386. Mary McKinney Schweitzer, "The Economy of Philadelphia and Its Hinterland," in Shaping a National Culture, p. 99. Kalm estimated Philadelphia's population at above ten thousand in 1746. Kalm, Travels, 1:57.
387. Legend on "An East Prospect of the City of Philadelphia; taken by George Heap from the Jersey Shore, under the Direction of Nicholas Skull [Scull] Surveyor General of the province of Pennsylvania," engraved by Gerard Vandergrucht (London: George Heap, September 1, 1754), 20 1/b x 82 1/8 inches, illustrated in Martin P. Snyder, City of Independence: Views of Philadelphia Before 1800 (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1975), fig. 17. Cf., In 1749,...the houses in Philadelphia were counted, and found to be two thousand and seventy six in number." Kalm, Travels, 1:58: The Scull view clearly shows Market and Arch (Head's street, which he commonly wrote down as Mulberry) Streets as wider than others. Kalm states that Market was "near a hundred" feet wide and Arch "sixty six feet," whereas most other streets were "fifty foot." Kalm, Travels, 1:33-34.
388. Head Account Book, p. 49 left. Only one other chest of drawers appears at this price, but as it was debited long afterwards, on 2/25/37, it is doubtful that it was veneered. Head Account Book, p. 119 left [debit to account of Benjamin Brian].
389. The earliest American cabinetmaker's inventory, the 10th mo. 15, 1708 estate inventory of Charles Plumley, valued, at £6-0-0, "6 ffeneaireing Screws [clamps]." Philadelphia Wills, 1708-113; Forman, American Seating Furniture, pp. 371-372. The 1718 inventory of joiner Robert Streeter, who was from Chester, sixteen miles south of Philadelphia, listed a "finnering iron." Chester County Archives #75, cited in Lee Ellen Griffith, The Pennsylvania Spice Box (West Chester, Pa.: Chester County Historical Society, 1986), p. 136 n. 1.
390. Hornor is wrong in citing as two survivors the "William and Mary matching highboy and lowboy...from Cedar Grove," which descended in the Morris family, as examples of drawers with veneered fronts in a solid walnut carcass. Hornor, Blue Book, p. 10, & pls. 12 & 13; accord, PMA MS Word Label ID #979 for the "Graydon Wood, 1994" photograph of the pair ["walnut veneer"]. The drawers are of solid walnut, as well. Garvan, "22. High Chest and Dressing Table," p. 26; accord, conservator Christopher Storb, in a personal conversation, November, 2000.
391. One spice box on frame, a scaled down version of a full-size chest of drawers on a frame of turned legs, is faced with 1/16" mahogany veneer on its pine sides, base and large drawers. Lee Ellen Griffith, Pennsylvania Spice Box, fig. 48; Parke-Bernet Galleries, Important XVIII Century American Furniture & Decorations: Property of Mrs. Francis P. (Mabel B.) Garvan, auction catalog (New York, October 31, 1970), lot #142. Another spice box with a mahogany veneered pine door is in a private collection. Worldly Goods, checklist #8. The small scale of these pieces may have aided their survival and that of their veneer. First, the veneer had smaller surfaces to span and, thus, was less susceptible to movement, swelling and cracking. Also, these smaller pieces may have been used principally for display. They never underwent the sort of heavy use given full scale chests of drawers.
392. John T. Kirk, American Furniture & the British Tradition to 1830 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982), figs. 547, 551, 552. Geoffrey Beard and Lady Goodison describe in detail the process of veneering and the various "cross-banded" and "feather-edged" veneers, which continued to be popular on walnut furniture into the reign of George I (1714-1721), a time contemporaneous with John Head's emigration. Geoffrey Beard and Judith Goodison, English Furniture 1500-1840 (Oxford: Phaidon Christie's Limited, 1987), p. 13. Walnut had previously replaced oak as the fashionable wood for furniture coincident with the restoration of the English monarchy in 1660. Herbert Cescinsky, English Furniture from Gothic to Sheraton (New York: Dover Publications, 1968), p.100.
393. Kalm records the reminiscence of Isaac Norris, Sr. (1671-1735), "one of the first English merchants in this country, [who] observed, that in his younger years, the river Delaware, was commonly covered with ice...." Kalm, Travels, 2:127-128. The "severe winter of 1732-33" had accumulated some "fifteen inches of ice on the Schuykill," and was "succeeded by a hot, oppressive summer, in which many died from sunstroke." Scharf and Westcott, History of Phildelphia, 1:206-207. That observation is confirmed by a July 11, 1734 contemporary report that "[t]he Weather has been so excessive hot for a Week past, that a great Number of People have fainted and fallen into Convulsions, and several have died in a few Hours after they were taken." Pennsylvania Gazette, July 11, 1734. In the "long winter" of 1741, "there fell such a quantity of snow, that the squirrels could not get to their store, and many of them were starved to death." Kalm, Travels, 1:313. A "great drought," in May 1748, dried up all the plants and grass in the fields. Kalm, Travels, 1:184. James Logan, observing barometric readings for several years, was reported to have found the fluctuations between 28" 59 and 30" 78. Kalm, Travels, 1:56. Kalm himself found the climate "temperate...,the winter not being over severe, and its duration short, and the summer not too hot...." But Kalm was comparing Philadelphia's climate to "the middlemost parts of Sweden, and the southern ones of Finland." Kalm, Travels, 1:47.
394. Both curled walnut and maple were not as common and, consequently, were more expensive than uncurled wood. Nor was it always evident which maple trees were curled within. "[Y]ou frequently find trees, whose outsides are marbled, but their insides not. The tree is therefore cut very deep before it is felled, to see whether it has veins in every part." Kalm, Travels, 1:168-169.
395. Tolles, Meeting House and Counting House, p. 128.
396. Head Account Book, p. 75 left [Jones, 8/4/27]. With drawers, pine chests cost nearly double: a "pin Chest with 2 drawers," for which £1-5-0 was debited Christofar Topam on 6/5/20, and a "pine Chest with drawers," for which £1-8-0 was debited Mathias Tison. Head Account Book, pp. 39 [Topam] & 33 [Tison]. As the £1-4-0 charged Jones falls within the range of prices charged for pine chests without drawers and those with, it is probable that his chest was of pine, as well.
397. Of course, the fact that the same price appears for the same form over a prolonged period is not dispositive of the issue. Head may have been debiting for models that were different but, coincidentally, priced the same.
398. Head Account Book, pp. 7 [John Hains debit, 8/22/20], 53 left John Burr debit, 9/28/41]. While Samuel Woolman was debited £9-2-0 for the "Three Chest of Drawers dd to himself", on 2/22/24, it is unclear from this aggregate price whether any £3-0-0 chests of drawers were included. Head Account Book, p. 52 left.
399. The eleven orders, each consisting of two chests of drawers and billed at £6-0-0 per order, are here listed chronologically by debtor. Head Account Book, p. 39, 12/24/21 debit to accounts of Jonathan Haines [Haines] for delivery on each to Will Sharp and John Sharp; p. 42, 2/2/23, and p. 132 right, 3/23/23, both debits to account of James Lippincot [Lippincott]; p. 52 left, 7/25/23 debit to account of Sary [Sarah] Cart; p. 33, 6/8/24, debit to account of Mathias Tison [Matthias Tyson?]; p. 81 left, 9/29/25, debit to account of Joseph Gilpin; p. 110 left, 7/25/28 & 8/16/40, both debits to account of Thomas Fitswarter [Fitzwater]; p. 25, 7/13/29, debit to account of William Lucin Lucan?]; and p. 90 left, 4/28/33 & 1/29/34, both debits to account of John Prikett [Prickett]. The last order to Prikett was delivered by John Makentosh, together with an oval table at £2-5-0.
400. However, there is always the possibility that Head may have been charging the same price in any wood for this, his smaller "entry level" standard model, irrespective of his material cost, as an inducement for further and more substantial orders. Regrettably, he does not describe the wood of each chest of drawers sold.
401. Head Account Book, p. 42.
402. Head Account Book, p. 132 right, 3/23/23.
403. Head Account Book, p. 118 left [2/10/29].
404. Head Account Book, p. 126 left [Robert Webb, 2/23/30 debit]. Of these 25 chests of drawers, two, possibly a pair, were debited in a single £7-0-0 entry, to Peter Shomaker [Shoemaker]. Head Account Book, p. 80 left [5/25/34].
405. Head Account Book, p. 69 left, 10/23/43 debit to account of Mickel Branin [Michael Brannon?].
406. Josier [Josiah] Foster was charged £3-2-0, on 2/2/24, "To a Chest of Drawers & a Loke." Head Account Book, p. 50 left. But, apparently, on other occasions, Head did not charge for custom work. Presuming it was otherwise the same size as or smaller than his regular £3-0-0 chest of drawers, or that the required custom features were not costly to execute or supply, Head charged Thomas Gilpin no more, on 11/7/22, "To a Chest of drawers Be Spok," ordered by Mary Parker and delivered to Thomas's brother, Samuel. Head Account Book, p. 19.
407. Head charged Caleb Ransted [Ranstead] £0-1-1 1/2 "To a Box duftailen" on 7/13/29. Head Account Book, p. 121 left.
408. But, absent other, more expensive features, this would assume that the cost of producing bracket feet would be more expensive than turned feet. Thomas Bradford had "One walnut Chest wth Drawers on balls", in 1722. Hornor, Blue Book, p. 30.
409. Paul Preston was charged the least of any account, for an en suite chest of drawers and chamber table, at £6-15-0 on 3/15/19, as well as for an individual chamber table, at £1-7-0 on 8/27/19. Head Account Book, p. 49 left. The combinations generally brought £9-10-0, as in the account of William Clar [Clare], on 8/13/23. Head Account Book, p. 19 & passim. Chamber tables generally were debited at £1-15-0, as in the account of Samuel Hudson, on 1/3/21. Head Account Book, p. 7 & passim.
410. Head Account Book, p. 27. This specificity was either done to accomodate Leacock's bookkeeping practices or simply to differentiate which cherry and maple chests of drawers were at issue, as Leacock had earlier purchased one of each, at higher prices. Head Account Book, p. 27.
411. The three chests of drawers sold at £4-15-0 were within a relatively short timeframe of a little over two years: the 4/17/21 order from John Pris [Price?] delivered to William Vallocot, the 3/2/22 order from William Hains [Haines], and the 7/28/23 order from Nathanal [Nathaniel] Zane. Head Account Book, pp. 9 [Pris] & 25 [Hains & Zane].
412. The three chests of drawers sold at £5-0-0 span an even shorter timeframe than the £4-15-0 chests of drawers, i.e., less than a year: the 11/19/19 order from Thomas Shute, the 12/26/19 order from Archab [Archibald] Mikel, and the 6/16/20 one from John Mafel. Head Account Book, pp. 39 [Shute], 40 [Mikel] & 50 left [Mafel].
413. The forty-eight chests of drawers sold at £5-10-0 were over a span of twenty years, from the 11/18/21, order from John Comins "dd [delivered] to his Sister," to the 10/30/41 order from Mickel Branin [Michael Brannon?]. Head Account Book, pp. 48 left [Comins] & 69 left [Branin]. One of those chests of drawers, as previously noted, was purchased on 4/19/27 by John Campbell and returned at full credit on 10/5/27. Head Account Book, pp. 99 left & right. The cost of another, delivered to Mathias Lucan, was split, on 7/27/25, between two accounts, Lucan debited £3-0-0 and Peter Tison £2-10-0, each for "part of" a chest of drawers. Head Account Book, p. 76 left.
414. The twenty-two chests of drawers sold at £5-15-0 also spanned nearly twenty years, from the 10/1/20 order from Mathhew Burchfild [Birchfield?] to the 9/14/39 one from Isaac Janiens. Head Account Book, pp. 49 left [Burchfild] & 102 left [Janiens].
415. The £6-0-0 walnut chest of drawers went to Calap [Caleb] Cash, in 1721. Head Account Book, p. 7. The seven chests of drawers sold at £6-0-0 were over a roughly twenty-year period from the 12/12/19 purchase by Nathanal [Nathaniel] Pool, to the 3/16/41 order from Anthony Williams. Head Account Book, pp. 1 [Pool] & 68 left [Williams].
416. Chalfant Collection. While in the basic form of the Beake-type chests [fig. 3], this chest exhibits additional refinements. There is greater complexity to the turnings of its feet and the moulded edge of its top. String inlay enhances the drawers fronts and top, lightening the entire effect.
417. The £4-15-0 and £5-0-0 may not have been "models," as such. Perhaps they were in the same form as the £3-0-0 model, but in different, more expensive woods, or even in a higher grade of wood such as curled walnut, although undesignated in the account book.
418. Head Account Book, p. 132 right.
419. The inventory was taken on 1/2/50 by Joseph Lownes and Joseph Mariott. Philadelphia Wills, 1749-147.
420. Hornor, Blue Book, p. 29. Margaret Schiffer lists only one, the "high Chist of Drawers," which belonged to Margaret Miller of Kennett Square, Chester County, in 1744. Schiffer, Chester County, Pennsylvania Inventories, p. 111.
