Tall Case Clock

Reproduction of Jefferson's Tall Case Clock

Thomas Jefferson purchased an eight-day case clock in 1803, and it was probably used in the Monticello Kitchen. Isaac Briggs, a surveyor arranged for the purchase from the prominent Philadelphia clockmaker Benjamin Ferris. The clock case has freestanding columns supporting its flat-topped hood, but is otherwise unadorned. The dial bears the name of Thomas Dring, an obscure West Chester, Pennsylvania clockmaker who returned to his native England just before 1800.^[1]

Whether Dring or Ferris made the clock movement is unclear. Although Dring's signature is on the dial, Ferris clearly completed the clock in 1803 to Jefferson's order:

"Pursuant to the directions of Isaac Brigg I have completed a Clock for thee. he informed me that it was not in any degree for ornamental purposes, and particularly requested that it might be made plain; the workmanship is good, and the regulation nearly perfected. I had the rod of the pendulum made of well seasoned wood, it being less affected by the changes of the weather than either Brass or Steel."^[2]

Jefferson paid Ferris seventy dollars for the clock, its case, and shipping costs.^[3] It was certainly intended for use in a room outside of the main house at Monticello, as Jefferson thought the Great Clock in the Entrance Hall "renders all chamber clocks unnecessary."^[4] The clock suffered considerable smoke damage in Jefferson's time suggests the kitchen as a likely site for its placement. In Isaac Granger Jefferson's recollections of his enslavement at Monticello, he noted the only time Jefferson went into the kitchen was to wind the clock.^[5] A kitchen clock is also listed in Jefferson's memorandum book as one of four clocks repaired in 1817.^[6]

General John Hartwell Cocke, a friend of Jefferson's who was instrumental in founding the University of Virginia, purchased the clock at the sale of Jefferson's estate in 1827 for fifty-five dollars.^[7] His construction superintendent, Robert Jones, picked it up from Monticello, and wrote to Cocke of its poor condition:

I have gotten the clock from Monticello; and indeed it was the most smoke dried thing of the kind I ever saw. Ned gave the case a rubing [sic] over with hot water and soap which helped it but a little–I find the cap of the case to be mahogany the other parts walnut. ... The face and inside works of the clock were almost as badly smoked as the case and it is a task to get them in order, I have however gotten Cullen at work on the clock who says it is a most excellent piece of work and that there is no doubt of its being a regular good time piece when put in good order.^[8]

The clock on display in Monticello's 1809 kitchen was made in 2004 and is an exact reproduction of the original which is located at Cocke's Bremo Plantation in Fluvanna County, Virginia.

-Based on The Worlds of Thomas Jefferson at Monticello by Susan R. Stein, updated and amended by David Thorson, 6/24