 until 1835, Samuel Dockum advertised on a nearly

continual basis in the New Hampshire Gazette, often with complimentary

advertisements in the Portsmouth Journal and smaller regional papers. The

Gazette’s statewide circulation allowed Dockum to reach a broad market, and he

reached local residents of the town with his notices in the Journal. As soon as

advertising became an accepted means of garnering business, ads were included in

annually issued city directories; Dockum’s was present in the first volume to

include advertisements in 1827.103

From 1825 until 1835 Dockum’s notices were accompanied by a

woodcut, usually of a bowffont chest-of-drawers; however during the last five

years he also used a Grecian sofa, sideboard, or chairs. Edmund Brown, the only

other cabinetmaker in Portsmouth to use woodcut, featured only one image, that of

a cradle with a chest-of-drawers and a coffin. After Dockum’s bankruptcy in

1837, Brown adopted the chest-of-drawers recognized as Dockum’s symbol for so

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many years, no doubt as a means to attract some of Dockum’s old customers

through a recognized motif.

Dockum’s advertisements boasted that his goods were of the "newest

fashions, as cheap, according to quality, as can be found purchased in this town or

elsewhere."104 The combination of terms focusing on style and affordability was a

blatant appeal to the emerging middle-class. This relatively new market desired

the social status associated with fashionable objects, yet its members were limited

by their means. Dockum’s warehouse environment offered them a wide selection

of "cheap" goods, both locally made and imported.

Dockum’s strategy was in part a defensive strategy. By the 1820s and

1830s, craftsmen and consumers looked to Boston, New York City, and

Philadelphia for inspiration. With the improvements made in transportation by this

period, consumers had easier access to urban centers and could purchase directly

from the cities through their travels. In an effort to maintain loyal patrons,

Dockum and his competitors often took the "opportunity to express thanks for the

liberal encouragement. . . . All orders gratefully received and punctually

executed."105 He and his local competitors also reassured customers that their

furniture was manufactured from "patterns selected from the newest Boston style"

and claimed to be "constantly inventing patterns" that followed Boston, New York,

and Philadelphia examples.106 In an added effort to retain consumers, Dockum

hired craftsmen from Boston to work in his shop. In 1828, he advertised the

import of chairs "painted and gilded in this town by the first rate workmen from

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Boston. Those who wish to favor them with their custom will please to call and

see the difference between these chairs and those that come from Boston ready

painted."107

Even as consumers looked to large urban centers for stylish inspiration,

craftsmen in those cities were looking to England and France for fashionable

designs. Consequently regions that had not been stylish since the eighteenth

century were once again the denizens of fashion. Portsmouth craftsmen had

produced furniture in the Grecian manner since the 1820s. By the 1830s, the craze

was for French influences. Dockum’s competitor, Edmund Brown claimed to be

the first in town to offer furniture (other than bedsteads) in the French style,

"French patterns, Super Elegant, never before offered for sale in this place."108

Brown apparently ignored William Lawrence’s slightly earlier advertisement

offering for sale in his warehouse "French Dressing Cases."109

In addition to competing with urban styles and imported furniture from

coastal communities, Portsmouth cabinetmakers also pitted themselves against each

other in their advertisements. The two primary adversaries in this battle were

Samuel Dockum and Edmund Brown. In 1834, for example, Dockum advertised

that "he has received 900 unpainted Chairs of superior quality, and of every

description, and has employed a first rate Painter and Omamenter to finish

them."110 Brown countered several months later with an announcement that he had

"Chairs from one of the best Paint Shops in Boston, which he will warrant better

Furniture than those which are botched up by some others."111

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In the changing marketplace of the 1830s, Portsmouth craftsmen

clamored for customers. The number of clients with substantial means declined as

many of the wealthier consumers left Portsmouth for burgeoning inland towns.

Competition for the remaining elite and for the emerging middle class was marked

by increased advertising and negative publicity among the upper strata of shops.

Smaller shops were driven away or out of business as a result of the marketing

strategies adopted by the larger cabinet businesses.

Conclusion

In the 1830s, prominent cabinet businesses in Portsmouth found it

essential to have a large quantity and assortment of ready-made objects at their

shops available for purchase. This need for a well-stocked shop required owners

to apply for credit to expand their production and display facilities, which in turn

encouraged over-extension. To preserve their reserves of scarce cash, craftsmen

purchased materials and objects on credit. Advertisements offering discounts to

cash purchases encouraged customers to pay with currency, but most customers

purchased on credit, with notes, or with bartered goods."2 This exacerbated the

need for injections of cash into businesses as cash sales were the exception.

Over-extension and the wide use of credit placed businesses in a

precarious situation in economically unstable years. In 1835 large scale crop

failures caused both farmers and merchants (many of whom had lent farmers

money) to default on the banks. In conjunction with exuberant expansions in rail

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roads and land speculation, the economic burden became too great for the economy

to absorb. By May of 1837, banks across the country halted payments in gold and

silver, which caused a downward spiral throughout the economy and failures in all

branches of business.113

One of the businessmen in Portsmouth affected by the economic

vacillations in the economy was Samuel M. Dockum. During the early 1830s,

Dockum had undertaken extensive expansions. In November 1835, five months

after he announced plans to enlarge his stock, Dockum advertised that "he intends

closing his business as Agent in May next."114 This may have been a marketing

ploy, for this allowed him to offer his "stock of goods lower than can be purchased

in Boston." In the same ad he also noted that he had "recently employed several

journeymen, first rate workmen;" it seems odd then that he would intend to close

several months later. His intentions were serious. In March 1836 he advertised

that he "has taken work with Messrs Brown & Joy at his old stand, No. 13 Market

Street. He would respectfully invite all his friends . . . to call and be introduced

to the above gentlemen; who by their long experience in the business, and honesty,

well deserve the patronage of their fellow citizens."115

Even during this change in location, Dockum retained the largest

amount of stock in the business. As evidenced through his mortgages several years

later, he carried on his furniture and upholstery business, passing the baton on to

Brown only after a sheriffs sale in 1837. The tax assessments for Dockum’s

stock-in-trade were $2,000 in 1835 (as it had in 1834), and $2,500 in 1836.

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Edmund Brown’s stock-in-trade was assessed at $600 in 1834, $800 in 183S, and

$1,000 in 1836.

Dockum’s fall came in 1837. The suspension of currency had placed

him in a tenuous situation, for in April, one month after the tightened bank specie,

Dockum was brought to court on eight separate occasions for unpaid obligations

totalling in excess of $8,650.116 Most of the gentlemen suing Dockum were

merchants. As with merchant Richard Jenness, who was among those who brought

Dockum to court, a number of the men had acted as lenders in place of banks.117

The total value of Dockum’s property amounted to $6,000 — several

thousand less than he needed to pay his debts.118 In a possible effort to access

money, Dockum mortgaged the contents of his dwelling house for $400.119 On

May 16, auctioneer Samuel Larkin advertised the Sheriff’s sale of "all the Stock of

CABINET FURNITURE &c. of SAMUEL M. DOCKUM at the rooms recently

occupied by said Dockum."120

In 1837 Dockum had no taxable stock-in-trade.121 "Through the

medium of Agency," Dockum continued to advertise, informing clients that "he

will be happy to wait upon those who will have the goodness to give him their

custom. . . . He would also remind the public, that those who have been

unfortunate in business, caused by the distress of the times, especially need the

patronage of their fellow citizens."122

He was unable to revive his business, and in 1842 filed for bankruptcy

to protect himself from creditors.123 At this point he had moved his shop to the

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less prominent Daniel Street, on which the rents were lower and more affordable

to a businessman in his position. He operated a shop from 1843 to 1844 but again

encountered financial trouble in 1845.124 He reappeared on the tax roles for stock-

and-trade two years later in 1847, and continued in the business until his death in

1872, but never regained the edge he had held over his competitors in the mid

1830s.125

Samuel Dockum was one of several cabinetmakers whose businesses

were affected by the economic turmoil of the mid-to-late 1830s. In September

1837, the Portsmouth Journal displayed an unprecedented line-up of five furniture

advertisements at once, from John Somerby & Son, Ebenezer Lord, Brown & Joy,

Lewis & Jenness, and Samuel M. Dockum. At first glance it appears that it was

business as usual, but on closer inspection the mass advertisements instead

indicated that shops were in dire need of customers and that the financial distresses

of the time had affected business. Brown and Joy was so feeling the pinch that the

firm added a footnote in their advertisement: "Those who have accounts and notes

with us that are due . . . please to call and settle them."126

The effects of the panic continued to be felt in the cabinet trade

throughout the end of the decade. In 1838 Andrew Lewis, the cabinetmaker who

initially took over Dockum’s last business location, advertised the sale of his stock-

in-trade and his tools at auction.127 For the next few years he was not taxed for

stock-in-trade, and may have worked as a journeyman until 1841 when he again

offered furniture, but two years later he again was in financial trouble.128 Also in

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1838, Woodbury Gerrish, a past apprentice to Ebenezer Lord, advertised that he

too intended "to relinquish his present business" and also sold his stock at public

auction.129 Gerrish returned to Lord’s shop to work as a journeyman. After taking

several years to recover his losses, Gerrish was once again able to open his own

business.

Although some businesses failed others continued to operate with

minimal damage to the financial structure of their business. Edmund M. Brown,

George W. Jenness, Alfred T. Joy, and Ebenezer Lord all increased their stock-in-

trade in relation to other craftsmen and continued to grow into the 1840s. Brown

& Joy (1836-1844) displaced Dockum and other competing cabinet businesses to

become the most prominent cabinet and upholstery shop in Portsmouth, benefitting

from Dockum’s decline in the industry just as Dockum had profited from the

absence of Langley Boardman.

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Chapter 5

The Era of Samuel Dockum

1. New Hampshire Gazette (NHG), January 9, 1827.

2. Samuel Moses Dockum was born on the 13th day of either January or February 1792. The place of his birth is also disputable as no birth records were located. See R. W. Gerald D. Foss, "Samuel Dockum, Cabinetmaker," Tressle Board (April 1986), n.p., St. John’s Masonic Lodge, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, obituary. Portsmouth Journal (PJ), October 12, 1872; Dockum Family Bible, Special Collections, New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord.

3. Dockum is recorded as working for Durgin in the Jacob Wendell hardware account book (1809-1810, Wendell Papers, Portsmouth Athenaeum; Jacob Wendell, hardware account book, 1810, Wendell Papers, Baker Library, Harvard University Business School, Cambridge, Massachusetts). Mark Durgin is first recorded in the tax records and Census of 1810 (tax assessment records, 1810, Office of the City Clerk, Portsmouth; Census of the United States: Heads of Families. New Hampshire, Rockingham County, 1810, microfilm roll 25, M252). He was brought to court for financial troubles in 1811 with petitions against him for $287.79 (dockets 34428, 34561, 34934, 33978, 34909, inferior court records, series A, B, Rockingham County, New Hampshire Division of Records Management and Archives, Concord, New Hampshire). By 1813 he was no longer listed in the tax records and left Portsmouth the same year for Washington, D.C., where he married a second time while still wed to a woman from Portsmouth (NHG. April 22, 1823, petition of divorce from Maria Durgin, Portsmouth).

4. Concord Gazette. June 6, 1914. Northwood is located between Portsmouth and Concord, with 26V£ and 20 miles distance between each respectively. Eliphalet and Phinehas Merrill, Gazetteer of the State of New Hampshire (Exeter: C. Norris & Co., 1817).

5. Isaac Pinkham first advertised in the Portsmouth Oracle on March 14, 1812.

6. NHG. November 12, 1816. Pinkham retained the business location after the split (NHG. February 2, 1817).

164

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7. Edmund Moody Brown was born in Stratham, New Hampshire on October 5, 1803, son of Josiah Brown and Sarah Clark Brown. Brown was first taxed in Portsmouth in 1826 at the age of twenty-three (tax assessment records, Portsmouth Room, Portsmouth Public Library). On January 21, 1827, Brown married Mary Ann Treadwell, both of Portsmouth. Mary was daughter of Thomas and Nancy Passmore (Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics, Division of Public Health, Concord, New Hampshire). Years later Brown partnered with a Thomas Passmore Treadwell, apparently a relation. Their partnership was advertised in the NHG. February 20, 1827.

8. NHG. March 27, 1829; June 27, 1829. Their partnership was brought to court three times after their dissolution, in 1829, 1830, and 1831 (dockets 10791, 11964, 13292, inferior court records).

9. Samuel M. Dockum, account book, 1829-1834, p. 102, James E. Whalley Museum, St. John’s Masonic Lodge, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

10. First Baptist Church Record Book, 1826-1878, Special Collections, Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

11. PJ, January 6, 1855. Hanson Hoit Adams married Ms. Nancy Norton, both of Portsmouth, August 14, 1817, their son was Hanson M. Adams. Nancy Norton was the sister of Samuel Dockum’s wife, Lucy (Bureau of Vital Statistics).

12. In 1833, Ebenezer Lord had the highest assessment for his stock-in-trade at $600. Both Dockum and Edmund Brown’s stock was assessed at $500. Other cabinetmakers were assessed below these levels. In 1834, Ebenezer Lord was again assessed for $600 as was Brown. Samuel Dockum’s stock, however, rose to $2,000 and either continued at that level or increased until 1837; the most that his closest competitor, Edmund Brown, was assessed for during this same period was $1,000. Tax assessment records, 1826-1840, Portsmouth Public Library.

13. The term, comprehensive manufacturing firm, was used by Pat Kirkham to describe the changes within the London furniture industry between 1700 and 1870, whereby the furniture trades were combined in one shop under one business so that the shop could produce entire pieces and expand production ("The London Furniture Trade 1700-1870," Furniture History 24 [Leeds: W. S. Maney & Son, Ltd., 1988], p. 166).

14. One of Dockum’s last advertisements was placed in the Portsmouth Journal of Literature and Politics. August 5, 1871. Dockum died the following year on October 9, 1872 at the age of eighty (PI, October 12, 1872).

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15. NHG. January 9 until February 20, 1827.

16. Pinkham remained at Fore Street after the dissolution of their partnership in 1816. NHG. August 24, 1824.

17. This is the first instance of the use of the term "factory" in Portsmouth (NHG. July 28, 1835).

18. NHG. January 8, 1830; October 19, 1830.

19. NHG. June 17, 1823.

20. NHG. August 24, 1824.

21. NHG. March 23, 1824.

22. Samuel Dockum advertisement, NHG. February 18, 1834. In an 1831 deed mortgage between Jonathan Judkins and butcher Thomas Currier, Judkins’ business is described as a "shop or building on the comer of Broad and Court Streets, the same building now occupied by Jonathan Judkins as a cabinet warehouse. " Judkins never once advertised his business in such terms, but instead referred to his business as a shop at the "old stand." The use of this term by a real estate agent, however, indicates that the concept was pervasive enough to reach other business professions although not yet outwardly used in the cabinetmaking profession. Cabinetmaker George Walker used the term "Furniture Warehouse" as early as 1814; the manner in which his business reflected the terminology is unknown (NHG. February 8, 1814). The Portsmouth furniture market was apparently too immature to accept this manner of promotion for Walker never again advertised his business in this manner and it took another decade for the terminology to be used again. January 21, 1831, deed 262:160; March 29, 1831, deed 263:149, Inferior Court Records, New Hampshire Provincial Records, Rockingham County Court House (RCCH), Exeter, New Hampshire.

23. Margaret Burke Clunie, "Salem Federal Furniture" (Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1976), p. 43.

24. Abel Wilder of Keene, New Hampshire advertised his furniture warehouse in the New Hampshire Sentinel. March 9, 1805; Levi Bartlett advertised his Concord furniture warehouse and factory in the NHG. April 5, 1808.

25. NHG. March 23, 1824.

26. NHG. March 17, 1829.

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27. NHG. April 19, 1830.

28. PJ, February 23, 1833.

29. The Exeter Newsletter. June 11. 1833. Another indication of Lawrence acting as importer rather than manufacturer was his advertisement for a "boy . . . to assist in the business," rather than an apprentice or journeymen as cabinetmakers required. (NHG. April 12, 1830).

30. PJ, February 23, 1833.

31. NHG. November 19. 1833 to Januarv 28. 1834.

32. NHG. August 5. 1834 to October 5. 1835.

33. NHG, April 8, 1834.

34. NHG, May 10, 1834.

35. NHG, April 8, 1834.

36. The street numberings changed by the late 1830s and nos. 13 and 14 Merchant’s Row became nos. 38 and 40, and the shop across the street was no. 60.

37. Edmund’s Town Directory (Portsmouth: Joseph M. Edmunds. 1839).

38. By the late eighteenth century in London, the upholstery trade was being subsumed within the furniture trade with some exceptions in regards to larger upholstery establishments (Karin M. Walton, "The Worshipful Company of Upholders of the City of London," Furniture History 9 [Leeds: W. S. Manney & Son, Ltd., 1973]:50).

39. PJ, June 27, 1835.

40. Dockum account book.

41. NHG. November 14, 1837; August 7, 1838.

42. NHG. August 1, 1837.

43. This information is based on the directories, newspaper advertisements, and on the type of business transacted in the account book. Although no carvers or

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turners were listed by trade in these sources, the type of work produced by Dockum’s shop often entailed both tasks on a regular basis. Dockum himself was a carver and cabinetmaker by trade and may have been responsible for some of the work. Because of the volume produced by his business, however, it is doubtful that he was the sole carver, especially as much of his time was probably devoted to managing the shop. Some of the cabinetmakers and journeymen working in his shop were also likely turners and carvers.

44. Dockum account book, pp. 6, 9, 17, 46, 102, 114.

45. "CHAIRS of various kinds and colors, painted and gilded in this town by the first rate workmen from Boston. Those who wish to favor them with their custom will please to call. ..." (NHG. December 4, 1827 to April 15, 1828). "[Dockum] has purchased 900 unpainted chairs . . . and has employed a first rate Painter and Omamenter to finish them [chairs]" (NHG. October 14, 1834; PJ, November 15, 1834 to January 24, 1835).

46. Louis McLane, ed., Documents Relative to the Manufacturers in the United States. 1833. vol. 1, Returns from the State of New Hampshire (reprints of Economic Classics, New York: Augustus McKellens, 1969), pp. 175-233, 602-03. The assessment between skilled and unskilled labor is based on the notation of wages paid. Thirty individuals (unskilled labor?) received an average of .75 per day, and five individuals (skilled?) received an average of .90 per day. This does not quite equate with the payment schedules of the period. Laborers received between $.75 and $1 a day, while skilled craftsmen received between $1.25 and $1.75. See Samuel Justus McKinley, "The Economic History of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, from its First Settlement to 1830" (Ph.D. diss., Harvard University, 1931), p. 330. This latter assessment coincides with the $1.25 a day that cabinetmakers and upholsterers received from Dockum (account book, p. 118, "lost times for one day").

47. Portsmouth Herald. January 23, 1823.

48. Gary J. Komblith, "The Artisanal Response to Capitalist Transformation," in Journal of Early American Republic 10, no. 3 (Fall, 1990):317-321. Pat Kirkham, notes that in London, the hiring of unskilled labor trained to do repetitive tasks was a factor in the lower end shops, becoming fully developed by the 1870s. Higher end shops continued to produce furniture with skilled craftsmen ("The London Furniture Trade, 1700-1870," Furniture History 24 [Leeds: W. S. Maney & Son, Ltd., 1988]).

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49. Charles G. Steffen, "Changes in the Organization of Artisan Production in Baltimore, 1790-1820," William and Marv Quarterly. 3rd ser., 36, no. 1 (January 1979): 102, 110.

50. Brown and Joy, NHG. July 18 to September 1, 1835. Samuel Dockum, NHG. November 24 to December 29, 1835. It is possible that their nearly simultaneous request for "first-rate" journeymen was a marketing ploy aimed at each other. Jonathan Judkins, for example, advertised in 1840 simply for a journeyman cabinet or chairmaker (NHG. December 29, 1840).

51. The Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers was open to members from nine trade categories: building, maritime, metal, leather, clothing, printing, food, furniture, vehicle, and miscellaneous trades (Constitution of the Associated Mechanics and Manufacturers of the State of New Hampshire (Portsmouth: C. W. Brewster, 1846). Sean Wilentz, Chants Democratic: New York City and the Rise of the American Working Class. 1788-1850 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1984), pp. 38-39, discusses similar societies in other cultural centers.

52. Other mechanics associations also formed during this period include: The Providence Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers, founded in 1789; The Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, founded in 1795; The Mechanics Association of Portland, Maine, incorporated in 1815; and the Salem Charitable Mechanic Association of 1817. See Gary Komblith, "The Rise of the Mechanic Interest and the Campaign to Develop Manufacturing in Salem, 1815-1830" in Essex Institute Historical Collections 121, no. 1 (Salem: Essex Institute, January 1985):48; Richard Candee, comp., "Comparative Numbers of Founders of Mechanics Societies in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Portland, Maine, and Salem, Massachusetts" notes, Portsmouth Athenaeum. An offshoot of the AMM was the formation of the Mechanic Fire Society in 1811, one of five fire societies established in Portsmouth from 1761 to 1813 (United Fire Society [1761]; Friendly Fire Society [1762]; Federal Fire Society [1789]; Humane Fire Society [1796]; Alert Fire Society [1813]). Seven members of the cabinet trade were members: Henry Bufford (1811); Jonathan Judkins (1819); Ebenezer Lord (1821); William Senter (1826); Edmund M. Brown (1845); Charles Colcord (1846); William G. Nowell (1851). Biographical Roster of Members of the Mechanic Fire Society. Organized July 1. 1811 (Portsmouth: Mechanic Fire Society, n.d.; Strawbery Banke Print Shop). Another bond for many artisans was membership in St. John’s Masonic Lodge. During the bicentennial in May 1823, a procession marched through Portsmouth glorifying the accomplishments of the residents; members of both the AMM and the Free Masons were among the participants with members of the trades arranged alphabetically. "Two Hundredth Anniversary of the Settlement of

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New Hampshire," Collections of the New Hampshire Historical Society 6 (Concord: New Hampshire Historical Society, 1850), pp. 245-277.

53. Of the 96 original members, most of whom were from Portsmouth, one was chairmaker Josiah Folsom, and four were the cabinetmakers Langley Boardman, Solomon Cotton, Isaac Pinkham, and Samuel Wyatt. Later members included John Shelburne (1804), Henry Beck (1806), Ebenezer Lord (1815), Samuel M. Dockum (1831), Andrew Lewis (1831), William G. Nowell (1831), Edmund M. Brown (1835), Alfred T. Joy (1837), Charles J. Colcord (1843).

