Part 12

Executors: my two sons, David S. and William Greenough. Legatees: to the children of my son Thomas, deceased, Rachel, Ann, and Sally Greenough, L13.6.8 each. To their sister Betty L5. To the children of my son John deceased, 200 acres of land. I also give his eldest son John my silver can, fellow to the one I gave his father. To his sons Wm. and David, and to his daughters, Sarah, Abigail, and Mehitible L5 each and the house they live in. My daughter, Sarah Edwards, L10 and a silver chafing dish. My daughter Martha Stone all my lands in the County of York, Cape Porpoise, and Wells, and my silver salver, and her son Thomas L5 and a silver porringer. My daughter Elizabeth Brooks L10 and a silver tea pot. My daughter Mary Savage L40 and to her son Thomas one silver porringer. To the children of my daughter Jerusha, deceased, Martha Clark Lepear and Sally Lepear each of them, L50, and a pair of salt shovels, and a pepper box, silver. All the rest of my estate to my two sons, David Stoddard Greenough, and Wm. Greenough. The late Shute Shrimpton Yeoman, Esq., left an estate to my late spouse Sarah, and to her children, in the Island of Antigua. In case my son David should have a legal possession of same, and Wm. no part, in that case I give my son David L100 and sundry pieces as per schedule amount to L63.11.3. All the rest of my estate to my son, William Greenough.

Of particular interest with relation to Greenough's business in instruments is the following advertisement that appeared on May 11, 1742, in The Boston Gazette:

To be sold by Capt. Cyprian Southack at his House near the Orange Tree and at Mr. Tho. Greenough's Mathematical Instrument Maker near the Draw Bridge, said Southack's Chars of the Coast from Sandy Point of New York to Canso.

Invaluable for this study are Thomas Greenough's manuscript accounts that have survived in the collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society. The following itemized entries are selected from Greenough's business accounts over a period of two decades to provide data on the prices current in the second half of the 18th century for new instruments and for repairing others:

In Account with Thomas James Gruchy: 1754, April 27: 1 Compass for the Schooner Sea Flour L0.8.0. 1758, Nov. 28: 1 Spyglass L1.13.8. 1759, Jan. 25: Mending 3 Compasses for the Schooner Susanna L0.6.0.

In Account with Nathaniel Bethune: 1760, August: A gauging rod L0.6.0. Mending a telescope L0.3.0.

In Account with Captain McAndrew Mirick of Nantucket: 1772, March 21: For 2 compasses, 1 leaded L0.16.8.

In Account with Captain Roberson Crockett: 1773, April: For mending 2 Compasses L0.6.2. For mending 1 Hanging Compass L0.3.2.

In Account with Captain Reworth of the Brig Fortune: 1774, March 30: For mending 2 compasses & Glasses L0.7.0.

In Account with Captain Thomas Godfrey: 1774, April 7: For 1 Telescope L0.8.0.

Other documents in the same collection indicate that Greenough's business interests were substantial and not limited merely to the construction of instruments. On July 31, 1769, Greenough's name appeared on the Boston Citizens' Non-Importation Agreement. Subsequently, on December 14, 1774, there is Greenough's signed receipt, with the amount left blank, stating that he had "REC'D. of Capt. Thomas Godfrey the Sum of ---- in full for my Negro man Cuffes Shair in the Whaling Voige ----."

Greenough apparently was succeeded in business by his son William Greenough. Mr. Lawrence B. Romaine of Middleboro, Massachusetts, in 1939 described a wooden surveying compass with its own hand-whittled tripod made of oak which bore a compass card inscribed "Made by William Greenough, Boston, N.E." The compass was protected by a pine cover that fitted closely between the sights. The present location of this instrument is not known, but it appears to be the only known example by William Greenough made of wood.

In the Greenough family at the present time is a brass surveying compass (fig. 42) of fine quality and of the period before or during the American Revolution. The dial is finely engraved with a Tudor rose at its center, and around it is the inscription "THOMAS GREENOUGH BOSTON Fecit." The compass face is mounted to the main blade with two copper rivets. The holding screws for the vane and tripod mounting are rather crudely hand cut with wing-nut ends.

Five other surveying compasses made by Thomas Greenough are known, and all are made of wood: the one in the Franklin Institute is made of gum (fig. 43), one in Old Sturbridge is made of maple, one in the Bucks County Historical collection at the Mercer Museum is made of cherry, one owned by this writer is made of basswood, and one on loan to the U.S. National Museum from Mr. Laurits C. Eichner is made of hickory (fig. 44).

The compass at the Mercer Museum forms part of the surveyor's gear used to lay out the town of Weymouth, Massachusetts. The example in hickory on loan to the U.S. National Museum, as is usually the case with the compass cards of the Thomas Greenough instruments, has the central ring printed in gilt, and the inscription has turned black, making the inscription almost illegible. This specimen was owned by Joseph Frye, who was given a land grant in what is now Fryeburg, Maine, in 1762. He allegedly used this compass for surveying that land. In 1783 he assembled a manuscript book of tables (see fig. 45) for use in surveying for his son Joseph Frye, Jr. This manuscript also is part of the loan to the U.S. National Museum.

