author
Chauncey Jerome
1793–1868
An inventive Connecticut clockmaker who helped make affordable timepieces part of everyday American life, he also left behind a vivid firsthand account of the young clock industry he helped build.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in Canaan, Connecticut, in 1793, he learned woodworking and case making before entering the clock trade. He worked with leading early makers including Eli Terry, then built his own business and became one of the best-known figures in 19th-century American clockmaking.
He is especially remembered for helping popularize inexpensive brass clocks, which brought reliable household timekeeping within reach of far more people than before. His factories grew rapidly, and his clocks were sold widely in the United States and abroad.
His success did not last forever: business failures later wiped out much of his fortune, and he died in New Haven in 1868. Still, his influence endured, and his 1860 memoir, History of the American Clock Business for the Past Sixty Years, remains an important firsthand source on the rise of American clock manufacturing.