The first in-depth study of Southern clockmakers and the magnificent artistry they brought to eighteenth- and nineteenth-century timepieces. Entitled Dixie Clockmakers, this volume traces the development of clockmaking and horological history below the Mason-Dixon line and documents the works of those artisans who designed and constructed some of the world’s finest timepieces. Author James W. Gibbs focuses primarily upon clockmaking in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and the District of Columbia, but attention also is given to eight other states. Included are some sixty photographs illustrating outstanding examples and details of Southern clockmaking. Dixie Clockmakers also lists every known clockmaker and watchmaker in the South during the two centuries, along with nomenclature common at the time, and advertisements used by individual craftsmen.
This free download is a fascinating and wide ranging study that offers many insights into American Tall Case Clock making in the Backcountry of the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, in the late 18th Century. This story informs those wanting to know more about antique tall case clocks (also known as longcase clocks, Grandfather clocks, floor clocks); Backcountry Early American furniture; how time was determined; culture and commerce; whether as a student, educator, casual collector or curious clock owner. Photographs in the body and addendum add value for inquisitive researchers. Each page - Splendid photographs and illustrations enhanced by brief narratives in laymen terms provide fascinating information about a group of five known tall clocks that were made in the Virginia Backcountry. The clocks genealogy is traced back to: Rome and Greece for the furniture case; Galileo for the pendulum; and England for the painted dial. Tap or click on a Hyperlink to go to online videos and references for further understanding about the Backcountry artisans and settlers, clock making, period furniture, painted dials, how a clock and pendulum works, clock setup and trouble shooting. Note: Not all Operating Systems recognize hyperlinks after Google processing deactivates them. In that case, search terms are provided for internet search. Enjoy the story! Recommended video links - Palladio, Chippendale, Galileo, How the escapement works, Four parts of a clock, and "The Clock that Changed the World."
The road to hell is paved with good intentions…and gold dust. When Henry Jenkins’s sawmill business goes bust and his family loses their Indiana farm to foreclosure, he sees gold as the answer to his financial woes. Joining a company of younger men, Jenkins and the other prospective miners sign fraudulent promissory notes to borrow from a ruthless businessman, Allen Makepeace, to reach the gold mines. They sail the risky route via Panama to the mines in 1851. But gold is not so easy to find by then. Making enough to survive and get home will be difficult; repaying Makepeace could be impossible. As Henry Jenkins becomes mired in mining, his wife, Abby, struggles to meet the needs of her large family amidst crop failures, waves of deadly disease, and harassment by Henry’s creditors. When Henry’s sons-in-law follow in his wake, they find themselves on a notorious death ship, stranded in the vast Pacific. Will any of these frantic men make it home to their distressed families? Fortune’s Frenzy reveals the plight of miners who borrowed at extortionate rates to get to California, and explores the dangerous and deadly sea routes to the west coast that killed roughly 10 percent of those who risked the journey. Alternating between the miners’ trials and terrors, and the challenges for the wives, children, and mothers left behind, Fortune’s Frenzy delves into the country’s pressing social, economic, and nationalist issues in the pre-Civil War decades. The theme is age-old, and still relevant: desperate people falling for get-rich-quick schemes. They fail to consider the sacrifices they will have to make and the dismal odds of their success.
Within recent years fairly exhaustive studies have been made on many aspects on American Science and Technology. To make a comprehensive study of American scientific instruments and instrument makers in the American Colonies is no simple matter, partly because of an indifference to the subject in the past, and partly because of the great volume of sources that must be sifted to accomplish it.