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Title: History of the American ClockBusiness for the Past Sixty Years, and Life

of Chauncey Jerome

Author: Chauncey Jerome

Release Date: June 23, 2004 [eBook

#12694]

Language: English

Character set encoding: iso-8859-1

GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OFTHE AMERICAN CLOCK BUSINESSFOR THE PAST SIXTY YEARS, ANDLIFE OF CHAUNCEY JEROME***

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CHAUNCEY JEROME, WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.

BARNUM'S CONNECTION

WITH THE

YANKEE CLOCK BUSINESS New Haven: 1860

The manufacture of Clocks has becomeone of the most important branches ofAmerican industry Its productions are ofimmense value and form an importantarticle of export to foreign countries Ithas grown from almost nothing to itspresent dimensions within the last thirtyyears, and is confined to one of thesmallest States in the Union Sixty yearsago, a few men with clumsy tools suppliedthe demand; at the present time, withsystematized labor and complicatedmachinery, it gives employment to

thousands of men, occupying some of thelargest factories of New England.Previous to the year 1838, most clockmovements were made of wood; since thattime they have been constructed of metal,which is not only better and more durablebut even cheaper to manufacture.

Many years of my own life have beeninseparably connected with and devoted

to the American clock business, and themost important changes in it have takenplace within my remembrance and actualexperience Its whole history is familiar to

me, and I cannot write my life withouthaving much to say about "Yankeeclocks." Neither can there be a history ofthat business written without alluding tomyself A few weeks since I entered my

sixty-seventh year, and reviewing the past,many trying experiences are brought freshinto my mind For more than forty-fiveyears I have been actively engaged in themanufacture of clocks, and constantlystudying and contriving new methods ofmanufacturing for the benefit of myself andfellow-men, and although through theinstrumentality of others, I have beenunfortunate in the loss of my good nameand an independent competency, which Ihad honorably and honestly acquired bythese long years of patient toil andindustry, it is a satisfaction to me now toknow that I have been the means of doingsome good in the world.

On the following pages in my simplelanguage, and in a bungling manner, I have

told the story of my life I am no author,but claim a title which I consider nobler,that of a "Mechanic." Being possessed of

a remarkable memory, I am able to give aminute account and even the date of everyimportant transaction of my whole life,and distinctly remember events whichtook place when I was but a child, threeand a half years old, and how I celebrated

my fourth birthday I could relate manyinstances of my boyhood and later dayexperiences if my health, and strengthwould permit It has been no part of myplan to boast, exaggerate, or misrepresentanything, but to give "plain facts."

A history of the great business of Clockmaking has never been written I am theoldest man living who has had much to do

with it, and am best able to give itshistory To-day my name is seen onmillions of these useful articles in everypart of the civilized globe, the result ofearly ambition and untiring perseverance.

It was in fact the "pride of my life." keepers have been known for centuries inthe old world; but I will not dwell on that

Time-It is enough for the American people toknow that their country supplies the wholeworld with its most useful time-keepers,(as well as many other productions,) andthat no other country can compete withours in their manufacture

It has been a long and laboriousundertaking for me in my old age to writesuch a work as this; but the hope that itmight be useful and instructive to many of

my young friends has animated me to goon; and in presenting it to the public it iswith the hope that it will meet with somefavor, and that I shall derive somepecuniary benefit therefrom.

NEW HAVEN, August 15th, 1860

CHAPTER I.—MY EARLY HISTORY

—Birthplace; nail making; death of myFather; leaving home; work on a farm;hard times; the great eclipse; bound out as

a carpenter; carry tools thirty miles; work

on clock dials; what I heard at a training;trip to New Jersey in 1812; first visit toNew York; what I saw there; cross theNorth River in a scow; case making inNew Jersey; hard fare; return home; firstappearance in New Haven; at home again;

a great traveller; experiences in the lastwar; go to New London to fight the British

in 1813; incidents; soldiering at NewHaven in 1814; married; hard times again;

cottton [sic.] cloth $1 per yard; the cold

summer of 1816; a hard job; work atclocks

CHAPTER II.—EARLY HISTORY OFYANKEE CLOCK MAKING.—Mr EliTerry the father of wood clocks inConnecticut; clocks in 1800; wheels madewith saw and jack-knife; first clocks bymachinery; clocks for pork; men in thebusiness previous to 1810; [ ] a newinvention; the Pillar Scroll Top Case;peddling clocks on horseback; the BronzeLooking Glass Clock

