Collections record Beta

Tall Case Clock

2010-383-1

Tall case clock made of cherry wood. Brass and metal works with brass clock face, engraved "Hanks" in circle at top. Two dials on face - one for seconds and other for days of the month. Hood of clock and body have rope twist columns on each side. Dentil border/band around horizontal breaks on body of clock and underneath pediment on hood. Hood has broken pediment with three short columns with punch work design above pediment. Brass hinges and knobs. Door on body has small round glass hole to show motion of pendulum. Hood has glass front and glass panel on each side. Burned into inside of door "Eleazer Storrs/Sandisfield/1785 Mass/Hanks/Litchfield/Conn" Paper note tape below: "Clock made by Hanks, Litchfield, Conn. Before 1785. It was originally owned by Rev. Eleazer Storrs of Sandisfield, Mass. 1738-1810, the father of Clarissa Storrs, mother of John Phelps Atwater, who was the grandfather of Morton Atwater. Purchased from the estate of Morton Atwater in May 1960 by Evelyn Atwater Cummins, sister of Morton Atwater. This clock (circa 1785) is believed to be an experimental clock made by Benjamin Hanks (strick is on the up stroke instead of the down stroke.)"

Benjamin Hanks was born in 1755 in Mansfield, CT. He trained as a clock maker in Norwich, CT. He served in the Revolutionary War, first as a drummer and later in a regiment under Israel Putnam (until 1775). In 1778 he moved to Litchfield, CT where he built a home (still standing) on South Street. He left Litchfield in 1790 and returned to Mansfield where he started a foundry before moving in 1808 to West Troy, NY to open a new foundry. He died there in 1824.

• Hanks, Benjamin, 1755-1824

c.1784

Clock case 82 3/4" high x 22 1/4" wide x 14 1/4" deep Base of clock case 11 1/4" x 17 1/4"

• glass
• brass
• cherry
• iron