421. Debited to Daniel Cotes [Coates], on 9/28/34. Head Account Book, p. 48 left.
422. Debited to the accounts of Andrew Duche [Duché], on 5/7/31; and Daniel Hillman, on 10/30/36. Head Account Book, pp. 62 left [Duché] and 84 left [Hillman].
423. Debited to Philip Johns, on 10/1/24. Head Account Book, p. 68 left.
424. Debited to the account of "Susanah Feirman Excexetreks of her husborn Benjamin Terman" [Susannah Fairman, Executrix of her husband Benjamin Fairman], on 5/16/40. Head Account Book, p. 90 left.
425. Debited to Simond Hagal [Simon Edgell, the pewterer], on 5/9/25. Head Account Book, p. 7.
426. Debited to Benjamin Brian [Bryan?], on 2/25/37. Head Account Book, p. 119 left.
427. The "Charytre" one was debited to Edward Bradle [Bradley?], on 5/25/33; and the other one to Joseph Cooper, on 2/28/35. Head Account Book, pp. 78 left [Bradle] & 80 left [Cooper].
428. The "Charitree" one was debited to the account of John Leacock, on 6/24/33; the undesignated one to the account of James Steel, on 3/31/34; and the "Charytree" one to Richard Renshaw, on 6/19/35. Head Account Book, pp. 27 [Leacock], 103 left [Steel], & 33 [Renshaw].
429. Debited to William Horn, on 8/1/37. Head Account Book, p. 72 left.
430. Head Account Book, pp. 63 left [Calender] & 27 [Leacock].
431. Pennsylvania Gazette, February 9, 1748.
432. Kalm, Travels, 1:50. As will be discussed in the section on chests of drawers with ensuite dressing tables, three pairs were described as in cedar. Head also charged Thomas Redman, on 5/11/24, "To mending a Sader Chest of Drawers With drops & scuchons And Sader Togither Conto [which came to]" £0-10-0. Head Account Book, p. 29.
433. Head Account Book, p. 40; FamilySearch.com, compact disc #4, pin #983691.
434. Head Account Book, p. 106 left.
435. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Bequest of Lydia Thompson Morris, 1932-45-101; Worldly Goods, checklist #35 ("cherry; cedar, pine, poplar"); contra as to poplar secondary wood, Cedar Grove Inventory, January 9, 1991, Cedar Grove, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, p. 17 ("long leaf pine drawer sides and white cedar drawer bottoms"). An absence of poplar secondary wood may further support a Head attribution, as Head did not expressly record such wood until the forties, well after the Shinn commission.
436. E.g., Thomas Shinn's grandson, James Thornton Shinn (born, Philadelphia, January 9, 1834-1909), married Emma Morris (Philadelphia, April 20, 1870). FamilySearch.com, compact disc #4, pin #986751 & #986755, and film #1985447; Moon, Morris Family, 5:247. See also a Queen Anne corner chair descended in the Morris-Shinn-Maier Family. Hornor, Blue Book, pp. 199-200, pl. 319.
437. The Morris cherry triple chest of drawers bears a paper label inside one drawer which reads: "[C]hest of drawers from our old home Cedar Grove, believed to date from about 1748 and that it belonged to our great-great grandmother Elizabeth Coates Paschall. John T. Morris [brother to Lydia] 1906." Cedar Grove Inventory, pp. 16-17. The chest of drawers, however, stood at "Compton," the Chestnut Hill home of John T. Morris and Miss Lydia T. Morris, when photographed, c. 1909, for Moon's book. Moon, Morris Family, 5:248 plate opposite. Cedar Grove was originally constructed at Harrowgate near Frankford, about four miles north of Philadelphia. Lydia Thompson Morris donated Cedar Grove, together with all of its contents to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1928. It was then taken down and re-erected in Fairmount Park. Roger W. Moss, Historic Houses of Philadelphia: A Tour of the Region's Museum Homes (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998), pp. 86-89. Cedar Grove was built in 1748 by Elizabeth Coates Paschall, on land purchased from her brother Samuel. It stood on part of a plantation, originally acquired by her father Thomas Coates, Sr. in 1714, to which Elizabeth had moved, after the death of her husband Joseph Paschall in 1742. Elizabeth was related to at least three of Head's customers: her husband, her mother Boulah Jacques Coates, and her brother Thomas Cotes Junor [Coates, Jr.]. "Elizabeth Coates Paschall (1702-1767)," Philadelphia: Three Centuries, p. 49. There is no record of Elizabeth or any of her relatives purchasing the triple chest from Head. There is the possibility that it came into Cedar Grove from another close source, like the Shinns, especially given the high degree of inter-relationships, commercial and marital, among Head's customers. Hornor provides the following information regarding furniture owned by Elizabeth and the Coateses: "Elizabeth Coates reveals in her account book the purchase, during the year 1721, less than a month after her marriage to Joseph Paschall, of 'A Mahogany Chest of drawers & Table' costing £9-16-0, and 'A Mohogany Bedsted' at 11s. Two years before, her father Thomas Coates had had a mahogany bedstead...." Hornor, Blue Book, p. 47. Hornor also states that brickmaker Thomas Coats, presumably her brother, had a "Low Desk" a few years after the middle of the century. Ibid. p. 118.
438. As Head described and charged for entries "To a Chest of Drawers and a Table" as a single unit, they have been counted separately herein, and thus are not among the tabulations for individual "chests of drawers" and "chamber tables."
439. Head Account Book, p. 49 left. Two other pairs were also ordered that year, at £10-0-0, one debited to Simond Hagal [Simon Edgell] ("Sader"), on 4/15/19; the other to Abram Cox ("Chary Tree"), on 5/27/19. Head Account Book, pp. 7 [Hagal] & 5 [Cox].
440. Head Account Book, p. 87 left. Anthony Morris also appears in a £5-0-0 transaction debited, on 2/3/34, to Samuel Powell Sanor [Sr.], "To a Clockcase dd to his son Anthony Morris." Head Account Book, p. 62 left. Head here uses "son" to mean "son-in-law," as he later did in his Will. Philadelphia Wills, 1754:136. Both of these entries refer to Anthony Morris, IV (1705-1780), who married, in 1730, Sarah, daughter of Samuel and Abigail Powell. Pennsylvania Magazine, 7:351, 495; Index to £1-75:715; Crane, Diary of Elizabeth Drinker, p. 327. Samuel Powell Sr. (d. 1756) was the first member of his family to settle in Philadelphia. He and his son both amassed substantial fortunes from the mercantile business and the triangular shipping trade. Notes to the Powel Family Business Papers, Winterthur, Downs Collection.
441. Hornor, Blue Book, p. 46. There are two reasons why red cedar may not appear more frequently as a primary wood in Head's furniture. Neither its appearance nor its protective properties against insects appear to have held up well over time. On his visit to the plantation of Isaac Norris, Jr. (1701-1766), Kalm noted: "I saw a parlour in the country seat of Mr Norris, one of the Members of the Pennsylvanian House of Assembly, wainscoted many years ago with boards of red cedar. Mr Norris assured me that the cedar looked exceedingly well in the beginning, but it was quite faded when I saw it, and the boards looked very shabby, especially the boards near the window had entirely lost their colour; so that Mr Norris had been obliged to put mahogany in their stead : [sic] however, I was told, that the wood will keep its colour if a thin varnish is put upon it whilst it is fresh, and just after it has been planed, and if care is taken that the wood is not afterwards rubbed or hurt. At least it makes the wood keep its colour much longer than commonly. Since it has a very pleasant smell, when fresh, some people put the shavings and chips of it among their linen to secure it against being worm-eaten. Some likewise get bureaus, &c. made of red cedar, with the same view. But it is only useful for this purpose as long as it is fresh, for it loses its smell after some time, and is then no longer good for keeping off insects." Kalm, Travels, 2:182-183. A piece of furniture with red cedar as its only secondary wood is a diminutive walnut ball-foot chest of drawers with line inlay on its drawers and top. Chalfant Collection [fig. 25].
442. The inventory was made "12th month 27th 1754" by Wm. Callender and Charles Jones. Warner's will was proved November 28, 1754. Philadelphia Wills, 1754-141. Unfortunately, the opening lines of the will are missing, but Hornor recorded that Warner styled himself a "House-Carpenter." Hornor, Blue Book, p. 67. Head twice credited Warner for "measuren" tenements. Head Account Book, pp. 32 [measuring credits], 64 left [furniture debit]. Head, respecting his Mulberry Street property holdings, left "half of the Lot or piece of Ground joining to Edward Warners House" to John Head, Jr. John Head Will. Warner, who died in 1764, also became a merchant. Crane, Diary of Elizabeth Drinker, p. 339.
443. The probate inventory of clockmaker Samuel Stretch, nephew to Peter Stretch, "Taken the 30th of 7 m 1732," by Jno Cadwalader and Edward Roberts, lists a "Chest Drawers Dress Table & Spice box," and also is illustrative of how a spice box might be displayed. Philadelphia Wills, 1732-268. That chamber and dressing tables were synonymous may be gleaned from the 1754 inventory of William Lewis of Haverford, which listed "1 Chamber dressing Table." Schiffer, Chester County, Pennsylvania Inventories, p. 128. In today's parlance, such form would be called a "lowboy." Ibid.; Hornor, Blue Book, p. 29. In an intervening period, not applicable here, the term "toilet table" was also used as a synonym for dressing table. OED, 10 (part 1):108 citing definition in Simmonds, Dictionary of Trade (1858) for "toilette" (French) as a dressing table. A "toilet table" is listed in the probate inventory of Benjamin Franklin's great-grandson, Dr. Franklin Bache, who had been agent for Franklin's property holdings. Stiefel, "The Franklin Table," Franklin Gazette, 9:8.
444. Debited to the account of William Crosewhit [Croslwhitt?], on 5/22/25. Head Account Book, p. 74 left. Head may have been more descriptive as to this particular table, in order to differentiate it from Crosewhit's order of a second chamber table, on 1/6/27, at £1-15-0. Head Account Book, A "John Croslwhitt", as Hornor transcribes the name, was a joiner, who died in 1715. Hornor, Blue Book, pp. 3 & 32.
445. In chronological order (with designated woods described parenthetically), these £9-10-0 chests of drawers and their accompanying chamber tables were debited to the accounts of William Clar [Clare], on 8/13/23; Peter Stretch ("maple"), on 9/20/23; John Nicholas ("maple"), on 3/13/24; James Brownell, on 8/8/25; Thomas Godfrey ("Chari Tree"), on 6/27/26; David Hary/harve [Harvey?] ("mehoganey"), on 8/13/26; and George Cosins ("Chare Tree"), on 6/3/28. Head Account Book, pp. 19 [Clare], 45 [Stretch], 59 left [Nicholas], 78 left [Brownell], 88 left [Godfrey], 89 left [Hary/harve"], and 118a left [Cosins]. Further corroboration may be found in the £10-0-0 debited to Casper Wister [Caspar Wistar], on 4/14/26,"To a Chest of drawers and a Chamber Table and an oval Table." Indeed, as will be discussed, infra, under oval tables, there seems also to be some coincidence in the number of chests of drawers and oval tables ordered at the same time, of which this Wister entry is but one example.
446. Head Account Book, p. 9 [Steel, 3/13/24]; Philadelphia Wills, 1741-261.
447. In chronological order with wood described parenthetically, those at £10-0-0, were debited to the accounts of Simond Hagal [Simon Edgell] ("Sader"), on 4/15/19; Abram Cox ("Chary Tree"), on 5/27/19; Alexander Woodrop [Wooddrop] ("mohoganey"), on 6/21/21; Edmund Woolley ("Chartrewood"), on 5/23/23; Peter Stelle ("mehoganey"), on 6/24/25; and John Norris, "Ship Carpeneter" ("mehoganey"), on 5/16/26. Head Account Book, pp. 7 [Hagal], 5 [Cox], 3 [Woodrop], 13 [Wooley], 75 left [Stelle], & 87 left [Norris, the ship carpenter]. Cf., joiner Thomas Stapleford left his daughter Elizabeth "a Maple Chest of Drawers & Chamber Table." Will dated December 13, 1739, proved December 20, 1739. Philadelphia Wills, 1739-130.
448. This, of course, presumes that Head is not charging extra for different grades of woods, such as highly figured or more densely grained mahogany, or curled maple or walnut.
449. Garvan, "22. High Chest and Dressing Table," pp. 26-27. The "cusp curves" of the skirt are usually referred to as "Persian arches." They are also exhibited in the Richardson family high chest [fig. 7].
450. Head Account Book, p. 42 [Lippincot, 10/3/23, £5-12-0], loose paper in front of account book [Chatam, 4/21/40, £0-2-6].
451. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Bequest of R. Wistar Harvey, 1940-16-18; Hornor, Blue Book, pl. 19; McElroy, "Furniture in Philadelphia," p. 69, figs. 7, 8. The floral marquetry on the top of this dressing table is itself a vestige of an earlier period, having been most popular in Britain during the last forty years of the 17th century. Beard and Goodison, English Furniture, 1500-1840, p. 13. By 1720, marquetry was definitely unfashionable, and would remain so until a revival in the 1760's with the advent of French-trained crafts people like Pierre Langlois. Kirkham, London Furniture Trade, p. 18. Marquetry, particularly of the "line and berry" motif, was however to remain popular in Chester County, to the Southwest of Philadelphia. See generally Griffith, The Pennsylvania Spice Box.
452. Head Account Book, pp. 13, 19, 45 [1723]; 9, 58 left, 59 left [1724]; 72 left, 74 left, 75 left, 78 left [1725]; & 87 left [two entries], 88 left [two entries], 89 left [1726].
453. Private Philadelphia Collection; Worldly Goods, pp. 132-133, fig. 193, checklist #53; personal conversation with Alan Miller, May 6, 1985. The secondary woods are long leaf pine on the drawer sides and backs and white cedar on the drawer bottoms.
454. Some even earlier examples of turned leg high chests and dressing tables have single mouldings around their drawers. Personal conversation with Skip Chalfant, January 12, 2001.
455. If Head did make this piece, the darkening of legs to match another component of a piece was not an unknown practice to him. See the "Tray & Staining : 4 Lags [legs]," Head did for Sarah Dimsdale. Head Account Book, p. 52 left [Sary Dimsdild, £0-5-6, 7/15/23]. Skip Chalfant has suggested that Dimsdale's piece may have been a tray top tea table. Personal conversation, January 12, 2001.
456. A high chest that went through Pook & Pook's auction, Downingtown, Pennsylvania, about ten years ago. One possible source for forward-facing rear legs may be two earlier Bermuda chests-on-frame on short cabriole legs, displaying the same orientation. These two chests are also on ankleted Spanish feet. See Bryden Bordley Hyde, Bermuda's Antiques Furniture and Silver (Hamilton, Bermuda: Bermuda National Trust, 1971), pls. 317, 319. While anklets were to become common on Philadelphia Spanish feet, they were rare on Bermuda Spanish feet. Ibid., p. 116. Forward-facing, rear legs soon disappeared in Philadelphia, although they do appear on some case pieces from New Hampshire, where they are referred to as "walking legs." Conversation with the late John Walton, a dealer from Connecticut and New York City.
457. Courtesy of H.L. Chalfant Antiques; now in a private collection.
458. Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc, Important Americana: Property from the Estate of Mabel Brady Garvan, auction catalog (New York: June 7, 1980), lot #161; Worldly Goods, checklist #54; now in a Delaware Private collection.
459. The Smith family of Burlington included Philadelphia merchant John Smith (1722-1771), husband of James Logan's daughter Hannah, and John's brother, Samuel Smith (1720-1776), author of the first histories of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Myers, Hannah Logan's Courtship, pp. 24, 28 n. 3, 56.
460. Alan Andersen suggested this distinction from the photograph. Personal conversation, December, 2000.
461. Christie's, Important American Furniture, Silver, Prints, Folk Art and Decorative Arts, sale catalogue code Animal Farm - 9054, lot 709 (New York: January £15-16, 1999).
462. Hornor, Blue Book, pl. 59.
463. Mary G. Stoddart and Reed L. Engle, "Stenton," The Magazine Antiques (August, 1983), p. 270, fig. 5.
464. Leibundguth, "Furniture-making," p. 20, citing Fussell Ledger, p. 89 [account of carpenter Thomas Sugar].
465. While not contemporaneous to the kitchens Williams had plastered for Head four months earlier, they could have related to Williams's other work. Head Account Book, pp. 27 [7/26/23, £0-17-6 debit], 28 [3/8/23, £4-16-6 credit].
466. Head Account Book, p. 49 left. Preston owned a house on Front Street. He was dead by 1738. Pennsylvania Gazette, August 3, 1738.
467. Head Account Book, p. 63 left.
468. Head Account Book, pp. 7 [Hudson & Hagal], 124 left [Clar], 126 left [Radman].
469. Benjamin Clark was debited £1-10-0, on 3/31/29; and Thomas Shomaker [Shoemaker] was debited £1-12-6, on 2/13/32. Head Account Book, pp. 112 left [Clark] & 123 left [Shomaker].
470. The earliest £1-15-0 chamber table was debited, on 2/12/21, to the account of Joseph _____. Head Account Book, p. 1 [last name has largely disintegrated from the top edge of the first numbered page]. The latest, was debited, on 1/24/30, to the account of Reuben Foster. Head Account Book, p. 77 left. The others were debited passim.
471. In chronological order, the following accounts were each separately debited for chests of drawers at £5-10-0 and for chamber tables at £1-15-0: William Clar [Clare], on 2/28/24; John Roberds, on 5/15/25; William Wallas [Wallis? Wallace?], on 9/9/25; Ralf [Ralph] Hoy, on 7/12/26 for the chest of drawers and on 7/15/26 for the chamber table; William Bell, on 5/22/27 for the chest of drawers and on 5/28/27 for the chamber table; Samuel Smith, on 5/20/28; and Joseph Olman for delivery to Paul Preston, on 10/13/28 for the chest of drawers and on 3/6/29 for the chamber table. Head Account Book, pp. 19 [Clar], 73 left [Roberds], 79 left [Wallas], 89 left [Hoy], 118a left [Smith], & 111 left [Olman for Preston]. All may be of the same wood, probably walnut, as no wood is designated for any of them.
472. Peter Stretch was separately debited, on 4/3/23, for a chest of drawers at £5-15-0 and a chamber table at £1-15-0. Head Account Book, p. 45. Another possible such combination, although not precisely contemporaneous, involves Lodwick Spregel [Lodwick Sprögel], who ordered a "Chamber Table," from Head, at £1-15-0, on 11/4/22. Head Account Book, p. 29. A "Chest of Drawers delivered To Lodwick Spregel," was debited, on 4/9/23, at £5-15-0, to Matthew Tison's account. Head Account Book, p. 33. These may be the "1729 Mohogony Chest Drawers Table - Lodowick Christian Sprogell," cited by Hornor. Hornor, Blue Book, p. 30. If the same, the additional 5 shillings paid for the £5-15-0 chests of drawers for Stretch and Spregel may have been to the mahogany. Lodwick Christian Sprögel, a dyer by occupation, was also a land speculator. In 1718, "he was one of almost 200 inhabitants of Pennsylvania to petition the Assembly to raise the value of coin in the province to reduce the chronic drain." Horle, Lawmaking, p. 98.
473. The only subsequent suggested pairing of a separately billed chest of drawers and a chamber table may be found in the less proximate debits to the account of William Calender [Callender], for a £12-0-0 chest of drawers on 5/19/37 and a £2-0-0 chamber table on 9/26/37, both of "mapel." Head Account Book, p. 63 left.
474. En suite pairs of chests of drawers and chamber tables, were debited in combined entries to the accounts of Edwd [Edward] Horn, on 7/15/25, at £7-10-0; Ebeneser Larg [Ebenezer Large], on 10/5/27, at £7-5-0, which had been "dd to his son prier" [delivered to his son prior]; and John Peter Junor [John Peter, Jr.], on 1/5/29, at £7-10-0. Head Account Book, pp. 72 left [Horn], 56 left [Larg], & 119 left [Peter].
475. This also corroborates that Head meant "chamber table" when he simply wrote "table" in the combined entries.
476. John Mocombs Junor [McComb, Jr.] ordered the earliest, at £2-0-0. Head Account Book, p. 3. Peter Shomaker [Shoemaker] ordered the latest, at £2-5-0, over seventeen years later. Head Account Book, p. 80 left. The others may be found passim.
477. In chronological order, they were debited to the accounts of Alexander Wooddrop, on 6/27/21, at £1-10-0; Joseph Gilpin, on 6/22/22, at £1-10-0; Jon Loyd [Jonathan Lloyd?], on 1/15/23, at £3-0-0; Peter Stelle, on 6/24/25, at £1-10-0; Joseph Gilpin, again, on 9/29/25, at £1-10-0, accompanying "Two Chest of Drawers," at £6-0-0; Casper Wister [Caspar Wistar], on 4/14/26, at £10-0-0, but in a combined entry, "To a Chest of drawers and a Chamber Table and an oval Table;" Matthias Aspdin, on 5/21/26, at £3-10-0; Jonathan Hains [Haines], on 9/20/30, at £1-10-0; Joseph Forster, on 9/7/33, at £1-17-6; John Prikett, on 1/29/34, at £2-5-0, accompanying "Two Chests of drawers," at £6-0-0; and Joseph Cooper, on 2/28/35, at £3-0-0. Head Account Book, pp. 3 [Woodrop], 44 & 81 left [Gilpin], 37 [Loyd], 75 left [Stelle], 87 left [Aspdin & Wister], 118 left [Hains], 106 left [Forster], 90 left [Prikett], & 80 left [Cooper].
478. Head Account Book, p. 41 left [6/16/33].
479. Head Account Book, p. 60 left [8/24/28]. A "Thomas Canby, at Wilmington [Delaware]" advertised in 1743. If he is the Canby who dealt with Head, this would be one indication of the extent of Head's trade south of Philadelphia. Pennsylvania Gazette, November 16, 1743.
480. Head Account Book, pp.1 ["Smal" table, Joseph ____, 2/20/21], 87 left ["Two oval Tables," £3-10-0, Aspdin, 5/28/26]. Cf., "a Three foot Dining Table" was valued at £1-5-0 in the November 8, 1760 inventory of joiner Joseph Hall's estate. Will dated October 10, 1760, proved November 19, 1760. The appraisal was made by Jedidiah Snowden and Jonathan Shoemaker. Philadelphia Wills, 1761-3.
481. The "pin" oval table was debited to Edmund Woolley, on 11/30/21, for delivery to "his : sist : Wales." Head Account Book, p. 13. The other £1-10-0 oval tables may be found passim.
482. Head Account Book, p. 41 left. This is the only oval table specifically designated as "walnut," perhaps to differentiate it from the pine one ordered the same date.
483. Head Account Book, p. 1 [10/16/20].
484. Head Account Book, passim.
485. That "with two Loks" was ordered by Thomas Canby, on 4/10/27. Head Account Book, p. 60 left.
486. Head Account Book, pp. 1 [Joseph _____, 2/13/21, £2-12-6 debit], 3 [Alexander Woodrop, 7/23/21, £2-11-6 debit]; 60 left [John Whit and Abram Tailor, 3/15/24, £2-5-0 debit].
487. Debited to the account of Rabakah Carney [Rebecca Karney], on 5/31/24. Head Account Book, p. 67 left.
488. Head Account Book, pp. 27, 37, 80 left, 90 left, 100 left, & 110 left.
489. Head Account Book, p. 27 [5/24/23].
490. Minutes of the Chester County Monthly Meeting of Friends, minute entered October 2, 1725, cited in Margaret Berwind Schiffer, Furniture and Its Makers of Chester County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1966), pp. 190-191, pl. 85. Chester County is one of the three original counties formed in Pennsylvania in 1682, pursuant to King Charles II's Charter to William Penn. In Head's time, it included much more area than today. Chester County included what is today Delaware County, which was not formed until 1789. Until the formation of Lancaster County in 1729, Chester County's western boundary had not been delineated. Its northern boundary was demarcated in 1752 with the formation of Berks County. The establishment of the Mason-Dixon Line in 1764 determined its southern boundary. Schiffer, Chester County, Pennsylvania Inventories, p. 3.
491. Head Account Book, on a loose sheet inside the front cover.
492. A Philadelphia mahogany oval table on frame, incorporating many of the features described above, recently sold in New York. It has two drawers and is 60.5 inches deep. Christie's, Important American Furniture, Silver, Prints, Folk Art and Decorative Arts, auction catalog, sale code DOLPHIN-9592, lot #50, "A William and Mary Mahogany Drop-leaf Table, Philadelphia, 1710-1730" (New York: January 18-19, 2001). The note to the lot description identifies a small group of extant large-scale Philadelphia oval dining tables.