54. When first established, the library contained 500 volumes and was housed in the same building with the Portsmouth Journal. By 1839, the library had 1,000 volumes (Portsmouth Registry and Directory [Portsmouth: Joseph M. Edmunds, 1834]); Edmund’s Town Directory [Portsmouth: Joseph M. Edmunds, 1839]). The Portsmouth Athenaeum has a personal copy of the 1823 library book list and catalogue that was owned by the publisher of the Portsmouth Journal. Tobias H. Miller. Abner Greenleaf, Address Delivered Before the Society of Associated Mechanics and Manufacturers of the State of New Hampshire at the Celebration of their Anniversary in Portsmouth. October 5. 1826 (Portsmouth: T. H. Miller and C. W. Brewster, 1826), pp. 16-18, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Delaware.

55. This library was located in the Exchange Buildings on Court Street and was moved to Pleasant Street (Portsmouth Registry and Directory. 1834; Edmund’s Town Directory. 1839).

56. Wilentz, pp. 40-41, discusses the introduction of apprentice and mechanics libraries for the moral betterment of the craft.

57. Portsmouth Registry and Directory. 1834; Edmund’s Town Directory. 1839.

58. Jonathan Judkins advertisement, NHG. January 8, 1833; June 16, 1835; October 1 and December 12, 1840. Brown and Joy advertisement, October 17, 1837.

59. Dockum versus Jesse Robinson, 1835, docket 16319, 1836, docket 16977, inferior court records. Portsmouth and Great-Falls Journal. April 8, 1837.

60. Ian M. G. Quimby, "Apprenticeship in Colonial Philadelphia" (Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1963), p. 34, table 2; J. Montefoire, The American Trader’s Compendium: Containing the Laws. Customs, and Regulations of the

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United States. Relative to Commerce (Philadelphia: Samuel R. Fisher, Jr., 1811), pp. 12-13, 20-25; Robert Francis Seybold, Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education in Colonial New England and New York (New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 1917), p. 25.

61. The bibliography on labor relations in various cities is extensive. For some examples see, Kathleen M. Catalano, "Cabinetmaking in Philadelphia, 1820-1840" (Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1972); Sharon V. Salinger, "Artisans, Journeymen, and the Transformation of Labor in Late Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia," William and Marv Quarterly- 3rd series, vol. 40, no. 1 (January 1983):62-84; Page E. Talbott, "The Furniture Industry in Boston, 1810-1835" (Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1974); Gary J. Komblith, "The Rise of the Mechanic Interest and the Campaign to Develop Manufacturing in Salem," in Essex Institute Historical Collections 121, no. 1 (Salem: Essex Institute, 1985); Komblith, "‘Cementing the Mechanic Interest’: Origins of the Providence Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers" in Journal of the Earlv Republic 8, no. 4 (Winter, 1988); Charles Montgomery, American Furniture: The Federal Period in the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum (New York: Viking Press, 1966), pp. 19-22. Alex Groner, American Business and Industry (New York: American Heritage Publishing Co., 1972), p. 70.

62. Industrialization took root in England in the mid-eighteenth century, which resulted in strifes between journeymen and apprentices and the publication of price books. The first, The London Cabinetmakers Book of Prices, was published in 1788, 1793, and in 1803. This book, followed by two others, resulted in counterparts in the colonies with the first printed in 1795, The Journeymen Cabinet and Chair-Makers Philadelphia Book of Prices. See Patricia E. Kane, "Design Books and Prices for American Federal-Period Card Tables," in Hewett, et al., The Work of Many Hands: Card Tables in Federal America. 1790-1820 (New Haven: Yale University Art Gallery, 1982).

63. Gary J. Komblith, "The Artisanal Response to Capitalist Transformation," in Journal of Earlv American Republic 10, no. 3 (Fall, 1990):317-321; Gary B. Nash, The Urban Crucible: Social Change. Political Consciousness, and the Origins of the American Revolution (Cambridge, Mass., 1979); Howard Rock, Artisans of the New Republic (New York: New York University Press, 1979), pp. 265-268; Billy G. Smith, "The Material Lives of Laboring Philadelphians, 1750-1800," William and Marv Quarterly 38 (April 1981): 163-202; Wilentz, Chants Democratic.

64. In the 1851 director Gerrish was listed as a carpenter and in the 1856 directory he was listed as working on his own as a cabinetmaker in Portsmouth (A Directory Containing the Names. Occupations, and Residences of the Inhabitants of

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the Citv of Portsmouth [Portsmouth: C. W. Brewster, 1851]; Portsmouth City Book and Directory [Portsmouth: C. W. Brewster, 1857]). Gerrish continued to work alone and in partnerships until 1876, after which time he moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts where he opened a cabinet shop on Green Street. NHG. June 19, 1876; Obituary, Portsmouth Herald. May 12, 1898.

65. NHG. January 30, 1838.

66. Pat Kirkham, "The London Furniture Trade, 1700-1870," Furniture History 24 (Leeds: W. S. Maney & Son Ltd., 1988): 167; Charles G. Steffen, "Changes in the Organization of Artisan Production in Baltimore, 1790-1820," William and Marv Quarterly. 3rd ser., no. 1 (January 1979): 102.

67. References to work performed by shop masters later in their careers include: "Cabinet and upholstery, and cabin veneering by S. M. Dockum" (Ship Hope-Goodwin. c. 1850-1860); "The veneering of the cabin was done by Mr. A. T. Joy" (Ship Josephine. 1852); "Edmund M. Brown, did the cabinet work" (Ship Midnight. 1854). Ray Brighton, Tall Ships of the Piscataqua. 1830-1877 (Portsmouth: Portsmouth Marine Society, 1989; Peter E. Randall), pp. 78, 133, 139, 148, 175, 178, 273, 277, 305; Clippers of the Port of Portsmouth and the Men Who Built Them (Portsmouth: Portsmouth Marine Society, 1985; Peter E. Randall), pp. 100, 134.

68. A change in the furniture industry toward more factory-based production is evident in newspaper and directory advertisements for the 1850s and 1860s.

69. Aileen Button Agnew, "The Archeology of a Neighborhood: Deer Street, Portsmouth, New Hampshire," Historical New Hampshire 40, nos. 1, 2 (Spring/Summer 1985):75.

70. An inventory of Dockum’s shop is included in the papers of John Clark versus Dockum, April 17, 1837 writ of attachment, docket 17463, inferior court records. The inventory lists "one horse power and lathes" as the only form of machinery. The NHG. February 27, 1838 advertised the sale at auction of the shop contents of Andrew Lewis, including " 1 Horse Power, 1 Large Lathe, 1 Circular Saw, 1 Up and Down Saw." Cabinetmakers Dockum, Lord, Colcord, Joy, Brown and Treadwell, were still using hand-powered machines in 1850 (United States Census. Schedule 5. Products of Industry. 1850. New Hampshire, Rockingham County, comp, by Robert Lefavour). By 1828, cabinetmakers in Salem, Massachusetts made a formal agreement with the owners of sash and blind companies "for the use of a mortise and tenon machine, newly invented, which sped up the manufacture of bed frames," but there

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is no evidence that such arrangements were made in Portsmouth (Margaret Burke Clunie, "Salem Federal Furniture" (Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1976).

71. Robert B. Gordon, "Cost and Use of Water Power during Industrialization in New England and Great Britain: A Geological Interpretation," Economic History Review. 2nd ser., 36, no. 2 (May 1983):243, 246.

72. Portsmouth Oracle. June 4, 1814.

73. Donna-Belle Garvin notes that a cabinet shop inNewport, New Hampshire, leased the use of water wheels from mills for lathes and mortising machines by 1827 ("A ‘Neat and Lively Aspect’: Newport, New Hampshire as a Cabinetmaking Center," Historical New Hampshire 43. no. 3 (Fall 1988):217). Since the majority of Portsmouth craftsmen lived away from water sources, a similar arrangement in Portsmouth was not possible.

74. My appreciation to Richard Candee for sharing his research on the local steam manufactories. Records of Mortgages and Personal Property, vol. 1837- 1841, p. 384; vol. 1841-1845, pp. 124, 312-314; vol. 1845-1849, pp. 9-10, 323- 325 (Office of the City Clerk, Portsmouth City Hall). "Raising the Steam in Portsmouth," Portsmouth Journal. October 18, 1845.

75. Polly Anne Earl, "Craftsmen and Machines: The Nineteenth-Century Furniture Industry," in Technological Innovations and the Decorative Arts, eds. Ian M. G. Quimby and Polly Anne Earl (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1973), p. 311; Michael John Ettema, "Technological Innovations and design Economics in American Furniture Manufacture of the Nineteenth Century" (Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1981), p. 24.

76. A Correct List of Taxes. Assessed on the Persons and Property In the Town of Portsmouth, for the Year 1817 (Portsmouth: S. Whidden’s Printing Office, 1817), Special Collections, Portsmouth Athenaeum. Dockum’s tax assessment continues to remain at an even par with his colleagues through the 1820s and into the early 1830s (tax assessment records, Portsmouth Public Library).

77. NHG. March 27, 1829. NHG, April 10, 1829; PJ, April 11, 1829. PJ, April 11, 1829. PJ, June 27, 1829.

78. Dockum and Brown to John Smith, painter, February 18, 1829, deed 255:403; Dockum and Brown to Elisha Plaisted, February 19, 1829, deed 255:404, RCCH.

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79. Edmund Brown to Josiah Brown of Stratham, February 5, 1829, deed 255:434, RCCH.

80. William Senter, January 29, 1827 inventory, docket 11376. Shop size can be compared with the shops of earlier craftsmen such as Solomon Cotton, whose inventory only included two benches at the time of his death in 1805 (October 16, 1805 inventory, docket 7474, RCCH).

81. Asa Libby was an apprentice, aged 16, and John Somerby was an upholsterer, aged 43 (Dockum account book).

82. Mark Adams and Elbridge Remick were apprentices, Daniel Dearborn was a laborer until 1834 when he became a journeyman cabinetmaker, and G. W. Jenness was a journeyman cabinetmaker (Dockum account book). Two of the apprentices likely accounted for the two young males in the census, the identity of the second older male is unknown. Dockum’s family consisted of his wife Lucy and daughter Harriet Ann. He and Lucy had no sons.

83. Ezra Robinson ran away as an apprentice (Dockum versus Robinson).

84. Clark versus Dockum, docket 17463.

85. Harriet Ann Dockum married Dr. John T. Gilman Pike, December 6, 1837 (Bureau of Vital Statistics).

86. Robert Clark owned a house and adjoining shop on Federal Street and a shop on Middle Street. Seth Sweetser had a store in Market Square (Newburyport tax records, 1828-1838, Newburyport City Hall, Newburyport, Massachusetts).

87. Newburyport Herald. May 8, 1829 advertisement for the chair factory with N. Haskell as agent. The Newburyport Chair Manufactory was a large producer of chairs in Newburyport. In 1830 it could produce up to 200 unpainted chairs per day ("Domestic Summary of Manufacturers," Newburyport Herald. February 26, 1830). By 1832, Newburyport boasted a chair factory that produced up to 15,000 chairs of various types per year (Newburyport Herald. December 4, 1832). The manufactory was on the second floor of the Market House until 1830 when the town voted to use the space for other purposes (John Currier, The History of Newburyport. Massachusetts. 1764-1905. vol. 1 [Newburyport: by the author, 1906; reprint, Somersworth: New Hampshire Publishing Company, 1977], p. 188).

88. Dockum account book, pp. 30, 127.

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89. Dockum continued to sell his furniture through firms in other communities as indicated by a mortgage in which he offered "for $2006, stock of furniture I manufacture located in Portsmouth and Great Falls stores" (Records of Mortgage and Personal Property, vol. 1841-1845, pp. 403-06, Office of the City Clerk, Portsmouth City Hall). Stephen Toppan also kept business ties with other Portsmouth craftsmen, Jonathan Judkins, John Somerby and Son, Brown and Joy, G. W. Jenness, and Charles Colcord (Stephen Toppan, account book, Dover, New Hampshire, 1837- 1845, Private Collection). Toppan is also noted in the 1828 to 1845 account book of carpenter and turner, James Davis, from whom Toppan received orders for turned parts for card tables, beds, and other forms (PS-S-145, Portsmouth Athenaeum). Toppan died in 1875 (November 1875, docket 4255, Strafford County Court House, Dover, New Hampshire).

90. Account with Mark Adams (Dockum account book, p. 51). Adams was a steady customer of Dockum’s purchasing pine boards from 1830 through 1834.

91. The full-time cabinetwork of Portsmouth craftsmen was in contrast with more rural cabinetmakers who combined jobs as fumiture-makers, farmers, housewrights, painters, etc. (Samuel Brown account book, 1801-1850, New Hampshire Historical Society; Ammi Quint account book, 1803-1831, Newington Historical Society; Simon Towle, 1811-1840, Tuck Memorial, Hampton, New Hampshire; John Lane, account book, 1818-1853, NHHS).

92. PJ, September 1, 1842; NHG. August 30, 1842.

93. Account with the estate of Joseph Watson, Esquire (Dockum account book, p. 64).

94. Dockum account book, pp. 33, 52, 60, 67, 78, 84.

95. Sheriffs sale of the property of Samuel Dockum held at public auction (NHG. May 16, 1837). See also, Clark v. Dockum, April 17, 1837, docket 17463, Inferior Court Records.

96. There were two shipments to Portland, Maine, one in August and the other in September of 1832 with a total worth of $194. There was one large shipment to Boston in September of 1832 that totaled $147 (Dockum account book, p. 111). Dockum account book, p. 127.

97. Dockum account book, p. 65; Simpson’s Boston Directory (Boston, Mass.: Simpson and Clapp, 1831).

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98. McLane, ed., pp. 601-03.

99. NHG. April 5, 1825: 20 dozen chairs; November 22, 1825: 25 dozen chairs; September 26, 1826: 25 dozen chairs; January 9, 1827: chairs; February 27, 1827: 5 or 600 chairs; December 4, 1827: 1,000 chairs; July 31, 1832: 25 dozen chairs; November 19, 1833: 700 chairs; PL November 15, 1834 to January 24, 1835: 900 chairs.

100. In 1824 and 1825, Dockum purchased rocking chairs, arm chairs, and side chairs at auction on seven different occasions (Samuel Larkin, account ledger, 1823-1825, P-A S-300, pp. 28, 56, 73, Small Collections, Portsmouth Athenaeum). Dockum also purchased chairs from ornamental painter Nathaniel Messer, and from the Boston firm of Draper and Hudson.

101. Chairmaker Henry Beck retired in 1828. John Grant, Jr. was last reported working in his trade in 1827. Andrew Peabody, "The Wealth, Industry, and Resources of Portsmouth" (Manuscript of a lecture delivered at the Portsmouth Lyceum, November 12, 1844, Portsmouth Athenaeum), p. 1.

102. Brock Jobe, ed., Portsmouth Furniture: Masterworks from the New Hampshire Seacoast (Boston: Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, 1933; University Press of New England), pp. 389-90.

103. As a comparison, furniture advertisements appeared in Boston directories after the 1827 edition, with the exception of one advertisement in 1821.

104. PJ, January 9, 1830.

105. NHG, January 9, 1827.

106. PJ, May 31, 1834; Samuel Dockum advertisement, PJ, January 9, 1830.

107. NHG. December 4. 1827.

108. PJ, May 31, 1834.

109. PJ, February 23, 1833.

110. PJ, November 15, 1835 to January 24, 1836.

111. NHG, July 23, 1835.

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112. Glen Porter and Harold Livesay, Merchants and Manufacturers: tudies in the Changing Structure of Nineteenth-Centurv Marketing (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1971), pp. 69-71.

113. Groner, p. 96; Stuart M. Blumin, Urban Threshold. Growth and Change in a Nineteenth Century American Community (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976), pp. 207-11.

114. NHG. May 16, 1835; November 24, 1835.

115. PJ, March 31, 1836.

116. Benjamin Cheever versus Dockum, 1837, docket 17323; Edward Jenness versus Dockum, docket 17325; Robert Gerrish versus Dockum, docket 17462; William Dearborn, cabinetmaker, versus Dockum, docket 17629; Clark versus Dockum, docket 17463, inferior court records. There were four other claims listed on Clark’s case, for which neither docket numbers nor amounts survive.

117. Richard Jenness, who was mentioned in Dockum’s personal property mortgages, was a back to other members of the community such as Lewis Prince and cabinetmaker Andrew Lewis (Records of Mortgages, vol. 1841-1845, pp. 356- 358; pp. 166-167, 249-50). Porter and Livesay, p. 71.

118. Clark versus Dockum, docket 17463.

119. Records of Mortgages, vol. 1832-1837, pp. 331-33.

120. PJ, May 16, 1837. In the Exeter Newsletter. May 2, 1837, the Sheriffs sale was advertised with an addition that "For a short time, said property can be purchased at Private Sale by application to Andrew Lewis at said warehouse." Lewis was apprenticed to Boardman and was a partner of past Dockum apprentice, George W. Jenness. They took over the "Store No. 13 West side Market-Street, formerly occupied by Samuel M. Dockum as a Furniture Warehouse. ..." (PJ, September 30, 1837). By February 13, 1838, the partnership dissolved, Lewis left the firm and Jenness joined with fellow past Dockum apprentice, William G. Nowell.

121. In 1836, Brown was assessed at $1,000 in stock-in-trade, Lord at $600, Joy at $500, Lewis at $400, and Judkins was listed at $300. Tax assessment records, Portsmouth Public Library.

122. NHG. August 15, 1837.

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123. "U.S. District Court-N.H. District. In Bankruptcy-on this 12 Day of February A. D., 1842 upon the Petition of Samuel M. Dockum of Portsmouth in the County of Rockingham in sd [n'c] district to be declared Bankrupt" (NHG. February 15, 1842).

124. In 1845 he once again had to mortgage the stock in his shop and home to pay a $2,600 debt. Included among the goods were 80 wash stands, 353 chairs, 18 bureaus, 16 sofas, 16 bedsteads, 10 looking glasses, 2 secretaries, carpeting, boards, and upholstery goods (Records of Mortgages, vol. 1841-1845, pp. 403- 05).

125. Dockum advertised the sale of "FURNITURE &c" at Daniel Street, where his shop had been since 1842 (PJ, August 5, 1871; NHG. August 30, 1842).

126. PJ, September 30, 1837.

127. NHG. February 20, 1838. The auction was held on February 27th.

128. By 1842 he was in financial trouble again and had to mortgage the furniture in his shop (Records of Mortgages, vols. 1837-1841, 1841-1845, pp. 166-67, 248- 50).

129. NHG. May 29, 1838.

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CONCLUDING REMARKS

The careers of Langley Boardman and Samuel Dockum encapsulate the

Portsmouth furniture industry into two distinct phases of growth. Each craftsman

was responsible for substantial changes within the trade during their tenure. Both

were driven by entrepreneurial expansion and the desire to increase the size of

their businesses, enlarge profits, and elevate tlrir personal standing within the

community. Though a generation apart, Bookman and Dockum were united

through similar ideals and aspirations. Boardman arrived in Portsmouth at the

height of its economic activity with a training in urban furniture designs. His was

an era of heightened entrepreneurial activity, which spawned growth in domestic

industries and manufacture, and resulted in a prominent group of prosperous

merchants. Boardman cultivated the new merchant class as his clients and

expanded his pursuits into real estate and shipping to become one of the wealthiest

men in Portsmouth at the time.

Dockum strove to attain the same niche of prominence in the

community, expanding his cabinetmaking business to encompass the inclusive

organization of comprehensive manufacturing firms. Through his perseverance and

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attention to the developing business practices that utilized increased marketing and

a warehouse format, Dockum became the most prominent cabinetmaker in town.

Unfortunately for him, Dockum failed to diversify his investments. His

dependence on a single source of income left him vulnerable when the economic

tide turned. He lost all that he had worked so hard to attain. Dockum may have

had as long a career as Boardman, but instead, his career and legacy fell victim to

the economic currents of his time and his place in the industry was quickly

subsumed by others.

The Portsmouth furniture industry of the early nineteenth century was

part of a larger landscape that encompassed furniture-producing communities along

the eastern seaboard. Although on a smaller scale than the large coastal cities that

manufactured and exported vast amounts of furniture, Portsmouth craftsmen

absorbed many of the business practices of their trading partners yet never attained

the full-scale modes of production evident in the nineteenth century furniture

capitals. As several businesses pushed the limits of manufacture and production

methods in the town, many craftsmen continued to operate smaller, more

traditional shops. Although the prominent businesses strove to become more

streamlined and production based, they remained products of a small-town,

separated from the manufactories and labor strife of larger communities with whom

they communicated through trade and exchange of ideas.

