Peter Stretch | |
---|---|
Personal details | |
Born | Leek, Staffordshire, England | October 14, 1670
Died | September 11, 1746 76) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | (aged
Political party | Independent |
Spouse | Margery Hall |
Children | Thomas Stretch, Daniel Stretch, William Stretch, Joseph Stretch, Elizabeth Stretch, Sarah Stretch |
Profession | Clockmaker |
Signature | ![]() |
Peter Stretch (October 14, 1670 – September 11, 1746) was among the most prominent early American clockmakers and among the first makers of scientific instruments in America.
He was born on October 14, 1670, at Leek, Staffordshire, England. Like many English clockmakers, he belonged to the Society of Friends, also called Quakers. The earliest known clockmakers in Leek came from the Stretch Quaker family. Samuel Stretch, his uncle, was making lantern clocks in Leek in 1670. [1] Peter Stretch acquired an intimate knowledge of the art from some of the finest clockmakers in England — Thomas Tompion, George Graham, and Daniel Quare.
He married Margery Hall (May 25, 1688 – July 27, 1746) at Chesterfield, Derby, England on May 18, 1693. [2]
Along with their three sons, Daniel (1694–1735), Thomas (1697–October 17, 1765) and William (1701–1748), and daughter Elizabeth (1699–1759), [3] they emigrated to America in 1703, arriving when Peter Stretch was 32. The Quaker Monthly Meeting at Philadelphia received the family in June 1703. [4]
A daughter, Hannah, died as a child in 1708. Children born in Philadelphia include Sarah (1705–?), Samuel (1706–1762), Hannah (1707–1708) and Joseph (December 20, 1709 – April 3, 1771). [5] Joseph's daughter (Peter Stretch's granddaughter) Sarah (July 13, 1733 – April 19, 1770), married the eminent merchant Samuel Howell (1723–1807), a financier of the American Revolution. [6]
The first settlers of Philadelphia were mainly artisans, many of them belonging to the English gentry, who had sold their property and come to America to escape religious persecution. This describes Peter Stretch. He soon became an important figure in the social, political and economic life of Philadelphia.
He was one of the earliest clockmakers to settle in the Province of Pennsylvania. The first record of his purchasing land was on July 26, 1707, when he acquired 300 acres in Gloucester County, New Jersey. [7] Records show that Peter Stretch made a number of real estate purchases, some speculative or for investment.
On November 11, 1715, he purchased a property at the southeast corner of Front and Chestnut Streets in Philadelphia, where he set up shop in his home. On March 1, 1719, he purchased another property, located at the southwest corner of Second and Chestnut, where he built a home and set up a shop called "Peter Stretch's Corner at the Sign of the Dial". He resided there until his death. [8] [9]
At the time of his death, his will listed four properties in his possession: the house and lot at Front and Second Streets; the house on the corner of Second and Chestnut Streets (his residence and shop); a lot with two houses facing Morris Alley; and a 400-acre tract in Salem County, New Jersey. [10]
Two of his sons, a nephew and a grandson worked with him. In America, he specialized in long-case clocks, producing dozens of them. (Long-case and tall clock are terms, used interchangeably, for what today are more commonly referred to as "grandfather clocks". [11] ) From the first, his clocks showed that they were made to fit into the homes of cultured families with English traditions. He made clocks for many prominent Philadelphia families. He was also commissioned by Philadelphia's Common Council in 1717 to work on the town clock.
The earliest mention of a craftsman manufacturing scientific instruments in Philadelphia was of Peter Stretch. In 1733, he provided Thomas Penn, Proprietor of Pennsylvania, with a number of scales and weights, and "two needles for Surveying & a Contor [sic]". [12] [13]
Stretch served as a member of the Common Council from 1708 until his death in 1746, and was a dominating influence in the community. [14]
Peter and Margery Stretch became role models for Philadelphians. They gave advice to unmarried Quakers about maintaining "moderation or modesty" in budding love affairs. The couple donated money to widows, orphans and victims of house fires and kidnappings by Indians. [15] [16]
His son Thomas was also a man of note, being a clockmaker and the founding Governor of the Schuylkill Fishing Company angling club. Soon after the death of his father, Thomas Stretch sold his father's property at Front and Chestnut streets and established himself a block farther west, at the "Sign of the Dial" at the southwest corner of Second and Chestnut Streets. [17] Another son, William, also became a clockmaker; William received all of his father's tools, imported clocks and unfinished clockworks upon his death. [18] [19]
His oldest son, Daniel, preferred the life of a planter and lived in Salem, New Jersey, where Peter's brother, Joseph, had settled in 1695.
