Browse Items (477 total)

  • Collection: Members

Smith, Robert.jpg
Description: Characterized as "among the most important and skilled archiect-builders in colonial America" by his biographer Charles Peterson, the chief Philadelphia claimant for the title of America's first architect is the master builder Robert Smith who was…
Member number: 29
Birth date: 1/14/1722

Member number: 380
Birth date: 2/24/1816
Date elected: 7/26/1854

Description: The master builder George Snowden was proposed for membership in The Carpenters' Company on 19 January 19 1789 by Joseph Ogilby and elected on 20 July 1789, although he did not sign the articles of The Company until 1791, having "paid...admission in…
Member number: 160*
Date elected: 1/1/1791

Description: John Sproul (Sprowl) was a master builder proposed for membership in The Carpenters' Company in 1788, although he was not elected until 1794. Company records suggest he died that same year, although Philadelphia directories list him through 1797.…
Member number: 185*
Date elected: 1/1/1794

Description: The Southwark district master builder Alexander Steel was elected to The Carpenter's Company in 1791 and is recorded as having served on the Governing Committee in 1801. He was a subscriber to Owen Biddle, The Young Carpenter's Assistant…
Member number: 162*
Date elected: 1/1/1791

Member number: 361
Date elected: 1/1/1850

Member number: 456
Date elected: 6/7/1882

Member number: 493*
Birth date: 2/5/1865
Date elected: 8/3/1893

Description: George Sterr Sr. was a house carpenter elected to the Carpenters' Company of Philadelphia in 1836. Sterr was born in 1784 to German-American parents. In 1824, he lived at 154 N. 8th street and, in addition to being a carpenter, was a shopkeeper.…
Member number: 330
Date elected: 1/1/1836

Member number: 242*
Birth date: 2/20/1779
Date elected: 1/1/1809

Description: The master builder William Stevenson, Sr., was elected to the Friendship Carpenters' Company on the eve of the Revolution. He joined The Carpenters' Company when the two organizations of master carpenters united in 1786. In 1789 he inventoried the…
Member number: 130*
Date elected: 1/1/1786

Description: The Dock Ward master builder James Stewart was elected to The Carpenters' Company in 1794. He was a subscriber to Owen Biddle, The Young Carpenters' Assistant (Philadelphia, 1805), one of the earliest American architecture books. Biography…
Member number: 183*
Date elected: 1/1/1794

Description: James Stewart was a builder elected to the Carpenters' Company of Philadelphia in 1833. Stewart had served an apprenticeship with John Warner, an earlier master builder and member of the Carpenters' Company. Stewart resided at 17 Plum street. In…
Member number: 311*
Birth date: 1/1/1787
Date elected: 1/1/1833

Description: Levi B. Stokes was a master builder of Philadelphia elected to the Carpenters' Company of the same city in 1851. He resided at 497 Vine Street in 1850. Written by Tom Stokes.Biography from the Philadelphia Architects and Buildings site, a project of…
Member number: 362
Date elected: 1/1/1851

Member number: 247*
Date elected: 1/1/1810

Description: Finnix Stretcher was a master builder elected to the Carpenters’ Company in 1802. He served as a warden of the Company from 1823-1826. The City Directories from 1805 up to 1845, the year before his death, list him at 129 S. 6th street.By 1840, he had…
Member number: 218*
Date elected: 1/1/1802

Member number: 418
Date elected: 5/30/1871

Description: Born in Philadelphia, the master builder George Summers was elected to The Carpenters' Company in 1795. He married Lydia Wright (b. 26 March 1777) in 1794.Biography from Philadelphia Architects and Builders, a project of the Athenaeum of…
Member number: 188*
Birth date: 11/19/1768
Date elected: 1/1/1795

Member number: 425
Date elected: 11/5/1873

Member number: 488*
Date elected: 11/2/1892

Description: John D. Taylor was a Philadelphia master builder elected to the Carpenters' Company in 1835. He lived at 434 N. 4th street. In addition to working on and building domestic dwellings, Taylor also built factory buildings. He died in 1871.Biography from…
Member number: 327
Date elected: 1/1/1835

