A Rare Carpenter’s Account Book Opens A Window On Colonial Life In Newtown

By Jan Howard

An account book of the pre-Revolutionary War era has provided a rare look at the life and methods of a colonial carpenter.

According to Town Historian Dan Cruson, until recently only two or three known account books were in existence, and they were not from this area.

Though it is not known whether any of the furniture created by Ezra Bryan of Newtown exists in the area, his account book, recently brought to Tucker Frye’s antique shop by Mary Silks, a direct descendent of Ezra and his father, Alexander, offers insight into the work of a local colonial craftsman.

Prior to the 1980s, only a few people knew there had been a furniture industry in Newtown. However, in 1982, after several years of research, Edward Cooke put together an exhibit for the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury that included furniture and other items by craftsmen from Newtown and Woodbury. A catalog of the exhibition included a list of the men known as turners and/or joiners, also known as makers of furniture.

According to an article on Ezra Bryan by Mr Cruson that appeared in the Newtown Historical Society’s newsletter, The Rooster’s Crow, a joiner literally joined pieces of wood to produce cabinets, drawers, chests and some types of chairs. A turner was a lathe worker who would turn pieces of wood into rounded elements used primarily in making legs and connecting rails for chairs. Alexander and Ezra Bryan appear to have mastered both skills.

In 1996, Dr Cooke’s book, Making Furniture in Preindustrial America: The Social Economy of Newtown and Woodbury Connecticut, gave a more complete list of 60 furniture craftsmen who lived in Newtown and were active in the 18th and 19th centuries. One of these was Alexander Bryan (1709–1760). At the end of his biography, it stated, “Bryan left his tools and shop to his son Ezra, who may have continued the family craft.” However, there was no documentation that Ezra Bryan was a furniture maker.

The old, disbound, leather account book brought to Mr Frye’s shop by Mr Bryan’s descendant changed that by documenting Ezra Bryan’s work from 1760 through the 1790s.

While Mr Frye knew at once that the account book was valuable, it was not until he and Mr Cruson inspected it together that they realized how rare and valuable it was. It offers a picture of the worklife of a pre-Revolutionary War Newtown craftsman.

Mr Bryan had practiced his craft in Newtown from 1760 to 1774, when he moved to Nine Partners, N.Y. (now Pine Plains). The account book, however, continues to the 1790s.

Though Mr Bryan’s grandfather, Richard Bryan of Milford, was on the list of original proprietors of Newtown, he never came to Newtown. His son, Alexander, inherited the proprietary interest and purchased a 100-acre plot of land, known as Bryan’s Hundred Acres, which was located along what would later be the northern boundary between Newtown and Brookfield in the vicinity of Obtuse Road.

The exact location of the family homestead is not known, but deed references place it along the west side of Obtuse, between Pond Brook and the Newbury Parish line (later Brookfield).

In addition to furniture making, Alexander Bryan also did some farming, as did all craftsmen of the period. In addition to the homestead and farm buildings, he also built the furniture shop that was inherited by Ezra.

Dr Cooke found references to Alexander Bryan as a prominent joiner in tax lists and in the account book of Thomas Tousey of Newtown, who in 1750 bought two tables, a stand, and a chest of drawers for his daughter. His identity as a furniture maker is confirmed by the probate inventory, which lists “joyners tools,” new furniture, and raw materials.

The inclusion of shingles and glass in the inventory indicates he also did finish work on houses, especially window casements and frames.

The account book was begun in 1759 by Alexander Bryan, whose signature appears on the opening end paper. Just below it is that of Ezra Bryan. Alexander died in 1760, and the account book is continued by Ezra until 1797.

By 1774 Mr Bryan had moved to Nine Partners, N.Y. By then, entries in the book changed in that they rarely mentioned furniture making, though he did have an active furniture repair business. He had turned to wagon and sleigh making on a small scale, sawing trees into lumber at a mill he owned with several partners, and he maintained a mill that used water power to separate wheat from chaff. He also was involved in the construction of the Quaker Meeting House.