The compass card in each of these five instruments is identical, designed for use in the mariner's compass (see fig. 46). A gentleman in the dress of about 1740 stands on the shore using a Davis quadrant. Offshore in the harbor is a schooner of the 1750 period. Minor features of the scene are touched up in red, presumably printed, since they are consistent in all of the cards.

William Williams

Although not one of the earliest instrument makers in Boston, but certainly one of the more significant, was William Williams (1737/8-1792). He was the son of Capt. John Williams, a shopkeeper who died on March 22, 1748, at the age of 41, and who was buried in King's Chapel Burial Ground.

William Williams was born in 1737 or 1738. He was ten years of age when his father died, and he had two brothers and two sisters. His father left a substantial estate of L6,575, of which L4,544/9/4 was for the inventory of the shop merchandise. One of the appraisers for his estate, Jotham Maverick, married the widowed Mrs. Williams less than a year later, on January 20, 1748/9.

In 1770 William Williams established himself as a mathematical instrument maker and clockmaker at No. 1 Long Wharf, at the Crown Coffee House, as it was then known. The shop was located on the corner of State and Chatham Streets, on premises owned by Robert Shillcock.

Williams may have worked as an instrument maker in Marblehead before returning to his native Boston. According to Felt, an instrument maker named William Williams at Marblehead advertised in the Salem newspapers in the early 1770's. However, in 1768 Williams was producing instruments from an address in King Street, Boston. (See figure 48.) An advertisement inserted by Williams appeared in the March 12, 1770, issue of The Boston Gazette. It was this same issue that reported the Boston Massacre. One of the victims was Williams' step-brother Samuel Maverick, the son of his stepfather Jotham Maverick by a first marriage.

In 1773 Williams married Joyce Shillcock, the daughter of his landlord. During the Revolutionary War, Williams saw active service as a private in Captain Mills' company, of Col. Jeduthan Baldwin's regiment of artificers, during the years 1777-1779. In 1780 he served in Captain Pattin's company of General Knox's artillery, which was stationed at West Point.

With the conclusion of the war Williams returned to the craft of instrument-making in his shop, at No. 1 Long Wharf. In 1782 his wife, Joyce, inherited the property from her mother, the widow Hannah Shillcock, following the latter's death in that year. In the following May it is recorded that Williams purchased the warehouse and land on the north side of State Street from Benjamin Brown, a trader. By a separate deed, he and his wife released to Brown the warehouse and land which had been the property of his father-in-law in exchange for a clear title to one-half share of the store and land under it "which is next to the street called King Street." On February 7, 1784, he bought a share of the lower division at Long Wharf, No. 7, from Arnold Welles. On May 17 of the same year he succeeded in buying out Brown's half share of the lower division of Long Wharf at Nos. 1 and 7, and at the same time he deeded to Brown one-half share of No. 7 Long Wharf, together with all its dockage and wharfage. Finally, on January 20, 1785, Williams and his wife deeded to Brown all rights to land of No. 7 Long Wharf, reserving for himself his rights in the flats, wharfage, and dockage.

On March 23, 1787, Williams deeded to Joseph Helyer, a blockmaker, the store and land under same, and half the wharfage properly belonging to Lot No. 1. On October 20 of the same year he sold to Brown a part or share of No. 7 Long Wharf, and on March 24, 1788, he purchased land with a wooden store at State Street and Long Wharf from Benjamin Brown. On June 26 he bought the land and store of Joseph Helyer on the north side of Long Wharf.

Williams engaged in only two more transactions before his death. On March 28, 1790, he mortgaged to Joseph Greene, a merchant, the land with wooden store at the head of Long Wharf on the northeast side of State Street; this mortgage was cancelled on May 29, 1793. On October 1, 1791, he deeded to Benjamin Brown a one-half share or 1/48th of all the dockage and wharfage of Long Wharf that appertained to one-half of Lot No. 1, which he had previously purchased from Welles as noted, as well as 1/48th of the proprietor's purchase of Gordon's lands and buildings adjoining the Wharf.

Williams died on January 15, 1792, at age 44. The administrator of his estate was a merchant named Abraham Quincy. By order of the Supreme Court, in order to settle his estate, Williams' store building at No. 1 Long Wharf was ordered sold at public auction. Although on the site of the Crown Coffee House, it was a new building erected in 1780 after the Coffee House had burned. The purchaser appears to have been John Osborn, a merchant, because on May 10, 1793, Quincy, Williams' administrator, deeded to Osborn the land with wooden store at Long Wharf on State Street.

The only instrument made by Williams which appears to have survived is a Davis backstaff (fig. 49) marked "By Wm. Williams, King Street, Boston, for Malachi Allen, 1768"; this instrument is now in the collection of the Peabody Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. It is to be noted from this inscription that this instrument was an early example of Williams' work, produced at the age of 20, prior to the opening of his shop at the Crown Coffee House.

In 1770, when Williams opened his shop, the carved sign of "The Little Admiral" (fig. 37) was installed in front of the Crown Coffee House, and Williams' establishment was thereafter designated by this symbol.