493. Schiffer, Furniture and Its Makers of Chester County, Pennsylvania, pls. 120,121.
494. The oval table was consigned with "One Side bord Table & Frame," at £2-12-0, on the second voyage of the ship New Bristol Hope, Thomas Chalkley, Master, from Philadelphia to Barbadoes, on December 27, 1729. Indicated on the invoice were "Returns in Rum, Or Mollasas," presumably meaning that payment in those items would be acceptable to Shute. Thomas Chalkley Account Book, pp. 15 left, 23 left, in miscellaneous papers of the James, Lewis, Thompson and Chalkley families and the Welsh Society, at HSP. A "Thomas Shute" bought a "Chest of drawers" from Head, on 11/29/19, at £5-0-0. Head Account Book, p. 39. Logan has an account for a "Thomas Shute near Philad[elph]ia." Logan Ledger, p. 33. Another account in Head's book is for a "Thomas Shut sope biler [soap boiler]," perhaps the same individual. A chandler, he bought "6 : Sope Boxes" from Head, on 8/26/24, at £0-7-0; and was credited between 10/23/34 and 6/26/35 for 168 pounds of soap and 29 pounds of candles. Head Account Book, pp. 39, 40. While Thomas Shute is not recorded as having bought from Head the oval table & frame, that was consigned for sale in Barbadoes, the Chalkley entry still suggests the possibility that not all of Head's production was destined ultimately for Philadelphia. It may have been exported by some of his customers. Cf. , furniture debited by Head to Aaron Godforth Junor [Jr.] for delivery to [sea] captains. Head Account Book, p. 100 left. Certainly, his son-in-law, Jeremiah Warder, was to distinguish himself in the triangular trade routes between Philadelphia, the Carib, and Britain. Doerflinger, Vigorous Spirit, pp. 118-119.
495. Head Account Book, p. 103 left. It is not surprising that this unique order should be to Steel's account. His account contains the greatest number of orders from Head of any non-craftsperson. Several of the forms he ordered were expensive, unusual or complex. That he should be so important a customer of Head is undoubtedly due, in part, to his being so big a creditor. Head owed Steel ground rent, for which a credit was inscribed, on 7/29/41, in the amount of £112-8-8, after subtracting a small credit for some paving stone. Head Account Book, pp. 103 left & right.
496. Hornor, Blue Book, p. 60. At 55-to-1, the weight of Head's account book entries for oval tables would clearly support Hornor's supposition.
497. Leibundguth, "Furniture-making," p. 10, citing Business Papers of Coates-Reynell, 1702-1744, HSP.
498. Philadelphia Wills, 1754-141.
499. "Inventory of the Goods and Chattels of William Callender deceased," which was [a]ppraised 6th & 8[th] days 6th mo. 1763 By John Reynell [&] Abel James." Philadelphia Wills, 1763-294. As Callender's inventory was taken in 1763, Callender's table may date from a later period. Like Reynell, Callender also had a "Square Mahogany Tea Table," the latter appraised at £2-0-0.
500. Hornor, Blue Book, pl. 73. The simpler table is shown, courtesy of H.L. Chalfant Antiques, and is now in a private collection.
501. Head Account Book, p. 52 left [Sary Dimsdild, £0-5-6, 7/15/23].
502. Head Account Book, pp. 19 [DuBary], 37 [Loyd, 1/11/31], 56 left [Cordry, 11/13/23], 89 left [Boore, 5/30/31].
503. Head Account Book, pp. 56 [Logen, 10/30/23] & 9 [Steel, 12/12/25].
504. Head Account Book, passim.
505. Head Account Book, pp. 60 left [Clifton, 11/2/24], 61 left [Dunken, 9/1/24].
506. Head Account Book, p. 1 [Joseph ____, 4/24/21].
507. Head Account Book, p. 68 left [11/27/24].
508. Head Account Book, p. 74 right [1725].
509. Head Account Book, p. 10 [a debit to Steel]; Philadelphia Wills, 1741-261.
510. Head Account Book, p. 9 [Steel, 1/11/24], 72 left [Horn, 4/18/26], 75 left [Coates, 5/23/26].
511. Kalm, Travels, 1:329.
512. A paper has been published on Philadelphia vernacular furniture of the latter half of the 18th century. Nancy Goyne Evans, "Unsophisticated Furniture Made and Used in Philadelphia and Environs, ca. 1750-1800," in John D. Morse, ed., Country Cabinetwork and Simple City Furniture (Charlottesville: The University Press of Virginia, 1970), pp. 151-203.
513. Chests of undesignated wood may have also included poplar, although Head does not specifically record acquiring poplar until 1743, near the end of his furniture-making career. See American Art Association Anderson Galleries, Inc., "Small Tulipwood Ball-foot Chest, Pennsylvania, 1710-25," Selections from the Collections of Francis P. Garvan, auction catalog sale #3878 (New York, January £8-10, 1931), lot #96.
514. William Branson supplied "6 payr Buts," on 2/12/21, at £0-6-0, and "8 : payer Buts," on 3/26/23, at £0-8-0. Head Account Book, p. 6. Simond Hagal [Simon Edgell, the pewterer] provided "6 : payer Buts," on 4/11/26, at £0-9-0. Head Account Book, p. 8.
515. Alexander Wooddrop supplied "2 dosen Till Loks," on 4/11/21, at £0-13-0. Head Account Book, p. 4. Boulah Coates provided "3 dosen of Till Loks," on 5/2/26, at £1-2-0. Head Account Book, p. 75 right.
516. Head Account Book, p. 39.
517. Head Account Book, p. 49 left.
518. Even though the next cheapest chests cost double, or £0-12-0, it is unlikely that the £0-6-0 was merely a delivery charge, as Head specifically records this entry as being "To a Chest," and no charge for a chest or its repair is elsewhere recorded in this account. Head Account Book, pp. 21, 103 left. A "Larg pine Chest" cost Jon [Jonathan?] Lade £1-0-0, on 6/9/26. Head Account Book, p. 54 left. Also, Head usually started entries for delivery with a phrase such as "To horlen [hauling]." Conversely, Head's use of the word "Chest" immediately after the words "To a" also focuses attention on that object rather than its delivery. Head Account Book, passim.
519. Credited to the account of William Branson, on 2/12/21, at £0-10-0. Head Account Book, p. 6.
520. Head Account Book, p. 54 left.
521. Head Account Book, p. 75 left.
522. Head Account Book, p. 78 left.
523. "Cedar resists moth, cockroach, cricket, termite, and mildew." Hyde, Bermuda's Antique Furniture & Silver, p. 2. This may be one reason why Philadelphian Nathaniel Allen ordered "3 red cedar chairs" from Bermuda. Ibid., pp. 19-20, citing Allen's April 7, 1720 letter ordering those chairs for a friend, in the Letterbook of Nathaniel and Hannah Allen 1716-1735, Winterthur, Downs Collection, MS #53.165.270.
524. Hornor, Blue Book, p. 70.
525. In chronological order, the orders for two bedsteads were to the accounts of James Steel, on 4/8/23 and 3/15/27, both at £2-8-0 for two; and of Jon [Jonathan?] Lade, on 6/9/26, at £1-8-0 for two. Head Account Book, pp. 9 & 103 left [Steel], & 54 left [Lade]..
526. At £0-10-0, cots were Head's least expensive beds. In chronological order, they were debited to the accounts of Jon Loyd [Jonathan Lloyd?], on 3/1/24, "To a Cote Badstad;" James Steel, on 12/17/30, "To a Cote;" and Thomas Wells, on 1/14/32, "To a Cott." Head Account Book, pp. 37 [Loyd], 103 left [Steel], & 120 left [Wells]. Wells, a "Ship Carpenter in Front Street," may have been making use of the "Cott" on board. Wells advertisement, Pennsylvania Gazette, May 21, 1747.
527. Pallets were more expensive than cots. Ester [Esther] Parker's account was debited £1-4-0, on 7/18/24, as follows: "Joseph Brintnall [Breintnall] Dr [debtor] to a palit Badstad." Head Account Book, p. 42. Breintnall, first Secretary of LCP, impressed leaves for scientific study, when not being active in mercantile and public affairs in Philadelphia. Edwin Wolf, 2nd and Marie Elena Korey, eds., Quarter of a Millennium (Philadelphia: Library Company of Philadelphia, 1981), pp. 16-17. John Norris, "ship carpenter," paid £1-15-0, on 8/25/31, "To a palit Badstad," which may have been of different design, perhaps a special order for placement on a ship. Head Account Book, p. 87 left. Presumably, John Norris is identified by his profession to distinguish him from the son of the same name of Isaac Norris, Sr., holder of many political offices, including being twice Speaker of the Assembly. Horle, Lawmaking, 2:760-61.
528. Head Account Book, pp. 1 [Masters], 49 left [Coster]. The location of Thomas Masters's establishment can be identified through another's advertisement: "Very Good Season'd Pine boards and Cedar Shingles to be sold by Charles Read opposite to Mr. Thomas Masters at the Corner of the Front and Market Streets...." American Weekly Mercury, April 28, 1720, reproduced in facsimile in Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art, Colonial Craftsmen, p. 5 no. 22. At that corner, Masters had built in 1705 "a stately house, five stories from the lower street and three the upper...." Watson, Annals, p. 169. Michael Hillegas is among those in Pennsylvania known to have traded with Irish-born merchant and dry-goods importer, William West. Horle, Lawmaking, 2:1058.
529. Charles Hansly was charged £0-2-6, on 2/18/24, "To turning: 2 Bad posts." Head Account Book, p. 55 left.
530. One or more of the individuals whose accounts are credited for supplying bedsteads to Head may, therefore, have functioned as turners, although they may have styled themselves differently. The credits were to the accounts of: John Hains [Haines], on 4/24/20, at £1-8-0, "To : 7 badstads;" on 9/19/20, at £2-0-0, "To - 10 : badstads;" and, on 6/31/26, at £1-8-0, "To Ten Badstads;" James Lippincot [Lippincott], on 2/19/26, at £1-4-0, "To six badstads;" and, on 2/1/29, at £1-0-0, "By 5 Badstads;" Enoch Core, on 2/18/30, at £2-14-0, "By 12 Sat of Badstads;" on 3/30/30, at £0-17-0, "By four Badstads;" and John Prikett, on 2/19/26, at £1-4-0, "By - 40 Badstads." Head Account Book, pp. 8 [Hains], 43 [Lippincot], 106 right [Core], & 90 right [Prikett]. ]. A "John Haines, Joiner," advertised for the return of his runaway slave in the following year. Pennsylvania Gazette, April 29, 1742. Arts and Crafts, p. 169. If this is the same individual who supplied Head with the 27 "Badstads," he was dead within a few months of his ad. Head notes that it was "his Widow," who supplied Head with "1868 foot of pine Bord," on 7/9/42, at £5-12-0. Head Acount Book, p. 114 right. The account of John Hains [Haines] had frequently been credited in the past with supplying Head with large quantities of pine board and scantling. Head Account Book, pp. 8, 114 right.
531. Head Account Book, pp. 1 [Masters], 8 [Hains].
532. The account of Elizabeth Roberds was credited £0-2-6, in "1739," "By Turning - 5 pilers [pillars]," which may have been for a bedstead. Head Account Book, p. 56 right. Cf., the notation, "[B]edstead pillows [pillars]," in the 1708 inventory of Charles Plumley's effects. Forman, American Seating Furniture, Appendix I; Hornor, Blue Book, p. 9. Head's account for Edward Worner [Warner] was also credited with £0-0-6, on 7/9/35, "By a Bad post." Head Account Book, p. 64 right.
533. Head Account Book, p. 64 right [Worner]; Kalm, Travels, 1:145, 168. Across the Delaware River, in Raccoon Creek, at least one joiner was making bedposts from sassafras wood, purportedly because its aromatic qualities expelled bugs. Kalm was unconvinced, having inspected a twelve-year old bed riddled with bugs. By contrast, Kalm found sassafras chips in chests or drawers in Pennsylvania to be effective as a preventive against moths attacking wool stuffs. The closed chest or drawer preserved the scent of the wood. Kalm, Travels, 1:342-343.
534. The £0-14-0 bedsteads were debited to the accounts of Abram Cox, on 11/9/22; Sarah Griscom, on 3/2/23; Charles Hansly, on 6/5/23; Nehemiah Allen, on 8/30/24; Jno [Jonathan] Fisher "ye Shoumaker," on11/29/24; Thomas Georg [George], on 6/18/25; Jon [Jonathan?] Lade, on 6/9/26, at £1-8-0 per order of two; and John Williams "the Tailer," on 5/26/35. Head Account Book, pp. 5 [Cox], 130 left [recopied from p. 17] [Griskam], 55 left [Hansly], 64 left [Allen], 67 left [Fisher], 75 left [Georg], & 62 left [Williams]. Griscom's account was also debited £0-3-0, two months later, on 3/2/23, "To mending her Badstad." Head Account Book, p. 130 left.
535. Head Account Book, passim. Of these, two £2-8-0 orders were for two each, suggested their use as pairs. Both orders were to Head's best customer, Receiver General James Steel, on 4/8/23 and 3/15/27. For extensive information on James Steel, see Horle, Lawmaking, pp. 225 et seq.
536. Debited to the account of William Clar [Clare], on 6/4/27. Head Account Book, p. 19. This also shows that Head's shop did its own painting of furniture, unlike at least one other joiner. George Claypoole charged John Reynell an additional seven shillings for "Cash paid for painting ye bedstead," on June 29, 1758. Leibundguth, "Furniture-making," p. 11, citing Business Papers of Coates-Reynell, 1755-1767.