Through his sons, Peter Stretch showed that love of philanthropy so inherent in the Friends of both yesterday and today. Thomas Stretch was one of the founders of Pennsylvania Hospital and a member of the Union Fire Company, also known as Benjamin Franklin's Bucket Brigade. He was a director of the Philadelphia Contributionship (Hand-in-Hand fire mark) from 1758 to 1761.
Joseph, Peter's youngest son, was a hatter by trade and, following his father's example, devoted time to public service. He served as tax collector for Philadelphia County, 1747–1748; collector of excise for the city and county of Philadelphia, 1756–1771; and warden of the city, 1751–1754. Joseph Stretch was a founding member of the Library Company of Philadelphia, which was established through the influence of Benjamin Franklin in 1741. He was for many years a member of the Provincial Assembly, serving in 1756 on the Finance Committee with his friend, "B. Franklin". Joseph Stretch died on April 1, 1771. [20]
Stretch produced a wide range of clocks, including thirty-hour and eight-day ones with engraved brass movements, plain dials, and single hands and more elaborate ones with a sweep second hand, revolving moon dials, and musical works. By 1710, the Stretch clocks had not only a minute hand, but also a second hand. His earliest clocks were made of solid walnut; his later cases were of mahogany, following closely in design the clocks that were made in England during the William and Mary period. [1]
The most sophisticated Peter Stretch clock found was owned by The State in Schuylkill. [21]
While conducting a study of early clockmakers in Philadelphia, Carolyn Wood Stretch located in the Philadelphia area twenty clocks made by Peter Stretch, seven by Thomas, and two by William. Watches made by Thomas Stretch were also greatly treasured by their owners. That she had not been so successful in locating many of the clocks made by Thomas Stretch is attributed to the fact that they have reached the hands of dealers and been scattered across the country.
At Independence Hall, the second-floor Governor's Council Chamber is furnished with important examples of the era by the National Park Service, including a musical tall case clock made by Peter Stretch circa 1740. [22]
A Queen Anne carved and figured mahogany tall case clock, made by Peter Stretch in Philadelphia circa 1740, was bought at auction by Winterthur Museum and Country Estate on October 28, 2004, for the highest price ever paid for an American clock: $1.7 million. [23]
Fennimore, Donald L. and Hohmann, III, Frank L. "Stretch. America's First Family of Clockmakers." A Winterthur Book. The Henry Francis duPont Winterthur Museum, Inc. and Hohmann Holdings, LLC. 2013.
Frazier, Arthur H. "The Stretch Clock and its Bell at the State House". Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, XCVIII (1974)
Stretch, Carolyn Wood. "Peter Stretch, Clockmaker — 1670-1746". International Studio Magazine. October, 1930. pp 47–49.
Stretch, Carolyn Wood. "Early Colonial Clockmakers in Philadelphia". Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, LVI (1932), p 226.
Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library is an American estate and museum in Winterthur, Delaware. Winterthur houses one of the richest collections of Americana in the United States. The museum and estate were the home of Henry Francis du Pont (1880–1969), Winterthur's founder and a prominent antiques collector and horticulturist.
The Hagley Museum and Library is a nonprofit educational institution in unincorporated New Castle County, Delaware, near Wilmington. Covering more than 235 acres (95 ha) along the banks of the Brandywine Creek, the museum and grounds include the first du Pont family home and garden in the United States, the powder yards, and a 19th-century machine shop. On the hillside below the mansion lies a Renaissance Revival garden, with terraces and statuary, created in the 1920s by Louise Evelina du Pont Crowninshield (1877–1958).
The du Pont family or Du Pont family is a prominent American family descended from Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739–1817). It has been one of the richest families in the United States since the mid-19th century, when it founded its fortune in the gunpowder business. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it expanded its wealth through the chemical industry and the automotive industry, with substantial interests in the DuPont company, General Motors, and various other corporations.
