A Berkshire County Craftsman and His Contemporaries: The Newell Family

May 24th, 2016

When assisting Joshua Lane, former curator of furniture at Historic Deerfield, with the “Four Centuries of Massachusetts Furniture” project, I realized that the majority of cabinetmakers covered in the 2013 exhibition Furniture Masterworks: Tradition and Innovation in Western Massachusetts were not from Berkshire County, Massachusetts. That same year at the Antiques Dealers’ Association of America/Historic Deerfield Antiques Show, dealer Jeffrey Tillou of Litchfield, Connecticut, was selling a closed bonnet-top highboy (fig. 1). I took interest in its whimsical Connecticut River valley-like design. When I began investigating the highboy, I was surprised when I found an inscription saying that it was made in Lanesborough, Massachusetts, which is in Berkshire County. The piece was attributed to the Connecticut River valley and not to Berkshire County. This prompted me to further investigate cabinetmakers and joiners in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, where I discovered a possible family of craftsmen.

 

Figure 1. Ellen McDermott photo. Courtesy Jeffrey Tillou Antiques.

Ebenezer Newell

Ebenezer Newell was born around 1747. There are no existing records indicating where he was born or from whom he learned his cabinetry skills.

Newell first appears in Berkshire County records in 1770 after he purchased land from John Nathermore in the town of Lanesborough.1 In the same year, he met Rhoda Strong, originally of Hartford County, Connecticut, a Lanesborough resident. On March 13, 1770, Strong joined the Lanesborough Congregational Church, and 15 days later, on March 28, she married Newell. He did not join the congregation until 1780.

During the Revolutionary War Newell led a company of the Massachusetts Second Regiment, which was involved in the Battle of Bennington. During that battle, on August 16, 1770, “Lieut. Abel Prindle of Lanesborough, in the County of Berkshire, State of Massachusetts Bay, Departed this life...being shot through the Head at Bennington fight, supposed to be done by one Solomon Bunnel, a Tory, a neighbor, and Townsman of his, who had turned....”2 Bunnel (sometimes spelled Bunnell) was held as a prisoner of war in Northampton, Massachusetts.

After returning home to Lanesborough with the rank of captain, Newell became heavily involved in town politics and served on the Committee of Safety. As a member of the committee, he was elected by the town of Lanesborough in 1778 to investigate the murder of Prindle. The town wanted to prosecute Bunnel for his brutal actions and believed that Newell was best suited for the job. After Bunnel was found guilty of murder, Captain Newell returned to running his cabinetmaking business. Although there are no known pieces of furniture by Newell from before 1789, it is assumed that he ran his shop up until the beginning of the war and continued to run it after the war ended.

According to Massachusetts probate court records, Asahel Jarvis arrived in Berkshire County from New Britain, Connecticut, in 1787. His father, William Jarvis, had died. The court ruled that John Sergeant Jr., a Christian missionary of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, would take guardianship of Jarvis, who was considered a minor at the time.3 Sergeant Jr. was born in Stockbridge in 1747. Like his father, John Sergeant, he worked to educate and religiously convert the Mohican Native Americans. Sergeant Jr. remained in Stockbridge until his death on September 9, 1824.4

According to Winterthur Museum’s database of Delaware craftsmen, records show that Jarvis was living in Lanesborough in 1789 and apprenticed in Captain Ebenezer Newell’s shop until 1790.

Investigating the writing in the highboy that was sold through Jeffrey Tillou’s antiques shop shows the possibility that Newell and Jarvis worked on this piece together. Although there is no supporting evidence to this theory other than the signed highboy, it is very possible that Ebenezer Newell learned his trade in or around the Connecticut River valley.

Kevin M. Sweeney wrote in “Regions and the Study of Material Culture: Explorations along the Connecticut River” in American Furniture (1995) that “shops were typically family organized and perpetuated by master-apprentice relationships that passed from a father to a son or a son-in-law or a nephew.”5 This would lead me to believe that Ebenezer Newell may have learned his trade from his father or father-in-law and later passed his shop on to his possible nephew, Aaron Newell.