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FURNITURE AND ALLIED CRAFTSMEN, 1800-1840

1800-1810

CABINETMAKERS

Beck, George w. 1806-1827

Boardman, Langley w. 1798-1833

Cotton, Joseph w. 1800

Cotton, Solomon w. 1767-1805

Davis, James w. 1763-1809

Durgin, Mark w. 1809-1813

Ellery, Benjamin w. 1804-1805

Ham, Timothy w. 1810

Harrold, Tobias w. 1792-1807

Judkins, Jonathan w. 1806-1844

Lord, Ebenezer w. 1809-1865

Walker, George w. 1807-1827

Wyatt, Samuel w. 1799-1813

181

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CABINETMAKER/JOINERS

Clifford, Ebenezer w. 1785-1804

Doe, Samuel, Jr. w. 1764-1809

Gains, George w. 1762-1808

Moses, Aaron w. 1801-1830

Osborne, George w. 1793-1818

Senter, William w. 1807-1827

Sherburne, John w. 1768-1808

Whidden, Michael (and painter) w. 1770-1816

CHAERMAKERS

Ash, William w. 1802

Beck, Henry w. 1805-1837

Ewen, A. w. 1804-1810

Folsom, Josiah w. 1788-1812

Nelson, Samuel w. 1801-1807

CHAIRMAKER/JOINERS

Miller, John w. 1801-1813

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TURNERS

Davis, James w. 1763-1809

Leighton, Mark w. 1808

Senter, John T. w. 1802-1815

CARVERS

Ames, R. w. 1800-1820

Deering, William w. 1785-1810

ORNAMENTAL PAINTERS AND GILDERS

Beck, Samuel w. 1807-1819

Bowles, William w. 1802-1815

Bufford, Henry w. 1801-1851

Dame, George w. 1801-1811

Doig, George w. 1756-1817

Gray, John Jr. (sell wallpaper, W. & J. Gray) w. 1798-1801

Gray, William (sell wallpaper, W. & J. Gray) w. 1800-1801

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UPHOLSTERERS

Bass, Joseph w. 1764-1802

Sowersby, William (also saddler, chaisetrimmer) w. 1784-1837

SADDLERS AND DEALERS IN CURLED HAIR

March, Nathaniel B. (saddler) w. 1809-1827

Reding, John w.1806-1808

Sweetser, Benjamin C. (saddler) w. 1803-1834

Sweetser, John (saddler) w. 1804

CLOCK AND WATCHMAKERS

Gains, John w. 1797-1839

Griffith, Nathaniel Sheafe w. 1769-1812

Ham, George w.1791-1825

Ham, Supply w. 1809-1861

Leighton, Mark w.1807-1812

Moulton, Edward Sherburne w. 1800-1802

Newton, I. L. (also gilder) w.1800-1806

Pond, John w. 1809-1812

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1810-1820

CABINETMAKERS

Adams, John w. 1810-1815

Beck, George w. 1806-1827

Boardman, Langley w. 1798-1833

Clarke, Joseph w. 1810-1851

Dockum, Samuel w. 1814-1872

Durgin, Mark w. 1809-1813

Foster, Benjamin Call w. 1815-1824

James, Samuel w. 1809

Jones, Zachaeus w. 1813

Judkins, Jonathan w. 1806-1844

Lord, Ebenezer w. 1809-1865

Morrison, ? w. 1811

Pinkham, Isaac w. 1812-1820

Senter, William w. 1807-1827

Walker, George w. 1807-1827 J

Wyatt, Samuel w. 1799-1813

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CABINETMAKER/JOINERS

Evans, William w. 1812-1830

Jones, James w. 1812-1820

Moses, Aaron w. 1801-1830

Osborne, George w. 1793-1818

Whidden, Michael (also painter) w. 1770-1816

CHAIRMAKERS

Beck, Henry w. 1805-1837

Grant, John, Jr. w. 1818-1827

Hardy, Francis W. (and chaisemaker) w. 1812-1832

Larkin, S. w. 1815-1832

CHAIRMAKER/JOINERS

Cutts, John S. w. 1815

Folsom, Josiah w. 1788-1812

Frost, Nathaniel w. 1810-1818

Miller, John w. 1801-1813

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TURNERS

Senter, John T. w. 1802-1815

CARVERS

Ames, R. w. 1800-1820

ORNAMENTAL PAINTERS AND GILDERS

Beck, Samuel w. 1807-1819

Bowles, William w. 1802-1815

Bufford, Henry w. 1809-1851

Cole, Moses w. 1817

Dame, George w. 1801-1811

Doig, George w. 1756-1817

Gilman, J. K. w. 1816

Gregory, J. w. 1816-1818

Hall, Andrew Jr. w. 1810+

Smith, John w. 1816

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UPHOLSTERERS

Sowersby, William (also saddler, chaisetrimmer) w. 1784-1837

Thomas, M. C. w. 1817

BEDDING, ETC.

Piper, Moses w. 1811

SADDLERS

March, Nathaniel B. w. 1809-1827

Sweetser, Benjamin C. w. 1803-1834

WALLPAPER/CARPETING

Draper, Lemuel w. 1813

Peirce, Charles w. 1813

Tappan & Foster w. 1813

LOOKING GLASS MANUFACTURERS

Cermanate, Bernard w. 1812

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CLOCK AND WATCHMAKERS

Gains, John w. 1797-1839

Griffith, Nathaniel Sheafe w. 1769-1812

Ham, George w. 1791-1825

Ham, Nathaniel J. w. 1818-1834

Ham, Oliver d. 1836

Ham, Supply w. 1809-1861

Pond, John w. 1809-1812

1820-1830

CABINETMAKERS

Adams, John w. 1810-1821

Adams, Mark Jr. w. 1824-1834

Badger, William w. 1828-1838

Beck, George w. 1806-1827

Boardman, Langley w. 1798-1833

Brown, Edmund Moody w. 1825-1864

Clarke, Joseph w. 1810-1851

Dearborn, Daniel w. 1826-1843

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Dimpsey, Edward w. 1827-1834

Dockum, Mark R. w. 1823

Dockum, Samuel w. 1814-1872

Foster, Benjamin C. w. 1815-1824

Judkins, Jonathan w. 1806-1844

Lewis, Andrew w. 1820-1821;1824-1843

Lord, Ebenezer w. 1809-1865

Loud, Paul w. 1821-1865

Senter, William w. 1807-1827

Slade, William w. 1827

Walker, George w. 1807-1827

CABINETMAKER/JOINERS

Evans, William w. 1812-1830

Moses, Aaron w. 1801-1830

CHAIRMAKERS

Beck, Henry w. 1805-1837

Cutts, ? w. 1820s

Grant, John Jr. w. 1818-1827

Hardy, Francis W. (also chaisemaker) w. 1812-1832

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Hardy, Stephen w. 1823

Larkin, S. w. 1815-1832

Simpson, Joseph w. 1821-1827+

Slade, W. w. 1827

TURNERS

CARVERS

Green, Joseph (also gilder) w. 1827

Jones, James Jr. w. 1820s

Wilson, J. w. 1823-1829

ORNAMENTAL PAINTERS AND GILDERS

Blunt, John Sherburne (also portrait painter) w. 1821-1827

Bufford, Henry w. 1809-1851

Erystrom, A. B. w. 1827

Pierce, Moses w. 1821

Price, William A., Jr. w. 1820-1821

Putnam, B. F. w. 1822+

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UPHOLSTERERS

Stickney, Samuel, Jr. w. 1827+-

Somerby, John P. (also saddler) w. 1821-1864

Sowersby, William (also saddler, chaisetrimmer) w. 1784-1837

BEDDING

Lawrence, William F. w. 1824-1833

SADDLERS

March, John w. 1821

March, Nathaniel B. w. 1809-1827

Sweetser, Benjamin C. w. 1803-1834

Sweetser, Washington w. 1827-1834

LOOKING GLASS MANUFACTURERS

Gibbs & Ross w. 1822

Trundy & Jones (also gilders) w. 1820s

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CLOCK AND WATCHMAKERS

Brewster, George G. w. 1827-1834

Gains, John w. 1797-1839

Ham, Daniel w. 1825-1834

Ham, George w. 1791-1825

Ham, Nathaniel J. w. 1818-1834

Ham, Oliver d. 1836

Ham, Supply w. 1809-1861

Howe, Otis d. 1825

1830-1840

CABINETMAKERS

Adams, Mark Jr. w. 1824-1834

Badger, William w. 1828-1838

Boardman, Langley w. 1798-1833

Brown, Edmund Moody w. 1825-1864

Chapman, David w. 1834-1836

Clarke, Joseph w. 1810-1851 +

Colcord, Charles J. w. 1836-1872

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Curtis, Benjamin Jr. w. 1839-1851

Dearbome, Daniel w. 1826-1843

Dearborn, William w. 1834-1851

Dennett, John B. w. 1839+

Dennett, Mark Jr. w. 1832-1851

Dennett, Samuel w. 1834-1851

Deverson, William w. 1839+

Dimpsey, Edward w. 1827-1834

Dockum, Samuel w. 1814-1872

Gerrish, Woodbury (also carver) w. 1834-1877

Hollis, John H. w. 1834

Jenness, George W. w. 1832-1843

Joy, Alfred T. w. 1831-1876

Judkins, Jonathan w. 1806-1844

Judkins, Leonard w. 1839

Lewis, Andrew w. 1820-21; 1824-1843

Lewis, Thomas w. 1839-1851

Libby, Asa w. 1834-1836

Lord, Ebenezer w. 1809-1865

Loud, Paul w. 1821-1865

Nowell, William G. w. 1833-1851

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Pickering, J. H. w. 1837

Pickering, W. w. 1837

Richmond, Witcher w. 1834

Rollins, Timothy E. w. 1839

Shaw, Livin w. 1834

Somerby, Joseph C. w. 1834-1843

Teague, John w. 1839

Treadwell, Samuel Passmore w. 1834-1864

Treadwell, William w. 1834-1839

Yeaton, Moses w. 1833/34-1839

CHAIRMAKERS

Beck, Henry w. 1805-1837

Hardy, Francis W. (and chaisemaker) w. 1812-1832

Judkins, Daniel V. w. 1839

Larkin, S. w. 1815-1832

TURNERS

Trafton, Forrest w. 1834

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CARVERS

ORNAMENTAL PAINTERS AND GILDERS

Beck, Samuel Jr. w. 1833-1842

Bufford, Henry w. 1809-1851

Bufford, Daniel w. 1834

Locke, John w. 1834

Long, Samuel P. w. 1834

Marcellus, James L. w. 1839

Rundlet, William H. w. 1834-1839

Smith, John w. 1834-1839

Willey, William S. w. 1834

UPHOLSTERY

Somerby, John P. w. 1821-1864

Sowersby, William (also saddler, chaisetrimmer) w. 1784-1837

Stickney, John (painter by 1839-1851) w. 1830-1834

BEDDING

Lawrence, William F. w. 1824-1833

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SADDLERS

Jones, Thomas Jr. w. 1830s

Piper, Moses w. 1834

Sweetser, Benjamin w. 1827-1834

Sweetser, Washington w. 1827-1834

LOOKING GLASS MANUFACTURERS

Trundy, John w. 1822-1851

CLOCK AND WATCHMAKERS

Brewster, George G. w. 1827-1834

Dunyon, Augustine w. 1830s

Gains, George w. 1839+

Gains, John w. 1797-1839

Ham, Daniel w. 1825-1834

Ham, Henry H. w. 1830s

Ham, Nathaniel J. w. 1818-1834

Ham, Oliver d. 1836

Ham, Supply w. 1809-1861

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPENDIX B

SHOP LOCATIONS OF FURNITURE AND ALLIED CRAFTSMEN SELECTED FROM ARTISANS WHO ADVERTISED

KEY: * Grantor Deed or Deed Mortgage

! Grantee Deed

~ Advertisement or Notice of Removal

D Directory (1821, 1827, 1834, 1839)

198

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 199

Shop Locations: Langley Boardman (w. 1798-1833) Cabinetmaker

7/13/98 Ladd Street.

4/5/99 Ladd Street.

1801 Ark Lane

8/26/02 Deed [161:330] Wm. Odiome $900 to L. B. lot and buildings (SW) corner of lot at Congress and Vaughan (E) along Congress to our other land (sells to L. B. 10/8/03) (N), (E) to Benjamin Carter (NW) by our other land to Vaughan St. (S) along Vaughan Street to bounds began.

5/17/03 Ark Lane shop taken over by R. Cutts, brass founder.

8/23/03 Vaughan & Congress (removed from the shop on Ark to his new store). Later builds Franklin Block.

10/8/03 Deed [166:38] Wm. Odiome $1,000 to L. B. Lot on (N) side Congress St. From the (SW) comer of the lot, (E) on Congress to George Gains (N) to Benjamin Carter (W) Carter to Boardman’s land (purchased above from Odiome) (S) to bounds. With shop standing on (SW) comer on said land. The (SE) comer of sd lot under lease to Thos. Treadwell 5 yrs, 6 mo. and 20 days, L. B. to receive the rent.

1821 D 3 Congress St. Boardman’s Building, upstairs.

7/17/23 No. 1 Vaughan St., furniture room.

10/11/25 Deed [246:1] Daniel Webster, Boston, Esq. $700 to L. B. Esq. Lot bounded on the (S) by Jaffrey St. 74’ (W) by Church Lane 40’ (N) by land formerly of Joshua Haven 76’ (E) on Court or Pleasant Street 37’.

1827 D Court & Jaffrey Streets; h. Middle.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 200

Shop Locations: Edmund M. Brown (w. 1825-1864) Cabinetmaker

Dockum & Brown (1827-1829)

1827 D Cabinetmaker, Fore Street; h. Middle Road.

2/20/27 — Fore Street, opposite Merchant’s Row. Copartnership formed w/ Dockum.

2/19/29 * Deed mortgage [255:404] of Dockum & Brown. Mortgage their wooden building occupied as their cabinetmaking shop situated on lease land of Nathl. A., John Haven & others on Fore & Cross streets, plus mahogany & all shop contents. Receive $1400 from Elisha Plaisted, merchant.

4/10/29 ~ Fore Street - dissolution of Dockum & Brown

Edmund M. Brown, Agent (1829-1837)

1834 D Fore Street; h. Ark.

7/15/34 ~ Nos. 13 & 14, Ladd’s Building (enlarged to), Merchant’s Row, connected with other room.

11/25/34 ~ Fore Street.

7/28/35 ~ Fore Street, Furniture Rooms, Nos. 13 & 14 Merchants’ Row, (Ladd’s Building) & at factory opposite.

12/8/35 ~ Fore Street.

2/23/36 ~ Fore-Street.

Brown & Joy (1837-1844)

9/30/37 ~ Fore Street, factory.

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10/21/37 ~ Fore Street, factory.

2/20/38 — Fore Street.

8/7/38 ~ No. 13 1/2, stand upstairs formerly Furniture -2/14/40 Warehouse of Dockum.

1839 D Nos. 38, 40 & 60 Market Street, Cabinet and Upholstery; h. 10 Court Street.

Shop Locations: Charles J. Colcord (w. 1836-1872) Cabinetmaker

11/7/37 - Penhallow Street, Gerrish & Colcord - dissolved by 6/5/38.

Shop Locations: Solomon Cotton (w. 1767-1805) Cabinetmaker

1777 ~ Pleasant Street. Shop of Robert Harrold.

7/5/00 —! Peirce’s Lane. Shop & dwelling. Deed [155:372]. Purchased of Woodbury Tucker, joiner for $200. (Cotton married Mary Tucker.) (E) on a lane leading from Pleasant St. by the north end of the South Meeting house (W) by Woodbury Tucker to the fence (N) by widow Nichols (S) to bounds.

8/5/06 Estate sale of dwelling and shop inventory.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 202

Shop Locations: Samuel M. Dockum (1814-1872) Cabinetmaker

Samuel M. Dockum & Co. (1814)

6/6/14 Northwood, Cabinet & Chairmaking.

Pinkham & Dockum (1815-16)

7/18/15 North-end near the Ferry-ways. Formerly occupied by Isaac Pinkham.

1/9/16 Lumber & ranging timber.

10/22/16 Dissolution.

Samuel M. Dockum, Agent (1816-1827)

11/12/16 Ranging timber.

2/2/17 Pinkham & Dockum, ranging timber; although dissolved.

1821 D Cabinetmaker; h. Bridge Street.

9/30/22 Deed [232:291] to purchase 1/2 house & lot, Bridge Street. No deeds before this for Dockum.

8/24/24 L. Boardman’s Furniture Room, Vaughan Street.

4/5/25 Fore Street, near the old Ferry-ways formerly occupied by Isaac Pinkham. Commenced cabinetmaking and carving business.

9/26/26 Fore Street, near Portsmouth Bridge.

1827 D Cabinetmaker, Fore Street; h. Bridge Street.

1/9/27 Merchant’s Row opp. Mr. Henry & Alexander Ladd’s. Removed to make it more convenient.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 203

Dockum & Brown (1827-1829)

2/20/27 Fore Street, opposite Henry & Alexander Ladd. Copartnership formed.

1/23/28 Deed mortgage [252:388] for a wooden building or tenement on the west side of Fore Street opposite Merchant’s Row on land owned by John Haven and others.

2/19/29 Deed mortgage of Dockum & Brown to E. Plaisted for the wooden buildings now occupied by firm as cabinetmaker’s shop & appendages on lease land of Nathl. A. Haven & John Haven & others. Lot bounded easterly on Fore & southerly by Cross streets. Buildings and contents.

3/27/29 Fore Street. Dissolved.

5/12/29 Assignee’s sale of furniture.

6/2/29 Wanted, six Journeymen cabinetmakers to go to Buenos Ayres.

6/27/29 Auction of stock.

12/22/29 Deed mortgage [257:303] to E. Plaisted, merchant, Bridge Street, same premises whereon I now reside & occupy.

Samuel M. Dockum, Agent (1829-1834)

1/5/30 State & Ark (removal). Above Mr. Joseph Akerman’s store, opposite the Methodist Church. Ad 1/9/30 with Grecian Settee.

10/19/30 Market Street (removal). Over Mr. Cheever, Jr.

12/31/33 No. 13 West side Market Street.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 204

Portsmouth Furniture & Upholstery Warehouse (1834-1836)

1834 D Furniture & Upholstery Warehouse Nos. 13 & 15 West side Market; h. Vaughan.

2/18/34 ~ Purchase of No. 15 Market Street, Eagle Warehouse, now to be called, Portsmouth Furniture & Upholstery Warehouse.

5/10/34 ~ No. 13 West side, Market Street, Storer Bldg. (removal from No. 15 East side.)

8/5/34 ~ No. 13, formerly a Hotel with 12 commodious rooms.

5/16/35 — No. 13, plans enlarging stock.

11/24/35 ~ Intends closing as agent in May 1836.

5/16/37 ~ Public auction. Apply to Andrew Lewis for private sale.

Samuel M. Dockum, Agent (1837+)

8/15/37 No. 15 Market Street over B. Cheever’s store. "Those unfortunate in these times."

1839 D Cabinetmaker; h. 7 Vaughan.

Shop Locations: Benjamin Ellery (w. 1804-1805) Cabinetmaker

10/6/04 Washington Street, at the head, "...he continues the Cabinet Making Business..."

10/22/05 Auction at shop. Proposes leaving this town. "Heads up! Purses open!"

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Shop Locations: Benjamin C. Foster (w. 1815-1854) Cabinetmaker

2/7/15 Penhallow and Bow, Mr. Austin’s Building.

1821 D Cabinetmaker’s shop, Fore Street; h. Islington Street.

Shop Locations: Woodbury Gerrish (w. 1834-1877) Carver/Cabinetmaker

1833 Ran away from Ebenezer Lord.

1834 D Cabinetmaker, boarding at Dolly Gerrish’s.

11/7/37 Penhallow Street ( Gerrish & Colcord).

6/5/38 Corner Jaffrey Street, Boardman’s Building.

1839 D Cabinetmaker at Lord’s. Returns to Lord as journeyman.

Shop Locations: Tobias Harrold (w. 1792-1807) Cabinetmaker

4/3/1792 Pleasant Street, father Robert’s old shop.

1802 Mortgages shop.

1804 Loses mortgage to Robert Ham, joiner.

1805 Mortgage assigned to John Miller.

8/1/07 Deed [180:210] for shop to Miller. 1807 court case against Harrold for default on mortgage of $1300.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 206

8/1/07 * Deed [180:210]. Shop sold to Samuel Wyatt through Miller.

ShopLocations: George Jenness & William Nowell (1832-1843+; 1833-1851+) Cabinetmakers

1834 D G. Jenness and W. Nowell, journeymen at Dockum’s.

7/8/37 Jenness in partnership with Andrew Lewis at No. 13 W. Side Market Street, late of S. M. Dockum.

11/14/37 Dissolution of Jenness & Lewis.

Jenness & Nowell (1838-1840)

1/30/38 Partnership of Jenness & Nowell, at No. 15 Market Street (Dockum’s), B. Cheever’s Building.

7/28/40 Dissolution. Jenness has taken the stock and trade, at No. 42 Market Street.

Shop Locations: William Senter (w. 1807-1827) Cabinetmaker

Judkins & Senter (1808-1827)

4/12/08 — Broad Street, over N. B. March’s Saddlery.

10/25/08 ~ Broad and Pleasant (removed).

12/22/13 ~ Shop destroyed by fire.

1821 D Broad Street.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 2 0 7

8/4/25 ! Deed [243,464] Wm. Furness of Medford, Mass., gentleman $900 by Senter. Lot (S) on Broad Street (W) on Mark H. Wentworth, dec. (N) by Widow Lowd (E) by Church Lane. Same lot formerly occupied by Sami. Griffith, dec., shopkeeper and since by Joseph Bass, dec., and afterward by Supply clap, Esq., dec.

1827 D Broad Street, formerly Judkins & Senter.

1827 Deceased.

Shop Locations: John T. Senter (w. 1802-1815) Turner

3/6/10 ~ Vaughan Street, Turnery business.

1811 Court case filed by William Senter for unpaid obligation.

1811 Court case filed by Judkins & Senter for unpaid obligation.

1812 ~ Broad Street. Removal to shop adjoining Judkins & Senter.

1815 Left Portsmouth to join the army.

Shop Locations: Andrew Lewis (w. 1820-21; 1824-1843) Cabinetmaker

1827 D Cabinetmaker, High street.

1834 D Cabinetmaker, corner Court & Jaffiey; h. corner Vaughan & Cross.

3/10/34 ~ Brick building, shop lately occupied by L. Boardman (Jaffiey & Court), Cabinet Furniture.

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10/14/34 Court and Jaffrey Streets, the old stand Boardman’s Buildings. Copartnership notice of Lewis & Wm. Badger, Cabinet Furniture.

8/8/37 Jaffrey & Court, lot rented to J. H. & W. Pickering, Cabinet Furniture Business.

Lewis & Jenness (1837)

7/8/37 No. 13 West side Market Street recently of S. M. Dockum. Partnership with George W. Jenness, Furniture Warehouse.

11/14/37 West side Market Street, Furniture Warehouse (demands against Lewis & Jenness).

Andrew Lewis, Agent (1838-1843)

2/20/38 Market Street. Sale of Lewis’ stock, "as he is about to make new arrangements." Remains in town, 7/20/43 shop at 60 Market taken over by C. Colcord, once shop of Brown & Joy.

1839 D Cabinetmaker; h. 9 School street, shop in rear of house.

1839-1843 Mortgages house and shop several times, eventually selling property and stock and removing from town by 1843.

