Stephen Hasham of Charlestown, New Hampshire. A diminutive cherry case tall clock with a lunar calendar dial. AAA-9.
Stephen Hasham of Charlestown, New Hampshire, made this tall, inlaid cherry case clock. If you have any interest in antique clocks made by New England Clockmakers that were true characters, then Stephen Hasham has to be at the top of your list. Please read his bio below.
This very clock was advertised in Antiques Magazine – in June 1960 by the Boston Retailer Shreve Crump & Low Co. This clock may have been initially purchased by a member of the Batchelder Family in Charlestown, NH.
This fine stained cherry-cased example stands only 74 inches tall to the top of its central finial. At such a modest height, it should fit in most homes. It may be short enough to fit on your second floor. The nicely proportioned case is raised on four applied bracket feet. A shaped waist door dominates the waist section. The door is trimmed with a simple molded edge and provides access to the case's interior, where one will find the space for the two drive weights and brass-faced pendulum bob. Fluted quarter columns are inset into the front corners of the waist. These terminate in brass quarter capitals. The open fretwork-style bonnet is surmounted with three brass ball and spiked finials. These are positioned on capped and fluted plinths or chimneys. The plinths also support the lovely fretwork pattern. The bonnet door is an arched form and is fitted with glass. The free-standing bonnet columns are fluted and terminate in brass capitals.
This 12-inch dial is constructed from a thin sheet of brass. Hand engravings create the dial's decorations. These are filled with wax, and a silver wash is applied to contrast them. The Clockmaker's name is engraved in the two banners below the winding arbors. A lunar calendar or a moon phase mechanism is in the arch of the dial. Interestingly, this moon is paint-decorated. The time ring features Arabic five-minute markers separated from the Roman-style hour numerals by a segmented minute ring. A subsidiary seconds dial and month calendar display are positioned in the traditional locations.
This movement is constructed in brass and is of good quality. The two large brass plates are supported by four turned posts. Hardened steel shafts support the polished steel pinions, brass gearing, grooved winding drums, and recoil escapement. The weight-driven movement is designed to run for eight days on a full wind. It is a two-train or a time-and-strike design with a rack and snail striking system. As a result, it will strike each hour on the hour. This is done on a cast iron bell mounted above the movement on a post.
This case has the following approximate dimensions: 74 inches tall to the top of the center finial. It is 21 inches wide and 9.25 inches deep at the upper bonnet molding.
This clock was made circa 1790.
Inventory number AAA-9.
Stephen Hasham was born in October of 1764 in Boston, Massachusetts. His parents, Samuel (Jr.) and Hannah (Simpson) Hasham, had nine children. Stephen was the sixth. While growing up in Boston, Stephen and his father witnessed the battle of Breed's Hill from Coop's Hill in Boston's North End. They also watched the battle of Bunker Hill from the belfry of a meeting house at the North End of Boston. In 1775, his family moved west to the rural community of Grafton, Massachusetts. Two years later, Stephen and a brother moved ten miles away to Worcester. It is now thought that Stephen was trained as a clockmaker by Abel Stowell. Stowell frequently advertised that he was looking to teach young boys as apprentices in the skill of clockmaking. Town records support this in that Stowell was reimbursed for the care of Stephen and his brother Mayhew. By the mid-1780s, Stephen and Mayhew moved north to the small town of Charlestown, New Hampshire. This well-positioned town had a population of approximately 900 people. On September 27, 1787, it was recorded that Stephen married Theodosia Hastings, the only daughter of Deacon John and Susanna (Willard, Johnson) Hastings. The Hastings family were extensive property owners. Stephen and Theodosia had five children, and it is here that Stephen establishes himself as a clockmaker. Stephen trained apprentices. Nathan Hale from Rindge, New Hamshire, learned the skills of clockmaking from Stephen.
We have owned and seen a number of tall clocks that he made. One fine example with an engraved brass dial is currently in the New Hampshire Historical Society collection. This clock is well documented and is numbered "145" on its face. We have sold several other brass dial and numerous painted dial examples. Hasham's output was not limited to tall case clocks. He also made clocks in the Massachusetts shelf clock form. Several banjo-style clocks are also known, and as many as ten tower clocks have been documented over the years. He also made several clocks that were mounted into the interior walls of a number of Charlestown homes. The walls of these houses acted as the clock's case by protecting the inner workings. A surveying instrument called a "semi-circumferenter" was made by Hasham. This unusual instrument is in the collection of the Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. In addition to clockmaking, Hasham was very active in trading real estate. He also became a builder, an architect, an accomplished carver, and later a tavern keeper at his Eagle Hotel.
On March 6, 1841, his wife Theodosia died at the age of 72. They had been married for 50 years. Interestingly, within weeks, Stephen was courting a 23-year-old school teacher named Lucy Amy Miller. Stephen was now 76 years old. They were married on August 19, 1841, and had five children together. The last child Emily was born when Stephen was 86 years old. By 1851, financial difficulties begin to play a large role in Stephen's life. In addition, his wife Lucy was deemed an insane person by the neighborhood and was committed in 1852. Financial hardships followed, and he was soon ruined. The town of Charlestown was forced to watch over him until his death on February 3, 1861. He was 100 years young. Some of the stories regarding this man are priceless. Please read the December 1994 NAWCC Bulletin article, The Amazing Stephen Hasham, written by Don Haven Lathrop and Frederick Shelley.