Joseph H. Eastman

Joseph H. Eastman formed the Eastman Clock Company in 1895 after the failure of the Boston Clock Co. The Eastman Clock Company built a factory in Chelsea, MA. This soon became the factory location for the Chelsea Clock Co., even before the Eastman Clock Company failed only a year after its formation. It became The Chelsea Clock Company. Joseph Eastman apparently used the Eastman Clock Company name again from 1916 to 1918 and a variation of it, Eastman Manufacturing Co., in 1822 - 24.

Joseph Henry Eastman was born on September 10, 1843, in Georgetown, Massachusetts. He was one of two sons born to Timothy B. and Caroline B. (Pearson) Eastman. His Father, Timothy, is listed as a shoemaker from Derry, NH, in the 1840 census. Joseph was listed as a watchmaker in Boston from 1867 through 1880. From 1881 -1884, he became the superintendent of the Harvard Clock Company. In 1894, he joined the Boston Clock Company. Then the Eastman Clock Company until 1896. After the failure of the Eastman Clock Company, Joseph Eastman, joined with Busby Bell and Tool Company of Fairhaven, Vermont, in 1896 to form the Fairhaven Manufacturing Company. Fairhaven Manufacturing Company became the Vermont Clock Company in 1898, also in Fairhaven. Clocks were produced in Fairhaven with movements from the original Boston Clock Company and the Eastman Clock Company in addition to Fairhaven MFG Co. and Vermont Clock Company movements. Although the Vermont Clock Company catalog of 1900 offered a wide variety of clocks, only about 3000 total items were produced during 1896 until production ceased about 1902. He was then involved with the Little & Eastman from 1906 - 1907, the Derry Manufacturing Company from 1908 to 1910, E&O Clock Co. from 1920 to 1921, and lastly, the Eastman Manufacturing Company from 1922 to 1924. Joseph Eastman died of pneumonia following a stroke on December 17, 1931, at his home on 123 Eastern Ave, in Dedham, MA.