While Mr Bryan made every kind of furniture known to the colonial joiner, his standard item was the chair. The account book indicates he produced approximately 400 chairs. The most popular was a rush seated York chair with a distinctive double rounded rail on the top of the back. The Great York chair had arms, and the Best York chair had more elaborate detailing. While someone else usually added rush bottoms, entries indicate Ezra was also capable of bottoming chairs.

He made 141 of a so-called plain chair consisting of simple turned legs and a series of three or four slats across the back. He also produced 73 tables, which were divided into square or rectangular tables often with a leaf for expansion, and round tables of several sizes, some with leaves. He made three oval tables, one with an expansion leaf.

Mr Bryan also made chests for the storage of clothes and other fabric items. He made 20 of these, six of which were “cullard” or painted.

Also among his works was the case of drawers, similar to today’s bureaus with three, four, or five drawers. He made 33 of these, 16 of which were the less expensive “Case of Two Drawers.” A case of drawers he produced in 1767, referred to as a “Crown Case of Drawers,” had an elaborate broken pediment over the top, was elaborately decorated, and usually ranked as any furniture maker’s masterpiece. It was the most expensive piece of furniture that Mr Bryan ever made.

During his Newtown career, he also made four desks, five cradles, and ten bedsteads, one of which was a trundle bed. Less practical were four bookcases and four clock cases he built. He also made items for the kitchen, including a saltbox, candle box, several pan and knife handles, a rolling pin, and seven cheese presses.

He also produced 41 coffins while in Newtown, 13 of which were for children. Coffins priced at seven shillings or more were usually for high status members of the community.

Hatchel boards, used to separate flax fibers from straw for producing linen, reels for winding yarn and spools, and whirls to replace worn loom parts were also made by Mr Bryan. He also repaired and replaced spinning wheel parts.

The large quantity of cloth-producing items indicates a high production of textiles in Newtown. He also received numerous payments in cloth and cloth products.

Ezra Bryan also worked as a housewright, making built-in cupboards, painting, laying floors, making and setting molding, building casements and window frames, and setting them in place. The bulk of his work seems to be the making of window frames, sashes, and casements.

The pay for working at a house was three shillings a day. Apprentices earned less.

The account book also reveals information about the apprentice system in colonial Newtown. In several entries, Josiah, Mr Bryan’s apprentice, is credited with performing other duties, such as planting corn or harvesting.

Since there was no standardized spelling in the 18th Century, some of the spelling in the account book is phonetic, similar to how people talked. Account books often contain evidence of 18th Century regional speech patterns, according to Mr Cruson.

The book offers information on the craftsman’s work patterns and seasonal patterns of his work. Mr Bryan’s productivity hovers between 40 and 60 pieces a year until 1769 when it drops to 15, almost all of which were chairs. At that time, he sold his father’s homestead and work shop to his father-inlaw, Samuel Peck, and moves a short distance north into what is now Brookfield where he appears to have built a house and new workshop.

In 1770 his production reaches a record 93 pieces, 32 of which are chairs. A drop off in a couple of years coincides with account book entries of work on a cider mill and sawmill, in which he was a part owner, and for wooden mill parts to keep the mills functioning.

In 1775 and 1776, his production drops again, coinciding with his move to Nine Partners.

According to Mr Cruson, an analysis of the dated entries indicates most of Mr Bryan’s furniture making took place from December through February. The least productive months were May, July, and August, when he was performing housewright activities. He did not work on houses from November through March, with one exception in 1761 when he and his associate and apprentice worked from the end of February until early April to finish Nathaniel Peck’s house.

Farming activities were scattered among the entries as well as work on the cider mill. According to Mr Cruson, these entries produce a picture of Mr Bryan as a typical craftsman, producing furniture during the winter slack time and mixing house carpentry with farming in the spring, summer, and fall. Though suspected from other source materials, Mr Cruson said the account book documents this work pattern in considerable detail.

As to the future of the account book, Mr Cruson said, “The Historical Society will eventually make it available to the public, possibly through the library as we have our other documents.” He noted that analysis of this rare document will continue, and future discoveries will be made from it.