We can develop a starting point investigating Captain Ebenezer’s highboy and where he may have learned his craft. Beginning at the top at the closed bonnet top, it has three whimsically turned finials with an urn-shaped bottom and pinwheel rosettes meeting in the middle (fig. 2). The top center drawer has a beautifully carved pinwheel design matching the rosettes above. Newell’s piece is primarily constructed of cherrywood, using white pine as a secondary wood making up the drawers. Craftsmen in the Connecticut River valley commonly used cherrywood and white pine. They incorporated the same whimsical and scalloped designs. The base of the Newell highboy is similar to examples found in the valley, having a similar scallop-design skirt (fig. 3). Opening the drawer reveals a graphite inscription that reads “February 1789, Lansborough, in the shop of Capt. Newal.”


Figure 2. Ellen McDermott photo. Courtesy Jeffrey Tillou Antiques.


Figure 3. Ellen McDermott photo. Courtesy Jeffrey Tillou Antiques.

Given Captain Newell’s high military rank and leadership within the community, he would have been well educated. Because less educated people in the early republic often spelled names and words phonetically, this would leave me to believe that the inscription was possibly that of Asahel Jarvis. By 1790, Jarvis’s apprenticeship had come to an end. On March 18, 1790, Jarvis married Lanesborough resident Abigail Griswould; in that same year, Asahel and Abigail Jarvis appear to have moved out of the Berkshires.

Unlike his contemporaries, Captain Ebenezer Newell appears never to have placed an advertisement for his business in area periodicals. Five years after the departure of Asahel Jarvis, on September 21, 1795, an advertisement was placed by Aaron Newell in Andrews’s Western Star newspaper, out of Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It stated, “Wanted immediately, a Journeyman Joiner, for the ensuing Fall, to whom generous wages will be given, by Aaron Newell. Enquire at Capt. Ebenezer Newell’s, near Lanesborough Meeting-house (fig. 4).”6 This appears to be the first time that both Captain Ebenezer Newell and Aaron Newell are associated with owning cabinetmaking shops.


Figure 4. Photo courtesy American Antiquarian Society.

With no advertisements or account books known, we do not definitively know what was constructed in Ebenezer Newell’s shop. We can only speculate on what kinds of tools he used to produce this grand highboy, and other furniture, by reviewing his probate inventory from 1808, partially listed here:7

  • 20 Chisills
  • 20 files
  • 8 Gouges
  • 5 Hand Saws
  • One Lathe
  • paint stone
  • Sundry Joiners Tools
  • 1 Dice table
  • 7 Chairs
  • 1 Candle Stand
  • 1 Case of drawers
  • 1 Chest
  • one desk
  • one looking glass
  • 3 Beds Bolsters pillows bedsteds Cords
  • 5 Churns
  • gin case with bottles
  • 6 Books
  • 1 Tobacco box
  • two mul Chests

Captain Ebenezer Newell’s probate inventory provides an insight into his cabinetmaking shop and life. We know that he imported his “Sundry Joiners Tools” chest from England. From his inventory, we know that he possibly enjoyed drinking gin, that he was literate, and that he enjoyed smoking tobacco. From looking at the 1790s list of what Virginia planter Peyton Skipwith requested for his own chest, we can see what Newell’s tool chest may have contained. Skipwith wrote a detailed list of what he wanted his agent in London to supply:8

  • 3 Sets of Bench-Plains
  • 1 compleat Brace of the best sort and Bits to it of every Size and kind
  • Beading Plains from 1 Inch to 1/4 of an Inch
  • 1 Inch Ovelo
  • 1 - 1/2 Inch Oge[e]
  • 2 Moving plains with Sets of Irons compleat
  • 1 Moving Filister - which is made to move by a Piece screwed on the fa[ce]
  • 1 Set of Sash-plains work in 3/8 of an Inch with moving fillister to work from the front side
  • 1 - 3/8 of an Inch quarter Round
  • 1 - 1/2 Inch D[itt]o
  • 1 Raising Plain
  • 1 - 1 1/2 Inch and 1 - 3/4 Inch Screw mouthed Rabbit plains
  • 1 pair of Grooving-plains to work Floors of 1 1/4 Inch thick
  • 1 - 1 1/4 Inch hollow to Nose Stairs Steps
  • 1 Set of Morticing Chizels for making Doors [&] Sashes to come with handles
  • 2 good Iron bladed Squares for the purpose of trying up stuff
  • 2 Drawing Knives with different mouldings in them for the purpose of  working riding Chair Carriages
  • 1 Small and 1 Large Spoke-shave
  • 1 Dozen of fine pairing Chizels from 2 Inch Down to 1/4 of an Inch
  • 1 Set of Gouges for making Sashes and Doors [scribing gouges?]
  • 1 - 3/4 Inch coving and bead [plane]
  • 1 - 3/4 Inch Astrikel [astragal plane]
  • 1 - 1 Inch Bollection [plane]
  • 1 Cornish Plain 3 1/2 Inches wide and Bed-Mould to suit it
  • 2 Dozen best Hand Saw Files
  • 1 Doz. D[itt]o for saw mill Saws
  • 2 hand hammers of different sizes and one Middling size Sledge for Blacksmith use
  • 2 best Steel plate Saws for a saw mill
  • 1 Small Copper-glue-pot
  • 3 best Carpenters Heads Axes...
  • 2 Neat joiners Hatchets