CHAPTER III.—PERSONAL HISTORYCONTINUED.—1816 to 1825; work with

Mr Terry; commence business; workalone; large sale to a Southerner; a heap ofmoney; peddle clocks in Wethersfield;walk twenty-five miles in the snow;increase business; buy mahogany in theplank; saw veneers with a hand saw; tradecases for movements; move to Bristol; badluck; lose large sum of money; first cases

by machinery in Bristol; make clocks inMass.; good luck; death of my littledaughter; form a company; invent BronzeLooking Glass Clock

CLOCK MAKING.—Revival of business;Bronze Looking Glass Clock favorite;clocks at the South; $115 for a clock;rapid increase of the business; new church

at Bristol—Rev David L Parmelee; hard

times of 1837; panic in business; no moreclocks will be made; wooden clocks andwooden nutmegs; opposition to Yankeepedlars in the South; make clocks inVirginia and South Carolina; my trip to theSouth; discouragements; "I won't give up;"invent one day Brass clock; better timesahead; go further South; return home;produce the new clock; its success.

CLOCKS IN ENGLAND.—The newclock a favorite; I carry on the businessalone; good times; profits in 1841; woodclock makers half crazy; competition;prices reduced; can Yankee clocks beintroduced into England; I send out acargo; ridiculed by other clock makers;prejudice of English people against

American manufacturers; how they wereintroduced; seized by custom houseofficers; a good joke; incidents; the Terryfamily.

CHAPTER VI.—THE CAREER OF AFAST YOUNG MAN.—Incidents; FrankMerrills; a smart young man; I sell himclocks; his bogus operations; a sadhistory; great losses; human nature; myexperience; incident of my boyhood;Samuel J Mills, the Missionary;anecdotes

CHAPTER VII.—REMOVAL TO NEWHAVEN—FIRE—TROUBLE.—Makecages at New Haven; factories at Bristoldestroyed by fire; great loss; sickness;heavy trouble; human nature; move whole

business to New Haven; John Woodruff;great competition; clocks in New York;swindlers; law-suit; ill-feeling of otherclock makers.

CHAPTER VIII.—THE METHOD OF

Benefit of manufacturing by system; aclock case for eight cents; a clock forseventy-five cents; thirty years ago and to-day; more human nature; how the Brassclock is made; cost of a clock; thefacilities of the Jerome ManufacturingCompany; a joint stock company; how itwas managed; interesting statements; itsfailure

CHAPTER IX.—MEN NOW IN THE

BUSINESS.—The New Haven Clock Co.:Hon Jas E English, H.M Welch, JohnWoodruff, Hiram Camp, Philip Pond,Charles L Griswold, L.F Root Benedict

& Burnham Company of Waterbury: Arad

W Welton Seth Thomas & Co Wm L.Gilbert E.N Welch Beach & Hubbell.Ireneus Atkins

BUSINESS.—Barnum and the JeromeManufacturing Co.; Terry & Barnum;interesting statements; causes of thefailure; the results

CHAPTER XI.—EFFECTS OF THEFAILURE ON MYSELF.—My prospects;leave New Haven; move to Waterbury; a

frightful accident; a practical story.

More misplaced confidence; a dishonestman threatening to imprison me for fraud;every dollar gone; kindness of JohnWoodruff, etc

CHAPTER XIII.—THE WOOSTERPLACE CHURCH.—Reasons for building

it, and how it was built; growth ofdifferent denominations, etc

CHAPTER XIV.—NEW HAVEN AS ABUSINESS PLACE.—growth, extensive

manufacturing, population, wealth, etc

APPENDIX.—General directions forkeeping clocks in order, etc.

