history of chauncey jerome

HISTORY OF CHAUNCEY JEROME

MACKEY'S ANTIQUES & CLOCK REPAIR
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DECEMBER 1 2009

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CHAUNCEY JEROME WAS BORN AT CANAAN CONNECTICUT ON JUNE 10 1793 AND DIED AT NEW HAVEN CONN. ON APRIL 20 1868 .

HE WAS PERHAPS THE MOST IMMINENT CHARACTER ASSOCIATED WITH THE AMERICAN CLOCK BUSINESS DURING THE MID

NINETEENTH CENTURY . CHAUNCEY JEROME SPENT ALL HIS ADULT LIFE IN THE CLOCK BUSINESS ACHIEVING SUCCESS AS

A PROMOTER . AND AS A APPRENTICED JOINER HE BEGAN MAKING TALL CASE CLOCKS IN 1811 . IN 1816 HE PRODUCED SHELF

CLOCK CASES FOR ELI TERRY IN PLYMOUTH . IN THE WINTER OF 1816 HE CLAIMED HE HAD PRODUCED THE FIRST TERRY PILLAR

AND SCROLL CLOCK CASE . HE CAME TO BRISTOL IN 1821 AND AT FIRST MADE AND SOLD CLOCK CASES AND EXCHANGING

SOME OF HIS CASES FOR WOOD MOVEMENTS AND THEN HE COULD SELL A FINISHED CLOCK .CHAUNCEY JEROME CLAIMED HE

INVENTED THE BRONZE LOOKING GLASS CLOCK IN 1825 . WHICH REVOLUTIONIZED THE WHOLE CLOCK BUSINESS THE BRONZE

LOOKING GLASS CLOCK COULD BE MADE FOR ONE DOLLAR LESS AND SOLD FOR TWO DOLLARS MORE THEN THE

PATENT CASE THEY WERE VERY SHOWY AND A LITTLE LONGER .

WILE AT BRISTOL JEROME WAS A PARTNER IN THE FOLLOWING FIRMS

JEROME, THOMPSON & CO. 1826-27

JEROMES & DARROW 1828-33

C.& N JEROME 1834-39

JEROMES , GILBERT & GRANT 1839-40

JEROME & CO. 1840-45

1853 BECAME THE NEW HAVEN CLOCK CO. HIRAM CAMP PRESIDENT . ON APRIL 23 1845 HIS BRISTOL CONN. FACTORIES WERE

COMPLETELY DESTROYED BY FIRE AND CHAUNCEY JEROME MOVED TO NEW HAVEN CONN. AND STARTED A CASE SHOP AND

CONTINUING THERE UNDER THE NAME OF JEROME & CO. AND IN 1850 THE NAME WAS CHANGED TO JEROME MANUFACTURING

CO. CHAUNCEY JEROMES BROTHER NOBEL WAS AWARDED A U.S. PATENT ON JUNE 23 1839 WHICH PAVED THE ROAD TO

SUCCESSFUL PRODUCTION OF THE CHEAP ONE DAY WROUGHT BRASS SHELF CLOCK WITH LANTERN PINIONS AND A FRICTION

PLATE COUNT WHEEL . THIS CLOCK BECOME VERY POPULAR IN THE O.G. CASE . . 1842 JEROME & CO. EXPORTED LARGE

QUANTITIES OF SUCH A CLOCK TO ENGLAND . MANY OF THESE WERE RE-SHIPPED TO OTHER PARTS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE

AND TO MANY FOREIGN COUNTRIES . JEROME WANTED TO CAPTURE THE BRITISH BUSINESS AS WELL AS AMERICAN HE

PREPARED A SHIPMENT OF CLOCK FOR ENGLAND , CONTRACTING WITH A YOUNG BRISTOL MAN EPAPHRODITUS PECK TO

TRAVEL WITH HIS SON CHAUNCEY JEROME JR.TO SELL THE CLOCKS . JEROME STATED THAT AS SOON AS IT WAS KNOWN BY

THE NEIGHBORING CLOCKMAKERS THEY LAUGHED AT ME AND RIDICULED THE IDEAL OF SENDING CLOCKS TO ENGLAND

WHERE LABOR WAS SO CHEAP . THE CLOCKS WERE INVOICED AT A VALUE OF A DOLLAR AND A HALF APIECE AND 20 PERCENT

DUTY HAD TO BE PAID ON THEIR ARRIVAL . THEY RETAILED IN ENGLAND FOR TWENTY DOLLARS EACH . THE REVENUE LAWS OF

ENGLAND AT THAT TIME WAS SUCH THAT THE OWNER OF GOODS BEING IMPORTED COULD DECLARE THE VALUE OF HIS GOODS ,

BUT THE GOVERNMENT HAD THE RIGHT TO PURCHASE THEM FOR THE DECLARED VALUE PLUS 10 PERCENT. SOON AFTER IT

BECAME ECONOMICAL TO PRODUCE CLOCKS WITH STEEL SPRINGS IN PLACE OF WEIGHTS . BY THE LATE 1840s ' LEVER '

MOVEMENTS WITH BALANCE ESCAPEMENTS IN PLACE OF PENDULUMS BECAME PRACTICAL . JEROME MANUFACTURING CO.

UNDERWENT FINANCIAL FAILURE THE FACTORIES WERE TAKEN OVER BY THE NEW HAVEN CLOCK CO. ON FEBRUARY 7 1853 .

HIRAM CAMP THE FORMER JEROME MANUFACTURING CO. SUPERINTENDENT AND CHAUNCEY JEROME'S NEPHEW

LOST ALL CONTROL OVER HIS BUSINESS IN NEW HAVEN . AFTER THE COMPANY FAILED JEROME MOVED TO WATERBURY AND

FOR ABOUT A YEAR MADE CASES FOR BENEDICT & BURNHAM . IN 1857 HE MOVED TO ANSONIA STAYING ABOUT TWO YEARS

HE RETURNED TO NEW HAVEN AND BECOME A SUPERINTENDENT IN A CONCERN KNOWN AS THE UNITED STATES CLOCK

MANUFACTURING COMPANY . HE MOVED WITH THE COMPANY TO AUSTIN ILLINOIS IN 1866 . BIOGRAPER JAMES PARTON ,

WILE TRAVELING IN THE MIDWEST WROTE CHAUNCEY JEROME IS NOW AT THE AGE OF 73 FAR FROM HIS HOME WITHOUT

PROPERTY AND WORKING FOR WAGES I SAW HIM NEAR CHICAGO WITH HIS HONORABLE GRAY HAIR AND HIS HONORABLE

WHITE APRON, EARNING HIS LIVING BY FAITHFUL LABOR FOR OTHERS AFTER HAVING HUNDREDS OF MEN IN FACTORIES OF

HIS OWN . CHAUNCEY JEROME LATER RETURNED TO NEW HAVEN WHERE HE DIED ON APRIL 20 1868 AT THE AGE OF 74 . BESIDES

LISTING HIS CLOCKMAKING ACTIVITIES HIS OBITUARY NOTED THAT HE WAS MAYOR OF NEW HAVEN ( 1854-55 ) A STATE

LEGISLATOR IN 1834 AND A PRESIDENTIAL ELECTOR IN 1852 .

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