Shop Locations: Ebenezer Lord (w. 1809-1865) Cabinetmaker

1821 D Penhallow Street; h. Maudlin.

9/30/22 Deed [235:1951 Hunking Penhallow, Esq, Benjamin Penhallow, Esq. & Ebenezer Wentworth, Esq. being seized, each of 1/3 part in common of premises $988.00 that is $329.99 each to

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 209

Ebenezer Lord, cabinetmaker. (E) side Penhallow street beginning at a stake on Penhallow (N) to Samuel Fernald (E) by Femald to George Jaffrey (SE) by Jaffrey (SW) to bounds. Each three conveying their portion to Lord.

1/29/24 ! Deed [239:317] Josiah Bartlett of Stratham, guardian of Ann & Joshua Brackett, children of Dr. Joshua Bracket $281 by Lord, cabinetmaker. Lot of land with dwelling house and other buildings on street or lane leading from (S) end of Washington street where junction formed with Pleasant street to the South meeting house. Same premises formerly owned by John Seivers, jr., dec. (Maudlin Street).

1827 D Penhallow Street; h. Maudlin.

8/21/27 ~ Penhallow Street, Manufactory.

4/4/29 — Penhallow Street.

11/21/30 ~ Penhallow Street, Manufactory.

1834 D Penhallow Street; h. Maudlin.

1839 D Nos. 24 & 26 Penhallow Street;

Shop Locations: Isaac Pinkham (w. 1812-1820) Cabinetmaker

3/14/12 ~ North-end of Ferry-way, Cabinet shop.

7/28/13 ~ Two doors north of where he lately resided (removal). "Cabinetmaker with large assortment of cabinetwork punctually attended to."

2/11/15 ~ Fore street, near the ferry, chairs & cabinet furniture.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 210

Pinkham & Dockum (1815-1816)

7/11/15 Copartnership of Pinkham & Dockum, Cabinet & Chair Making Business, North end, near the Ferry-ways formerly occupied by Isaac Pinkham.

1/16/16 Ranging timber, Pinkham & Dockum

10/22/16 Dissolution of partnership. Cabinetmaking business continued by Pinkham.

Isaac Pinkham, Agent (1816-1820)

2/2/17 Ranging timber, Pinkham & Dockum (although dissolved).

7/15/17 Daniel Pinkham offers in the North-end Santo Domingo mahogany boards, plank & veneers.

7/25/20 Deed [226:270] Isaac to Daniel for $600. All Isaac’s title to tract of land and 1/2 of all the buildings that the said Daniel and myself now live, which was erected by us in common and undivided. (S) side of Deer Street. Purchased from Roach in three deeds: 12/26/12 [226:270], 5/10/16, [212:85], 4/10/17 [212:445].

House still stands 25 Maplewood Avenue.

1821 D Not listed

Shop Locations: Joseph C. Somerby (w. 1834-1843) Cabinetmaker

1834 D Cabinetmaker at Dockum’s. Boarding at father’s, John P. Somerby.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 211

1839 D 18 Congress Street. John & Son, Cabinet Furniture and Upholstery.

Shop Locations: George W. Walker (w. 1807-1827) Cabinetmaker/Turner

2/22/14 Cabinet Furniture and Chairs at Furniture Warehouse. Mill Street.

1821 D Cabinetmaker, Mill Street; h. Mill Street.

1827 D No Occupation listed, Mill Street.

Shop Locations: Samuel Wyatt (w. 1799-1813) Cabinetmaker

9/16/06 Congress Street, near Court House (removed from Daniel Street), "a shop to let on Daniel Street, which a lease can be given for 2 yrs."

1/5/11 Deed [189:400] John Miller to Wyatt for $3,000, Dwelling house and other buildings. (Tobias Harrold’s shop, previously owned by father, Robert as a cabinet shop). Property sold with $218.50 worth of furniture.

1/15/11 Daniel Street (removed from shop over Mr. T. Morton’s store) shop lately occ. by Tobias Harrold & lately the dwelling house of Daniel Brown. "Where he carries on the cabinetmaking business."

1812 Moved to Dover - fear of attack by British.

11/13 Sold Portsmouth property, one month later house consumed by fire.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 212

Shop Locations: Henry Beck (w. 1806-1827) Chairmaker

10/29/05 — Congress Street, few doors (W) of Col. Gains’ dwelling house. Chair Manufactory.

2/17/08 Guardian bond [7893] for Joseph Simpson, minor upwards of 14 years, son of John Simpson, Newcastle. Joseph becomes is a chairmaker.

12/20/08 — Congress Street, few doors west of the Bell Tavern.

8/29/09 ~ Congress Street, Chair Manufactory.

9/26/09 — Spring Hill, Mr. Austin’s brick store.

10/09/09 ! Deed [186:248] from L. Boardman for $350. Lot on (W) side of Cabot St. Lot No. 13 of Akerman’s plan. (A house is eventually built because he is listed in 1821 directory on Cabot St.) Mortgages lot No. 13 for $400 to Shephard J. Frost, joiner.

6/ 1/11 * Deed [193:429] to Robert White of New Castle, mariner for $50. The mansion house, barn, woodhouse & land in New Castle together with land adjoining (I acre) formerly owned by estate of Capt. John Simpson (Joseph’s father). Bounded (SW) by highway & (NW) by Isaac Pinkham.

4/12/12 — No. 2 Boardman’s Building (chambers over).

9/19/15 — Broad Street, apt. in shop belonging to Judkins & Senter.

1821 D — Chairmaker; h. Cabot.

1827 D — Chairmaker, State Street; h. Washington St.

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Shop Locations: Josiah Folsom (w. 1788-1812) Chairmaker

1788 Moved to Portsmouth.

9/9/97 ~ Broad Street, Windsor Chairs.

1/3/98 ~ Broad Street, Windsor Chairs.

1805 — Broad Street. Diagonally across from Upholsterer Joseph Bass.

1/3/12 * Deed [195:382] from James Adams, joiner for $1400. Lot by South Mill with the wharf & water privileges Late property of Sami. Doe, joiner, conveyed to James Smith of Newmarket, Esq. Also land & dwelling house situated near the wharf, also property of late Samuel Doe.

Involved with West Indies trade.

5/4/26 * Deed mortgage of $1000 from Nathl. Folsom. Wharf, land, dwelling and Water Street lot.

Shop Locations: John Grant, Jr. (w. 1818-1827) Chairmaker

1821 D Chair manufacturer, Court Street; h. Jaffrey Street.

1823 Corner Court and Broad.

9/7/24 Shop opposite Rockingham Bank (Bank at No. 1 Pleasant Street).

1827 D Chair Manufactory, Court Street; h. Jaffrey Street.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 214

Shop Locations: Samuel Beck (w. 1807-1819) Ornamental Painter

There are several Samuel Becks. One lately from Portsmouth, moved to Lee with wife Sarah. Died 12/24/11.

This Samuel Beck died in 1819, wife Abigail.

Another Samuel Beck advertised in the 1830s as a painter; noted as a blockmaker in deeds.

3/1/10 Deed [190:186] John Abbot to A. Hall & S. Beck, painters. $300 for lot on Cabot Street, lot #15.

12/6/11 Dissolves partnership with Andrew Hall, Jr.

10/2/13 Deed [200:183] Hall & Beck to Thomas Haven. $300 for lot #15. This lot remained undeveloped, selling for the same price. A house/shop was not built, and hence they apparently never operated out of Cabot St., which was set rather far from other businesses.

5/26/12 Opposite N.H. Union Bank (bank on (NE) comer of State & Pleasant).

5/25/18 Over Mr. Samuel Barker’s, comer Broad Street.

10/5/19 Death notice of estate.

Shop Locations: John S. Blunt (w. 1821-1827) Ornamental/Portrait Painter

1821 D Ornamental and Portrait Painter, March’s Building.

6/5/21 Room in Daniel Street, nearly opp. Mr. Hale’s Hat Store.

1827 D Portrait and Ornamental Painter, March’s Building.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 215

Shop Locations: William Bowles (w. 1802-1815) Ornamental Painter

2/16/02 Daniel street, sign of the Paint-Pot.

4/2/05 Washington Street, building lately improved by Mr. Bigelow.

5/27/06 Ark Lane, formerly L. Boardman’s, near Mr. Davenport’s Tavern.

6/6/08 Pitt Street, his house.

Shop Locations: Henry Bufford (w. 1801-1851+) Ornamental Painter

4/12/03 Jafffey’s Street, "continues in business..."

6/27/09 Mr. L. Boardman’s Bldg., as usual, Congress Street.

9/7/11 No. I Boardman’s Bldg., painting room above.

Bufford & Gregory (1816-1818)

1/30/16 Congress Street, partnership at stand recently occ. by Gregory.

2/6/16 J. K. Gilman, painter, moves into the Boardman Bldg., shop "formerly occupied by Henry Bufford."

5/26/18 Congress Street, opp. John Davenport, Esq., Stage House.

5/12/18 Dissolved. Gregory at same stand.

Henry Bufford, Agent (1819-1821)

5/4/19 Congress Street

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 216

1821 D Congress Street, upstairs, opp. Wilde’s Hotel; h. Akerman St.

5/15/21 Congress Street in loft opp. Wilde’s Hotel. Re-commenced.

Bufford & Putnam (1822-1825)

10/8/22 Copartnership with B. F. Putnam.

7/12/25 Dissolution of Bufford & Putnam. Business at the old stand.

1827 D Congress Street upstairs, opp. Robinson’s Hotel; h. Akerman Street.

1834 D Prison Street; h. Akerman Street.

1839 D 2 Chestnut Street; h. 3 Chestnut St.

Shop Locations: George Dame (w. 1801-1811) Ornamental Painter

2/1/03 Buck Street, shop in Capt. Tripe’s house, opposite Capt. Peter Coues’.

12/17/05 Broad Street, room in dwelling house of Wm. Simes.

3/4/06 Daniel Street.

4/1/06 Buck Street, store formerly occ. by Capt. Homey (lately the Post Office)

3/10/07 Congress & Vaughan, part of the store of Mr. L. Boardman

4/2/08 Congress Street, shop in part of Col. George Gains’ dwelling house (Boardman’s Bldg.).

9/17/11 Daniel Street, room in Mr. N. B. March’s Bldg., directly opposite Mr. C. Peirce’s bookstore.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 217

Shop Locations: George Doig (w. 1756-1817) Ornamental Painter/Gilder

1775 Painter from London, King Street.

1/28/97 Ladd Street, Westerly apt. of the new Brick Store.

1/22/00 Apprentice Bufford absconded.

2/24/01 Congress Street, to his old shop back of house.

Shop Locations: William and John Gray (w: 1798-1801) Ornamental Painters

7/29/00 ~ Bow Street, by Spring Market, W. & J. Gray.

3/21/01 ~ No. 2 Jafffey’s Row, Bow Street. Dissolution of partnership of Wm. and John Gray. Supplies & painting & glazing.

3/31/01 ~ Daniel Street, lower end, (John Gray) formerly occupied by Mr. Mark Rogers. Ornamental work done at his shop opp. Mr. Geo. Simes, Jaffrey street.

Shop Locations: Joseph Bass (w. 1764-1802) Upholster

4/2/90 ! Deed [128:523] transfer of widow Griffith’s land to Bass.

4/2/90 ! Bass, admin, of estate of Sami. Griffith, Goldsmith. 1/2 dwelling house late of Griffith wherein Bass & wife now live. Mortgage [126:414] to Supply Clapp, Esq. for 100 pounds. By a church lane. (This lot is on the comer of Broad Street 11/7/12 and appears to be his shop.) This is across the street

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 218

from Folsom’s shop on insurance plat.

4/16/92 * Deed mortgage [132:246] to Clapp on 1/2 house above for 200 pounds.

4/1/97 ~ Broad street, garden seeds & Upholstery.

2/27/99 ~ Broad street, garden seeds.

4/27/02 ~ Broad street, garden seeds & Upholstery.

3/31/07 ~ Broad street, garden seeds.

4/11/09 ~ Broad street, next door to Post Office.

11/7/12 * Deed [198:294] to James Thwing, Esq. & Wm. Furness, Esq. both of Boston for $300 sell as tenants in common lot with buildings and dwelling. (S) Broad (W) Mark Wentworth, now Brackett (N) Abigail Lowde, now Ferguson & Donnell (E) by Church Lane. Premises formerly owned by Griffith & same lot conveyed to Clapp by two deeds of mortgage & now in the hands of executors Ferguson & Donnell.

8/4/25 * Senter buys this lot from Wm. Furness of Medford, Mass.

Shop Locations: William F. Lawrence (w. 1824-1833) Upholsterer & Bedding

3/23/24 Daniel Street, Bedding Warehouse. Commenced business.

12/31/25 Daniel Street, near the parade.

7/1/26 Daniel Street.

1827 D Daniel Street, Bedding Warehouse advertisement.

10/28/28 Daniel Street.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 219

3/17/29 ~ Auction ad to leave Portsmouth.

4/19/30 ~ No. 6 Market Street.

1832 ~ Daniel Street.

2/23/33 ~ No. 15 Market, large store with five extension halls.

6/11/33 ~ Nos. 14 & 15 Market Street.

1834 D Not listed, left for Epping, New Hampshire.

8/18/34 Business taken over by S. Dockum.

Shop Locations: Nathaniel B. March (w. 1809-1827) Saddler

8/15/09 March’s Building.

9/17/11 March’s Building. To let & possession given immediately the shop, offers for sale his whole stock.

1821 D March’s Building.

1827 D March’s Building.

Shop Locations: John Reding (w. 1806-1808) Dealer in Curled Hair

8/24/08 Deer Street, near the Distillery. His house.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 220

Shop Locations: John P. Somerby (w. 1821-1864) Upholsterer

1821 D Saddler, Congress Street.

1827 D Saddler, Congress Street.

1834 D Upholsterer at Dockum’s; h. Bridge Street.

John Somerby & Son (1837-1843)

7/29/37 Penhallow Street, John & Son commencement. Ad states that Somerby is the only regular UPHOLSTERER in Portsmouth, and has more than thirty years experience.

9/16/37 Ad for feathers at Boston prices.

1/1/39 Fire last evening in a two-story wooden building, occupied as a Cabinetmaker and Upholster’s shop, on Penhallow Street by J. Somerby and Son. The building was owned by Capt. Thomas Kittson.

1839 D 18 Congress Street, Cabinet Furniture & Upholstery John Somerby & Son; h. #8 Bridge Street.

Shop Locations: William Sowersby (w. 1784-1837) Upholster

2/21/1784 Shop adjoining Noah Parker’s. From Boston, doing Chaise trimming.

8/27/02 Deed [162:336] from L. Boardman for $400 to Sowersby, chaisetrimmer. (E) side Vaughan Street bounded on (NW) comer of sd. lot to (SW) comer of Wm. Odiome on Vaughan Street (S) on street (E) to Odiome (N) and (W) to bounds.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 221

2/5/05 Vaughan Street. Trimming, Harnessing and Upholster’s Business.

8/23/06 Deed Mortgage [176:133] Sowersby to Boardman $600 for lot #13 on Joshua Street, paid in upholsterers work.

1/ 1/10 Deed [189:80] Sowersby, Trimmer to Boardman for $300. (E) side Vaughan st. (SW) comer of lot adjoining (NW) comer of Boardman’s land 60’(N) of congress St. on Vaughan (E) by Boardman’s land (N) to Henry McClintock, dec. (W) by McClintock (S) by My other land (W) to Vaughan (S) to street to bounds. Shall be left a common passage by land my shop now stands.

2/21/17 Deed [214,35] Sowersby, chaisetrimmer $200.00 by Boardman. Lot on (E) side Vaughan st. 64’ (N) of Congress Street...passage rights of deed 1/1/10, and the premises are all the remainder of the lot I bought of Boardman by his deed 8/27/02.

1821 D Shop Vaughan Street.

1827 D Shop Vaughan Street; h. Islington Street.

1834 D Shop Vaughan Street; h. Cross Street.

Shop Locations: Benjamin Sweetser (w. 1803-1834) Saddler

6/14/03 Congress Street (removed) one door west of Mr. N. S. & W. Peirce’s Bookstore, one door east of Mr. Edward Parry’s store.

10/30/04 Congress Street., opposite northwest comer of the State House. Partnership of Benjamin & John.

1821 D Congress Street.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 222

1827 D Congress Street.

1834 D Congress Street, Washington Sweetser, son of Benjamin.

Shoo Locations: M. C. Thomas (w. 1817) Upholsterer

7/8/17 ~ Congress Street; house next to Dr. Cutter’s recently occupied by Mr. Benjamin Sweetser.

Shop Locations: George Gains (w. 1839+) Clockmaker

7/16/39 ~ No. 14 Market Street. "Commenced the watchmaking business, having several years experience in New York."

Shop Locations: John Gains (1797-1839) Clockmaker

1/22/00 Congress Street, removal to Spring Hill.

2/26/00 Wanted an apprentice to the clockmaking business.

3/17/01 ~ Fore Street, removal to Market Street.

1/11/03 ~ Congress Street.

1811 ~ Daniel Street, Brick Store.

1827 D Congress Street; h. Joshua.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 223 Shop Location: John Pond (w. 1809-1812) Clockmaker

1/27/09 — No. 8 Congress Street, one door west o f the Fire & Marine Insurance Office, directly facing Court Street.

1/20/10 — Married Hannah Willard of Roxbury.

1/15/11 ~ No. 8 Congress Street.

3/9/11 — Daniel Street, Brick Store recently occupied by John Gains.

9/17/11 — Daniel Street.

10/8/11 ~ No. 3 Market Street.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPENDIX C

INVENTORY OF THE DWELLING SHOP OF WILLIAM SENTER TAKEN AT HIS DEATH IN 1827

Dwelling bouse & land in 135ft hard boards and Cabbot [sic] Street 1100.00 joice [sic] at 6 dol .81 lot of land opposite lot maple plank & boards sd. bouse 250.00 309 a 5 doll 6.06 lot of land in Broad lot of pine stuff cut 4.92 Street 800.00 loose stuff under bench 1.50 No 1 lot of mahogany lot birch stuff cut 4.00 80ft a 16ct. 12.80 2 birch work tables No 2 do do 102ft. a lOcts. 10.20 unfinished 4.00 No 3 do do 220ft. a 20ct. 44.00 3 birch dining tables do 7.50 No 4 do do 90ft a 29ct. 26.18 2 mahogany bureaus do do 24.00 No 5 do do 495ft a 1 let. 54.45 1 do without box do do 6.88 No 6 340ft hard wood joice [sic] 1 birch bureau unfinished 3.40 & plank 11 Doll thou 5.94 1 mahogany dining table 4.25 spruce joice [sic] 68ct. .68 1 birch table & two frames 2.70 No 7 838ft pine boards Unfinished Grecian card at 16 Dols 13.40 table frames 6.80 No 8 210 l/2ft mahogany lot mahogany pieces 2.55 plank buy 12ct 43.28 12 1/2 lbs glue 1.87 No 9 118ft slabs a 3ct 3.54 2 sets short bed posts a 3/ 1.00 No 10 185ft plank mahog 4 1/2 do french do a 4/6 3.37 hard at 16 24.60 4 set of field posts a 6/ 4.00 No 11 93ft pieces mahog lot halfthickness pine at 7ct 5.81 boards 38 3.00

2 2 4

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. INVENTORY OF THE CABINETMAKING SHOP OF JUDKINS AND SENTER TAKEN AT THE DEATH OF WILLIAM SENTER IN 1827

2 pine night tables 6.45 1 do strait do 9.00 2 mahogany work tables 13.60 1 mahogany center table 18.00 1 bureau birch ends & top 7.65 1 Grecian Pembrook table mahog 16.00 1 birch pembroke table 1.13 1 birch pembrook table 3.00 1 plain mahogany bureau 6.80 1 grecian work table 2 dressing tables 7.65 without bag 14.00 2 Grecian work tables 20.00 1 Mahog Secretary & book 2 mahogany bureaus case 35.00 projection fronts 17.00 1 small do do do 27.00 1 mahogany bedstead high post 15.00 1 pine writing desk 1.00 1 pr mahogany high posts 6.95 1 wheel barrow 1.28 1 birch French bedstead 3.40 shop in Broad Street 150.00 1 pr mahogany high posts 1 settee 5.00 carved 8.50 1 Grecian sophia frame 6.80 2 birch field bestead lot of brass nails & webbin 1.70 sack bottom 20.00 242ft 9 inch mahogany 1 pr mahogany field posts 5.10 slabs at 5ct 12.12 1 birch bureau 4.00 327ft 11 in mahogany 1 birch work table 1.00 boards 21ct 68.67 1 mahogany bureau with box 4 jointers 2.55 & two draws 18.00 6 face planes 2.55 1 do with box & three draws 18.00 lot of planes .32 1 do without box 12.00 2 brushes .22 1 do birch ends & top 8.00 long jointer & tooth plane 1 pr mahogany dining tables 18.00 & mortise chisel 2.34 3 card tables 24.00 10 smoothing planes 2.98 2 easy chairs 20.00 1 hand saw & one fine do 1.81 1 mahogany pembroke table 76 gouges & chisel 6.46 with castors 11.00 6 pr compasses .53 2 mahogany wash stands 18.00 lot nippers & wrench .85 2 pr Grecian card tables 60.00 1 key hole saw .43 1 extension dining table 25.00 3 spoke shaves .43 2 pine dressing tables 4.00 1 bed key .36 1 mahogany work table 3.50 1 turning gouge .10 1 mahogany night table 9.00 lot of files 1.59 1 Grecian work table 17.00 4 iron squares 1.70