Description: Elisha Thomas was a master builder elected to The Carpenters' Company in 1796; that same year he appears in the Philadelphia city directory as a house carpenter living at 58 Vine Street. Biography from Philadelphia Architects and Buildings, a project…
Member number: 197*
Date elected: 1/1/1796

Description: Jacob Thomas was a master builder of Philadelphia elected to the Carpenters' Company in 1834. He served as a Company Warden from 1842 to 1844 and served two terms on the Managing Committee, first from 1845 to 1847 and again from 1849 to 1851.…
Member number: 323
Date elected: 1/1/1834

Description: The master builder Moses Thomas was married in Burlington, New Jersey, in 1742. The date of his arrival in Philadelphia is unknown, as is the date of his election to The Carpenters' Company; he appears to have signed the articles of The Company…
Member number: 90*
Date elected: 1/1/1772

Description: John Thomson (Thompson) was a master builder elected to the Carpenters’ Company in 1808. Little is known about his life. In the 1794 and 1795 City Directories, a John Thompson was listed at German street between Fourth and Fifth streets. In 1810,…
Member number: 235*
Date elected: 1/1/1808

Description: John Thornhill, "one of the most celebrated mechanicks in this or any other state...particulary distinguished for his abilities as an Architect," was the son of Joseph and Elizabeth Thornhill. In 1741 he married Jane Cook at Christ Church who the…
Member number: 23*
Birth date: 10/23/1716

john_joseph_thornhill.PNG
Description: Joseph Thornhill was the son of John and Elizabeth Thornhill, elder brother of master builder John Thornhill and uncle of master builder Joseph Thornhill, Jr.. As early as 1756 he was a resident of Philadelphia's Mulberry Ward and continued to live…
Member number: 22*
Birth date: 3/17/1714

Description: The master builder Joseph Thornhill was the son of John and Jane (Cook) Thornhill. During the Revolution he served as a Sergeant in the 1st Company of Artillery of Philadelphia under master-builder Captain Benjamin Loxley. On December 18, 1783, he…
Member number: 108*
Date elected: 1/1/1783

Description: The master builder Benjamin Thornton declined membership in The Carpenters' Company in 1782 but was elected in 1792. He appears in the Philadelphia city directories as a house carpenter at 20 Church Alley. According to Carpenters' Company records…
Member number: 170*
Date elected: 1/1/1792

Description: The master builder Samuel Tolbert (not Talbert) became a member of the Friendship Carpenters' Company and then signed the articles of The Carpenters' Company when those two organizations of master craftsmen united in 1786. During the Revolution,…
Member number: 143*
Date elected: 1/1/1786

Tomlinson_Wooley_StateHouse.jpg
Description: Ebenezer Tomlinson, son of Joseph Tomlinson (d. 1719), Gloucester Township, New Jersey, was a master house carpenter and an early member of The Carpenters' Company. He was in Philadelphia by 1728 when, together with Richard Armitt, he witnessed the…
Member number: 14*
Birth date: 1/11700

Description: Thomas K. Tresse was a house carpenter of Philadelphia elected to the Carpenters' Company in 1835. He belonged to an early Philadelphia Family and was likely descended or related to an earlier Philadelphia carpenter of the second half of the 1700s…
Member number: 324
Date elected: 1/1/1835

Member number: 226*
Date elected: 1/1/1803

Ashton_Trip.PNG
Description: The master builder John Trip was elected to The Carpenters' Company on April 19, 1770, but rarely attended meetings. In 1800 it was reported that he was living in Wilmington, Delaware. Some Company records indicate that he was expelled from…
Member number: 81*
Date elected: 1/1/1770