Henry Algernon du Pont was an American military officer, businessman, and politician from Delaware. A member of the du Pont family, he graduated first in his class from West Point shortly after the beginning of the American Civil War and served in the U.S. Army, earning the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of Cedar Creek in October 1864.
Liberty Displaying the Arts and Sciences, or The Genius of America Encouraging the Emancipation of the Blacks (1792) is an oil-on-canvas painting by the American artist Samuel Jennings. Held in the permanent collection of the Library Company of Philadelphia, this work is the earliest known American painting promoting abolitionism in the United States.
Henry Francis du Pont was an American horticulturist, collector of early American furniture and decorative arts, breeder of Holstein Friesian cattle, and scion of the powerful du Pont family. Converted into a museum in 1951, his estate of Winterthur in Delaware is the world's premier museum of American furniture and decorative arts.
Brandywine Creek State Park is a state park, located 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Wilmington, Delaware along the Brandywine Creek. Open year-round, it is 933 acres (378 ha) in area and much of the park was part of a Du Pont family estate and dairy farm before becoming a state park in 1965. It contains the first two nature preserves in Delaware. These nature preserves are Tulip Tree Woods and Freshwater Marsh. Flint Woods is a satellite area of the park and has become the park's third nature preserve. Flint Woods is home to species of rare song birds and an old-growth forest. The park's forests are part of the Northeastern coastal forests ecoregion.
Thomas Stretch was an American clockmaker and a founder and first governor of the Colony in Schuylkill, later known as the State in Schuylkill, or Schuylkill Fishing Company. In 1753, he erected the first clock at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, a large clock dial and masonry clock case at the west end of the structure.
Samuel Howell was a Quaker who became a prominent merchant in colonial Philadelphia and a leading patriot, proponent, leader and financier for American independence.
Ruth Ellen du Pont Lord was an American writer, psychotherapist, philanthropist, and patron of the arts. Long active in the Yale and New Haven communities, she co-founded Long Wharf Theatre in 1965 and worked at Yale Child Study Center, specializing in psychotherapy and coauthoring a book about foster care. The last private resident of the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library, she also wrote a biography of her father, Henry Francis du Pont.
Pamela Cunningham Copeland was an American horticulturist and historic preservationist, known for her philanthropy. Her home and gardens became Mt. Cuba Center, a public garden and research center for Appalachian Piedmont flora that was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
Thomas Charles Fletcher was a prominent American silversmith and merchant, active in Boston and Philadelphia. His firm of Fletcher & Gardiner was nationally renowned.
George B. Sharp was an Irish-American silversmith, active in Philadelphia from about 1844-1874.
Jacques Antoine Bidermann, also known as James Antoine Bidermann, was an American businessman of French and Swiss origins who became the business partner and son-in-law of Éleuthère Irénée du Pont. He married into the Du Pont family and founded the estate that later became the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library.
Ruth Wales du Pont was an American socialite, philanthropist, amateur classical composer, and spouse of Henry Francis du Pont, who founded Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library.
Captain John Purves and His Wife, Eliza Anne Pritchard, is an oil-on-canvas portrait created by American painter Henry Benbridge (1743–1812). It was painted in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1775. A bequest from Henry Francis du Pont, the painting is held in the permanent collection of the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library.
Joseph Downs was an American museum curator and scholar of American decorative arts. After 17 years at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Downs became founding curator of the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library from 1949 to 1954. His assistant, Charles F. Montgomery, became Winterthur's first director after Downs' death.
John A. H. Sweeney was an American curator, scholar, and writer specializing in the American decorative arts. He spent his career in curatorial and leadership positions at the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library.
Martha Lou Gandy Fales was an American art historian, museum curator, and author specializing in historic American silversmithing and jewelry. She worked as a curator and keeper of the silver at the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library during the late 1950s and worked mostly as an independent historian and consultant after that. Her seminal book Jewelry in America (1995) received the Charles F. Montgomery Prize from the Decorative Arts Society.
Election Day in Philadelphia is an oil-on-canvas genre painting by American artist John Lewis Krimmel (1786–1821). It was painted in Philadelphia in 1815. Purchased with funds provided by Henry Francis du Pont, the work is held in the permanent collection of the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library. The painting depicts grassroots democratic participation in the early Republic, with a raucous crowd gathered outside Independence Hall to celebrate and engage in electoral politics.