225

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 226

1 lot of wooden squares .85 Jappan pots & brush .62 lot of scrapers .22 2 water pails .22 do do do .08 lot of moulding tools 2.62 2 augers .36 3 jointers 2.34 Bitts & stocks 4.68 4 fore planes 1.13 27 hand screws 5.74 3 smoothing planes 1.07 1 turning saw .85 1 bed key .22 1 large tenant saw 3.19 2 bevils .43 1 veneering saw 1.70 1 rule .22 1 splitting do 1.28 1 oil stone .34 1 lathe 21.25 4 wooden squares .85 tools for do 1.70 1 auger & veneering hammers .62 1 grind stone hung 2.55 10 hand screws at 14ct 2.52 lot of oil stone .32 2 reeding boxes .34 lot of tenant saws 3.40 2 frames .22 lot of hand saws 2.35 1 1/2 doz of commode nobs 5/3 1.32 1 bow saw 1.58 2 doz do do 5/3 1.84 1 stove & funnell 9.35 2 1/2 doz do do 3/6 1.31 2 glue pots & flatiron 5.33 brass & tind tacks 1/4 .25 5 lamps & stands .72 2/3 doz locks 3/ .33 oil canister & oil 1.28 lot of locks without keys 2/6 .75 lot of moulding tools 11.90 1/3 doz locks 7/1 .41 4 hammers .85 1 1/2 set of rockets castors 1.32 gauges .10 1/3 doz brass 10/6 .58 holdfast & hatchet 1.70 1 set paw castors 15/ 2.50 21b iron wire .35 2 sets do do 6/ 2.00 3 boxes screws brads &c 1.35 1/3 doz Commode handles 7/6 .41 lot of patterns 4.25 1 gross screws 2/3 .84 shop desk 1.70 4 doz table hinges a 3/ 2.00 do do .62 2 1/2 doz brad screws a 21 .84 1 rest .85 1 1/2 doz do do do a 2/3 .56 bed cord .17 3 doz brass ornaments a 21 1.00 6 benches 18.70 1 lot of handles odd 9 .12 lot of pots & brushes 1.28 1 set of claw castors 10/6 1.75 3 large canisters 4.68 I do rockett 5/3 .89 2 small do 1.28 3 pr brass hinges a 1/ .50 lot of jugs & bottles .62 5 pr card table hinges a 1/ .84 3 3/4 gal of Varnish & Jappan 7.13 2 doz desk hinges a 9 .25 lot of pumise stone & saw .49 3 pr brass buts a 10 cts .30 2 hand screws .43 2 1/2 pr do at 9 .31 10 bed bottoms 32.73 lot tin tax 9 .12 3 hammers 1.27 3 1/3 doz escutcheons a 10 cts .33 lot of chisels 1.20 lot screws 38 cts .38 1 augur& spoke shave .60 lot brass nobs 20 cts .20 1 pr nippers .22 4 do of bolts at 6/ .33 lot saws 3.34 lot of brads & castors 1/6 .25 hatchett 1.27 lot of old files 1/6 .25 gauges & brush .62 1 set commode nobs 2/3 .37 2 veneering saws 2.55 2 bow saws 4/6 .75 1 set .43 1 lot sundries 1/6 .25

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 227

sand paper 9/ .12 lot whitingII . 17 1/2 yard serge 1/6 .25 78 lb curled hair a l/61b 19.50

Appraised by Langley Boardman, Ebenezer Lord, and Samuel M. Dockum, cabinetmakers

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPENDIX D

SHOP INVENTORY OF LANGLEY BOARDMAN TAKEN AT HIS DEATH IN 1833

1 Dressing Bureau with Glass 20.00 Lot of Various kinds Lumber 8 Ditto for Glasses unfinished @14 112.00 Mahogany, pine, &c 4 Ditto do large size do @15 60.00 in Store Garret 20.00 2 Ditto do Second size do @13 26.00 1 Sofa & Easy chair frame 5.00 4 One pillowed work tables @ 7 28.00 8 sets Birch Field Bedposts 6.50 3 Card Tables @8 24.00 70 lbs Glue 10.00 5 Bureaus second size @13 65.00 Old stove & funnel 2.00 2 Common Bureaus @10 20.00 1 Iron Mortar & Pesde 1.00 2 Writing Desks @7 14.00 Benches, Tools, Grindstone, 2 Bureaus large size @16 32.00 Lathe, Screw Sets, 4 Ditto do Round Drawers @ 15 60.00 &c in Work Shop 34.00 2 Do Second size square pillows @14 28.00 Lot of Mahogany Veneers 250.00 4 Large Center tables @12.50 50.00 4 M pine lumber 50.00 ISmall Do @11 11.00 Lot of Mahogany Logs, plank 2 Pembroke tables Square pillows @12 36.00 Boards & Slabs, 2 Do Common @5 10.00 3000 feet @10 300.00 2 Large Dining Tables @8 16.00 One lot of Land with the 6 pair Swelled Frame Dwelling House & out Card Tables @16 96.00 Buildings theron Bounded 6 do Hollow Frame Ditto @16 96.00 by Middle Street 4700.00 2 do Rat do do @16 32.00 One lot of land bounded by Congress 6 Dressing Tables @4 24.00 Street, Vaughan Street...with 2 Work Tables with Bags @8 16.00 the buildings thereon occupied 1 Common Wash Stand 3.00 as a Tavern, Stores & Stable 1 Sofa Hair cloth covered 25.00 and other out Buildings 1 Small card table 4.00 18000.00 1 Unfinished Sofa Frame 10.00 One lot of Land Bounded by Jaffiey Street, 1 Ditto do do 4.00 Church Street, and by Court Street 2 pine Night Tables 4.00 with the Buildings thereon. Occupied 3 Common Work Tables 3.00 as a Cabinet Makers Shop 2 Mahogany high Bedposts 4.00 2100.00 1 Old Book case 2.00 1 Bow Window & Frame 4.00 Appraised by Robert Lefavour, Joseph S. 1 Easy Chair Frame 1.50 Ayers, James Shapley.

2 2 8

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPENDIX E

MORTGAGE OF SHOP INVENTORY SAMUEL M. DOCKUM 1837

Twelve Card Tables, ten Bureaus, two Bureaus, one portable writing desk, one Rocking Chair, eight O. G. Sofas, one Bale of Ticking, one lot of Bedsteads, four block foot Pembroke Tables, two grecian pembroke Tables, two dining Tables, six double Wash Stands, six dressing Tables, sue Centre [k'c] Tables, four Card Tables, four Work Tables, four block foot Work Tables, Ten Sofa frames, six grecian Work Tables, eight grecian Chairs, four grecian Work Tables, three Bedsteads, two Bedsteads, five pine Work Tables, six round rail Sofas, five mahogany gilt Looking Glasses, two Clocks, one centre [ric] Table, one Pier Table, one dressing Table, two Bureaus, two common Sofas, one dressing Table, two wash Stands, two common Work Tables, two grecian Work tables, fourteen toilet tables, three mahogany Chairs, one Astral [«c] Lamp, two dressing Boxes, four Looking Glasses, two framed Glasses, one Basket & Curtains, one lot of Chairs, Bedstead & Stove, one horse power & lathes, one lot of mahogany & legs, forty seven cane seat Chairs, twenty five wood seat Chairs, thirteen wood seat chairs, thirty six wood seat chairs, three wood sear chairs, five grecian Dining Tables, twenty eight hundred and ninety seven feet of Mahogany boards, twenty five hundred & sixty three feet Mahogany Plank, three of Pine Lumber, one lot of Veneers, five Stoves & funnel, fourteen Benches & tools, one clock, one Bbl of Glue, one lot of Upholstery, one lot of feathers, one lot of unfinished Tables, twenty gallons Varnish, four gallons Japan, twenty nine Bureaus, five [ ], [ ] pembroke tables, [other furniture- illegible], twenty one pair Card Tables, two pair Card Tables, one Horse, one Chaise and harness.

Samuel Larkin, Deputy Sheriff, April 17, 1837

2 2 9

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPENDIX F

PATRONS IN ACCOUNT BOOK OF SAMUEL M. DOCKUM 1829-1834

WITH OCCUPATIONS DRAWN FROM

THE 1827 AND 1834 PORTSMOUTH DIRECTORIES

230

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 231 NAME PAGE 1827 DIRECTORY 1834 DIRECTORY

Abbot, John (58) Morocco Dresser Morocco Dresser Manufactory Manufactory or or John W. Jr., Gold & John E. Mariner Silversmith or Physician

Akerman, Joseph (2,74,94) Sr., Cordwainer Aqueduct Agent Jr., Sheriff, and or Aqueduct Agent Joseph D. & A. Jones Livery Stables

Akerman, Leonard (1) X Merchant, Grocer [s:State & Ark] [hrMarlborough]

Adams, John (62) X X

Adams, George (39) X Mariner [School St.]

Adams, Mark (51) X Cabinetmaker [h:Jaffrey St.]

Adams, Thomas A. (63) [Boarding at Mrs. Orne’s] [Bdg. at Rockingham House]

Allen, John L. (16) X X (Manchester)

Ames, Mr. (9) X John, Carpenter [S.Parade, back of Old South Church]

Anderson, Lt. (145) Andrew (?) Andrew, Marino* [hrWater] [h:Pickering's Lane]

Andrews, Mr. (13) X X (Navy Yard)

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 232

Aniball, Robert (63) Stage Driver Boston Mail (Amiable) Stage Driver [Fleet St.]

Badger, John L. (123) Caulker S. B. Lord & Co. Ship Carpenters & Caulkers [h:Daniel & Bow]

Badger, William (144) Cabinetmaker [h:Daniel St.]

Bailey, Capt. (36) Joshua, Shipmaster Bdg. at Nathl. Brown’s or William, Mariner

Bailey, Thomas D. (141) Grocer & Wood Inspector of Customs Wharfinger & Dealer in ber[?] [s:Long Wharf] [h:Pitt St.]

Ball, John (53) Dry Goods Merchant Dry Goods Merchant [Washington & State]

Banks, Edward (90) Grocer Grocer [Deer & Fore] [Fore St.

Barker, Mrs. (123) (Stratham)

Barker, Jonathan (36a) Mason or Grocer wilh SmL Wiggin

Barker & Wiggin (106) Grocers Grocers, see above Jonathan & Samuel

Barnes, Capt. L. (70) Shipmaster Merchant (Capt. Lewis Barnes) [s:Pier Bldgs.] [h:Islington St.]

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 2 3 3

Bartlett, Mr. (68 ) Enoch, Butcher Butcher [Liberty Square]

Beck, Gideon (76) Printer Gideon & A. Greenleaf Printers, N. H. Gazette [s:Court St.] [hrJaffrey]

Bell, Andrew W. (77) Merchant Merchant A. W. Jr., & J. Tredick or A.WJr., & Samuel McClintock, Ship Chandlery Store

Bell, Robert (74) Truckman Truckman [Cross St.]

Bennett, John (93) Collector of Town Clerk Taxes [s:State St.] [h:South St.]

Bickford, Henry (44) (Brewster)

Blake, Asa (104) Morocco Dresser Morocco Dresser at John Abbott’s [h:Bridge St.]

Blunt, Capt. 0. (69) Shipmaster Shipmaster [h:Broad St.]

Blunt, J. S. (36a) Portrait & Ornamental Painter

Boardman, Langley (46) Cabinetmaker [s:Court & Jaffrey] [h:Middle]

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 234

Bodge, William (77) Grocer Grocer,firm Bodge & J.D.Pillow [s:Ceres St.] [h:School]

Bourne, James T. (78) X Boot & Shoe Store [s:Market] [h:Bdg. at John Freeland's, State St.]

Bracket, George (54) X X (Greenland)

Bracket, William L. (130) X X (Greenland)

Brewster, Charles W. (24,46) Printer of Portsmouth Printer of Portsmouth Journal Journal [h:Islington]

Brewster, G[eorge] G. (10) Watchmaker & Watchmaker Surgeon Dentist [s:Court St.] [s:Congress St.] [h:Islington] [b: Islington]

Brown, — Esq. (125) ? too many ?

Brown, Edmund M. (6,102) Cabinetmaker Cabinetmaker [Middle St.] [s:Fore St.] [h:Ark St.]

Brown, George (77) X Truckman or Cordwainer

Brown, Haskell (33) X Truckman [hrHigh St.]

Brown, Whitney & Co. (47)

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Buckminster, Madam (32) Widow of Joseph (?) Widow [h:Islington & Broad]

Burbank (134) X Paul D., Baker [h:Franklin St.]

Burroughs, Rev. Charles (45) [Pleasant St.] Rector, Saint John’s Church [h:Fore St.]

Call, Elizabeth, Est. of (91) [h: Islington] X

Carr, James (71) X Cordwainer at E.C. Crane’s [h:Pitt St.]

Carter, Benjamin (57) Grocer Grocer [s:Congress & Church] [hrSchool]

Carter, William D. (90) X Grocer [Congress St.]

Cater, Charles (62) X Boot & Shoe Manufactory [s:Bow St.] [h:Washington St.]

Cator, Mr. (85) X see Charles D. Cater

Chamberlain, Samuel (130) X Samuel T., Painter [hrWashington]

Chase, Charles (A.) (15) Physician [Two doors east of Methodist Church]

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 236

Chase, John (121) Butcher Shipmaster [h:Bow St.]

Chase, John G. & Co. (124) John, Shipmaster

Chase, William (12) [h:Washington & Pitt] or Ropemaker

Cheevers, — (106) Cordwainer X or or Charles, Physician Charles, Physician or Joseph [High St.]

Cheevers, Mrs. (114) Ruth (?), Straw- Bonnrt Maker [h:Cross St.]

Cheever, Benjamin (10) [Bridge St.] Jr., Tailor Shop Jr., Clothing Warehouse [s:Market St.] [h:Cross St.]

Cheever, Benj. & Co. (107)

Cheever, Benj. Jr. & Co. (143) Tailor Shop Clothing Warehouse

Cheever, Joseph (107) [h:High]

Clapham, Thomas (20) Baker Baker [Mason St.] [Mason St.]

Clark, Robert (66) (Newburyport)

Clasby, J. G. (108 ) Oil Merchant Oil Merchant [s:Bow St.] [h:Broad St.]

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 237

Cleaves, Samuel (120) John Rugg & Rugg & Cleaves Cleaves, Tallow Soap & Candle Chandlers Manufactory [h:Mill St.]

Clipperd, Miss E. (78) (Exeter)

Coe, John (130) (Dover)

Colby, Jacob (49)

Cooper, Miss (56) Mary (?), Instructress, Juvenile Study [s:Broad St.] [hrlslington St.]

Cooper, Mr. (47) (Burser, U.S. Navy)

Cooper, Mr. (113) SamueL, Music Professor or John P., Clerk at Meshach B. Trundy’s

Cotton, Leonard (25) Merchant Merchant [Washington St. [s:No. 8 Pier wharf] [h: Washington&Cold]

County of Rockingham (25)

Crane, Elisha C. (40) Shoe Store Boot & Shoe Store [s:Market St.] [h:Deer St.]

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 238

Currier, Joseph B. (45) X Butcher [s:Brick Market] [h:Pitt St.]

Currier, Thomas (16) Butcher [s:Brick Market] [h: Washington & Pitt]

Cushing, Charles (54) Merchant Merchant [Fore St.]

Cushing, James (127) (S. Berwick)

Cutter, Jacob (77) Merchant Merchant [Islington St.]

Cutts, Edward (7) Attorney Attorney [srMarket & Congress] [s:Congress St.] [h:Middle St.] [hrBroad & Prison St.]

Dame, Nathaniel, T. (46)

Dame, William (90) Driver, Concord Wagon [Wibird Hill]

Davenport, John (180) Boarding House Boarding House [Broad & Fleet]

Davis, Reverend (22)

Davis & Walker (48) Sailmakers Sailmakers Theodore & Joseph [s:Pier Wharf] [h:Bdg. at J. Davis']

Day, Joseph L. (143)

Dearborn, Daniel (38,50) Laborer Cabinetmaker at [h:Cabot] S. Dockum’s [h:Cabot St.]

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 239

Dearborn, William (84) X Laborer at S. Dockum’s

Dennett, George, Jr. (73) Joiner Grocer (George) (George) or or Boatbuilder Mariner (George B.) (George B. Jr.)

Dennett, Mark (78,105) Farmer Fanner [North St.]

Dockum & Oxford (57) John Jr. - Truckman Truckman Edward - Truckman

Dockum, Ephraim (20, 141) Truckman Truckman [h:Deer St.] [h:Deer St.]

Dove, Mrs. (42) X

Dow, Amos (79) X

Dow, Eliza A. (63) X X

Drown, Daniel P. (31) Town Clerk & Collector of Notary Public Customs [h:Rock]

Dunyan, John (133) X Confectioner or John Durgan, mariner Laborer

Dupray, Francis (87) Grocer Confectioner [s: Market & Bow] [h:Deer]

Dwight, Josiah (20) Physician Physician [h:PIeasant] [h: Pleasant]

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 240

Fagg, John (barber) (135) X X

Farrer, Timothy (48) Attorney [s:Broad & Court] [h:Middle]

Femald, William (76) Mast & Blockmakers Femald & Martin [s:Islington]

Fishley, Benjamin (37) Sailmaker Sailmaker [s:Fore St.] [h:Sbeaf St.]

Flanders, Capt. (68 ) Charles, Shipmaster [Mark Lane]

Franklin, F. A. (103) Accountant [Middle St.]

Fogg, James (83) Distiller Laborer [Bdg. at E. Dockum’s]

Fogg, John (21) X

Folsom, Gilman (J) (25) X Grocer [s:Bow St.] [h: Pleasant]

Folsom, Nathaniel (23) Jr., Shipmaster Jr., Grocer [h:Daniel] [s:Court St.] [h:Pond & Church]

Foster, Robert (19,89) Printer,Bookseller Printer,Christian Herald [s:Daniel St.] [s:Penhallow St.] [h:Cross St.] [h:Cross St.]

Fowle, Jonathan (34) (or Towle)

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 241

Foyc, Stephen (72) Joiner Joiner [h:Pitt St.]

Freeland, John (18) Master Carpenter [s:Navy Yard] [h:State St.]

Furness, Mrs. (138) X

Garland, Mr. (32) Laborer Laborer Thomas (?) or Benj., Truckman

Gerrish, Samuel (28) Brass Founder Brass Founders [s: Bow St.] Samuel & Son [h:High St.] [s:Bow St.] [hrHigh St.]

Gingalls, Walter (29) X (of Sanbomton)

Goddard, William (84) Physician Merchant [Broad St.]

Goodrich, James (89) Wood & Lumber Packetmaster [Wharf, east end of [s:Long Lane] Daniel St.] [h:Partridge St.]

Goodrich, Jeremiah D. (43) [Water St.] Boot, Shoe, Leather Store & Dealer in Wood [Water St.]

Goodrich, John (15) Wood Wharfinger Packer Master & Grocer or [s: Daniel & Langdon] Cooper John C. [h:Cross St.]

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 242

Gray, Robert (122) Goldsmith & Gold & Silversmith Jeweler [s:Congress St.] [h:Vaughan St.]

Green, Joseph (17) Carver & Boatbuilder Boatbuilder [s:Sherburne's Wharf] [s:Long’s Wharf, [h:Jackson St.] Fore St.] [h:Joshua St.]

Greenleaf, Abner (37) Schoolmaster Postmaster [h:South St.]

Gregory, John (66) Grocery Store

Gunnerson, James (59) Packetmaster [South St.]

Gurney, Mr. (48) Robert, Wheelwright [Washington St.]

Hadley, Mr. (40) Joshua G ? Joshua G. & Ichabod Rollins, Merchants [h:Pond St.]

Hadley & Clark (115) X Joshua G. Hadley & Alice G. Clark, Farmer’s Hotel [Court St.]

Hale, Samuel (75) Jr., Merchant S. Hale & Ichabod Rollins, Merchants [s:Water St.] [hrJaffrey St.]

Haliburton, A. (69) Cashier [Islington St.] Andrew Halliburton

Hall, Timothy (132) [h:State St.]

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 243

Ham, Supply (61) Watchmaker Watchmaker [s:Congress St.) [h:Islington St.]

Hancock, William (65) X X (Boston)

Handy, William E. (65) William R. Hardy, W. R. Hardy Tailor Tailor [s:Congress St.] [Bdg. at Mrs. Jaf&ey’s]

Hanscomb, Oliver (135) X Cooper [srSIaughterhouse Lane] [h:North St.]

Hanscomb, Wilt (?) (29) X X

Hardy, William R. (65) See Handy, Wm. E.

Harris, Theodore (119) Shipmaster Shipmaster [h:Daniel & Bow]

Han, Hanson M., Jr. (95,100) Custom House Packetmaster Officer [h:Bridge St.]

Han, Henry (43) X

Harvey, John S. (60) Grocer & Stock Exchange Broker [s:Congress & Vaughan] [h:Vaughan St.]

Haselton. Ira (82) Goldsmith & Stove dealer Jewler & Tin Plate worker [s:Congress St. [h: Islington & Bartlett]

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 244

Haskell, Nathaniel (30) X X (Newburyport)

Hatch, John K. (112) X X

Haven, Mrs. (54) Mary, Widow X [h:High St.]

Haven, John (101) N. A. & John Haven Merchant Merchants [h:Islington St.]

Haven, Mrs. (54) Mary, Widow X [b:High St.]

Haven, Widow N. (95) Eliza, Widow of Nathan A. Jr. X [h:Pleasant St.]

Haywood, Mr. (44) X X

Head, Mrs. (35) X X

Henderson, Robert (8) Grocer Groce' [s:Congress St.] [s:Congress St.] [h:Rock Pasture]

Hill, William (119) Jr., Mariner [Vaughan St.]

Hobbs, Mr. (58) X X

Hodgsdon, Benjamin (52) Farmer Farmer

Holman, Joshua (146) X X

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 245

How, Moses (32) Pastor, First Baptist Church [h:Islington & Rock]

Hubbard, Dr. (22) (Joshua, Druggist)

Huntress, George (125) Bookbinder Bookbinder [s:Daniei St.] [h:Mill St.]

Hussey, Andrew (88) Shipmaster Farmer (Capt.)

Hutchings, Brackett (110) Druggist Druggist/Apothecary [s:Market St.] [b:Vaughan St.]

Isley & Rand (134) Hat Manufactory Hatters Wm. Isley, Oliver Brooks Isley & Rand & Henry Rand [s:Penhallow St.]

Jaffrey, George Esq. (124) [hrState St.] [b:State St.]

Jenness, George W. (36, 109) Cabinetmaker at S. Dockum’s [Bdg. at Mis. Goodrich’s]

Jenness, Richard (12,75,97) Hardware Store [s:Market & Ladd] [h:Pleasant St.]

Jewett, J. F. T. (126) (So. Berwick)

Johnson, Jeremiah (91) Ropemaker Patent Cordage Manufactory [South St.]

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 246

Johnson, Joshua (1) Livery Stables Livery Stables [Cross St.] [Cross St.]

Jones, Capt. Thomas (57) Shipmaster [Water St.]

Jones, William (11, 21, Jr.’s a Merchant Jr. & Son, Dry Goods 104,123) Dry Goods or [s: No. 8 Market St.] Wm, Mariner [h:State St.]

