Seth Thomas (clockmaker)

Seth Thomas
Seth Thomas
Born	August 19, 1785; Wolcott, Connecticut, United States
Died	January 29, 1859 (aged 73); Thomaston, Connecticut, United States
Resting place	Hillside Cemetery, Thomaston
Children	9
	Engineering career
Projects	Clock at Grand Central Terminal
Significant advance	Clockmaker and a pioneer of mass production

Seth Thomas (1785 — 1859) was an American clockmaker and a pioneer of mass production at his Seth Thomas Clock Company.

Biography

Thomas was born in Wolcott, Connecticut, in 1785. He was apprenticed as a carpenter and joiner, and worked building houses and barns. He started in the clock business in 1807, working for clockmaker Eli Terry.^[1] Thomas formed a clock-making partnership in Plymouth, Connecticut, with Eli Terry and Silas Hoadley as Terry, Thomas & Hoadley.^[1]

In 1810, he bought Terry's clock business, making tall clocks with wooden movements, though he chose to sell his partnership in 1812, moving in 1813 to Plymouth Hollow, Connecticut, where he set up a factory to make metal-movement clocks. In 1817, he added shelf and mantel clocks. By the mid-1840s, he changed over to brass from wooden movements. He made the clock that is used in Fireman's Hall. He died in 1859, whereupon the company was taken over by his son, Aaron, who added many styles and improvements after his father's death. The company went out of business in 2009.^{[citation needed]}

Death and legacy

Thomas died on January 29, 1859, in Plymouth Hollow, Connecticut, and was interred at the Hillside Cemetery. In 1875, the town's Plymouth Hollow district was renamed Thomaston in Thomas's memory.^[2]

Gallery

The Seth Thomas Clock Company-manufactured clock at Grand Central Terminal
This Thomas clock was built in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1911 and moved to Bath, Maine, in 1915^[3]

References

^ ^a ^b "Seth Thomas". Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. Retrieved September 19, 2012.
^ "History". Town of Thomaston. Archived from the original on 2010-03-31. Retrieved May 7, 2010.
^ Bath Street Clock – Historical Marker Database