Description:
Tall clock with a hood with two pine cone-like finials surmounted by a flattened arch that imitates a sarcophagus shaped hood; the original glass over the face with roman numerals and inscribed: "Elijah Yeomans / Hadley" over an arched door flanked by a bead at each edge of the waist to affect quarter columns; and supported on a short bracket base of original height with a deep mid molding. The brass movement survives with the original black and red wax inlay on the dial, which was straightened by Robert Cheney during restoration. The remainder of the movement and pendulum is original throughout, but the second hand is lost. The clock is one of only a couple of known examples signed "Hadley" and was owned by Lieutenant Enos Smith (1745-1836) of Hadley and passed on to his son, Deacon Sylvester Smith (1789-1876). Elisha Yeomans (1751-1794) came to Hadley from Middletown, Connecticut, about 1771, where he stayed until about 1783 when he moved to Petersham, Massachusetts; most of his known clocks (6 or 7 examples) are signed Petersham. He was back in Middletown in 1792, where he worked in Samuel Canfield's shop. Yeomans left there for Hartford, Connecticut, where he worked at David Greenleaf's and died in 1794. The creation of refined objects required superb hand skills, confidence, and an eager patron with wealth and conviction about his place in society. The human proportions and animation of tall clocks appealed to the Enlightenment mind interested in harnessing nature and valuable time. When Elijah Yeomans made this clock during the prosperous years of the Revolution, he built a finely crafted movement that incorporates a ‘dead-beat’ escapement, which locks the mechanism with each tick of the pendulum for improved efficiency. The increased accuracy probably exceeded the needs of the unidentified household where it first kept time. The case survives in its original or early finish and documents the interpretation of the sarcophagus hood form in western Massachusetts. The clockcase may represent the workmanship of either Samuel Gaylord (1742-1816) whose ledger is in HD's Flynt library, or Eliakim Smith (1735-1775), who were Hadley's principal cabinetmakers during the 1770s.
Label Text:
This clock is one of only a handful of examples signed “Elijah Yeomans, Hadley.” Yeomans came to Hadley in 1771 from Middletown, Connecticut, where he was a clockmaker and silversmith. After 1783, he worked in Petersham, Massachusetts. The clockcase may represent the workmanship of Samuel Gaylord (1742-1816) or Eliakim Smith (1735-1775), Hadley’s principal woodworkers in the 1770s. Lieutenant Enos Smith (1745-1836) of Hadley owned the clock, and passed it on to his son, Deacon Sylvester Smith (1789-1876).
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+84.030 |