Jones, Zacheus (19) Laborer Laborer [Marlborough St. [Noble’s Island]

Joy, Alfred T. (73,142) Cabinetmaker at S. Dockum’s [hzManning St]

Judkins, Jonathan (17,114) Cabinetmaker Cabinetmaker [siBroad St.] [s: Broad & Court] [h:Roger’s St.] [h:Roger’s St.]

Kenard, Oliver L. (99) K. & Elisha Whidden Grocer Merchants, Grocery [srFore St.] [h:Fore & Russell]

Kimball, David (13,112) Druggist Druggist/ Apothecary [Bow & Market] [s:Market St.] [h:Austin St.]

Kingsbury, Benjamin (87) Clerk at Wm. Bodge’s [Ceres St.]

Kitteridge, Dr. (Rufus) (42) Physician Physician [Comer Vaughan &Cross|

Knight, Daniel (41, 93) of Hale & Knight Hatter Hat Store [srMarket St] [h:Islington St.]

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Knight, Joshua (110) Line Manufactory Hatter, Joshua [b:Islington St.]

Knowlton, John (21) Blacksmith Blacksmith [Daniel St.] [Daniel St.]

Knowlton, Josiah (119) Josiah C., Backet Master [Atkinson St.]

Ladd, Henry H. (4S) Ladd & Alexander Simes & Ladd at Merchants Henry Ladd’s Ship Chandlery Store [s:Fore St.] [h:Bdg. at H. Ladd’s.Middle St.]

Laighton, Charles E. (41) Merchant Grocer [s:State & Washington] [h:Daniel St.]

Laighton, Joseph W. (76) Grocer & Lumber Dealer [s:Fore St.] [h:School St.]

Laighton, Mark, Estate (56) Mastmaker X

Laighton, Thomas B. (129) Grocer Clerk, Post Office [b:Daniel St.]

Laighton, William (39) X

Langdon, John (113) Merchant Merchant [Islington & Bridge]

Larkin, Samuel (23) Auction & Auction & Commission Commission Merchant Merchant [s:Court St.] [s:TreadweU’s Building] [h:Middle St.] [h:Middle St.]

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 248

Lawrence, Wm. F. (89) Bedding Warehouse [szDaniel St.] [h:No.4 Sycamore Place]

Leavitt, Maj. (116) Gilman Leavitt Gilman, Butcher Sr., Jr., Butchers or William, Laborer

Lefavour, Robert (27) Morocco Dresser Morocco Dresser [s:High & Cross] [s:High & Cross] [h:Cross]

Lewis, Andrew (62) Cabinetmaker Cabinetmaker [High Street] [s:Court & Jaf&ey] [h: Vaughan & Cross]

Libby, Mr. Albert (4,9)

Libby, Asa (3,65,140) Cabinetmaker at S. Dockum’s

Libby, David (34) Tanner Tanner and Courier [srSpring St.] [h:Deer St.]

Libby, Simon (82) X X

Little, S. & Son (112) X X

Little, William D. (83) Tallow Chandler Tallow Chandler [s:Cross & Bridge] [h:Vaughan St.]

Locke, Hiram (84) Keeper Mansion House [Congress St.]

Lock (or Locke), John (52) Painter, Glazier Painter, Glazier [s:Penhallow St.] [h:Water St.]

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 249

Locke, James M. (109) X Grocer [h:Pickering’s Lane]

Lord, A. (widow) (94) Charlotte, Widow Widow of Augustus

Lord, Capt. E. (9) Cabinetmaker Cabinetmaker [s:Penhallow] [s:Penhallow] [h:Maudlin La^e] [h:Maudlin Lane]

Lord, Samuel (84) Cashier Cashier, Piscataqua Bank [h:Middle St.]

Loud, Solomon (38) X X (Boston)

Lowd, Daniel (85) Joiner Joiner

Lowe, Capt. John (104) Shipmaster Shipmaster

Lunt, J. L. (11,91) Dry Goods Merchant X Jeremiah Lunt with Stephen H. Simes [s:No. 9 Market St.) [h:Lunt’s Court]

Lyman, Mr. (53) X JohnP.(?), Steel & Iron [s:Fore St.] [h:High & School]

Lyman, Mrs. (42) X X

Mackentosh, Donald (38) X X

March, Nathaniel B. (92) Saddler Saddler [s:Daniel St.] [h:State St.]

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 250

March, Oliver (86) [h:State St.]

Marden, James (87) Joiner Teamster & Farmer [South Rd.]

Marsh, Jeremiah (122)

Martin, William (4) Wm. M., Blockmaker Martin & Wm. Femald or Mast & Blockmakers Shipmaster [srLong’s Wharf] [h:Bridge St.]

Martin, William & Co. (36a) see above

Mason, Miss (67) Nurse (Mercy)

Mason, Jeremiah (70) Counsellor at Law

McClintock & Adams (61) John, Merchant McClintock & W. I. Goods Austin T. Adams John Jr. .Mariner Auction & Sami., Mariner Commission Merchants

McClintock, Samuel (94) Mariner Ship Chandlery Store [h:State St.]

Melcher, George (92) Packetmaster Shipmaster Pleasant St.]

Mendum, Samuel (7) Cordwainer Grocer, Snuff & [Mason St.] Tobacco Manufactory [s:Congress] [h: Islington]

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 251

Merrill, Nathan (113) Schoolmaster or Nathl. W., Shipmaster

Messer, Mrs. (82) Widow, of William

Miller & Brewster (24) Printers of Printers of Portsmouth Journal Portsmouth Journal [srLadd St. I [srLadd St.]

Moody, Mr. (55) Wm.(?), Tanner

Morrison & Willard (86) see Morrison, Willard

Morrison, Mr. (86) Robert, Schoolmaster Teacher, private school [Boyd’s Rd.[

Morrison, Jonathan (34) Tin plate Worker Stove Dealers & Tin Plate workers of Morrison & Willard [s:Daniel St.] [hrAkerman St.]

Morss, J. (116, 137) James Jr., Dry Goods Store [s:Market St.] [Bdg. Rockingham House]

Moses, Aaron (57) Joiner Joiner [Water St.]

Moses, James, Jr. (122) Farmer Farmer [Sagamore Creek]

Moses, Nehemiah (22) Clothing Warehouse Clothing Warehouse [s:Merchant’s Row, [No. 9 w. side Fore St.] Market] [h:Jackson St.] [hrJaffrey St.]

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 252

Moulton, B. (Benjamin) (18) Cordwainer Tanner, Courier [s:State St.] & Cordwainer [h:Roger’s St. [s Dock St.] [h: Washington & Dock]

Murphy, Joseph (49,31) (Berwick)

Neal, Robert (137) Inspector of the Keeper of the Customs Alms House [Jaffrey St.]

Newburyport Chair (88) Manufactory Company

New York Shipment (83)

Noble, J. & M. (34) No "J". Moses was Jeremiah, Moses Mariner or ropemaker on Nobles Island, no occupation

Nonus, Captain (41)

Norris, Benjamin (90) Ropemaker [h:Cabot St.]

Norton, George (87)

Norton, John (26) Joiner Joiner [Anthony St.] [Anthony St.] or Joiner [Mechanic St.

Nowell, William G. (128) Cabinetmaker at S. Dockum’s

Nutter, Mrs., Vaughan St.(100)

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 253

Nutter, Benjamin (115) Joiner Joiner [Partridge St.] [Partridge St.]

Oxford, John (82 ) see Dockum & Oxford, (57)

Pearson, John (2) Baker [Bow St.]

Peirce, George (147) Joiner Joiner [Cross & High]

Perkins, James (122) Distiller Truckman [Russell St.]

Persentee[?], John (109)

Philbrick, David (3) Truckman Truckman [Washington St. [Dock St.]

Pickering, J. W. (79) Grocer [s:Court St.] [h:Rundlet & Massey]

Pickering, Jacob S. (79) Cashier Cashier, Rockingham Bank [h:Vaughan St.]

Pickering, John K. (39) Importer of Hardware [h:Pleasant St.]

Pickering, Martha (67) X X (Newburyport)

Pickering, William L. (4) Harris & Pickering Hardware Merchants [Market St.]

Pierpont, Dr. James H. (7,123) Physician Physician [Broad St.] [Middle St.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 2 5 4

Pillow, J. D. (75) Grocery Store Bodge & Pillow Grocers [s:Market St.] [h:Islington St.]

Piper, Moses (30) Saddler

Place, James (36,106,121, Shipmaster Grocer 145) [Market St.]

Plaisted, Charles (60)

Plaitard, Elisha (60) Elisha Plaisted & J. S. With T. Hoit, Nutter, Traders in Wood, Dealers in lumber & lime wood, lumber [s:Water St.] [hrJaffrey & Mark Lane]

Plumer, Avery (139) Baker Baker

Portsmouth Bank (71)

Potter, — (130) Oliver, Keeper of Oliver, Laborer Bell Tavern or Chandler E., of the firm Underwood & Co., Patent Cordage Manufactory

Prescott, Mrs. (124) Hannah, widow (?)

Priest, Michael L. (129) Physician [High St.]

Rand, R[e]uben (18) Victualler Farmer [s:Court St.] [Lafayette Rd.] [h:Mason St.]

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 255

Rea, Samuel (58) Keeper, Bell Tavern [Congress St.)

Remick, Elbridge (35)

Rymes, William (116) Blacksmith Black/White Smith [Bow St.]

Rice, John (61) Cashier Cashier, N.H. Union Bank [h:Jaffrey St.]

Ricker, William S. (32) (Rochester)

Roberts, Edmund (40) Merchant [h: Joshua St.]

Roberts, James (33) Cordwainer Boot & shoe Manufactory [s:Fore St.] [h:Jafffrey St.]

Roberts, Jonathan (26,128) Dealer in Wood or Laborer

Robinson, Ezra (55)

Robinson, Joseph E. (126) Hotel & Stage Keeper of Office Portsmouth Hotel & General Stage Office [Congress St.]

Robinson, Nathan (55) Cordwainer [h:Comwall St.]

Rogers, Nathaniel (100) Grocery Store Grocer [h:Daniel St.]

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 256

Rogers & Haskell (117) (of Boston)

Rogers, S. G. (37)

Ross, Evans (92) Jonerwkh Geo. Wingae [s:No.9 Pier Wharf) [hrPickering’s Lane]

Rowe, Theodore F. (28) Joiner [Bdg. at Eban Rowe’s]

Rundlet, James (14) Merchant Merchant [Market St.] [s:Market St.] [h:Middle St.]

Russell G. G. (27) (Boston)

Safford, Mr. Robert (129) (Kittery [Maine])

Salter, Capt. Henry (54) Shipmaster Shipmaster [h:Jaffrey St.]

Shaw, William (53) Merchant Merchant [State St.]

Sheafe, Jacob (15) Merchant Clerk in Loan Office or [h: Middle & Joshua] Jr., Merchant

Sheafe, James (14) Merchant [s:Fore St.] [h:State St.]

Sheapherd, John W. (59) Laborer

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 257

Ship Sarah Parker (56) X X

Shipment to Boston (111)

Shipment to Portland (111)

Simes & Ladd (94) Ship Chandlery Store [s:Fore St.) John D. Simes & Henry H. Ladd

Simes, George (24) Livery Stables [Jaffrey St.]

Simes, John D. (122) John, Clerk at Navy Yard or see Simes & Ladd

S. H. Simes (108) see below

Simes & Lunt (10) Dry Goods Merchant Merchant Stephen H. & Jeremiah L. [s:No. 9 Mkt. St.] [h: Daniel]

Simes, Miss Sarah (91)

Simpson, John (92)

Sise, Joseph G. (52) Grocer [s:Fore & Cross] [h:High St.]

Sisel, Joseph G. (128)

Sives, Edward T. (13)

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 258

Smith, Dr. J. H. (96) X (Dover)

Smith, James (36a) Attorney Grocer

Smith, John (8, 80) Painter, Glazier Painter, Glazier [s:CongressI [srPenhallow] [h:Cabot] [hrDaniel]

Somerby, W. F. (92) Saddler & Hay Sailmaker Weigher [s:Central Wharf] (W. F. Somersby) [h:Maudlin St.]

Somer[s]by, John (5,109,118) Saddler Upholster at (127,131) S. Dockum's [h:Bridge St.]

Somersby, Sherborne (73)

Southerin, William J. (12) W. I. Goods & Provisions Store [s:No. 1 Rindge Bldg. [h:Bow St.]

St. John’s, Wardens of (98)

Staples, Joshua (86 ) Blacksmith Blacksmith [s:Daniel St.] [h:Chapel St.]

Stearns, Alfred (92) Bookbinder [s:Market St.] [h:Chapel St.]

Stevens, Mrs. (71) Boarding House Boarding House (Mrs. Elizabeth L.) llslingtonSt.]

Steward, Est. of Miss (96) Lucreda

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 259

Stickney, John (129,136) X Upholsterer at S. Dockum’s [h:South St.]

Stickney, William (139) Cordwainer at Crane’s [h:Mason St.]

Stockman, John (92) Laborer [Islington St.]

Stocles, John (107) X (Exeter)

Storer, Widow (146) Dorothy, Widow of Clement [Congress & Middle]

Stover, Capt. Washington (123) X (Storer ?)

Sweetser, Mr. (100) X (Newburyport)

Sweetser, Jacob (8) Dry Goods Store X [s:Market St.] [h:Austin St.]

Tappan, Abner (89) X (Newburyport)

Tappan, George (43) X (Newburyport)

Tappan, Stephen (88) X X (Dover)

Tarr, Benjamin (147) Stage Driver X

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 260

Tarr, Seth (104) Boarding House [Ladd St.]

Taylor & Waldron (79) Importers of Crockery & Glassware

Taylor, Daniel (24) Crockery & Glassware Crockery/Glass Importers -Daniel & Importers S. Waldron [No. 1 Fore] [s:Fore St.] [h:Sheafe St.]

Teipe, Mrs. (67)

Tisdale, Capt. (45) Wm., Shipmaster [Fore St.]

Thompson, Capt. (26) Too many Too many

Thompson, James (48) Tallow Chandler Tallow Chandler & Sexton 1st Congregational Society [h:Deer St.]

Toppan, C. S. (121) Merchant Merchant (Christopher) [h:Vaughan St.

Toppan, S. (U) (Dover)

Towne, Rev. Jos. H. (132)

Trafton, Forrest [?) (144) X

Trundy, John (28) Compassmaker Mathematical [s:Penhallow] Instrument Maker [h:South St.] [s:Bow St.] [h:Cross St.]

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 261

Trundy, Meshach B. (113) Merchant, W. I. Wholesale & Goods Retail Grocer [s:Fore St.] [h:Daniel St.]

Tucker, Timothy (70) Wheelwright Wheelwright [s:Broad St.] [hrPeirce St.]

Tuckerman, Capt. Wm. (100) Packetmaster Packetmaster [h:Ann St.]

Turner, Miss Sarah [D] (2) X [Vaughan St.]

Upham, Timothy (126) Collector of Merchant at Customs Joseph B. Upham’s wholesale & retail grocer [h:Ausdn St.]

U.S. Navy Dept. (117)

Varrell, Hall (55) Cooper Cooper [s:Foundery Lane] [h:Church Hill, Bow St]

Varrill, William (72) X Painter [North St.

Walde, John M. (81) Blacksmith Blacksmith [Water St.]

Waldron, Gideon (104) Meal Manufacturer Extra Stage Driver or Miller

Waldron, Samuel W. (79) see Taylor & Waldron

Walker & Stems (114)

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 262

Walker, Charles (108 ) Theodore Davis & Sailmaker C. W., Sailmakers or Musician

Walker, John S. (126) Cordwainer Tanner, Courier & Cordwainer [North St.]

Walker, Jonathan J. (44) Tavern Keeper Tavern Keeper [Fore St.]

Walker, Nathaniel (83) Farmer Laborer [Middle St.

Walton, John (ill) Grocer [Dock Lane]

Walton, Joseph, Jr. (93) Cooper Cooper [h:Russell St.]

Watkins, Thomas (27) Truckman Truckman [Dock Lane] [s:Dock & Constable] [h:Dock Lane]

Watson, Capt. (68 ) (Navy)

Watson, Joseph, Esq. (64) estate of

Weeks, Gideon (760) Grocer [Vaughan & Cross]

Weeks, William (60) Schoolmaster Printer & Boarding House [Vaughan & Cross]

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 263

Wendell, Ed. L. (133) Edmund, Mariner Edward, Grocer [s:Water St.] [h:Gates St.]

Whexren]?], Alex, Est. (138)

Wheelwright, Ebenezer (29,99) Flour Store Merchant [srMerchants Row] [No. 11 Merchants [h:Islington] Row, Fore St.] [h:Broad St.]

Whidden, Cesar (64) Esek, Laborer

Whidden, Joshua B. (23) Merchant, Grocery [srMarket St.] [h: Vaughan]

Whipple, Joseph (129)

Wiggin, Asa (30) [h:State St.] (Stratham)

Wiggin, Anna R. (115) X

Wiggin, Daniel, Jr. (120)

Willard, Geo. P. & Co. (19,86) Morrison & Willard Stove Dealers & Tin Plate Workers [s:Granite Bldg.] [h:Daniel St.]

Wilker & Knight (72)

Wilson, Joseph (53) Purser [h:Pleasant St.]

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 264

Wingate, Francis (96) Joiner F. W. & Co. with [s:Bow St. Edmund Q. Sheafe Lumber Wharf, Sheafe’s Wharf [s:Water St.] [h:Cross St.]

Woodbury, Edward (47) (Newburyport)

Yeaton, John (84) Boarding House Boarding House or jr.. Grocer

Yeaton, Joseph (58) Mariner

Yeaton, Moses (99,148)

Yeaton, Orlando (33) Grocer Flour & Corn Dealer [s:Bow St.] [h:Market St.]

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPENDIX G

ACCOUNT BOOK SHOP PRODUCTION

SAMUEL M. DOCKUM 1829-1834

265

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 266

Output for 1829

2.60% 2.60% ■ Furniture Forms i □ Other Forms |

B Upholstery Wrk j

B Cabinetry j I H Joiner's Work |

s Repairs/Alterat. j I ID Lumber/Veneer j

^ Supplies | 19 .48 %

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 267

Output for 1830

6.25% j f l Furniture Forms

! G Other Forms

j f i Upholstery Wrk

| S Cabinetry

; H Joiner's Work i = Repairs/Alterat.

i ID Lumber/Veneer j i : §§ Supplies 23.30%

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 268

Output for 1831

6.79 % I Furniture Forms ;

12.04% L_ Other Forms 34 .88 % 9 Upholstery Wrk

9 Cabinetry 12.35% H Joiner's Work !

= Repairs/Alterat. 2.16% ID Lumber/Veneer

16.05% 12.35% §§ Supplies 3.40%

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 269

Output for 1832

4.23% ■ Furniture Forms I j !_; Other Forms

• B Upholstery Wrk

| Hi Cabinetry

' H Joiner's Work I = j = Repairs/Alterat.

I _ j | ID Lumber/Veneer

| §§ Supplies '

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 270

Output for 1833

5.98 % i H Furniture Forms

■ LJ Other Forms

■ Upholstery Wrk

9 Cabinetry

, HI Joiner’s Work

= Repairs/Alterat.

ID Lumber/Veneer

. §§l Supplies 5.98 %

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 271

Output for 1834

. % 5 43 : I Furniture Forms

1 Li Other Forms

■ S Upholstery Wrk

i 9 Cabinetry

H Joiner's Work I = Repairs/Alterat.

| ID Lumber/Veneer

§§ Supplies 23.26%

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. REFERENCES

Portsmouth and New Hampshire

Books

Adams, Nathaniel. Annals of Portsmouth. Exeter: C. Norris, 1825.

Aldrich, Thomas Bailey. An Old Town Bv The Sea. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin & Co., 1883, 1893.

American Guide Series: New Hampshire. A Guide to the Granite State. WPA, 1938; Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Co.

Belknap, Jeremy. The History of New Hampshire. 3 vols. Boston: Belknap and Young, 1792. Reprint, New York: Arno Press, 1972.

Brewster, Charles W. Rambles About Portsmouth. Vol. 1. Portsmouth: C. W. Brewster and Son, 1859.

Brewster, Charles W. Rambles About Portsmouth. Vol. 2. Portsmouth: Lewis W. Brewster, 1869.

Brighton, Raymond A. Clippers of the Port of Portsmouth and the Men who Built Them. Portsmouth: Portsmouth Marine Society, 1985; Peter E. Randall.

______. Port of Portsmouth Ships and the Cotton Trade. 1783-1829. Portsmouth: Portsmouth Marine Society, 1986; Peter E. Randall.

______. Tall Ships of the Piscataqua. 1830-1877. Portsmouth: Portsmouth Marine Society, 1989; Peter E. Randall.

______. They Came To Fish. 2 vols. Portsmouth: Portsmouth 350 Inc., 1973.

272

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 273

Bv-Laws and Roster of Membership from 1736-1965 of the St. John’s Masonic Lodge. No. 1. Portsmouth: Randall Press, 1965.

Candee, Richard. Building Portsmouth: The Neighborhoods and Architecture of Portsmouth’s Oldest Citv. Portsmouth: Portsmouth Advocates, Inc., 1992.

Census of the United States: Heads of Families. New Hampshire, Rockingham County. 1800. Microfilm Roll 20, M32.

Census of the United States: Heads of Families. New Hampshire, Rockingham County. 1810. Microfilm Roll 25, M252.

Census of the United States: Heads of Families. New Hampshire, Rockingham County. 1830. Microfilm Roll 77, M19.

Census of the United States: Heads of Families. New Hampshire, Rockingham County. 1840. Microfilm Rolls 242-43, M704.

Census of the United States: Heads of Families. New Hampshire, Rockingham County. 1850. Microfilm Roll 437-38, M432.

Centennial Anniversary of the Planting of Universal ism in Portsmouth. New Hampshire. Portsmouth: William A. Plaisted, 1874.

Cobb, David A. New Hampshire Maps to 1900. An annotated Checklist. Hanover: New Hampshire Historical Society, 1981.

Cole, David B. Jacksonian Democracy in New Hampshire. 1800-1851. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1970.

Farmer, John and Jacob Moore. Gazetteer of the State of New Hampshire. Concord, New Hampshire: Jacob B. Moore, 1823.