AMERICAN CLOCK

MAKING.

LIFE OF CHAUNCEY

JEROME.

1793 My parents were poor butrespectable and industrious My fatherwas a blacksmith and wrought-nail maker

by trade, and the father of six children—four sons and two daughters I was thefourth child.

In January, 1797, he moved from Canaan

to the town of Plymouth, in the sameCounty, and in the following spring built ablacksmith shop, which was large enoughfor three or four men to work at the nailmaking business, besides carrying on theblacksmithing At that time all the nailsused in the country were hammered byhand out of iron rods, which practice hasalmost entirely been done away by theintroduction of cut nails

My advantages for education were verypoor When large enough to handle a hoe,

or a bundle of rye, I was kept at work on

the farm The only opportunity I had forattending school was in the winter season,and then only about three months in theyear, and at a very poor school When Iwas nine years old, my father took me intothe shop to work, where I soon learned tomake nails, and worked with him in thisway until his death, which occurred on thefifth of October, 1804 For two or threedays before he died, he suffered the mostexcruciating pains from the disease known

as the black colic The day of his deathwas a sad one to me, for I knew that Ishould lose my happy home, and beobliged to leave it to seek work for mysupport There being no manufacturing ofany account in the country, the poor boyswere obliged to let themselves to thefarmers, and it was extremely difficult to

find a place to live where they would treat

a poor boy like a human being Nevershall I forget the Monday morning that Itook my little bundle of clothes, and with abursting heart bid my poor mother goodbye

I knew that the rest of the family had got toleave soon, and I perhaps never to see any

of them again Being but a boy andnaturally very sympathizing, it reallyseemed as if my heart would break tothink of leaving my dear old home forgood, but stern necessity compelled me,and I was forced to obey

The first year after leaving home I was atwork on a farm, and almost every daywhen alone in the fields would burst into

tears—not because I had to work, butbecause my father was dead whom Iloved, and our happy family separated andbroken up never to live together again In

my new place I was kept at work veryhard, and at the age of fourteen did almostthe work of a man It was a very lonelyplace where we lived, and nothing tointerest a child of my age The people Ilived with seemed to me as very old,though they were probably not more thanthirty-six years of age, and felt noparticular interest in me, more than tokeep me constantly at work, early and late,

in all kinds of weather, of which I nevercomplained I have many times worked allday in the woods, chopping down trees,with my shoes filled with snow; never had

a pair of boots till I was more than twenty

years old Once in two weeks I wasallowed to go to church, whichopportunity I always improved.

I liked to attend church, for I could see somany folks, and the habit which I thenacquired has never to this day left me, and

my love for it dates back to this time in myyouth, though the attractions now aredifferent

I shall never forget how frightened I was

at the great eclipse which took place onthe 16th of June, 1806, and which soterrified the good people in every part ofthe land They were more ignorant aboutsuch operations of the sun fifty-four yearsago than at the present time I had heardsomething about eclipses but had not the

faintest idea what it could be I washoeing corn that day in a by-place threemiles from town, and thought it certainlywas the day of judgment I watched the sunsteadily disappearing with a tremblingheart, and not till it again appeared brightand shining as before, did I regain mybreath and courage sufficient to whistle.

The winter before I was fifteen years old,

I went to live with a house carpenter tolearn the trade, and was bound to him by

my guardian till I was twenty-one yearsold, and was to have my board and clothesfor my services I learned the businessvery readily, and during the last threeyears of my apprenticeship could do thework of a man

It was a very pleasant family that I livedwith while learning my trade In the year

1809 my "boss" took a job in Torringford,and I went with him After being absentseveral months from home, I felt veryanxious to see my poor mother who livedabout two miles from Plymouth She livedalone—with the exception of my youngestbrother about nine years old I made up mymind that I would go down and see herone night In this way I could satisfy myboss by not losing any time It was abouttwenty miles, and I only sixteen years old

I was really sorry after I had started, butwas not the boy to back out It took me tillnearly morning to get there, trampingthrough the woods half of the way; everynoise I heard I thought was a bear orsomething that would kill me, and the