537. Head Account Book, p. 5. The word "Cornish" [cornice] has been interpreted to mean the tester frame and, sometimes, the valance. Abbott Lowell Cummings, Bed Hangings: a Treatise on Fabrics and Styles in the Curtaining of Beds 1650-1850 (Boston: Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, 1961), p. 8.
538. A "compass roof" is defined as "a timber roof in which each truss has its rafters, collar beams, and braces combined into an arched form." Webster's Third New International Dictionary, p. 463. Head charged Samuel Asp £0-14-0, "To the Comparst Curtin Rods and 2 scrues," on 4/8/30, the same date he ordered a "Badstad" for £1-4-0, and "Six Staples," for £0-1-6. Head Account Book, p. 125 left. John Campbell was charged £0-16-0, "To a Sat of Curtten Rods Cumparst," on 3/26/27. Ibid., p. 99 left. As late as, 10/4/42, "By Curtin Rods for a Bad Comperst," Head credited George Kellay [Kelley?], £0-16-0, the same price he had charged Cox, over twenty years earlier, underscoring a remarkable persistence in price. Head Account Book, p. 116 right. That Barnabas Talbot paid only £0-1-0, "To Curtin rods for a Bad," suggests that his bed may have had a flat tester. Head Account Book, p. 11. The following probably also bought flat, rather than arched, testers: Andrew Edg [Edge] who, after buying a "Badstad," on 10/23/21, paid only £0-8-0, "To a Sat of Cortin rods," on 5/20/22; and John Roberds, who paid £0-10-0, on 6/11/25, "To a Sate of Curtion Rods." Head Account Book, pp. 15 [Edg] & 73 right [Roberds].
539. Hornor, Blue Book, p. 70.
540. Head charged James Steel only £1-0-0, on 9/11/26, "To a Badstad he found scrues," i.e., a bedstead for which Steel found his own bed bolts. Head Account Book, p. 10 [debit].
541. Hornor, Blue Book, p. 49.
542. "Boston japanners simplified the European process in two ways. The base paints were applied directly over the wood, usually maple in casepieces and pine in clocks, rather than the paint being over a layer of whiting which was used by the English and New Yorkers to fill in the surfaces of oak or other coarser-grained woods. In English japanning the colors were transparent ones, with seed-lac varnish mixed in with pigments. The Boston japanner used plain oil colors and after raising his figures with whiting, a gesso-like material, gilded them with metallic powders or leaf, painted in details with lampblack, and then varnished the finished product." Dean A. Fales, Jr., "Boston Japanned Furniture," Boston Furniture of the Eighteenth Century (Charlottesville: The University Press of Virginia, 1986.), pp. 49-50. Just as in Boston, Japanning was a separate trade in England. Japanning had caught on in England, as a cheaper imitation of Oriental lacquer work, which had been in vogue since the Restoration. English Japanners were successful in protecting their trade by getting duties raised in 1701 on importation of the real thing. The popularity of Japanned goods fell off, perhaps not coincidentally, after the death, in 1746, of England's most eminent Japanner, Abraham Massey of Great Queen Street, London. Pat Kirkham, The London Furniture Trade 1700-1870, p. 33.
543. Advertisements for Japanned furniture included: "A HANDSOME new fashion'd Japan'd Case of Drawers, and Chamber Table to be sold by John Brown," Pennsylvania Gazette, June 23, 1737; "PETER TURNER intending for London [selling]...Handsome Japan Desks," Pennsylvania Gazette, July 30, 1741; Plunket Fleeson advertised that "He has a neat japan'd Chest of Drawers to be sold Cheap." Pennsylvania Gazette, September 23, 1742. Hornor also infers that Philadelphia craftsmen had access to copies of John Stalker, Treatise of Japaning and Varnishing (Oxford, 1688). Hornor, Blue Book, p. 49.
544. Thus, no "contemporary exemplifications brought forth at Philadelphia" could be shown in an exhibition of American Japanned Furniture, according to a the Metropolitan Museum Bulletin (March, 1933). Hornor, Blue Book, p. 49; accord, Garvan, "18. Desk and Bookcase," Philadelphia: Three Centuries, p. 23 ["not a piece of Philadelphia japanned work has survived"].
545. Pennsylvania Gazette, December 14, 1744. Christopher Marshal also sold "Sundry Patterns for Japan and Glass Painting." Pennsylvania Gazette, October 10, 1745.
546. The earliest reference in Hornor is dated 1734 and, apart from the Fleeson advertisement, all appear to be derived from inventories, and thus provide only the name of the then owner, and no information as to who made it, when, at what price, and whether made in Philadelphia. Hornor, Blue Book, pp. 49-50.
547. Head Account Book, pp. 53 left [Burr, 9/1/40], 85 left [Chanceler, 3/11/26] & 99 left [Campbell, 3/2/27]. Plunket Fleeson advertised for sale, among other bed goods, "Feathers, Beddticks, Blankets, Sacking-Bottoms.... Pennsylvania Gazette, 7/3/40, as reproduced in Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art , Colonial Craftsmen, p. 4, no. 13. Chancellor, a sailmaker, may have also used duck and canvas for producing other items. He sold Logan "a bed bottom and cott, on 8/3/23, at £2-10-6. Logan Ledger, pp. 22 left, 147 right. Although Head does not use the term, some of his contemporaries used the expression "corded" to refer to a sacking bottom. Hornor, Blue Book, p. 70.
548. Head Account Book, pp. 80 left [Cooper, 8/8/27] & 112 left [Clark, 10/22/29].
549. Head Account Book, p. 49 left. The same amount was charged Thomas Canan, on 9/18/31, some dozen years later, for his "Bad Larth;" and also to James Steel, on 10/25/32, for his. Head Account Book, pp. 120 left [Canan] & 103 left [Steel].
550. Head Account Book, pp. 1 [Thomas Masters, re "Cornish"], 5 [Abram Cox, re "Cornish"], 103 left [Steel], 120 left [Canan].
551. Bedstead "furniture," i.e., that with which the bed was outfitted, was usually the most expensive or among the most expensive items in any estate inventory, attesting to the dearness of fabrics. The inventory of the Estate of clockmaker Peter Stretch, "taken the 26th day of 9 mo; 1746," and appraised by cabinetmakers Joseph Trotter and Enoch Flower, listed four "Bedstead[s] & furniture." Two were valued apart from other items at 16-0-0 and £14-0-0, respectively. Philadelphia Wills, 1746-108. The inventory of the Estate of Richard Armitt, taken "this [blank] day of 7th mo 1748," by William Logan and silversmith Joseph Richardson, Sr., listed "A Bedstead, bed and furniture" at £15-0-0. Philadelphia Wills, 1748-236. William Logan, a son of James Logan, moved to Stenton in 1754. Horle, Lawmaking, p. 924. Gratitude is here expressed to Rick Mones for providing copies of the wills and inventories of Richard Armitt and Peter Stretch, as well as those of other 18th century Philadelphians: Joseph Armitt; merchant William Callender; joiners Enoch Flower and Joseph Trotter; and clockmakers Thomas Stretch (one of Peter's sons), Samuel Stretch (nephew to Peter), John Wood, Sr., and Joseph Wills.
552. Head Account Book, pp. 24 [Endecot], 43 [Lippincott], 73 right [Roberds], 88 right [Cloak]. This suite may have been more extensive than just for a bed. Perhaps it was for windows or en suite treatment of a bed and windows.
553. E.g., Joseph Prichard's account was credited £0-9-4, on 3/22/25, "To muselen & Thrad." Head Account Book, p. 64 right & passim. Among the heavier fabrics used for bed drapery the rest of the year, Hornor identifies "chintz, calico, silk, taffeta, needlework, and woolen curtains." Hornor, Blue Book, p. 70.
554. Kalm described the nuisance of "Musquetoes:" "In day time or at night they come into the houses, and when people are gone to bed, they begin their disagreeable humming, approach always nearer the bed, and at last suck up so much blood, that they can hardly fly away." Kalm, Travels, 1:143-44. As Philadelphia's chimneys had no valves for shutting them up, they "afford the gnats a free entrance in the houses." In summertime, "they are so numerous in some places, that the air seems to be quite full of them...."Kalm, Travels, 1:144. When the gnats stung Kalm at night, he complained that "my face was so disfigured by little red spots, that I was almost ashamed to shew myself." Kalm, Travels, 1:145.
555. The "Walnut" clockcases were debited to the accounts of Peter Stretch and Bangman Troter [Benjamin Trotter]. Head Account Book, pp. 45 [Stretch, 5/3/24] & 76 left [Troter, 8/19/25].
556. Both of the "Squar Case" clockcases were debited to the account of Peter Stretch, on 8/15/29 and 10/27/29, the latter being "dd att his house." Head Account Book, p. 109 left.
557. Head Account Book, pp. 13 [Edmond Wooley, 2/14/22], 92 left [Thomas Brown, 7/14/43].
558. Head Account Book, pp. 15 [Richard Harrison, 7/16/21, "Clock cas Archit plat"], 54 left [Gray, 10/16/23, "To on[e] Archit Clock Case"], 46 left [Peter Stretch, 2/26/26, "To a Clock case Arched"], 88 left [John Tomas, 5/8/26, "To an archet Clock Case"], 109 left [Peter Stretch, 8/15/29, "To an Arched Clock Case"], 112 left [Joseph Rakstraw, 9/24/27, "To a Clockcas Arched"].
559. Examining copies sent him of Peter Stretch account entries, Christopher Storb was the first to suggest that all £4-0-0 Head clockcases may have been arched. Chris also observed that Head's listing of an arched clockcase to Stretch in 1726 was noteworthy, as the earliest date he had previously found for American arch dial clocks was a "1727 listing for an Arched clock case @4-0-0." See Christopher Storb letter to Stiefel, July 27, 1999 (acknowledging "packet including your research on...the John Head daybook," discussing significance of Stretch entries, and requesting further information). Stiefel Papers. See also letter from Jaqueline M. DeGroff, Associate Curator, The Dietrich American Foundation, to Stiefel, October 13, 1999. Stiefel Papers. This information also updates that in Hornor, who apparently relied on much later probate data in attempting to pinpoint the first introduction of arched dial clocks to Philadelphia: "Benjamin Fairman, whose home in 1739 was at Kensington, was one of the first to have "1 Arch'd 8 Day Clock," which was the style made by the elder Peter Stretch not long after." Hornor, Blue Book, p. 57.
560. Head Account Book, p. 15. The latest of the £4-0-0 clockcases is that debited to John Hood, on 7/29/43. Head Account Book, p. 74 left.
561. Webster's Third New International Dictionary, p. 1734.
562. South Carolina Gazette, March 22, 1740, transcribed in Prime, Arts and Crafts, p. 163.
563. Head Account Book, p. 109 left. This shows that Head, who knew how to spell his own name, was differently pronouncing the term.
564. When Head wanted to spell hood, he spelled it as "hode." Thus, on 9/6/22, he credited £0-6-0 to the account of Mary Snad Junor [Mary Sneed, the Younger], who had done other tailoring for his household, "To maken a Hode." Head Account Book, p. 32.
565. Head Account Book, p. 91 left. Blind fretwork, when affixed to the clockhood, also served a practical purpose. It often masked holes bored through the clockhood to permit the sound of the clock's bell to be heard more clearly. In front of those holes, but behind the fretwork was placed fabric, in order to further mask the holes, while at the same time adding some color to the fretwork. The fretwork is referred to as "blind" because, unlike that open fretwork, one can't see through it. Christopher Storb first pointed out its function and construction to me. Rick Mones believes that blind fretwork was also used extensively on clock hoods as decoration, even where no holes were made through the hood. Personal conversations with each.
566. Thomas Maule advertisement, Pennsylvania Gazette, August 14, 1755.
567. Foreman had done other turning for Head, including chairs and "Tables," probably table tops. It is unclear why Head wanted the debit, rather than simply not paying for the "pilers," as there is no indication that he had previously credited Foreman for them. Head Account Book, p. 74 left.
568. Twelve clockcases are listed together with their clocks as single-priced entries, making it difficult to differentiate what was being charged for the cases alone. The most expensive clockcase and clock, priced as a single entry, was debited, at 18-0-0, to John Loyd [Lloyd], on 1/13/29, simply described as "To a Clock and Case." Head Account Book, p. 37. Peter Stretch was contemporaneously charging about £12-0-0 to £15-0-0 for his clocks, which aids in deducing what Head was charging for the cases in combined entries.
569. The "Sader" clockcases, in chronological order, were debited to the accounts of John Mocombs Junor [McComb, Jr.], on 4/11/20; Georg Mc Carl [Mc Call?], on 8/19/20; Calap Ranstad [Caleb Ranstead], on 5/15/21; and Charls [Charles] Read, on 9/14/23, spelled as "Sadr." Head Account Book, pp. 3 [Mocombs], 39 [Ranstad] & 37 [Mc Carl & Read].
