Seril Dodge Of Providence, Rhode Island.

Seril Dodge was born in Pomfret, Connecticut, on August 19, 1759. His parents were Nehemiah Dodge (1733?-1796? and Lois (Paine) Dodge (1737? - ?) He is thought to have trained with Thomas Harland in Norwich, CT. His movement designs are certainly inspired by the Harland school, featuring distinctive, cigar-shaped pillars that support the two brass plates. On March 4, 1783, Seril Married Anna Williams of Pomfret. By 1784, he had removed to Providence and was working as a silversmith and clockmaker. In August of the same year, he advertised in the Providence Gazette that he was a clock and watchmaker, and his shop was located north of the Baptist Meeting House. Seril became the foremost clockmaker and silversmith in late eighteenth-century Providence. Dodge is also credited with being the city's first jeweler, and he likely executed the engraving on his silvered brass dials. Including meandering vines, scrolls, floral devices, stylized serpents (or birds), and columns, the vocabulary of motifs seen on this clock is also present in part or wholly on four of the other dials bearing his name. He purchased land from fellow Quaker and renowned merchant Moses Brown on Angell's Lane (now Thomas Street) and subsequently built two houses on the street, both of which stand today. In 1799, Dodge left Providence for his hometown of Pomfret, where he died on April 2, 1802. 

Several clocks are known with dials signed by Seril Dodge. An engraved brass dial shelf-clock is in the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society. A brass dial tall case clock was sold at Sotheby's in New York. The sale, Important American Furniture from the Collection of the Late Thomas Mellon and Betty Evans, June 19, 1998. This clock was lot 2022 and was purchased by Israel Sack, Inc. It is pictured in American Antiques from Israel Sack, vol. VI, p. 1615, P4706. A composite brass dial example was sold publicly in May of 2019 at Americana Auctions in Rehoboth, MA. R. Jorgensen Antiques advertised a clock with a Massachusetts-style case in www.antiquesandfineart.com. An engraved dial example is pictured on pages 290-291 in Timeless: Masterpiece American Brass Dial Clocks (New York, 2009), written by Frank L. Hohmann III. A one-painted-dial tall clock in a carved shell case, offered by Delaney Antique Clocks, is attributed to him.