Frost, John Eldridge. Portsmouth Record Book. Vol. 2. Portsmouth: J. E. Frost, 1955.

Gurney, C. S. Portsmouth. Historic and Picturesque. Portsmouth: Strawbery Banke Museum, 1981; Peter E. Randall.

Hayward, John. A Gazetteer of the State of New Hampshire. Boston: John P. Jewett, 1849.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 274

Heads of Families at the Second Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1800: New Hampshire. Madison, Wisconsin: John Brooks Threlfall, 1973; Chicago, Illinois: Adams Press.

Howells, John Mead. The Architectural Heritage of the Piscataqua. New York: Architectural Book Publishing Co., 1937.

Hunt, Elmer Munson. New Hampshire Town Names. Peterborough: Noone House, 1970.

Foss, Gerald D. Three Centuries of Freemasonry in New Hampshire. Somersworth: New Hampshire Publishing Company, 1972.

Jackson, Ronald Vem, ed. New Hampshire 1800 Index Census. Utah: Accelerated Indexing Systems Intern, Inc., 1976.

_ , ed. New Hampshire 1810 Index Census. Utah: Accelerated Indexing Systems Intern, Inc., 1976.

_ , ed. New Hampshire 1820 Index Census. Utah: Accelerated Indexing Systems Intern, Inc., 1976.

______and Gary Ronald Teeples, eds. New Hampshire 1830 Index Census. Utah: Accelerated Indexing Systems Intern, Inc., 1977.

______, eds. New Hampshire 1840 Index Census. Utah: Accelerated Indexing Systems Intern, Inc., 1976.

______, eds. New Hampshire 1850 Index Census. Utah: Accelerated Indexing Systems Intern, Inc., 1978.

Jager, Ronald and Grace. New Hampshire: An Illustrated History of the Granite State. Woodland Hills, California: Windsor Publishing, 1983.

Litchfield, Electus. An Architectural Monograph on Portsmouth New Hampshire. Vol. 1, no. 1. Washington, D.C.: White Pine Bureau, 1921.

Map of the City of Portsmouth. Portsmouth: H. F. Walling, 1850.

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Map of Portsmouth in the State of New Hampshire. Portsmouth: J. G. Hales, 1813.

May, Ralph. Early Portsmouth History. Boston: C. E. Goodspead & Co., 1926.

Merrill, Eliphalet, and Phinehas. Gazetteer of the State of New Hampshire. Exeter: C. Norris & Co., 1817.

Names of the Members of the First Church of Christ in Portsmouth. Portsmouth: Miller and Brewster, 1828.

Names of the Members of the First Church of Christ in Portsmouth. Portsmouth: C. W. Brewster, 1838.

Names of the Members of the First Church of Christ in Portsmouth. Portsmouth: C. W. Brewster, 1842.

Nelson, George A., comp. Customs Records. Portsmouth. New Hampshire. Vol. 2, Commerce. Shipbuilding. Immigration. Portsmouth: Portsmouth Athenaeum, 1979.

______., comp. Customs Records. Portsmouth. New Hampshire. Vol. 3, Builders. Masters. Owners, and Importers. Portsmouth: Portsmouth Athenaeum, 1979.

The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Vol. 83, Records of the South Church of Portsmouth: Baptisms and Admissions in the Ministry of Reverend Andrew Preston Peabodv. 1833-1860. Boston: Published by the Society, 1929.

New Hampshire Register and United States Calendar. Concord: J. B. Moore, 1825.

Randall, Richard. The Decorative Arts of New Hampshire. 1725-1850. Manchester: Currier Gallery of Art, 1964.

Record Book of the First Church of Christ Portsmouth. Concord: New Hampshire Historical Society, 1918.

Pickett, Gertrude M. Portsmouth’s Hevdav in Shipbuilding. Portsmouth: Joseph G. Sawtelle, 1979.

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Saltontall, William Gordon. Ports of Piscataqua: Soundings in the Maritime History of Portsmouth. New Hampshire. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1941.

Stackpole, Everett S. History of New Hampshire. Vol. 3. New York: American History Society, n.d.

State of New Hampshire Manual for the General Court. Vol. 29. Concord: Enoch D. Fuller, 1943.

Turner, Lynn Warner. The Ninth State: New Hampshire’s Formative Years. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1983.

Winslow, Richard E. "Wealth and Honor": Portsmouth During the Golden Age of Privateering. 1775-1815. Portsmouth: Portsmouth Marine Society, 1988; Peter E. Randall.

Articles

Agnew, Aileen Button. "The Archeology of a Neighborhood: Deer Street, Portsmouth, New Hampshire." Historical New Hampshire 40. nos. 1,2 (Spring/Summer 1985).

Camden, Thomas E. "The Langdon/Elwyn Family Papers." Historical New Hampshire 36, no. 4 (Winter 1981).

Candee, Richard. "Merchants and Millwrights: The Water Powered Saw Mills of the Piscataqua." Old Time New England 60, no. 4 (Spring 1970).

Capowski, Vincent J. "The Era of Good Feelings in New Hampshire: The Gubernatorial Campaigns of Levi Woodbury, 1823-1824." Historical New Hampshire 21, no. 4 (Winter 1966).

Cunningham, Valerie. "The First Blacks of Portsmouth." Historical New Hampshire 44 (Winter 1989).

Durel, John W. "’Historic’ Portsmouth: The Role of the Past in the Formation of a Community’s Identity." Historical New Hampshire 41, nos. 2, 3 (Fall/Winter 1986).

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Garvin, James L. "That Little World, Portsmouth." In Portsmouth Furniture: Masterworks of the New Hampshire Seacoast. Boston: Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, 1993; University Press of New England.

______. "Portsmouth and the Piscataqua: A Social History and Material Culture." Historical New Hampshire 26, no. 2 (Summer 1971).

Giffen, Jane C. "A Selection of New Hampshire Inventories." Historical New Hampshire 24, nos. 1,2 (1969).

Harriet, Lacy S. "The Langdon Papers, 1761-1841." Historical New Hampshire 22, no. 3 (Autumn 1967).

Oedel, Howard T. "Slavery in Colonial Portsmouth." Historical New Hampshire 21, no. 3 (Autumn 1966).

Robinson. "The History of Taxation in New Hampshire." American Economic Association 3, no. 3 (Autumn, 1902).

"Two Hundredth Anniversary of the Settlement of New-Hampshire." In Collections of the New Hampshire Historical Society. Vol. 6. Concord: New Hampshire Historical Society, 1850.

Quilici, Ronald H. "The Portsmouth Marine Society: Social Diversity in a Colonial Maritime Community." Historical New Hampshire 30, no. 2 (Summer 1975).

Waterman, W. R. "The Fourth New Hampshire Turnpike." Historical New Hampshire 15 (November I960).

Unpublished Works

Anderson, Karen Elizabeth. "The Layered Society: Material Life In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 1680-1740." Ph.D. diss., University of New Hampshire, 1982.

Bartlett, Agnes. "Portsmouth Families." New Hampshire Historical Society. Circa 1940.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 278

Blanchard, Ralph Harrub. "Taxation in New Hampshire." Ph.D. diss., Dartmouth, 1912.

Candee, Richard. "Landscapes of Expectations: Building, Rebuilding, and Industry in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 1790-1850." Early version of a forthcoming publication, "Portsmouth New Hampshire Brick Act of 1814: Building, Rebuilding, and the Failure of Social Controls."

______. "Wooden Buildings in Early Maine and New Hampshire: A Technological and Cultural History, 1600-1720." Ph.D. diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1976.

______, comp. Grantor/Grantee Deed lists. Portsmouth craftsmen. Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

______, comp. North Parish Property Owners, 1807. Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

______, comp. Occupational List of Tax Payers, 1807. Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

______and Bernard L. Herman. Measured house research, Portsmouth New Hampshire. Personal Notes. Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Dagenais, Mary Ann Le Fleur. "The Black In Portsmouth 1700-1861." Ph.D. diss., University of New Hampshire, 1971.

Garvin, James L. "Academic Architecture and the Building Trades in the Piscataqua Region of New Hampshire and Maine." Ph.D. diss., Boston University, 1983. University Microfilms # 83-19977.

Herman, Bernard L., comp. Cross Reference List of 1821 Portsmouth Tax Assessments and 1821 Portsmouth Directory. Office of Architecture and Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware.

McKinley, Samuel J. "The Economic History of Portsmouth New Hampshire from its First Settlement to 1830." Ph.D. diss., Harvard University, 1931.

Peabody, Andrew. "The Wealth, Industry, and Resources of Portsmouth." Lecture presented at the Portsmouth Lyceum, November 12, 1844. Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts.

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Tallman, Louise H., comp. Baptisms at North Church. 1693-1928. Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 1991.

Tallman, Louise H., comp. Portsmouth Cemetery Lists. Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Parks, Roger E. "The Roads of New England 1790-1840." Ph.D. diss., Michigan State, 1966.

Young, Esther Hale. "Some Maps and Surveys of New Hampshire Made Before 1820." Ph.D. diss., University of New Hampshire, 1954.

Furniture Industry

Books

Decorative Painters and Glazier’s Guide. London: Isaac Taylor Hinton, 1827.

Forman, Benno M. American Seating Furniture 1630-1730. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1988.

Garvin, Donna-Belle, James L. Garvin and John F. Page. Plain and Elegant. Rich and Common: Documented New Hampshire Furniture. 1750-1850. Exhibition Catalogue. Concord, New Hampshire: New Hampshire Historical Society, 1979.

Gilbert, Christopher. The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale. 2 vols. New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., 1978.

Gussler, Wallace. Furniture of Williamsburg and Eastern Virginia. 1710-1750. Richmond: Virginia Museum, 1979.

Hayward, Helena and Pat Kirkham. William and John Linnell. 2 vols. New York: Rizzoli Institute Publishing Company, 1980.

Hazen, Edward. Panorama of Professionals and Trades. Philadelphia: Uriah Hunt, 1839.

Kane, Patricia. 300 Years of American Seating Fumiturs. Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1976.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 280

Kenney, John Tarrant. The Hitchcock Chair. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1971.

Jobe, Brock, ed. Portsmouth Furniture: Masterworks from the New Hampshire Seacoast. Boston: Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, 1993; University Press of New England.

Landis, Scott. The Workshop Book. Conn.: The Taunton Press, 1991.

McClelland, Nancy. Duncan Phvfe and the English Regency. 1795-1830. New York: William P. Scott, Inc., 1939.

Montgomery, Charles. American Furniture: The Federal Period in the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum. New York: Viking Press, 1966.

Seybolt, Robert Francis. Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education in Colonial New England and New York. New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 1917.

Tracey, Berry B. et al. Nineteenth Century American Furniture and Other Decorative Arts. New York: Graphics Society, Ltd., 1970.

Articles

Buckley, Charles. "Fine Federal Furniture Attributed to Portsmouth." The Magazine Antiques 83, no. 2 (February 1963).

Clark, Christopher. "The Diary of an Apprentice Cabinetmaker: Edward Jenner Carpenter’s Journal." Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society 98, no. 2. Worcester: Massachusetts Antiquarian Society, 1989.

Clunie, Margaret. "Joseph True and the Piecework System in Salem." The Magazine Antiques 111, no. 5 (May 1977).

Decatur, Stephen. "Langley Boardman, Portsmouth Cabinetmaker." American Collector 6, no. 4 (May 1937).

Douglas, Paul H. "American Apprenticeship and Industrial Education." Studies in History. Economics and Public Law 95, no. 2. New York: Columbia University, 1921.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 281

Forman, Benno. "Delaware Valley ’Crookt-Foot’ and Slat-Back Chairs: The Fussell-Savory Connection." Winterthur Portfolio 15 (Spring 1980).

Foss, Gerald R. W. "Samuel Dockum, Cabinetmaker." Tressle Board (April 1986). St. John’s Masonic Lodge, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Garvin, Donna-Belle. "’A Neat and Lively Aspect’: Newport, New Hampshire as a Cabinetmaking Center." Historical New Hampshire 43, no. 3 (Fall 1988).

______. "Concord New Hampshire: A Furniture-Making Capital." Historical New Hampshire 45. no. 1 (Spring 1990).

Giffen, Jane C. "New Hampshire Cabinetmakers and Allied Craftsmen, 1790-1850." The Magazine Antiques 94. no. 1 (July 1968).

Jobe, Brock W. "The Boston Furniture Industry, 1720-1740." In Boston Furniture of the Eighteenth Century. Edited by Walter Muir Whitehill. Boston: The Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 1974; Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia.

Johnson, Marilynn A. "John Hewitt, Cabinetmaker." Winterthur Portfolio 4. Richard Doud, ed. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1968.

Joy, E. T. "The Overseas Trade in Furniture in the Nineteenth Century." Furniture History 6. Leeds: W. S. Maney & Son, Ltd., 1970.

Kane, Patricia E. "Design Books and Price Books for American Federal-Period Card Tables." In The Work of Many Hands: Card Tables in Federal America. 1790-1820. Exhibition Catalogue. New Haven: Yale University Art Gallery, 1982.

Kirkham, Pat. "Furniture Makers and Trade Unionism: The Early London Trade Societies." Furniture History 18. Leeds: W. S. Maney & Son, Ltd., 1982.

______. "The London Furniture Trade, 1700-1870." Furniture History 24. Leeds: W. S. Maney & Son, Ltd., 1988.

______. "The Partnership of William Ince and John Mayhew." Furniture History 10. Leeds: W. S. Maney & Son., Ltd., 1974.

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______. "Recollections of Furniture Makers: Labour History, Oral History, and Furniture Studies." Furniture History 14. Leeds: W. S. Maney & Son., Ltd., 1978.

Lovell, Margaretta M. "’Such Furniture as Will be Most Profitable.’ The Business of Cabinetmaking in Eighteenth-Century Newport." Winterthur Portfolio 26, no. 1 (Spring 1991).

Michael, George. "A Study in Identity: Drop Panel Furniture." National Antiques Review (March 1972).

Page, John F. "Documented New Hampshire Furniture." The Magazine Antiques 115, no. 5 (May 1979).

Rice, Arthur. "Langley Boardman, Master Craftsman." New Hampshire Profiles 26, no. 6 (June 1974).

Skemer, Don C. "David Alling’s Chair Manufactory, Craft Industrialization in Newark, New Jersey, 1801-1854." Winterthur Portfolio 22, no. 1 (Spring, 1987).

Sprague, Laura Fecych. "Patterns of Patronage in York and Cumberland Counties, 1784-1830." In Agreeable Situations: Society. Commerce, and Art in Southern Maine. 1780-1830. Kennebunk, Maine: The Brick Store Museum, 1987; Boston: Northeastern University Press.

Swan, Mabel Munson. "Coastwise Cargoes of Venture Furniture." The Magazine Antiques 55, no. 4 (April 1949).

Sweeney, John A. H. "The Cabinetmaker in America." The Magazine Antiques 70, no. 4 (October 1956).

Talbott, Page. "Boston Empire Furniture, Part I." The Magazine Antiques 108, no. 5 (May 1975).

______. "Boston Empire Furniture, Part II." The Magazine Antiques 109, no. 5 (May 1976).

Trent, Robert F. "Seventeenth Century Joined Furniture." In Style, vol. 3 of New England Begins. Edited by Jonathan L. Fairbanks and Robert F. Trent. Exhibition Catalogue. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1982.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 283

Ward, Gerald W. R, and Karin E. Cullity. "The Wendell Family Furniture at Strawbery Banke." American Furniture. Milwaukee: Chipstone Foundation, 1993; University Press of New England.

Walton, Karin M. "The Worshipful Company of Upholders of the City of London." Furniture History 9. Leeds: Maney & Son, Ltd., 1973.

Zea, Philip. "The Fruits of Oligarchy: Patronage and the Hadley Chest Tradition in Western Massachusetts." In Old Time New England: New England Furniture. Essays in Memory of Benno Forman 12. Boston: Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, 1987.

Unpublished Works

Brown, Michael Kevin. "Duncan Phyfe, 1768-1854." Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1978.

Candee, Richard, comp. "Compiled List of Cabinetmakers." From United States Census. Schedule 5. Products of Industry. 1850. New Hampshire, Rockingham County, 1850. Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Catalano, Kathleen. "Cabinetmaking in Philadelphia 1820-1840." Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1972.

Clunie, Margaret Burke. "Salem Federal Furniture." Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1976.

Dunbar, Michael. Notes on cabinetmaker, Ebenezer Lord. Personal Papers.

Gross, Katherine Wood. "The Sources of Furniture Sold In Savannah, 1789-1815." Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1967.

Hammond, Joseph W. "Jonathan Judkins and William Senter, Federal Period Cabinetmakers of Portsmouth, New Hampshire." Paper written for American Decorative Arts, AM860 taught by Jonathan Fairbanks of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston University, 1960s.

Heckscher, Morrison, H. "The Organization and Practice of Philadelphia Cabinetmaking Establishments, 1790-1810." Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1964.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 284

Hill, John Henry. "Furniture Craftsmen in Baltimore, 1783-1823." Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1967.

Kessler, Barry Allen, "Of Workshops and Warerooms: The Economic and Geographic Transformation of Furniture-Making in Chester County, Pennsylvania, 1780-1850." Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1986.

Lyman, William. List of Portsmouth Craftsman. 1991. Personal Papers.

Mackicwicz, Susan. "Woodworking Traditions in Newbury, Massachusetts, 1635-1745." Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1981.

"New Hampshire Laws 1805—An Act to Secure to Masters and Apprentices Bound by Deed or Indenture." 1805. Miscellaneous files. Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Norton, Paul F. ed. "Samuel Mclntire of Salem: The Drawings and Papers of the Architect/Carver." Notes for perspective publication. Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts.

Parsons, Charles S. "New Hampshire Furniture Scrapbook." Vol. 1. 1981. Typescript. New Hampshire Historical Society.

Pillsbury, William M. "Providence Furniture-Making Trade, 1772-1834." Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1975.

Quimby, Ian M. G. "Apprenticeship in Colonial Philadelphia." Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1963.

Stokes, Jayne. "Federal Furniture in the Rundlet-May House, 1795-1815." Master’s thesis, Cooperstown, New York, 1985.

Talbott, Page E. "The Furniture Industry in Boston, 1810-1835." Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1974.

Vibert, Jeanne Arthur. "The Market Economy and the Furniture Trade of Newport, Rhode Island: The Career of John Cahoone, Cabinetmaker, 1745-1765." Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1981.

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Technology

Books

Garvin, James L. and Donna-Belle. Instruments of Change: New Hampshire Hand Tools and Their Makers 1800-1900. Canaan, New Hampshire: Phoenix Publishing, 1985.

Quimby, Ian M. G. and Polly Anne Earl, eds. Technological Innovations in the Decorative Arts. Winterthur Conference Report. Delaware: Winterthur Museum, 1973; Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia.

Articles

Seidler, Jan. "Transitions in the New England Nineteenth Century Furniture Industry: Technique and Style 1820-1880." Tools and Technology. Vermont: Burlington, 1979.

Earl, Polly Anne. "Craftsmen and Machines: The Nineteenth-Century Furniture Industry." In Technological Innovations and the Decorative Arts. Edited by Ian M. G. Quimby and Polly Anne Earl. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1973.

Unpublished Works

Ettema, Michael John. "Technological Innovations and Design Economics in American Furniture Manufacture of the Nineteenth Century." Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1981.

Industrialization and Labor

Books

The American Advertising Directory for Manufacturers and Dealers in American Goods. New York: Jocelyn, Darling Co., 1831.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 286

Arbuckle, Robert D. Pennsylvania Speculator and Patriot. The Entrepreneurial John Nicholson. 1757-1800. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1975.

Berg, Maxine. The Age of Manufacture: Industry. Innovation, and Work in England. 1700-1820. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986.

Blackmar, Elizabeth. Manhattan for Rent. 1785-1850. Ithica: Cornell University Press, 1989.

Blumin, Stuart M. The Urban Threshold. Growth and Change in a Nineteenth Century American Community. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976.

Clark, Victor S. History of Manufactures in the United States. Vol. 1, 1607-1860. New York: Carnegie Institute of Washington, 1949.

Cochran, Thomas C. The Frontiers of Change: Earlv Industrialism in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1981.

Commons, John R. The History of Labor in the U. S. 4 vols. New York: The MacMillan Co., 1921-35 .

Coxe, John Redman, M.D. The Emporium of Arts and Sciences. Vol. 2. Philadelphia: Joseph Delaplaine, 1812.

Coxe, Tenche, Esq. A Statement of the Arts and Manufactures of the United States for the Year 1810. Philadelphia: A. Comman, Jr., 1814.

Dawley, Alan. Class and Community: The Industrial Revolution in Lvnn. Cambridge, Mass. and London: Harvard University Press, 1976.

Doerflinger, Thomas M. A Vigorous Spirit of Enterprise: Merchants and Economic Development in Revolutionary Philadelphia. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1986.

Elliot, William. The Patenter’s Manual. Containing a List of Patents Granted bv the United States for the Encouragement of the Arts and Sciences. Washington, D.C.: S. A. Elliot, 1830.

Fessenden, Thomas. The Register of Arts in Philadelphia. Baltimore. Petersburg, and Norfolk. 1808.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 287

Fishbein, Meyer Harry. The Census of Manufacturers. 1810-1890. Reprint: National Archives Accession No. 57, June 1963. Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Delaware.

Folsom, Michael Brewster and Steven D. Lubar, eds. The Philosophy of Manufactures. Boston: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1982.

Folsom, Burton W. Jr. Urban Capitalists: Entrepreneurs and Citv Growth in Pennsylvania’s Lackawanna and Lehigh Regions. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1981.

Glover, John G. and William Cornell. The Development of the American Industries. New York: Prentice-Hall, 1951.

Groner, Alex. American Business and Industry. New York: American Heritage Publishing Company, 1972.

Hall, Courtney Robert. History of American Industrial Sciences. New York: Library Publishers, 1954.

Hamilton, Alexander. Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the Subject of Manufacturers. 1791. Philadelphia: Joseph R. A. Skerrett, 1824.

Hall, Courtney Robert. History of American Industrial Sciences. New York: Library Publisher, 1954.

Hirsch, Susan E. Roots of the American Working Class: The Industrialization of Crafts in Newark. 1800-1860. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1978.

History of Domestic and Foreign Commerce of the United States. Vol. II. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institute of Washington, 1915.

Hunter, Louis C. History of Industrial Power in the United States. 1780-1930. Charlottsville: University Press of Virginia, 1979.