570. The "mehoganey" clockcases, in chronological order, were debited to the accounts of William Spafard [Spofford?], on 9/23/24; Nathanel [Nathaniel] Owen, on 9/25/24, "dd To his Wife"; and John White, on 3/6/29. Head Account Book, pp. 66 left [Spafard & Owen], & 117 left [White].
571. The cherry clockcases were debited to the accounts of Edmund Woolley, on 6/23/23, as "Chary Treewood;" to Peter Stretch, on 4/14/32, as "Charetre," and another, on 7/22/32, as "Chare Tree;" and to John Morris, on 3/14/36, as "Charetre." Head Account Book, pp.13 [Wooley], 109 left & 132 left [Stretch], & 59 left [Morris].
572. The "Blak" clockcase was debited to the account of Peter Stretch, on 5/1/32. Head Account Book, p. 109 left.
573. While Plunket Fleeson had advertised a "neat japan'd Chest of Drawers," as being sold "Cheap," that is a relative term. Plunket Fleeson advertisement, Pennsylvania Gazette, 9/23/42.
574. Head Account Book, Without corroboration, it is impossible to state categorically whether any piece of furniture described as "black" or "painted black" was Japanned. James Logan, according to Hornor, "had a 'Painted Tea Table' which is definitely known to have been 'Japand.'" Hornor, Blue Book, p. 49. Cf., a "one month clock, in a handsome blue japann'd case," offered for sale by Benjamin Bagnall, Jr., at his Front Street house. Pennsylvania Gazette, August 16, 1750.
575. Artha [Arthur] Jones, was debited the £2-5-0, on 9/9/38, "To a Clockcas and a Table." Head Account Book, p. 74 left. On the same date, he paid £3-10-0, "To a Chest of Drawers," which may or may not have been made en suite with the foregoing. Ibid.
576. Cf., Charls [Charles] Hansly was debited £6-0-0, on 2/14/25, "To a Clock & Case & a pine Table." Head Account Book, p. 55 left.
577. Head Account Book, p. 132 right.
578. Hornor opined that it "probably stood on the "Marvel Table' [presumably inventoried in the same room] or on the mantelpiece. Hornor, Blue Book, p. 57. William Chancellor, while never serving in the Pennsylvania Assembly, appears to have been "an important member of [Governor, Sir William] Keith's inner circle." Horle, Lawmaking, pp. 581, 588 n. 130. Logan debited £4-5-0 for "Duck & Canvas for 2 pcs [pieces] deld [delivered] Wm Chancellor," to the account of Thomas Masters. Logan Ledger, 1720-1727, p. 22 left. Chancellor had somewhat abbreviated dealings with Head. Head recorded that William Chanceler [Chancellor] was debited, £2-4-0, on 3/11/26, "to Two Sacken Bottoms Dr [debtor] By the order of John Roberts which he Accepts." Thereafter, Chancellor was credited for two "Saken Botom[s]," possibly returns, at £1-2-0 each, on 3/2/27 and 1/30/29. Head Account Book, pp. 85 left & right.
579. May 25, 1744 probate inventory; will dated January 18, 1738. Philadelphia Wills, 1744-81.
580. The clockcases expressly noted as glazed, in chronological order, were debited to the accounts of Joseph Elger, on 10/25/22, at £3-3-0, "To a Clock Cas & Glasen;" Edward Horn, on 5/3/25, at 17-8-0, "To a Clock and Case and Glasen;" Josier [Josiah] Foster, on 1/30/26, at £3-6-0, "To a Clock case and glasen;" Jonathan Hains [Haines], on 4/15/28, at £3-6-0, "To A Clock Case and Glasen;" John Leacock, on 3/14/36, at £3-6-0, "Clock cas and Glasen;" Isaac Tison [Tyson], on 1/16/37, at £15-5-0, "To a Clock - and Case glased;" and Joseph Paul, on 3/16/41, at £3-6-0, "To a ClockCas and Glasen it." Head Account Book, pp. 21 [Elger], 72 left [Horn], 50 left [Foster], 118 left [Hains], 27 [Leacock], 107 left [Tison], & 130 left [Paul].
581. Head Account Book, p. 78 right.
582. Advertisement of "James Reynolds, Carver and Gilder," Pennsylvania Gazette, November 14, 1768, cited in Prime, Arts & Crafts, p. 225. See also the advertisement of "Thomas Ellis, Glazier, in Front-street," for "London crown [glass], of any size, fit for clocks...." Pennsylvania Gazette, July 24, 1755, cited in Prime, Arts & Crafts, p. 300.
583. Edward Bradle [Bradley?] received a credit of £0-8-0, as of 11/2/24, "omited By Glasen a Clockcase." (The term "omited," which appears frequently throughout the account book, indicates that this was a transaction which had been omitted from earlier recordation.) Head Account Book , p. 78 right. Bradle was again credited, on 4/12/28, in the amount of £0-6-0, "By Gleasen a Clockcase we reckend for it." But as this entry is crossed out, and they had "reckend for it," it appears that the credit was revoked through mutual agreement. Head Account Book, p. 117 right. Bradle also glazed many sashlights for Head. Head Account Book, p. 78 right. Grifith [Griffith] Jones was debited, £0-6-0, on 4/10/28, "To Glasen his Clock Case," under the same date entry for a separate charge of £3-0-0, "To a Clock Case." Head Account Book, 17.
584. Head Account Book, p. 27 [Leacock]. Packing cases for clockcases, however, do not appear to be the norm, as only four others were charged for them. Each case cost £0-8-0. Head Account Book, pp. 88 left [John Tomas, 5/8/26, 9/10/27]; 59 left [John Morris, 3/14/36]; & 132 left [Peter Stretch, 6/1/37].
585. Head Account Book, p. 95 left.
586. Head Account Book, p. 74 left.
587. An undated listing for John Hood appears in Wallace Nutting, The Clock Book (Framingham, Mass.: Old America Company, 1924), p. 217. Rick Mones has advised that Hood is similarly listed in Brooks Palmer, Book of American Clocks (New York: McMillan Company, 1950), p. 214.
588. No mention of Hood appears in G.H. Baillie, Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World, 3rd ed. (London: N.A.G. Press Ltd., 1951); George H. Eckhardt, Pennsylvania Clocks and Clockmakers (New York: The Devin-Adair Company, 1955); or James Biser Whisker, Pennsylvania Clockmakers, Watchmakers and Allied Crafts (Cranbury, N.J.: Adams Brown Company, 1990).
589. Rick Mones suggested this possibility. Indeed, on one occasion, Head himself misspelled Hood's name as "Wood." Head Account Book, p. 31 [Mary Snad Junor].
590. Philadelphia Wills, 1721-226.
591. Philadelphia Wills, 1775-165.
592. Rick Mones made this observation.
593. Head Account Book, p. 95 left.
594. Head Account Book, p. 74 right.
595. Head Account Book, p. 92 left. As often appears throughout the account book, Head appears to be turning over the work of others at no profit to himself. Here, his profit would be from the clockcase sold to house Hood's alarm clock.
596. Hornor's references to alarm clocks were also slightly later and do not establish when and at what price such clocks were sold. He cited "'1 Clock Alarm,' acquired by Hatton Wormley, 1747; 'An Alarm Clock,' in the dwelling of William Daniell, 1748; and 'a Larum Clock,'...in the home of Thomas Lacy, the baker, 1755." Hornor, Blue Book, p. 57.
597. This may have been Head's own clock, as no corresponding debit is found in the account of Head's customers Head Account Book, p. 74 right. All other clock cleaning noted in Head's account book was by Peter Stretch. Head Account Book, pp. 46 [debit to John Ingrem], 132 right [credits to Stretch]. While Francis Richardson, Jr. advertised the cleaning of clocks, on September £9-16, 1736, no entries appear in his account for having done this for Head or his customers. Pennsylvania Gazette, Prime, Arts & Crafts, pp. 86-87; Head Account Book, p. 104 left.
598. Head Account Book, p. 31; Pennsylvania Gazette, July 21, 1743.
599. "John Wood, Watchmaker" took out an advertisement for a "lost watch," in the Pennsylvania Gazette, August 14, 1755.
600. The first entry spells Wood's name as "Woode." Head Account Book, p. 111 left. Hornor stated that joiner Henry Clifton sold a £4-0-0 clockcase to John Wood, in August 1750. Hornor, Blue Book, p. 127.
601. John Wood, Jr. took out many advertisements in Philadelphia newspapers. See Prime, Arts and Crafts, pp. 269-271; Carolyn Wood Stretch, "Early Colonial Clockmakers in Philadelphia," Pennsylvania Magazine, 56:227-228.
602. Philadelphia Wills, 1761-20.
603. Hornor, Blue Book, p. 56.
604. Mones Collection [arched]; Philadelphia Private Collection [arched dial clock with flat top case]. The latter clock bears signatures of approximately a dozen early Philadelphia clockmakers who serviced it, for which reason it was especially prized by a former owner, Gebhardt Appel, then owner of William A. Heine Co., clock repairers in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia. The back of its dial and many of its other parts are numbered "4." Joseph A. McFalls, Jr., the owner of a square dial John Wood, Sr., clock, in a flat top case, the parts of which are numbered "3," has suggested that these numbers may indicate the sequence in which the clocks were produced by Wood. Personal conversations. Another explanation may be that the numbers were meant to keep track of the parts of different movements being simultaneously assembled, and not necessarily with regard to their sequence of manufacture.
605. The will was proved 8/29/29. Seaman, Thomas Richardson, p. 41.
606. The clock, marked "Francis Richardson Philada: Fecit," is in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. PMA's catalogue card attributes the clock to Francis Richardson, Sr., c. 1725. Winterthur Museum, DAPC Data Sheet, Acc. No. 64.1918. Rick Mones raises the possibility that this clock may be earlier or, conversely, if 1725 or later, perhaps the work of Francis Richardson, Jr. (c. 1705-1782). Personal conversation, December, 2000.
607. Hornor, Blue Book, p. 55. The earliest published reference to this entry appears to be Harold E. Gillingham, "The Cost of Old Silver," Pennsylvania Magazine, 54:44.
608. Pennsylvania Magazine, 29:122; Horle, Lawmaking, pp. 401, 408 n. 8. The 1732 reference to the Growdon clock provides other documentary evidence of the appearance of arched dial clocks in that period.
609. Head Account Book, p. 104 left. A member of LCP, Francis, Jr.'s share has appropriately been reissued to Skip Chalfant, who deals in similar goods.
610. Head Account Book, p. 104 left.
611. Pennsylvania Gazette, September £9-16, 1736; April 28, May 5, 1737; Prime, Arts & Crafts, pp. 86-87. He had been admitted a freeman, styled as a "Goldsmith," on May 20, 1717. Minutes of the Common Council, p. 126.
612. Scharf and Westcott, History of Philadelphia, 1:198.
613. Head Account Book, pp. 1 & 2 [Masters], 37 & 38 [Read], 54 left & right [Grifits], 64 left & right [Allen].
614. Stiefel-Storb correspondence. Stiefel Papers. Storb first publicly announced the links between the group of cases and the shop of John Head at the Worldly Goods symposium. Lita Solis-Cohen, "Seminar Sheds New Light on Early Philadelphia Decorative Arts," p. 10-A. More recently, he has lectured to Pennsylvania horologists.
615. Personal conversations with Skip Chalfant and Rick Mones, December, 2000.
616. Stretch's premises were at the corner of 6th & Chestnut Streets, for which he paid James Logan ground rent of £6-0-0 per annum. On 11/27/21, Logan credited Stretch £6-0-0, "By Plantation for a Clock for a Years Rent." Logan Ledger, pp. 140 left, 144 left & right. It is unclear whether "Plantation" meant Stenton or Logan's "Plantation in Bristol Township." Ibid.
617. Head Account Book, p. 109 left [Peter Stretch, 5/1/32].
618. Hornor, Blue Book, p. 57.
619. Head Account Book, p. 46 left [Peter Stretch, 8/15/26].
620. The walnut case was debited on 5/3/24, and the square cases on 8/15/29 and 10/27/29. Head Account Book, pp. 46 left, 109 left, 132 left [all Peter Stretch].
621. The arched cases were debited on 2/26/26 and 8/15/29. As the latter entry was on the same date as a square case, Head may have indicated their shape to differentiate one from the other. Head Account Book, pp. 46 left, 109 left, 132 left [all Peter Stretch].
622. The cherry cases were debited on 4/14/32 and 7/22/37. Head Account Book, pp. 109 left, 132 left [both Peter Stretch].
623. Only one other wood is noted in connection with furniture debited to Peter Stretch's account: maple. On 9/20/23, Stretch was charged £9-10-0, "To: a maple Chest of Drawers and Table." Head Account Book, p. 46 left.
