MADISON COUNTY — In celebration of the 2021 holiday season, the Madison County Historical Society (MCHS) will present “A Madison County Holiday Travel Through Time,” an unprecedented exhibit of over 20 rare early-American shelf clocks made in Madison County between 1830-1842.
The collection will be on display at MCHS’s headquarters and museum, Cottage Lawn, at 435 Main St., Oneida, an 1849 Gothic Revival Villa designed by prominent architect Alexander Jackson Davis.
G. Russell Oechsle, who curated the exhibit, will offer guided tours on Nov. 21 and 28 at 1 p.m. and Dec. 12 and 19 at 1 p.m. Reservations are required. Prices are $10 for MCHS members and $15 for nonmembers. Children 12 and under are free.
Tours will also be available by appointment from Nov. 1 through Dec. 17, Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The tours are free for MCHS members and $5 for nonmembers. Children 12 and under are free.
A resident of Homer, Oechsle is a long-time researcher and collector of upstate New York clocks. His first articles on Madison County clocks appeared in the early 1980s in Madison County Heritage. He is co-author of the 2003 National Association of Watch & Clock Collectors (NAWCC) publication “An Empire in Time – Clocks and Clock Makers of Upstate New York,” and he has written articles for and made numerous presentations to local and national interest groups and historical societies. He is a Star Fellow of the NAWCC and a past board member of the MCHS and the American Watch & Clock Museum in Bristol, Connecticut.
Oechsle’s private shelf clock collection is on loan to the MCHS for its holiday exhibit.
“Cottage Lawn is such a beautiful venue that I had often thought about having a clock display on site,” Oechsle said. “In the aftermath — we hope — of COVID, and with the desire and need to get folks back into cultural institutions . . . I just thought [a] holiday tour through Madison County time would make a nice offering, and perhaps get folks out of their houses and back involved with the Madison County Historical Society.”
According to Oechsle, shelf clocks, unlike wall clocks, tower clocks, or tall case (grandfather) clocks, are small enough to be placed on a mantle or table.
The researcher also noted that all of the aforementioned clock types, apart from wall clocks, were made in Madison County during the 1800s.
Between 1830-1842, four different shelf clock makers were active in Madison County.
The earliest maker was the firm of L. & J. Frisbie & Co. in Chittenango.
“Brothers Levi and James Frisbie were from Connecticut and [were] actively involved in the clock industry there,” said Oechsle. “James moved to Camden, NY in the late 1820s, and in 1831 he and Levi had a quantity of shelf clocks made by the Bristol, CT firm of Jeromes & Darrow and shipped to Chittenango, where they had labels with their names printed and put inside the clocks. James sold the clocks in the area over the next year or so.”
According to Oechsle, clock makers Horace and William Dexter arrived in Stockbridge, NY in the early 1830s and each made and marketed their own shelf clocks, which often varied “in wonderful ways” from the standard clocks produced in Connecticut.
Oechsle also stated that for both Horace and William, clock making was a winter activity, as the craft was never lucrative enough to fully support their families.
William, whose main occupations were carpenter, undertaker, brewer and farmer, made clocks until about 1839.
Horace also farmed and made clocks until going bankrupt in 1842.
The fourth clock maker active during the period was the firm of (Jonathan) Carter & (Daniel) Weller, which was active in Stockbridge from 1839-1841.
“In that short time, [the firm] made a remarkable variety of shelf clocks,” said Oechsle. “Both were originally from Connecticut, and at least one of the partners, Daniel Weller, was active in the clock industry there before relocating to Central New York.”
Oechsle noted that all four Madison County makers sold clocks with Connecticut-made wood movements.
A movement is the internal mechanism of a timepiece, as opposed to the case, which encloses and protects the movement, and the face, which displays the time.
“The use of wood for the mechanisms, instead of brass, made the clocks affordable to the majority of families,” Oechsle explained.
The display at Cottage Lawn will include clocks by L. & J. Frisbie & Co., Horace Dexter, William Dexter, and Carter & Weller.
For more information on the exhibit or to make an appointment to visit, contact the MCHS at 315-363-4136, or [email protected].
The MCHS is a nonprofit organization that operates both a museum and the Mary King Research Library in Oneida. The society continues to preserve, collect, promote, and exhibit the history of Madison County and its fifteen towns and one city through the development of programs that enhance the county’s heritage. To learn more, visit mchs1900.org.
