Felt tells in his annals that "in 1770, Joseph Hiller moved from Boston to Salem and took a shop opposite the courthouse on the exchange." Later on, in 1789, we learn that Samuel Mullikin made an agreement to barter clocks for both English and West Indies goods, and also in exchange for country produce. So popular did they become that we learn that in 1844 there were in Salem ten clock-makers and eleven jewelers all working at this trade.
While the colonists still imported many of their clocks, yet in 1800 clock-making had become such a thriving industry that wooden cases were constantly being made, the manufacture of the works being a separate field.
Plate XLVII.—English Grandfather's Clock, William Dean Howells; Collection of Old Clocks, property of Mr. Mills, Saugus, Mass.; Grandfather's Clock, formerly owned by President Franklin Pierce. Property of Mrs. Charles Stark.
One of the most interesting is a tall grandfather's clock, showing the moon above the face, at the Stark house in Dunbarton. This clock formerly stood in the old Governor Pierce mansion at Hillsboro. It is very handsome, showing fine inlaid work on the case.
Varied in shape and size were the numerous clocks which were found in colonial homes in New England. They ranged from the tall grandfather's clock to the smaller wall and bracket pieces. One kind that was in use, though rarely seen to-day, is the table clock, a type highly prized by the colonists, and recorded as a fine timekeeper.
By the early nineteenth century we find the making of American clocks had become so universal that they were to be found not only in many New England houses, but throughout the South and Middle states as well. Many of the rarest and oldest were at the plantation manors of Virginia and Kentucky as well as in New England.
There are to-day in many houses colonial clocks valued not only for their worth, but for association's sake. One of these is in the home of Mr. John Albree at Swampscott, Massachusetts. It is considered one of the oldest of its kind in the United States, and was brought from England in the year 1635 by one John Albree, and has been in the family ever since. It is known as the weaver's clock, and has one hand only. These clocks are very rare, only a very few being known of.
Singularly enough, few people, even those who are the most interested in clocks and their making, know much about their early history and construction. The purchase of a clock at the present time means not only the case, but the entire works as well. It was, however, far different in the early days, at least while the tall clocks were so popular. Transportation was difficult, so the clock peddlers contented themselves by slinging half a dozen clock movements over the saddle and starting out to find purchasers. After the works were purchased, and the family felt they had twenty pounds to spare, they called in a local cabinet-maker, and often the whole of the amount went into the making of the case. Naturally, a certain-shaped case was made to fit a certain movement, so that definite types of clocks were found, but it must be remembered that the case gave no indication of the period of the maker of the movements.