Baldwin & Storrs of Northampton, Massachusetts. Tall case clock. SS-131.
This cherry-case tall clock was made by the partnership of Baldwin and Storrs of Northampton, Massachusetts.
The case is constructed and is narrowly proportioned. The cherry wood selected is somewhat unusual because the grain has a tiger-stripe effect in its shading. This example also retains an older finish. This case stands on four boldly formed or aggressively formed ogee bracket feet. These are applied to the base section. The waist section is long and narrow. It is fitted with a shaped door trimmed with a molded edge. Fluted quarter columns are inset into the front corners of the waist. These terminate in turned wooden quarter capitals. There are four smoothly turned and shaped bonnet columns positioned at the corners of the hood. These visually support the upper section of the bonnet. Above the arch is a modified pagoda form. This is decorated with a pierced and open fretwork design that ties the three finial supports and the fluted key together. The wooden finials have been turned into the form of urns. They retain their original gilding. The bonnet door is in an arched form and fitted with glass. It opens to access the engraved brass dial that retains an old silver wash.
During the late 1700s, the Connecticut River Valley provided access to some of America’s most accomplished dial engravers. This brass dial exhibits fine workmanship, which one has come to expect from the Thomas Harland School. This 12-inch dial is constructed from a sheet of brass. It gets its silver color from a wash that is applied after it has been engraved. The engravings are skillfully executed, and current scholarship suggests that this dial was engraved by Baldwin in the Harland style used by Nathaniel Shipman. The rococo scroll work theme is consistent in the four spandrel areas. This dial is signed and dated by the Maker. The date “1793” can be found just below the decoration in the lower left spandrel. The Maker’s name and working location, “Baldwin & Storrs / Northampton,” is positioned in the center of the dial just below the half-round calendar aperture. In the arch of the dial is a lunar calendar or a moon phase mechanism. Interestingly, the moon and the blue night sky are painted. The moon has a pleasing face. The time ring is laid out in a traditional format. The hours are indicated in Roman figures, and the five-minute markers are indicated in Arabic form. The subsidiary seconds dial is counter-sunk and positioned below the hour numeral XII.
The movement is thought to have been constructed by Storrs. The four posts that support the brass plates share characteristics with those made in Mansfield, Connecticut. Others have been attributed to Eleazer Cary. This movement design is traditional fiar. It is designed to run for eight days on a full wind. It will also strike the hour on each hour on a bell mounted to the back plate. It is of excellent quality.
This clock was made in 1793 and stands approximately 7 feet 10 inches tall.
Inventory Number SS-131.
Jedidiah Baldwin was born in Norwich, Connecticut, on March 29, 1768. He was the oldest son of Jabez and Lydia (Barker) Baldwin of that seaport town. Jedidiah was to apprentice to Thomas Harland, who was also working in Norwich. Harland was a very accomplished clockmaker, watchmaker, silversmith, jeweler, instrument maker, and engraver. Baldwin is thought to have finished his apprenticeship with Harland in 1791. On April 10 of that year, Baldwin married Abigail Jones of Norwich (born June 26, 1772) and soon moved north to Northhampton, Massachusetts. He set up a shop and advertised "Clock & Watch Making & Repairing. Together with Jewelry in its various branches." It is interesting to note that Samuel Stiles and Nathan Storrs were also listed as being in this business at this time in this town. On July 20, 1791, the partnership between S. Stiles and J. Baldwin was advertised in the New Hampshire Gazette. Their shop was to be located in Stile's current place of business which was located nearly opposite the Meetinghouse. This partnership lasted almost a year before Stiles left Northampton and moved first to Windsor, Connecticut, and then to Chester, Massachusetts, where he is thought to have died in 1826. On the 4th of July, 1792, Baldwin & Nathan Storrs ran an advertisement in the New Hampshire Gazette announcing their newly formed partnership. Storrs had been working as a clockmaker, watchmaker, gold and silver smith in town for at least a year. Their shop was "...the Shop lately occupied by STILES & BALDWIN." (A cherry case tall clock is known and signed by this firm. It is interesting to note that the engraved silvered brass dial is signed Baldwin & Storrs / Northampton and is dated 1793.)
Nathan Storrs was born in Mansfield, Connecticut, on August 7, 1768, the son of Amariah and Mary Gilbert Storrs. The family is a well-known and documented Silversmiths from Connecticut. It is currently thought that he was trained as a clockmaker by Jacob Sargeant. Nathan first advertises in Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1791 and that he is open for business and is lately from New York. In 1792, he formed a partnership with Samuel Stiles as Stiles & Storrs. This partnership quickly dissolves, and in 1792 and Nathan takes on Jedidiah Baldwin as Baldwin & Storrs until 1793, when Baldwin moves to Hanover, NH. In 1827, Storrs & Cook (Benjamin F. Cook) formed a partnership that lasted until 1833. In 1829, they opened an additional outlet in Amherst, Massachusetts. Nathan retires in 1833 due to poor health and dies in 1839.
In January of 1794, Baldwin & Storrs advertised that the partnership had dissolved. Jedidiah left Northampton and moved North to Hanover, New Hampshire, sometime in the latter part of 1793. In the village of Hanover, as well as being a clockmaker, Baldwin served as the postmaster in of town from 1797-1811. He is also recorded to have trained his younger brother Jabez while working here. Jedidiah left Hanover in 1811 and moved to New York State, where he moved several times. His first stop was in Fairfield, New York, and is listed there as a silversmith until 1818. From 1818 to 1820, he is listed as working as a watchmaker and silversmith in Morrisville, New York. In 1834 he is listed as working in Rochester, and in 1838 he is listed as having a shop on Washington Street. Baldwin died on March 29, 1849, in Rochester.
