John Whitear of Fairfield, Connecticut. Number 98. A Pre-Revolutionary Connecticut made tall clock. ZZ-20.
The case is made of walnut and has a historic, dry finish with light crazing. Its chocolate brown color is attractive. An applied molding supports the case, attached to the bottom of the base and resting flat on the floor. The base is slightly compressed, which is typical of early case designs. The long waist section has a tombstone-shaped door that fills the middle of the case. This door is trimmed with molding and has a brass-trimmed lenticle with glass, so you can see the brass pendulum bob move without opening the door. This also shows that the clock has a long pendulum. The waist door is hinged and opens to access the two drive weights and the pendulum bob. The hood has a flat top, and the upper molding is large with several shaped profiles. The dial door has an arched glass opening that frames the dial. The sides of the case have side lights and rear columns. The bonnet door opens to a composite brass dial. This hood was not made with forward bonnet columns, a detail often seen in early Fairfield County clocks.
This type of brass dial came before painted dials. It uses a hand-hammered brass plate decorated with applied brass spandrels and chapter rings. The chapter ring, name boss, seconds dial, and calendar dial are finished with a silver wash for contrast. The maker’s name-boss is in the lunette, engraved with the maker’s name, location, and production number, and bordered with a comet design. Dolphin spandrels center the boss in the lunette. The large chapter ring is also applied. The dial has an inner minute ring, Roman numerals for the hours, and half-hour markers. A second ring separates the hours from the Arabic five-minute markers. The center is matted, likely to help you see the hands more easily. Brass dials can tarnish over time, making them hard to read by candlelight. This dial also has an applied, engraved, and silvered subsidiary seconds dial. The calendar day appears in a small square below the center arbor. The steel hands are finely detailed. Each corner has cast spandrels showing twin cherubs holding crossed maces under a large crown.
The movement is constructed in brass. As is the tradition with Whitear clocks, the backplate is nicely finished. The front plate is lightly pitted and has a higher copper content. The high copper content gives the plates a pinkish hue. Both plates are supported by four knobbed and finned brass pillar posts. The gearing is brass, and the pinions are steel. The weight-driven movement is designed to run for eight days on a full wind. This clock strikes the hour on a bell. The strike train is located between the plates and is actuated by a rack-and-snail design. The winding barrels grooved. A seat board supports the movement.
This clock is a fine example by a well-known Connecticut clockmaker from around 1760. It stands 85 inches tall, about 20 inches wide, and 10 inches deep.
To learn more about John Whitear, see Winthrop Warren and Christopher Nevins’ book, Clocks and Clockmakers of Colonial Fairfield, Connecticut, 1713-1813, available from the NAWCC.
Inventory number ZZ-20.
John Whitear Senior’s birth date is not currently known. It is currently believed that he was born in Fairfield and traveled to Boston to learn the art of clockmaking and bell casting. We know that he returned to Fairfield in 1736 because he is listed as a member of the Church of England under the pastorship of Reverend Henry Caner in that year. On May 29, 1738, John Sr advertised in the Boston Gazette, “John Whitear of Fairfield (CT) Bell-founder, makes and sells all sorts of bells from the lowest size to two-thousand weight.” John was skilled in metalwork, and in 1739, he was recorded as casting a bell for the new Anglican Church in Fairfield. In 1743/44, he cast a Whitear bell for Dr. Johnson, a member of Christ Church in Stratford. Whitear also made a clock for Dr. Johnson in 1750. This clock may have also been for the Church. In 1751, he cast a bell for the Congregational Church in Fairfield.
John Sr married, but his wife’s name is not currently known. They had at least 4 children born in Fairfield. His son, John Jr, was born in 1738 and died on August 26, 1773, at 35. He was also trained as a clockmaker and bell founder and worked for many years with his father until John Sr passed in 1762 in Fairfield. John Sr had a career spanning approximately 28 years. His estate was settled by his son John Jr, who succeeded both branches of his business, the Bell founder and Clockmaker. Several clocks are known to have numbered dials. One clock made by his son, number 103, is also dated “1764.” If we assume John started with clock No. 1, simple math suggests they made approximately 3 or 4 clocks per year.
John Whitear Junior was born in Fairfield, Connecticut, in 1738. He was the son of John Whitear Senior, who was best known as a bell founder. John Jr was a member of the Trinity (Episcopal) Church of Fairfield. He lived in a neighborhood called Black Rock, on the seashore. It is thought that he trained under his father and continued to work in business with him until his father died in 1762. In that year, he is known to have made a clock for Peter Perry. John Jr married Abigail Rowland (b. 1742 – d. 1813) on June 11, 1767. She was a member of the Christ Church in Fairfield. It is thought that he may have trained Joseph Buckley of the same town. In 1767, he was appointed an Ensign of the second trainband of Fairfield. In 1771, he was promoted to the grade of Lieutenant. John Jr. died on August 26, 1773, and is buried in the “Ye Old Burying Ground of Fairfield, Conn.” His estate was settled, and a record of his inventory is listed. It was extensive.
A small number of tall clocks are known. Several of these are numbered, and luckily, a few are dated. The lowest number we currently know is No. 33, and the highest is No. 103. The No. 103 example is also dated “1764.” This clock would have been made two years after John Sr’s death. An interesting observation is that a high percentage of the known clocks have been recased. This is also true of the other known Fairfield Clockmakers, including Joseph Buckley, William Burr Jr., the partnership of Whiting and Marquand, and Richardson Minor. This may be a result of the British burning 192 houses, barns, shops, and churches during their attack on Fairfield on July 7, 1779.