The area where Newell was thought to have lived and worked in the town of Lanesborough has since been developed. The site of the first and second meeting houses, which were located at the town center, is now a monument commemorating their existence.

Obtaining the rank of captain in the 18th century showed that one was a part of the upper class in early America. Although Captain Newell was a well-respected townsman, master craftsman, and Revolutionary War officer, there is no further information pertaining to his life. Beyond the 1795 advertisement, the only other time Captain Newell is mentioned in Berkshire County area newspapers is in his obituary published in 1808.

Aaron Newell

Aaron Newell’s life remains a mystery. It is believed that he was born in 1770, but his place of birth and parents are unknown. Documents do not show if Captain Newell had any additional apprentices. Did Aaron Newell apprentice with the captain? In 1795, at age 25, he placed an advertisement in a local newspaper, as previously mentioned. Whether he was an accomplished chair maker at this point is not known. By 1798, at 28, it looks as though he had established a workshop in Dalton, Massachusetts, making traditional Windsor chair furniture, and he advertised for help.

Between 1800 and 1803, Aaron was married in the town of Dalton to Ellen (her maiden name is not known, although some sources list her as Eleanor Crosmon or Crossman and state that they were married in 1796). Advertisements suggest that soon after their marriage, they relocated to the eastern side of Pittsfield, Massachusetts (figs. 5 and 6). Their first child, Allen Ross Newell, was born on April 7, 1804. (Some sources record the births of two earlier sons, in 1798 and 1799.) On June 7, 1806, John Franklin Newell arrived. Five years later, on October 29, 1811, Charles Williams Newell was born. To provide for his family, Newell continued to construct furniture that was in vogue for the time.


Figure 5. Photo courtesy American Antiquarian Society.


Figure 6. Photo courtesy American Antiquarian Society.

According to Sumpter T. Priddy III, a dealer and material culture historian from Alexandria, Virginia, “Consumers, artisans, and shopkeepers alike used the term Fancy to define a wide range of engaging objects. Formal painted furniture was advertised as Fancy; Fancy painting referred to the art of imitative graining applied to furniture and architectural interiors to suggest stunning woods and marbles.”9 Aaron Newell followed the fashions of the time constructing fancy chairs as well. Reading his advertisements in the local newspapers of the time suggests that he was in fact producing in great quantity. Sometime between 1806 and 1825, Newell partnered with another craftsman, William Fairfield. Could Fairfield have been the craftsman who answered a July 12, 1806, advertisement for a wanted journeyman? The two men formed a business partnership, “A. Newell & Co.,” which may have been in business for many years.

An advertisement (fig. 7) placed on March 20, 1826, states, “The Copartnership heretofore existing between the subscribers, under the firm of A. Newell & Co. is this day dissolved, by mutual agreement. All persons indebted to said firm, are requested to make payment to A. Newell.”10 For nearly one year, Aaron Newell worked on his own, continuing to make his fancy chairs. He bought out the remaining stock from Fairfield and ran his company under the name “A. Newell” (fig. 8).11At 57 years old, Newell decided to reinvent his chair making shop. He partnered with Burgess Wands, formerly of Albany, New York, and Ira Sheldon of North Adams, Massachusetts. A January 24, 1827, ad said, “They have employed from the City of New York some of the first rate workmen & they have also received some of the most ancient and modern patterns of the first fashions in all the principal cities and towns… they hope, by assiduity and attention to their business, to merit a share of the public patronage.”12


Figure 7. Photo courtesy American Antiquarian Society.