Description: Edward Turner was a master builder elected to the Carpenters'Company in 1831. He served as a warden of the Company and two terms on the Managing Committee. In the 1830 City Directory Turner was listed at Paschall's Alley. He died in 1852.Biography…
Member number: 317*
Date elected: 1/1/1831

Usher, Jacob.jpg
Description: Born: c. 1679, Died: 1738 The trail of early master builder Jacob Usher is faint at best. He is traditionally listed by The Carpenters' Company as one of its earliest members, although no Company records prior to the 1760s survive to confirm the date…
Member number: 4*
Birth date: 1/1/1678

Description: William Wagner was elected to the Carpenters’ Company in 1809. Wagner served on the Managing Committee and the Book Prices Committee for multiple terms. He also served as Treasurer, Vice-President, and finally President. Wagner moved multiple times…
Member number: 237*
Date elected: 1/1/1809

Samuel_Wallis_1781.PNG
Description: The master builder Samuel Wallis signed the Articles of The Carpenters' Company on 16 July 1770. Never regular in his attendance at Company meetings, he may have been out of Pennsylvania much of the time. (There was a Samuel Wallis in Harford County,…
Member number: 84*
Date elected: 1/1/1770

Member number: 448
Date elected: 7/16/1878

Description: Richard Ware was a master builder elected to the Carpenters' Company in 1810. He also opened a shop as an ironmonger. He resided at 67 Locust street. Unfortunately for Ware, his business ventures took a turn for the worse and he ended up in debtors'…
Member number: 245*
Date elected: 1/1/1810

Description: Master builder Edward Warner may have been apprenticed as a house carpenter to James Porteus whose heir he was in 1736/37. Warner was admitted as a freeman of Philadelphia by the Common Council in 1717, and by the 1720s he was selling by lottery a…
Member number: 12*
Birth date: 1/1/1690

Description: John Warner became a member of the Carpenters’ Company in 1809. He was listed as a carpenter living at 177 Pine in the 1810 City Directory. In 1814, he was listed at 28 Christian street. By 1820, he was listed at Carpenter below 3rd street,…
Member number: 241*
Date elected: 1/1/1809

Member number: 423
Date elected: 5/5/1873

Member number: 465*
Date elected: 1/1/1885

Description: The master builder John Wayne is traditionally carried on the rolls of The Carpenters' Company as a member elected prior to the earliest surviving Company records of the 1760s. Wayne died in 1765, and letters of administration were issued to Thomas…
Member number: 39*

Description: The master builder Samuel Wayne--13 Key's Alley--was elected to The Carpenters' Company in 1793. Samuel married Elizabeth Curtain at Christ Church in 1783.biography from thePhiladelphia Architects and Builders, a project of theAthenaeum of…
Member number: 171*
Date elected: 1/1/1793

Description: The house carpenter and would-be architect Samuel Webb appeared in the Philadelphia city directories in 1817, the same year he was elected to The Carpenters' Company. He only appeared in the directories through 1819, although The Company continued…
Member number: 273*
Date elected: 1/1/1817

Description: William Weer was a master builder elected to the Carpenters' Company of Philadelphia in 1833. According to the 1830 Philadelphia City Directory, he lived at 179 Cherry street. Weer was also spelled Weir. William Weer died in 1857.Biography from the…
Member number: 312a*
Date elected: 1/1/1833

Description: James William Weir was elected to The Carpenters' Company in 1811. He served the Company as Warden and also on the Managing Committee and Book Prices Committee. Around 1837 he taught architectural drawing at the Carpenters' Company school.Written by…
Member number: 249*
Date elected: 1/1/1811

Description: The master builder, lumber merchant, and Philadelphia Inspector of Lumber, Joseph Wetherill, was the son of Christopher and Mary (Stockton) Wetherill. In 1764 he married Anna Canby of Solebury Township, Bucks County, PA, in the Philadelphia Monthly…
Member number: 124*
Birth date: 7/10/1740
Date elected: 1/1/1786
Output Formats

atom, csv, dc-rdf, dcmes-xml, json, omeka-xml, rss2