624. Head Account Book, p. 27 [Leacock]. The corresponding credit entries for these clocks appeared in Peter Stretch's account on the same respective dates and show that Head charged no profit margin on clocks: "By a Clock dd to Jno Leacock £15-0-0"and "By a Clock dd to William Calender on John Leacocks account." Head Account Book, p. 132 right [Peter Stretch]. The Calender entries may relate to his furnishing of the first of the houses recorded as having been bought by him in Philadelphia several months beforehand. "William Callender made his first known purchase of property in the city, a brick house on the west side of Second Street in the block between Chestnut and Walnut streets, acquired from Ebenezer Large in April, 1734. Five years later Callender bought the adjoining brick building, also from Large." Horle, Lawmaking, p. 253. Callender was born in Barbados in 1703 and died in Philadelphia in 1763. A member of the Pennsylvania Assembly, he resigned in 1756, in protest over the French and Indian War. Crane, Diary of Elizabeth Drinker, pp. 310-311. Callender's daughter Hannah (1737-1801), who married Samuel Sansom in 1762, also kept a diary. See George Vaux, "Extracts from the Diary of Hannah Callender, Pennsylvania Magazine, 12:432-456.
625. It was then valued at £10-0-0. Callender Inventory, p. 1.
626. Head Account Book, p. 46 left. By this time, Stretch had long been established as a clockmaker. On February 26, 1718, the Common Council had authorized payment to him of £8-18-0 for work done by him on the town clock. Scharf and Westcott, History of Philadelphia, 1:199.
627. Head Account Book, p. 132 left.
628. Head Account Book, pp. 46 left, 132 left.
629. One Peter Stretch arched dial clock in a case probably too early to have been made by Head is shown [fig. 30].
630. Head Account Book, pp. 78 left and right [Taylor].
631. Of the down payment, £8-0-0 was in "Cash," and £3-10-0 was "To an order upon Thomas Gilpin." Head Account Book, p. 78 left [Taylor].
632. Head Account Book, p. 83 left [Guest]. Although no credit was recorded until "1739," it is possible that Head had owed Guest for awhile, as the credit was described as for "shoues [shoes] at Sundre Times." Head Account Book, p. 83 right [Guest].
633. Several chests of drawers appear in Peter Stretch's probate inventory. Philadelphia Wills, 1746-108. Two of them may have been from Head, as two were debited to Stretch's account. Head Account Book, pp. 46 left [4/3/23, £5-15-0], & 132 left [1/1/39, £3-10-0].
634. The mending for Stretch included three clockcases. Head Account Book, pp. 46 left [2/12/25, £0-6-0], 109 left [8/19/27, £0-12-0; 6/31/32, £0-15-0].
635. Head Account Book, p. 46 left.
636. Prime, Arts and Crafts, pp. 61 [Daniel Dupuy, Pennsylvania Packet, November 3, 1777], 92 [Philip Syng, Pennsylvania Journal, March 17,1763].
637. Mones Collection. Cf., oak English scale box labeled Joseph Richardson and dated 1774, at Winterthur. Martha Gandy Fales, Joseph Richardson and Family, Philadelphia Silversmiths (Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press for HSP, 1974), fig. 30. Joseph Richardson also sold "Gold Scales and Weights, from one Ounce to half a Grain, in black Shagareen Cases," which he "Lately imported from London." Pennsylvania Gazette, April 19, 1744.
638. Head Account Book, p. 132 left.
639. The inventory of his estate, which included a number of cast items, including spandrels and faces, also listed substantial quantities of "Brass" and "Tinn." Philadelphia Wills, 1746-108.
640. Kalm, Travels, 2:162.
641. Head Account Book, pp. 109 right, 132 right.
642. Debited and credited, simultaneously, to Leacock, on 3/31/34 and, with delivery to Calender, 8/25/34. Head Account Book, pp. 27 [Leacock debits], 132 right [Stretch credits].
643. Miflen's clock was debited and credited 7/12/29. Head Account Book, pp. 97 left [Miflen debit], 109 right [Stretch credit].
644. Guest's clock was debited and credited 3/16/38. Head Account Book, pp. 83 left [Guest debit], 132 right [Stretch credit].
645. Head Account Book, pp. 117 left [Lee debit], 132 right [Stretch credit].
646. Philadelphia Wills 1746-108.
647. Head Account Book, pp. 103 left [Steel debit], 109 right [Stretch credit].
648. Head Account Book, pp. 114 left [Hains debit], 132 right [Stretch credit].
649. Philadelphia Wills, 1746-108.
650. However, Stretch probably put them in working order before selling them to Head. Head Account Book, pp. 109 right, 132 right.
651. Head Account Book, pp. 109 right [Stretch credit], 110 left [Fitswarter debit].
652. Head Account Book, pp. 119 left [Carrall], 132 right [Stretch credit].
653. Head Account Book, p. 109 right [4/12/28, £0-3-6 for one pair; "1730," £0-7-0, for two pair].
654. Head Account Book, p. 132 right. See also Thomas Chalkley Account Book, owned by the LCP, and on view at HSP. Its April 26, 1722 entry recording the mending of a clock by Peter Stretch is cited in Philadelphia: Three Centuries, p. 15.
655. However, entries from the Head account book pertaining to William Stretch have recently advanced research about him. See Richard A. Mones, "A Rare Philadelphia Longcase Clock by William Stretch with Bolt-and-shutter Maintaining Power," Antiquarian Horology and the Proceedings of the Antiquarian Horological Society XXV, no. 4 (December 2000), pp. 680-682. Dr. Mones is admitted to the freedom of the Clockmakers Company, London. The clockcase housing the William Stretch movement has been attributed to John Head. Conversation with Rick Mones, December, 2000.
656. Personal Conversation with Rick Mones, December, 2000.
657. Philadelphia Wills, 1746-108.
658. Head Account Book, p. 77 left ["1727," 4/27/30, 6/29/30, and 10/28/30].
659. The first pair of hinges and the clock were credited on 10/15/26; and the second pair on 10/22/26. Head Account Book, p. 77 right.
660. Philadelphia Wills, 1746-108.
661. Head Account Book, p. 77 right.
662. Thomas Stretch's February 1, 1762 will was proved on October 23, 1765, and his estate inventoried on October 8, 1765. Philadelphia Wills, 1765-228.
663. Thomas was paid £494-5-5 1/2 for that clock "and for his Care in cleaning and repairing the same for six years." Hornor, Blue Book, p. 304. An eight-day, arched dial clock by him, in a flat top case, also stands on the second floor of that same building, now known as Independence Hall. A search of contemporary newspapers for any advertisements by him yielded one in which he sought a "STOLEN...Negro Man named Jack," that he had acquired through litigation. Pennsylvania Gazette, May 31, 1739.
664. Scharf and Westcott, History of Philadelphia, 1:233; Crane, Diary of Elizabeth Drinker, p. 311. Another son of Peter Stretch, according to Rick Mones, was Joseph Stretch, a hatter. He must have therefore been a competitor to Head's son John and his sons-in-law Jeremiah Warder and Benjamin Hooton. Joseph's name appears in the ledger of carpenter Joseph Webb, who charged John Knight £0-3-0, on 9/24/44, "To putting in a new Sill & mending ye floor of a Store in Warter Street Joseph Stretch." Webb Ledger, p. 2.
665. Head Account Book, p. 109 left. See also Minutes of the Common Council, p. 131 ["Samuel Stretch, Watchmaker" was admitted as a freeman on May 27, 1717]. James Logan debited "Samuel Stretch Watchmaker" for 20-0-0 "lent him" [2/20/20]. It was repaid the following month. Logan Ledger, pp. 79 left & right.
666. Samuel Stretch's March 7, 1732 will was proved on December 9, 1732, and his estate inventoried on 7/30/32. Philadelphia Wills, 1732-26
667. Head Account Book, p. 11; Horle, Lawmaking 2:518. Hudson bought a broad range of basic furniture from Head, including a "a Chamber Table," "an oval Table," and "a Clos Stoll [close stool]." The most interesting debit was "To maken a naden Trof [kneading trough]," obviously for use in Hudson's profession. Head Account Book, p. 11. An inventory of Hudson's estate has not been found. Horle, Lawmaking 2:519.
668. A.S.M., "Replies," under "Notes and Queries," Pennsylvania Magazine, 7:495.
669. Head Account Book, p. 98 left.
670. The £5-10-0 "Walnut Dask" was debited to Samuel Brian [Bryan], on 11/9/27. Head Account Book, p. 29.
671. Head Account Book, passim.
672. Head Account Book, passim. The "Writen Dask" was bought by Jon [Jonathan?] Lade, on 3/23/24. Head Account Book, p. 54 left.
673. This was the second desk bought by Isaac Noris Junor [Isaac Norris, Jr.] (1701-1766), who had earlier bought a £6-0-0 model with no wood described. Head Account Book, p. 50 left [7/19/23, 3/13/25]. Norris was one of Head's most prominent customers. Like his father, a Speaker of the Assembly, he had established a reputation for being "learned and influential." Norris married (1739) Logan's eldest daughter, Sarah (1715-1744). Myers, Hannah Logan's Courtship, p. 20.
674. Debited to George Kellay [Kelley?], as "To a Dask," it was, thus, at least £3-10-0 more expensive than any other desk. Head Account Book, p. 116 left. It is possible that it was a more elaborate secretary desk, a form which will be soon discussed.
675. Head Account Book, p. 58 left.
676. Robins advertised that he was "Over against the George Inn." Pennsylvania Gazette, August 25, 1737.
677. Head Account Book, p. 120 right. "Thomas Wells, Ship carpenter, in Front Street" advertised the sale of an assortment of fabrics. Pennsylvania Gazette, May 21, 1747. His account with Head was also credited for "Camblit [camlet]" and "Twill." Head Account Book, p. 120 right. Camblet, or camlet, has been described as "a rich stuff used for dress as early as the thirteenth century, and made of hair, especially that of goats, with silk or wool, presenting a veined or wavy appearance." Myers, Hannah Logan's Courtship, p. 250 n. 1. Pepys, the diarist, wrote that, on June 1, 1664, when he put on his "new camelott suit, [it was] the best I ever wore in my life...." Ibid.
678. Nathanal [Nathaniel] Pool ordered a "Bookcas dd [delivered] to Richard Warder," on 8/13/20, at £5-0-0; Joseph Gilpin ordered his, on 10/4/25, at £1-10-0; Thomas Masters, Jr., had one mended, on 2/14/24, at £0-1-6. Head Account Book, pp. 1 [Pool], 53 left [Masters, Jr.] & 81 left [Gilpin]. None of these accounts even lists a desk.
679. Head Account Book, p. 103 left.
680. Head Account Book, p. 103 left. Secretaries were spelled in many variants. They were also not used exclusively to store books and papers. Timothy Scarth advertised that his "escrutore" was broken into by some thieves, who stole a gold necklace and locket, a pair of gold buttons, six silver teaspoons, two large silver spoons, a quilt and some linens. Pennsylvania Gazette, May 21, 1747. A "scrutoire" was searched for infection in Boston. Pennsylvania Gazette, December 20, 1743. Joiner Francis Trumble operated his business at the "Sign of the Scrutore." Pennsylvania Gazette, August 8, 1754, cited in Garvan, "22. High Chest and Dressing Table," p. 26.
681. Philadelphia Wills, 1741-261.
682. Head Account Book, passim.
683. Head Account Book, pp. 11 [Talbert], 15 [Harrison], 81 left [Tison].
684. Head Account Book, pp. 67 left [Samuel Burers Junor, 4/17/24, pine], 114 left [John Hains, 5/13/28].
685. This entry also leaves no doubt that Head's shop was producing its own cradles, rather than acting as middleman. This is also the only record of Head having made a cradle in this wood. The relatively low price paid versus walnut, or even pine, cannot be accounted for on the basis of this being an early transaction, because Head had already sold a walnut cradle to Talbot at his normal £1-0-0 charge. Head Account Book, pp. 1, 11; Horle, Lawmaking 1:534.
686. Horle, Lawmaking 1:536.
687. Head Account Book, p. 1.
688. Highly curled walnut such as that on the drawers fronts of the Wistar/Morris family high chest and dressing table attributed to Head can, however, approach the lush figuring of mahogany. It has been erroneously taken for it. E.g., Moon, The Morris Family of Philadelphia, 5:248 plates opposite.
689. Only £0-2-2 was owed, as Head had already credited Masters £4-16-2 for 146 pounds of nails and "1 - Galon of Rumb." Head Account Book, p. 2; Horle, Lawmaking 1:536-537.
690. Head Account Book, pp. 19, 66 left, 83 left.
691. Sary [Sarah] Dimsdild was debited that amount, on 9/8/23, To a Corner Coberd & painting." Head Account Book, p. 52 left.
692. Head Account Book, p. 1 [Nathanal Pool, 12/16/22], the earliest sold.
693. Head Account Book, p. 3. Hornor, Blue Book, pp. 49-52, 62, 64-65, 67, 200, 230, 274. The plantation, after Wooddrop's demise, was advertised for "Let" by his executors as "containing one hundred and Forty three Acres, the greatest part being mowable Meadow, with a large brick House and Kitchen, a large Barn and Stable, with sundry other Coveniences necessary for a Plantation...." Pennsylvania Gazette, January 11, 1744.