Laurie, Bruce. Working People of Philadelphia. 1800-1850. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1980.

Leander, Bishop J. History of American Manufacturers from 1608-1860. Philadelphia: Edward Young and Co., 1864.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 288

McLane, Louis, ed. Documents Relative to the Manufacture in the United States. 1833. Vol. 1, Returns from the State of New Hampshire. Reprints of Economic Classics, New York: Augustus Mkellens, 1969.

Morris, Richard B. Government and Labor in Early America. New York: Columbia University Press, 1946.

New Hampshire Manufacturing Census: Leading Manufacturers and Merchants in New Hampshire. New York: International Publishing Co., 1887.

Pitkin, Timothy. A Statistical View of the Commerce of the United States in Connection with Agriculture and Manufactures. Hartford: Charles Hosmer, 1816.

Porter, Glen and Harold Livesay. Merchants and Manufacturers: Studies in the Changing Structure of Nineteenth-Centurv Marketing. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1971.

Presbrey, Frank. The History and Development of Advertising. New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1929.

Rock, Howard B. Artisans of the New Republic. New York: New York University Press, 1979.

______. The New York Citv Artisan. 1789-1825: A Documentary History. Albany: University of New York Press, 1989.

Schnapper, M. B. American Labor. Washington, D.C.: Public Affairs Press, 1972.

Scull, Penrose. From Peddlers to Merchant Princes. New York: Follet Publishing, Co., 1967.

Smith, Billy G. The "Lower Sort" Philadelphia’s Laboring People. 1750-1800. Ithica: Cornell University Press, 1990.

Wilentz, Sean. Chants Democratic: New York City and the Rise of the American Working Class. 1788-1850. New York: Oxford University Press, 1984.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 289

Articles

Atack, J., J. Bateman, T. Weiss. "The Regional Diffusion and Adoption of the Steam Engine in American Manufacturing." Journal of Economic History 40 (1980).

"Constitution of the Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers of the State of New Hampshire." Portsmouth: C. W. Brewster, 1869.

Gordon, Robert B. "The Cost and Use of Water Power During Industrialization in New England and Great Britain: A Geological Interpretation." Economic History Review 2nd ser., 46, no. 2 (May 1983).

Gray, Robert. "The Languages of Factory Reform in Britain, Circa 1830-1860." In The Historical Meanings of Work. Edited by Patrick Joyce. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.

Gutman, Herbert G. "The Reality of the Rags to Riches ’Myth’: The Case of the Paterson, New Jersey, Locomotive, Iron, and Machinery Manufacture, 1830-1880." In Nineteenth Century Cities. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1969.

Komblith, Gary J. "The Artisinal Response to Capitalist Transformation." Journal of Early American Republic 10, no. 3 (Fall 1990).

______. "Becoming One’s Own Master." Henrv Ford Museum Herald. (1984).

______. "Craftsman as Industrialist." Business History Review 59 (Autumn 1985). Harvard Business School.

______. "’Cementing the Mechanic Interest’: Origins of the Providence Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers." Journal of the Earlv Republic 8, no. 4 (Winter 1988). Indiana: Society for the Historians of the Early American Republic, 1988; Indiana University.

______. "The Rise of the Mechanic Interest and the Campaign to Develop Manufacturing in Salem, 1815-1830." Essex Institute Historical Collections. 121, no. 1 Salem: Essex Institute, 1985.

Rule, John. "The Property of Skill in the Period of Manufacture." In The Historical Meaning of Work. Edited by Patrick Joyce. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.

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Sabel, Charles and John Zeitlin. "Historical Alternatives to Mass Production: Politics, Markets and Technology in Nineteenth-Century Industrialization." Past and Present 108 (August 1985).

Salinger, Sharon V. "Artisans, Journeymen, and the Transformation of Labor in Late Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia." William and Marv Quarterly. 3rd ser., 40, no. 1 (January 1983).

Shelton, Cynthia. "The Role of Labor in Early Industrialization: Philadelphia, 1787-1837." Journal of Earlv Republic 4, no. 4 (Winter 1984).

Skemer, Don C. Review of Engines of Change: The American Industrial Revolution. 1790-1860. by Brook Hindle and Steven Lubar. Winterthur Portfolio 24, no. 1 (Spring 1989).

Smith, Billy G. "The Material Lives of Laboring Philadelphians, 1750-1800." William and Marv Quarterly 38 (April 1981).

Steffen, Charles G. "Changes in the Organization of Artisan Production in Baltimore, 1790-1820." William and Marv Quarterly 3rd ser.. 36, no. 1 (January 1979).

Temin, P. "Steam and Water Power in the Early Nineteenth Century." Journal of Economic History. 27 (1966).

Walton, Karin M. "The Worshipful Company of Upholders of the City of London." In Furniture History 9. Leeds: W. S. Maney & Son, Ltd., 1973.

Wolf, Stephanie G. Artisans and the Occupational Structure of an Industrial Town: Eighteenth Century Germantown, Pennsylvania." In Working Papers from the Regional Economic History Research Center: Social Change in Early Industrial Communities. Edited by Glen Porter and William H. Mulligan, Jr. , I (Spring 1977).

Unpublished Works

Candee, Richard, comp. "Comparative Numbers of Founders of Mechanics Societies in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Portland, Maine, and Salem, Massachusetts." Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 291

Ducoff-Barone, Deborah. "The Early Industrialization of the Philadelphia Furniture Trade, 1800-1840." Ph.D. diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1985.

General Reference

Books

Bentley, William. The Diarv of William Bentlev. P .P . Vol. 3, January 1803-December 1810. Salem: Essex Institute, 1911.

Brewington, M. V. Shipcarvers of North America. Barre, Mass.: Barre Publishing Co., 1962.

Bristed, John. The Resources of the United States of America. New York: James Eastbum & Co., 1818.

______. A Review of Miss Martineau’s Work on "Society in America." Boston: Marsh, Capen, and Lyon, 1837.

Brownlee, W. Elliot. Dynamics and Ascent: A History of the American Economy. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1974.

Coxe, Tench. A View of the United States of America. Philadelphia: William Hall and Wrigley and Beerriman, 1794; Reprint, New York: Augustus M. Kelley, 1965.

______. Symposium of Arts and Sciences. Vol. 2. Philadelphia: Joseph Delaplaine, 1812.

Currier, John. The History of Newburvport. Massachusetts. 1764-1905. Vol. 1. Newburyport: by the author, 1906. Reprint, Somersworth: New Hampshire Publishing Company, 1977.

Cushing, Caleb. The History and Present State of the Town of Newburyport. Newburyport: H. W. Allen, 1826.

Gordon, Irving G. Review Text in American History. New York: Amsco School Publications, Inc., 1976.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 292

Hall, Peter Dobkin. The Origins of American Culture. 1700-1900: Private Institutions. Elites, and the Origins of American Nationality. New York: New York University Press, 1984.

Historical Statistics of the United States in Colonial Times to 1957. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of the Census, 1960.

History of Domestic and Foreign Commerce in the United States. Vol. 2. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institute of Washington, 1915.

Jones, Alice Hanson. American Colonial Wealth. 3 vols. New York: Amo Press, 1977.

Kimball, Sidney Fiske. Mr. Samuel Mclntire. Carver: The Architect of Salem. Portland, Maine: Southworth-Anthoensen Press, 1940.

Kirker, Harold. The Architecture of Charles Bulfinch. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1969.

McCracken, Grant. Culture and Consumption: New Approaches to the Symbolic Character of Consumer Goods and Activities. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1988.

Mesick, Jane Louis. The English Travellers in America. 1785-1835. Connecticut: Greenwood Press Publishers, 1922, 1970.

Miller, Daniel. Material Culture and Mass Consumption. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1987.

Montefiore, J. The American Trader’s Compendium: Containing the Laws. Customs, and Regulations of the United States Relative to Commerce. Philadelphia: Samuel R. Fisher, Jr. 1811.

Nash, Gary B. The Urban Crucible: Social Change. Political Consciousness, and the Origins of the American Revolution. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1979.

Norton, Marybeth, et al. A People and A Nation. 2nd ed., vol. 1. Boston: Houghton Mifflin & Co., 1986.

Pain, William. The British Palladio. London, 1786.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 293

Pitkin, Timothy. A Statistical View of the Commerce of the United States. Hartford, Conn.: Charles Hosmer, 1816.

Tocqueville, Alexis de. Democracy in America. Edited by J. P. Mayer and Max Lemer. New York: Harper & Row, 1966.

Vital Records of Hamilton. Massachusetts. Salem, Mass.: Essex Institute, 1908. Vital Records of Ipswich. Massachusetts. Vol. 1, Births. Salem, Mass.: Essex Institute, 1910.

Vital Records of Ipswich. Massachusetts. Vol. 2, Marriages and Deaths. Salem, Mass.: Essex Institute, 1910.

Vital Records of Newburyport. Massachusetts. Vol. 1, Births. Salem, Mass.: Essex Institute, 1911.

Warner, Samuel Bass. The Private Citv Philadelphia in Three Periods of Growth. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1968.

Waters, Thomas Franklin. Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bav Colony. Vol. 2, A_ History of the Town from 1700-1917. Ipswich: Ipswich Historical Society, 1917.

Articles

Butler, Joyce. "Rising Like A Phoenix: Commerce in Southern Maine, 1775-1830." Agreeable Situations. Society. Commerce, and Art in Southern Maine. 1780-1830. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1987.

Cushing, John D. "Fire Societies." New England Galaxy 4, no. 1 (Summer 1962). Sturbridge: Old Sturbridge, Inc., 1962; Meridan Gravure Co.

Goodman, Paul. "The Social Basis of New England Politics in Jacksonian America." Journal of Earlv Republic 6, no. 1 (Spring 1986).

Jones, Alice Hanson. American Colonial Wealth. 3 vols. New York: Arno Press, 1977.

Stow, Charles Messer. "Samuel Mclntire of Salem." The Antiquarian 12, no. 1 (February 1929).

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 294

Taylor, George R. "The Transportation Revolution." In The Economic History of The United States. Vol. 4. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968.

Ward, Barbara McLean. "The Edwards Family and the Silversmithing Trade." In The American Craftsman and the European Tradition. 1620-1820. Edited by Francis J. Puig and Michael Conforti. Minneapolis: The Minneapolis Museum of Art, 1989; University Press of New England.

Unpublished Material

Herman, Bernard L. "Built Landscapes: Vernacular Architecture in Urban Landscapes." Paper presented at the Strawbery Banke Museum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire. 17 February 1990.

Journals

Arfwedson, Carl David. The United States and Canada in 1823. 1833. and 1834. 2 vols. London, 1834; Reprint, New York: Johnson Reprint Co., 1969.

Emery, Sarah Anna. Reminiscences of a Non-Agrarian. Newburyport: William H. Huse & Co., 1879.

Fearon, Henry Bradshaw. A Narrative of a Journey Through America. London: Longman, Hurst, Reese, Ome, 1818. Reprint, New York: Augustus M. Kelley, 1970.

Grund, Francis J. The Americans in their Moral. Social, and Political Relations. 2 vols. London: Longman, Reese, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman, 1837; Reprint, New York: Augustus M. Kelley, 1971.

Janson, Charles William. The Stranger in America. 1793-1806. London, 1807. Reprint, New York: The Press of the Pioneers, 1935.

Martineau, Harriet. Society in America. New York: Saunders and Otley; London: Conduit Street, 1837.

Merchant and Traders Guide and Strangers Memoranda. Boston, 1836. Hagley Library and Museum, Wilmington, Delaware.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 295

Mesick, Jane Louise. The English Traveler in America. 1785-1835. Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1922.

Niemcewica, Julian Ursyn. Under the Vine and Fig Tree: Travels through America in 1797-1799. 1805 with Some Further Account of Life in New Jersey. Trans, and ed. by Metchie J. E. Budka. Elizabeth, New Jersey: New Jersey Historical Society, 1965; New Jersey: Grassman Publishing.

Manuscript Materials

A Correct List of Taxes, Assessed on the Persons and Property in the Town of Portsmouth, for the year 1817. Portsmouth: S. Whidden’s Printing Office. Special Collections. Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

An Alphabetical List of Legal Voters in the Town of Portsmouth, Published According to Law. March 1816. Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

An Alphabetical List of the Sufferers by Fire of the First and Second Class, Showing the Amount of their Loss; An Account of Funds Paid to the Sufferers by the Fire of December 1802. Portsmouth Papers. Fire Records Folder, 1803-1809. Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston.

Anonymous Account Book. 1805-1818. Portsmouth. Massachusetts Historical Society.

Apprentice Library Book List and Catalogue. Portsmouth: Tobias H. Miller, 1823. Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Associated Mechanics and Manufacturers of New Hampshire Record Book, 1846-1892, Members list since 1804, Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Biographical Roster of Members of the Mechanic Fire Society, Organized July 1, 1811. Portsmouth, n.d. Special Collections. Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Bradbury, Cotton. Account Book. York, Maine, 1743-1805/6. Old York Historical Society, York, Maine.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 296

Brown, Samuel. Account Book. New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord, New Hampshire.

By-Laws and Roster of Membership. 1736-1965. Whalley Museum, St. John’s Masonic Lodge, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Cate, Henry. Journal. 1806-1814. Small Collections, Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Central Baptist Church Records. MS20, Boxes 1-2. Special Collections. Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Chase, Stephen. Papers. Boxes 3, 5. Strawbery Banke, Inc., Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Constitution of the Associated Mechanics and Manufacturers of the State of New Hampshire. Portsmouth: C. W. Brewster, 1846. Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Coues, Samuel. Miscellaneous Letters. Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Darling Family Papers. Ipswich Town Library, Ipswich, Massachusetts.

Davis, James. Account Book, Portsmouth. 1828-1845. PA-S-145. Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Deeds: Land and Mortgage. 1714-1816. Essex County Court House, Salem, Massachusetts.

Deeds: Land and Mortgage. 1798-1840. New Hampshire Provincial Deeds. Rockingham County Court House, Exeter, New Hampshire.

Dockum Family Bible. Special Collections. New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord, New Hampshire.

Dockum, Samuel M. Account Book. 1829-1834. James E. Whalley Museum, St. John’s Masonic Lodge, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Firewards Records. 1806-1833. Special Collections. Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 297

First Baptist Church Record Book. 1826-1878; 1840 List of Members. MS 20, Boxes 1,2. Special Collections. Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Goodwin Papers. Accounts and Bills. MS4-4, Boxes 2, 3, 12. Strawbery Banke, Inc., Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Greenleaf, Abner. "An Address Delivered Before the Society of Associated Mechanics and Manufacturers of the State of New Hampshire at the Celebration of their Anniversary in Portsmouth." Portsmouth: Miller and Brewster, 1826. Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmintgon, Delaware.

Haven, George. Account Book. 1809-1811. MS 1984-79. New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord, New Hampshire.

Haven, John and Nathaniel. Account Books. 1802-1817. Vol.. 1-3, MS 1963- 37. New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord, New Hampshire.

Humane Fire Society Proceedings. 1796-1826. Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Inferior Court Records. Series, A, B. Rockingham County. New Hampshire Division of Records Management and Archives, Concord, New Hampshire.

Journal of the Proceedings of the Friends of Domestic Industry, New York Convention. Baltimore: 1831. Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Delaware.

Lane, John. Account Book. Epping, New Hampshire, 1818-1853. New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord, New Hampshire.

Langdon, John. Papers. MS 1895-1 V, Box 3, Folder 1-9. New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord, New Hampshire.

Lapish, Benjamin. Papers. Box 1, Folders 1, 2, 3, 8. Durham Historical Society, Durham, New Hampshire; Collection 1, Box 8. Diamond Library, University of New Hampshire.

Lane, John. Account Book. Epping, 1818-1853. New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord, New Hampshire.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 298

Larkin, Samuel. Account Ledger. Portsmouth, 1823-1825. Small Collections, P- A S-300. Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Memorial of the Merchants, Ship Owners and Others of Portsmouth in the State of New Hampshire. Washington, D.C., 1824. Collection of the New Hampshire Historical Society.

New England Society for the Promotion of Manufacturing and the Mechanic Arts, Act of Incorporation and By-Laws, 1826. Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Delaware.

New Hampshire Fire and Marine Insurance Company. Records. Boxes 5, 7, 9, 10. Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

North Church. Papers. Special Collections. Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Ny, Joseph and Sons. Petit Ledger. Boston, 1795. York Institute, Saco, Maine.

Port of the Piscataqua, 1770-1775. Customs records. Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Portsmouth Church of Christ Record Book. 1803-1824. Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Portsmouth Marine Society. Records. 1808-1831. Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Probate Records of Essex County, Massachusetts. Massachusetts State Archives, Dorchester, Massachusetts.

Probate Records of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Registry of Probate and Deeds. New Hampshire Provincial Probate Court. Rockingham County Court House, Exeter, New Hampshire.

Probate Records of Strafford County, New Hampshire. Registry of Probate and Deeds. New Hampshire Provincial Probate Court. Strafford County Court House, Dover, New Hampshire.

Quint, Ammi. Account Book. 1803-1831. Newington Historical Society, Newington, New Hampshire.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 299

Records of the North Church of Portsmouth. Comp, by Louise H. Rainey. Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Randall, Captain Reuben S. Wendell Papers. Case 3, Box 6. Baker Library, Harvard Business School, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Records of Mortgages and Personal Property. 1832-1837, 1837-1841, 1841-1845, 1845-1849. Office of the City Clerk. Portsmouth City Hall, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Records of Saint John’s Church, Portsmouth. Vol. 2, 1795-1884. MS 27, 1721-1960. Special Collections. Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Records of the South Church. Vols. 1-2, Baptisms and Admissions, 1752-1806, 1808-1833. MS 4, 1772-1913; Miscellaneous Records. MS 39. Special Collections. Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Rousselet, Nicholas. Account Book. MSS Account Books Rousselet. New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord, New Hampshire.

Rundlet, James. Ledger B. 1802-1804. Archives, Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, Boston, Massachusetts.

Salem Charitable Mechanic Association, 1817, 1822, 1823. Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Delaware.

Sheafe, Francis. Account Book. 1803-1808. MSS Accounts, Sheafe. New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord, New Hampshire.

Smith, Winthrop. Papers. Packets 2, 3, 5, 9. Durham Historical Society, Durham, New Hampshire.

Tax Assessment Records, 1801-1825. Office of the City Clerk. Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Tax Assessment Records, 1826-1840. Research Room. Portsmouth Public Library. Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Tax Assessment Records, 1828-1838. Newburyport City Hall, Newburyport, Massachusetts.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 300

Tax Valuations: Sums Total of Polls and Estates for Salem, Massachusetts, 1795-1798. Microfilm no. 55, roll 2. Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts.

Thompson Papers. Collection 1, Box 8, Folder 52. Diamond Library, University of New Hampshire.

Toppan, Stephen. Account Book. Dover, New Hampshire, 1837-1845. Private Collection.

Towle, Simon. Account Book. Hampton, New Hampshire, 1811-1840. Tuck Memorial, Hampton, New Hampshire.

Union Insurance Company. Records. 1815-1821. MSS 1198. Baker Library, Harvard Business School, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Vessels Belonging to the Port of Portsmouth. 1790-1805. Miscellaneous file. Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Wendell, Jacob. Papers; 1810 Hardware Account Book. Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire; 1809-1810 Hardware Account Book. Wendell Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Wendell, Abraham and Jacob. Papers and Account Books. Wendell Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Directories

The Boston Directory. Boston, Mass.: John H. A. Frost and Charles Stimpson, Jr., 1821.

The Boston Directory. Boston, Mass.: Hunt and Stimpson, and J. H. A. Frost, 1827.

Edmunds’ Town Directory. Portsmouth: Joseph M. Edmunds, 1839.

The Portsmouth Directory. Portsmouth: B. Foster, 1821.

The Portsmouth Directory. Portsmouth: Miller and Brewster, 1827.

Portsmouth Registry and Directory. Portsmouth: Nathaniel March & Co., 1834.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 301

A Directory Containing the Names. Occupations, and Residences of the Inhabitants of the City of Portsmouth. Portsmouth: C. W. Brewster, 1851.

Portsmouth City Book and Directory. Portsmouth: C. W. Brewster, 1857.

The Portsmouth Directory. Portsmouth: C. W. Brewster, 1861.

The Portsmouth Directory. Portsmouth: James F. Shores, Jr., 1864.

Stimpson’s Boston Directory. Boston, Mass.: Stimpson and Clapp, 1831.

Stimpson’s Boston Directory. Boston, Mass.: Stimpson and Clapp, 1834.

Newspapers

Columbian Centinel. Boston, Massachusetts.

Daily Evening Times. Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

The Exeter Newsletter. Exeter, New Hampshire.

Herald Gospel of Liberty. Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

New Hampshire Gazette. Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

New Hampshire Mercury and General Advertiser. Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

New Hampshire Patriot and State Gazette. Concord, New Hampshire.

New Hampshire Sentinel. Keene, New Hampshire.

New Hampshire Spy. Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

The Oracle of the Dav. Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Osborne’s New Hampshire Spy. Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Newburyport Daily News. Newburyport, Massachusetts.

Newburyport Herald. Newburyport, Massachusetts.

Portsmouth Daily Chronicle. Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

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Portsmouth Evening Times. Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Portsmouth and Great-Falls Journal. Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Portsmouth Herald. Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Portsmouth Journal of Literature and Politics. Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Portsmouth Oracle. Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

"Distressing Calamity." Portsmouth fire, December 24, 1806. New Hampshire Gazette. Portsmouth, N.H. Tuesday, December 30.

"Distressing Conflagration." Portsmouth fire, December 26, 1802. New Hampshire Gazette. Portsmouth, N.H. Tuesday, December 28, 1802.

"Distressing Fire." Portsmouth, December 22, 1813. New Hampshire Gazette. Portsmouth, N.H. Tuesday, December 28.

"Domestic Summary of Manufactures." Newburyport Herald. Newburyport, Mass. Friday, February 26, 1830.

"Embargo Law." New Hampshire Gazette. Portsmouth, N.H. April 14, 1812.

"Raising the Steam in Portsmouth." Portsmouth Journal. Portsmouth, N.H. October 18, 1846.

"War Report." New Hampshire Gazette. Portsmouth, N.H. July 7, 1812.

Repositories

Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics. Division of Public Health. Concord, New Hampshire.

Decorative Arts Photographic Collection. Winterthur Museum and Library, Winterthur, Delaware.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.