Figure 8. Photo courtesy American Antiquarian Society.

Newell worked in a period when furniture and fashion were rapidly changing, as were the politics of the newly established country. From when he began working as an apprentice between the Queen Anne transition into the Chippendale years he may have learned how to turn Windsor chairs. This led Newell to the Federal period, when he learned how to construct fancy chairs. Through all of these movements in fashion he successfully had a 40-year career in the chair making industry in western Massachusetts. The history of this company is not well known. To date, none of his chairs have been discovered. From advertisement sketches, the reader can gather what Newell’s chairs may have looked like.

Conclusion

Uncovering the history of Captain Ebenezer Newell and the work that both he and his apprentice accomplished gives an interesting perspective into where Ebenezer Newell may have learned his trade. John T. Kirk stated in a 1965 article for Antiques, “…it is apparent that the American craftsmen did not attempt to depart entirely from their traditions…. While they did not create something wholly new, they drew upon their heritage to create something distinctive, and to that extent original.”13 With his cabinetmaking skills, Ebenezer Newell may have also influenced his relatives, including Aaron Newell, to move with him to Berkshire County. Aaron Newell’s work remains a mystery; nevertheless, uncovering the work of both of these men indicates that there may be a lineage of craftsmen. The general history of cabinetmaking, as well as the craftsmen of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, remains to be studied further.

Acknowledgements: Thank you to Jeffrey Tillou Antiques, Litchfield, Connecticut, for letting me study this beautiful high chest and for providing images for this article.

Notes

  1. Northern Berkshire District (Massachusetts) Registry of Deeds, Records A519 and A520, October 28, 1773.
  2. Town of Lanesborough, Massachusetts, Minutes of Committee of Safety: Witness’ Account of the Murder of Lieutenant Abel Prindle of Lanesborough, August 1777.
  3. “Asahel Jarvis, Minor: New Brittan [Britain], Conn.,” Docket 1364, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Probate Court, County of Berkshire, June 5, 1787.
  4. “Sergeant, Jr., John,” Dartmouth College, The Occom Circle, https://collections.dartmouth.edu/occom/html/ctx/personography/pers0470.ocp.html (accessed April 22, 2016).
  5. Kevin M. Sweeney, “Regions and the Study of Material Culture: Explorations along the Connecticut River,” in American Furniture 1995, eds. Luke Beckerdite and William N. Hosley (Milwaukee, Wisc.: The Chipstone Foundation, 1995), 147.
  6. Aaron Newell, “Wanted,” Stockbridge (Mass.) Andrews’s Western Star, September 21, 1795, 4.
  7. W. Hubbell, Asahel Smith, and Gonssy [sic], Inventory of the Late Capt. Eben Newell Estate, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Probate Court, Berkshire County, 1808.
  8. Jan K. Gilliam, “‘He wants a Sett of Tools’: The Acquisition and Ownership of Tools in Virginia,” in Eighteenth-Century Woodworking Tools: Papers Presented at a Tool Symposium, May 19-22, 1994, ed. James M. Gaynor (Williamsburg, Va.: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1997), 63.
  9. Sumpter Priddy, “American Fancy: Exuberance in the Arts, 1790-1840,” Catalogue of Antiques & Fine Art, Spring 2004, 137.
  10. Aaron Newell and William Fairfield, “Dissolution,” Pittsfield (Mass.) Sun, March 20, 1826, 4.
  11. Aaron Newell, “A. Newell,” Pittsfield (Mass.) Sun, April 5, 1826, 4.
  12. Burgess Wands and Aaron Newell, “Pittsfield Fancy Windsor Chair Establishment,” Pittsfield (Mass.) Sun, January 25, 1827, 3.
  13. John T. Kirk, “Sources of some American regional furniture,” Antiques, December 1965, 798.

