John Benson emigrated from Birmingham, England, and established a lapidary and optical store in May 1793 at 12 Princess Street in New York, where he produced miniatures, lockets, rings, glasses, "as well as Spectacles, single reading and burning glasses, and where he also polished scratch'd glasses." In July 1797 he moved to 106 Pearl Street where he sold green goggles, thermometers, and opera and spy glasses, in addition to an assortment of jewelry. In September 1798 he was established at a new location, 147 Pearl Street, "At the sign of The Green Spectacles" where he specialized in optical goods. He featured for rent or sale a "Portable Camera Obscura" for the use of artists in drawing landscapes. His advertisements chronicled each change in location in the issues of The New York Daily Advertiser.
A craftsman whose name is well known in scientific circles was Anthony Lamb, who advertised in 1753 as a mathematical instrument maker living on Hunter's Key, New York. He claimed that he could furnish
Godfrey's newly invented quadrant, for taking the latitude or other altitudes at sea; hydrometers for trying the exact strength of spirits, large surveying instruments in a more curious manner than usual; which may be used in any weather without exception, small ditto which may be fixed on the end of a walking stick, and lengthened to a commodious height, gauging instruments as now in use, according to an act of assembly with all other mathematical instruments for sea or land, by wholesale or retail at reasonable rates.[15]
Lamb had served an apprenticeship with Henry Carter, a mathematical instrument maker in London. In July 1724 he became an accomplice of Jack Sheppard, a notorious burglar, and was arrested and sentenced to the gallows in 1724. As he was awaiting execution on the gallows at Tyburn, his sentence was commuted to transportation to Virginia for a period of seven years, inasmuch as this was his first offence. After he had completed his term of seven years in Virginia he moved to Philadelphia, where he opened a shop as an instrument maker and a private school for teaching technical subjects. The curriculum included surveying, navigation, and mathematics. Although his enterprises prospered, he moved to New York. There he married a Miss Ham and established himself in a respectable position. Lamb's first advertisement in New York appeared on January 23, 1749. He died on December 11, 1784, at the age of 81, and two days later he was eulogized in The New York Packet where he was mentioned as "a steady friend to the liberties of America."
John Lamb (1735-1800), Anthony's son, learned and practiced his father's craft for a time and worked as a partner in the firm of A. Lamb & Son. He subsequently became a wine and sugar merchant, achieved considerable wealth, married well, and was accepted by the gentry of the city. He was a firm patriot and from 1765 he was active as the leader of the Sons of Liberty. He served in several major engagements in the American Revolution and in 1783 was brevetted a brigadier-general.[16]
The immigrant instrument makers were not confined to those working in glass, however. One of the earlier immigrant craftsmen was Charles Blundy, a London watchmaker who established himself on Church Street in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1753. He notified the public that in addition to watches he sold thermometers of all sizes and types. Presumably his merchandise was imported from England.[17] He was absent from the city between 1753 and 1760 but returned and continued in business in the latter year.
Another pre-Revolution immigrant was Thomas Harland (1735-1807), a clock maker who settled in Norwich, Connecticut, in 1773. It is claimed that he sailed from England on one of the ships carrying the tea destroyed by the Boston Tea Party. Over the course of the years his business prospered to such a degree that he hired from ten to twelve apprentices at one time. Some of the leading American 18th-century clockmakers served apprenticeships with Harland. In 1802 his newspaper notice stated that he had for sale "Surveyors Compasses, with agate centre needles; chains and Protractors ..."[18]
A most interesting instrument that has recently come to light is a brass sundial made in Philadelphia in 1764. The dial, about 10-1/2 inches in diameter, is signed by the maker, "Daniel Jay Philada. fecit." It is dated 1764 and inscribed with the name of the person for whom it was made, "James Pemberton." In the center is "Lat. 40," which coincides with the latitude for Philadelphia. The style of the dial is very much in the English tradition of the period, indicating that Jay was probably an emigrant trained in England.
Post-Revolutionary Immigrant Makers
A large proportion of the English craftsmen who came to the American Colonies after the Revolution settled in Philadelphia, There was John Gould for instance, a mathematical instrument maker from London who had opened a shop at 47 Water Street by 1794. He sold nautical, surveying, and optical instruments as well as mirrors, presumably all imported from England. He moved to 70 South Front Street "At the Sign of the Quadrant" in 1796. He was succeeded in business in 1798 by Thomas Whitney, another emigrant from London. Whitney made and sold instruments (see fig. 85) in Gould's former shop, and featured also a vast array of department store merchandise. John Whitney, who may have been his son, was listed at the same address in the Philadelphia directory of 1801 as a "Mathematical Instrument Maker and Optician."[19]