694. Head supplied a "Lok for a Coberd" to Edward Williams at a much earlier date, 4/11/19, than any corner cupboards he produced. However, he doesn't identify whether this was a corner cupboard, as well. Williams paid £0-1-6 for the lock. Head Account Book, p. 40.
695. William Clar bought the last one, on 12/26/35. Head Account Book, p.124 left, passim.
696. McElroy's research found no clothes presses referenced in estate inventories beyond 1724. McElroy, Philadelphia Furniture: The First Fifty Years, p. 79. The Head account book establishes that such forms were being made new as late as that year.
697. Head Account Book, p. 23.
698. In recopying this entry to the page on which Gilpin's account continued, Head changed the spelling to "Close Prase." Head Account Book, pp. 44, 81 left.
699. Head Account Book, p. 64 left. Nehemiah Allen (1685-1736) was an importer and exporter of corn and salt, who served as a member of the Common Council in 1701 and 1705. He was styled a "cooper" in his will. His son, Nehemiah Allen, Jr., was also described as a "Cooper," when admitted as a freeman on May 27, 1717. Seaman, Thomas Richardson, pp. 92-93. As the account in Head's book does not describe "nemier Allen" as "Sanor" or "Junor," it is uncertain with which Head dealt. Either of them may have had the account, as all transactions were in 1724-1725, while both were alive. Head Account Book, pp. 64 left & right. The account was not that of a third Nehemiah Allen, whose coffin was ordered, on September 1, 1746, from joiner George Wilson by his father, merchant Nathaniel Allen. He had been the nephew of Nehemiah, Jr., and still a minor at the time of the Head transactions. (The third Nehemiah's parents had not wedded until 1713.) Seaman, Thomas Richardson, p. 93. Leibundguth, "Furniture-making," pp. 16, 18, citing Account Book of Nathaniel Allen, p. 169.
700. Head Account Book, p. 103 left [Steel], 121 left [Ransted]; Philadelphia Wills, 1741-261 [Steel].
701. Head Account Book, pp. 59 left & right.
702. Head Account Book, p. 60 left [Clifton], 69 left [Roach], 77 left [Stretch]. Undescribed boxes were also sold. Head Account Book, pp. 19 [Jacob DuBary], 99 left [John Campbell], 103 left [James Steel].
703. Head Account Book, pp. 103 left, passim.
704. Head Account Book, pp. 7 [Samuel Hudson], 13 [Wooley], 15 [Andrew Edg], 21 [Joseph Elger], 58 left [Jon Huntsman], 60 left [Danis Radford], 75 left [Artha Jones]. Another undesignated "Trof" was delivered to William Ball, and debited to John Roberds. Head Account Book, p. 73 left.
705. Head Account Book, p. 3 [Woodrop, Mocombs]. Head was later to get large quantities of candles and soap from Thomas Canan. In part payment, Head provided Canan with "18 pound & 3/4 Randerd [rendered] Tallo[w]," on 1/30/22. Head Account Book, p. 25. Head was also a big seller of candles. E.g., Head Account Book, p. 73 left [John Roberds]. Cf., George Claypoole supplied John Reynell with "a board to cut candle wicks on, a frame for candle molds, as well as three dozen candle rods and a 'Mould to Dip' them in." Leibundguth, "Furniture-making," pp. 11-12, citing Business Papers of Coates-Reynell, 1702-1744, without more specific date.
706. Head Account Book, pp. 5 [Cox], 99 left [Campbell], 132 left [Stretch]. Cf., "Abram Cox, Bootmaker," admitted as a freeman, April 22, 1717. "Minutes of the Common," p. 118.
707. Head Account Book, pp. 1 [Joseph _____, £0-3-0 washing form; Pool], 52 [Dimsdild], 59 left [Worner]; Leibundguth, "Furniture-making," p. 12, citing Business Papers of Coates-Reynell, 1702-1744, without more specific date [Claypoole]. Cf., as to "Trusels," the "Iyring [ironing] board and Trusils for it," supplied by Claypoole to Reynell. Leibundguth, "Furniture-making," p. 12, citing Business Papers of Coates-Reynell, 1702-1744, without more specific date.
708. Kalm, Travels, 1:365. Some told Kalm that the "Fever and Ague," which commonly afflicted those in Pennsylvania ten times as much as those in New York "was occasioned by the vapours arising from stagnant fresh waters, from marshes, and from rivers...." "[B]y experience," Kalm concluded that "standing and putrid water" was to blame. Kalm, Travels, 1:241-242, 366.
709. Scharf and Westcott, History of Philadelphia, 1:203, 206-208.
710. Head Account Book, p. 39.
711. Head Account Book, p. 64 left.
712. Mason was charged £2-0-0, "To his Wifes Cofin," on 11/17/40. Head Account Book, p. 64 left.
713. The least expensive charges described as"To a Child's Cofin," were the £0-6-0 to Nathanal [Nathaniel] Pool, on 5/3/21; the £0-6-8 to nemier [Nehemiah] Allen, on 11/2/24; and the £0-7-0 to Simond Hagal [Simon Edgell]. Head Account Book, pp. 1 [Pool], 7 [Hagal], 64 left [Allen].
714. Head Account Book, p.111 left.
715. Nineteen were designated as for a "Child's Cofin." Head Account Book, passim. Another, "To his Boyes walnut Cofin," was debited to Thomas Master Junor [Jr.], at £1-5-0, on 6/30/33. Head Account Book, p. 53 left. Other Head coffins were described as for a "son" or "dafter [daughter]." But, it is not possible, without reference to genealogical materials, to deduce how many of these may also have been children.
716. The daughter's coffin was ordered on 6/5/29, and the son's, on 6/21/29. Head Account Book, p. 105 left.
717. The account of Simond Hagal [Simon Edgell] was charged £0-15-0, on 6/29/19, "To a Sader [cedar] Cofin for his Child;" £0-7-0, on 11/3/22, "To a Childs Cofin;" and £0-18-0, on 9/14/24, "To a Childs Cofin." Head Account Book, p. 7.
718. Emma J. Lapsansky, "Patrotism, Values, and Continuity: Museum Collecting and 'Connectedness,'" Pennsylvania Magazine, 114:81. The article depicts an infant's coffin, c. 1835-1842, by an unknown maker, which was dug up in 1984 from the cemetery of Philadelphia's First African Baptist Church, and donated to HSP.
719. Head Account Book, p. 111 left.
720. Probably part of the brickmaking Coates clan, William paid in 3950 bricks and eight hundred feet of "pine Bords." Head Account Book, p. 111 right. Numerous entries for John Coats and Moses Coats also appear in Head's book. They, too, often paid him in brick, tile, and other building material. ead Account Book, pp. 70 [John Coats], 102 [Moses Coats]. A "John Coats" also appears in Hornor's list of early cabinetmakers as a "joiner" from an uncited "documentary reference [dated] 1721." Hornor, Blue Book, p. 3. But this probably is not Head's man, whose credit transactions go as late as 1749, and include at least 21,720 bricks. Head Account Book, p. 70 right. S ee, generally, Harold E. Gillingham, "Some Early Brickmakers of Philadelphia," Pennsylvania Magazine, 53:1-27.
721. Head Account Book, p. 121 left
722. Head Account Book, p. 121 right
723. Head Account Book, pp. 3 [Woodrop, 6/26/21], 102 right [Hooper].
724. Head Account Book, p. 21.
725. Head Account Book, p. 55 left.
726. Head Account Book, p. 111 left.
727. Head Account Book, p. 103 left. Black women, trained for housework, were advertised in Philadelphia. Among the "several likely Negroes" from Barbados, advertised by Alexander Wooddrop, were "two likely Women bred to House work." Pennsylvania Gazette, May 13, 1736. Learning that this was how Wooddrop may have in part financed his purchases of furniture from Head adds a sad but necessary dimension to those transactions. Head Account Book, pp. 3,4.
728. "[A]nd Moravian brethren bury where they can." Kalm, Travels, 1:43-44.
729. Head Account Book, p. 103 left; Pennsylvania Gazette, May 27, 1736.
730. Head Account Book, p. 52 left
731. Head had many alternate spellings for "ridged." Head Account Book, p. 21 ["Ridged"], 33, 52 left ["Ridgd"], 47 left ["redged"], 62 left ["riged" - entry recopied by same account, on p. 21]. Head's earliest such coffin was the £1-15-0 charged Archabil [Archibald] Mikel, on 11/9/30, "To his sons Cofin redged." Head Account Book, p. 47 left. However, Head generally got either £2-0-0 or £2-5-0 for a ridged coffin. Head Account Book, pp. 21, 33, 47 left, 52 left. Cf., George Claypoole charged John Reynell £2-0-0, on October 30, 1738, for a "Mahogony Ridgd Coffin," for his daughter. Leibundguth, "Furniture-making," p. 11, citing Business Papers of Coates-Reynell, 1702-1744. John Hill later advertised "Coffins, with Ridged or Flat Tops...." Pennsylvania Gazette, June 12, 1760.
732. Head Account Book, p. 121 left. It is also helpful in showing how much material was used in this instance, information lacking elsewhere in the account book for coffins.
733. Philadelphia's Quaker meeting house, except for "seats and sconces," was devoid of ornamentation. Kalm, Travels, 1:42.
734. Head Account Book, pp. 9, 53 left, 97 left, 103 left, 111 left, 134 left.
735. "Excerpts from the Day-books of David Evans, Cabinet-maker, Philadelphia, 1174-1811," Pennsylvania Magazine, 27:49-55. Giving renewed meaning to the phrase "not worth a Continental," on July 14, 1779, Evans charged the estate of George Ross, Esquire, £175 in Continental currency, for a mahogany coffin, inscription plate, handles & case." Evans Daybook, p. 49. By contrast, only £13-0-0 was charged the estate of the late Chief Justice, William Allen, for making his mahogany coffin, with plate, horse hire, and attendance on the corpse. Evans Daybook, p. 50. Evans's last reference in the daybook to a mahogany coffin is on October 6, 1808, when he charged Richard Bache £10-10-0, for making one for Bache's wife, Sarah, daughter of the late Benjamin Franklin. Evans Daybook, p. 55.
736. As "Cofin Screws" were considerably more expensive than the screws Head bought cheaply in bulk, the term appears to mean some sort of "clamp" with which to secure the coffin lid. Moxon portrays a clamp affixed to a joiner's worktable, and calls it a "Bench-Screw." Joseph Moxon, Mechanick Exercises; or, The Doctrine of Handy-works Applied to the Arts of Smithing, Joinery, Carpentry, Turning, Bricklaying, 3rd ed. (London: Dan. Midwinter & Tho. Leigh, 1703), pl. 4 opposite p. 69. Other cheaper "Cofen scrues," such as the £0-4-0 Head credited to Simond Edgal [Simon Edgell, 8/14/26], may have been screws, not clamps. Head Account Book, p. 86 right.
737. The earliest transcaction was a £0-0-4 debit to Alexander Wooddrop, on 6/26/21, "To 2 Cofin Screws." Head Account Book, p. 3. John Pris [Price?] was debited for a far more comprehensive amount of coffin supplies, suggesting that he was either in the business of making coffins or had had more than his fair share of deaths at home. On 7/9/21, Pris was debited £0-3-0, "To 2 payer Cofin Handles;" £0-0-3, "To 1/2 hundard d/3 [e penny] Brads;" and £0-5-7 1/2. "To 22 foot & 1/2 of 1/2 Inch Bord." Head Account Book, p. 9. A week later, on 7/16/21, Pris was debited an additional £0-1-0, "To 3 Screws." Head Account Book, The next month, on 8/10/21, Pris was charged £0-1-0, "To 6 Cofin Screws."Head Account Book, The following year, on 2/18/22, Pris ordered "2 payer Cofin handles, at £0-2-8. Head Account Book, As with coffin handles, clamps for securing coffins also appear to have come in different sizes, as the following year, Pris had two different orders for "2 Cofin Screws," on 4/4/22, at different prices, £0-0-4 and £0-2-8. Head Account Book, p. 9. Head's last order for "a payer of Cofin handles," was the £0-1-6 debited, on 1/2/24, to Jonathan Cockshaw. Head Account Book, p. 51 left. One wonders whether the £0-3-0, "To Goods Delivered To Jonathan Cockshaw," which Head credited to the account of Thomas Canan less than two weeks later, on 1/15/24, had any connection to Cockshaw's "payer of Cofin handles." Canan was obviously a chandler, as his accounts show many credits for vast quantities of soap and candles to Head, and debits for boxes within which to store them. Perhaps Cockshaw required soap in connection with cleansing the decedent's quarters or candles in connection with a ceremony in the decedent's memory. Head Account Book, p. 26. This sort of knowledge may be useful to those researching funeral practices and any prophylactic measures taken against disease in early Philadelphia.
738. Head Account Book, p. 71 right.
739. Head Account Book, p. 91 right.
740. Watson, Annals, 1:164.