Bibliography

Books and Journals:

  • Cooke, Rollin Hillyer. Lanesboro Congregational Church. Berkshire County, Mass.: Rollin Hillyer Cooke, 1899.
  • Dwight, Benjamin W. “Descendants of Elder Ebenezer Strong, Son of Elder John Strong, Both of Northampton.” In The History of the Descendants of Elder John Strong, of Northampton, Mass., Vol. 2, 1134. Albany, N.Y.: J. Munsell, 1871.
  • Evans, Nancy Goyne. American Windsor Chairs. New York, N.Y.: Hudson Hills Press, 1996.
  • Gilliam, Jan K. “‘He wants a Sett of Tools’: The Acquisition and Ownership of Tools in Virginia.” In Eighteenth-Century Woodworking Tools: Papers Presented at a Tool Symposium, May 19-22, 1994, edited by James M.Gaynor. Williamsburg, Va.: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1997.
  • Kugelman, Thomas P., and Alice K. Kugelman, with Robert Lionetti. Connecticut Valley Furniture: Eliphalet Chapin and His Contemporaries, 1750-1800. Hartford, Conn.: Connecticut Historical Society Museum, 2005.
  • Lane, Joshua W., and Donald P. White, III. “Fashioning Furniture and Framing Community: Woodworkers and the Rise of a Connecticut River Valley Town.” In American Furniture 2005, edited by Luke Beckerdite, 146-238. Milwaukee, Wisc.: The Chipstone Foundation, 2005.
  • Sweeney, Kevin M. “Regions and the Study of Material Culture: Explorations along the Connecticut River.” In American Furniture 1995, edited byLuke Beckerdite and William N. Hosley, 145-66. Milwaukee, Wisc.: The Chipstone Foundation, 1995.
  • Zea, Philip. “Furniture.” In The Great River: Art & Society of the Connecticut Valley, 1635-1820, edited by Gerald W.R. Ward and William N. Hosley, Jr., 185-271. Hartford, Conn,: Wadsworth Atheneum, 1985.

Periodicals:

  • Kirk, John T. “Sources of some American regional furniture.” Antiques, December 1965: 790-98.
  • Priddy, Sumpter. “American Fancy: Exuberance in the Arts, 1790-1840.” Catalogue of Antiques & Fine Art, Spring 2004: 134-39.

Other Sources:

  • “Asahel Jarvis, Minor: New Brittan [Britain], Conn.” Docket 1364, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Probate Court, County of Berkshire, June 5, 1787.
  • “Died.” Pittsfield (Mass.) Sun, August 11, 1836.
  • Hubbell, W., Asahel Smith, and Gonssy (sic). Inventory of the Late Capt. Eben Newell Estate. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Probate Court, Berkshire County, 1808.
  • Newell, Aaron. “Wanted.” Stockbridge (Mass.) Andrews’s Western Star, September 21, 1795.
  • Newell, Aaron. “Wanted.” Berkshire Gazette, December 19, 1798.
  • Newell, Aaron. “Aaron Newell.” Pittsfield (Mass.) Sun, April 11, 1803.
  • Newell, Aaron. “Wanted Immediately.” Pittsfield (Mass.) Sun, May 13, 1805.
  • Newell, Aaron. “Aaron Newell Informs.” Pittsfield (Mass.) Sun, January 23, 1808.
  • Newell, Aaron, and William Fairfield. “Dissolution.” Pittsfield (Mass.) Sun, March 20, 1826.
  • Newell, Aaron. “A. Newell.” Pittsfield (Mass.) Sun, April 5, 1826.
  • Northern Berkshire District (Massachusetts) Registry of Deeds. Records A519 and A520, October 28, 1773.
  • Northern Berkshire District (Massachusetts) Registry of Deeds. Record B176, August 16, 1774.
  • “Sergeant, Jr., John.” Dartmouth College, The Occom Circle, https://collections.dartmouth.edu/occom/html/ctx/personography/pers0470.ocp.html (accessed April 22, 2016).
  • Sheldon, Ira. Probate Inventory, Adams, Massachusetts,May 4, 1830. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Probate Court, Berkshire County, 1808.
  • Town of Lanesborough, Massachusetts. Minutes of Committee of Safety: Witness’ Account of the Murder of Lieutenant Abel Prindle of Lanesborough, August 1777.
  • Wands, Burgess, and Aaron Newell. “Pittsfield Fancy Windsor Chair Establishment.” Pittsfield (Mass.) Sun, January 25, 1827.

Originally published in the June 2016 issue of Maine Antique Digest. © 2016 Maine Antique Digest

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