Browse Items (477 total)
- Collection: Members
Portues, James
Description:
James was a master buider who came to Philadelphia in the service of William Wade, yeoman of the parish of Hankton, Sussex, who died on board onWelcomebound for Pennsylvania in 1682. Under the terms of Wade's will, Porteus (the name is variously…
Member number:
2*
Birth date:
1/1/1670
Powell, Samuel
Description:
Samuel Powell came to Philadelphia as a child in 1685 and was probably apprenticed to his uncle John Parsons, carpenter from Somersetshire. Powell's marriage in 1700/1 to the prosperous orphan Abigail Wilcox was witnessed by William Penn, Edward…
Member number:
3*
Birth date:
1/11673
Usher, Jacob
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
Woolley, Jr., Edmund
Description:
The master builder Edmund Woolley is chiefly remembered as the master builder-architect of the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall). Named for his father, Woolley was probably born in England and is known to have been in Philadelphia by 1705.…
Member number:
5*
Birth date:
1/1/1690
Harrison, Joseph
Description:
The master builder Joseph Harrison was the son of John I and Mary Harrison and the brother of John II and Daniel Harrison. According to Pastor Eric Bjork, Joseph and John II helped their father complete Holy Trinity Church, Wilmington, DE in 1698,…
Member number:
6*
Birth date:
10/3/1681
Nicholas, John
Description:
The master builder John Nicholas was the son of Samuel (d. 1709) and Margaret (Moore) Nicholas (d. 1743) of Philadelphia. He was one of the earliest members and a possible founder of The Carpenters' Company, although no Company records prior to the…
Member number:
7*
Birth date:
1/1/1700
Harrison, John
Description:
The master builder John Harrison II was the son of John I and Mary Harrison and the brother of Joseph and Daniel Harrison. According to Paster Eric Bjork, John II and Joseph helped their father complete Holy Trinity Church, Wilmington, DE in 1698,…
Member number:
8*
Birth date:
7/4/1685
Zane, Sr., Isaac
Description:
The leading Quaker master builder Isaac Zane was born in New Jersey, the son of Nathaniel and Grace (Rakestraw) Zane. In his early teens he had departed the family farm at the mouth of Newton Creek opposite what is now South Philadelphia to become an…
Member number:
10*
Birth date:
1/1/1711
Tomlinson, Ebenezer
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
Rhoads, Samuel
Description:
The Quaker Samuel Rhoads was one of the most influential master builders of the colonial period. Born in Philadelphia County, the son of John and Hannah (Willcox) Rhoads, he first appeared as a speculative builder flourishing in the 1730s and 1740s.…
Member number:
13*
Birth date:
1/11711
Fox, Joseph
Description:
Joseph Fox was a master builder and one of the most prominent leaders among the craftsmen of Philadelphia on the eve of the Revolution. The son of Justinian and Elizabeth (Yard) Fox, Joseph Fox was apprenticed toJames Portuesand became one of his…
Business name:
see references for all addresses
Member number:
21*
Birth date:
1/1/1709
Thornhill, Joseph
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
Smith, Robert
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
Loxley, Benjamin
Description:
Benjamin Loxley was a prominent master builder who, according to his obituary, was conspicuous for talents, ingenuity and industry; as a citizen, distinguished for active participation and usefulness; and as a man, for integrity and the faithful…
Member number:
24*
Birth date:
12/20/1720
Worrell, James
Description:
The master builder James Worrell first comes to historical attention when he married Hannah Parsons, daughter of William Parsons, at Christ Church on 11 October 1749. When his father-in-law died in 1757, Worrell received forty pounds with which he…
Member number:
31
Birth date:
1/1/1731
Goodwin, John, Jr.
Description:
John Goodwin, Jr., was a successful master buider elected to The Carpenters' Company before 1763 although no Company records prior to the 1760s survive to confirm the date of his membership. Highly respected by his colleagues, Goodwin served on the…
Member number:
25*
Birth date:
1/11720
Carlile, Abraham
Description:
Abraham Carlile was a master builder and lumber merchant. The exact date of his election to The Carpenters Company is unknown because all company records prior to the 1760s are lost. He was, however, an active member and one of the largest…
Member number:
26*
Birth date:
1/1/1720
Davis, Jr., James
Description:
James Davis, Jr., was the son of a house carpenter and a successful master builder in his own right. The Carpenters' Company lists him as an early member; he is first mentioned as present at meetings in 1766, although no Company records prior to the…
Member number:
30*
Bedford, Gunning
Description:
Gunning Bedford was an important master builder who remained active in the building trades throughout his life, although few buildings can firmly be attributed to him. The son of Gunning and Mary Bedford of New Castle (DE), he appears in Philadelphia…
Member number:
34*
Birth date:
1/1/1720
Nevell, Thomas
Description:
The master builder/architect Thomas Nevell, who designed the most famous Philadelphia country house--Mt. Pleasant (1763)--and founded a school of architecture in Philadelphia (1771), was the son of Thomas and Mary Nevell. By 1730 both of his parents…
Member number:
35*
Birth date:
1/1/1721
Armitage, James
Description:
James Armitage was a master builder elected Warden of The Carpenters Company (1770) and Assistant Master (1781). He took one Isaac McAlee as an apprentice in 1773. Armitage was the principal carpenter for the construction of Old Pine Presbyterian…
Member number:
36*
Griscom, Samuel
Description:
Samuel Griscom was a master builder elected to The Carpenters' Company before 1766 although no records prior to the 1760s survive to confirm the date of his membership. His daughter was Elizabeth Ross (Betsy Ross, 1752-1836). Biography…
Member number:
37*
Birth date:
1/1/1717
Roberts, William
Description:
William Roberts was a master builder elected to The Carpenters' Company prior to the date of the earliest surviving records; he was first present at a Company meeting in 1768. Roberts was an "encourager" of the Philadelphia edition of Abraham Swan,…
Member number:
40*
Budd, Levi
Description:
Levi Budd (1726-1790) was a master builder of the Northern Liberties who became a member of The Carpenters' Company prior to 1770. Elected Assistant of The Company, 1780-1782, he was one of the six members "displaying designs in architecture" at the…
Member number:
41*
Birth date:
1/1/1726
Plim, Jr., George
Description:
George Plim (Plym) was an early member of The Carpenters' Company who first appears in the extant records on April 19, 1770, where it is recorded that "haveing some ago desired to have his name discontinued as a Member, now Attended the Compy mett,…
Member number:
42*
Birth date:
1/1/1733
Lefever, Isaac
Description:
Isaac Lefever was a master builder elected to The Carpenters' Company prior to 1767. Isaac Lefever begins with an easily traceable history that quickly becomes obscure during the American Revolution. After the Company directed Evan Peters to make a…
Member number:
43*
Date elected:
1/1/1767
Armitt, Richard
Description:
Richard Armitt was a master builder elected to The Carpenters' Company of Philadelphia prior to 1767. He supplied lumber for the decoration of John Cadwalader's town house on Second Street, 1769-1770, and is recorded as taking on Alexander Duguid as…
Member number:
44*
Date elected:
1/1/1767
Potter, James
Description:
James Potter was a master builder from the Southwark section of the city elected to The Carpenters' Company prior to the date of extant Company records of the 1760s; he is first recorded as present at a meeting in 1769. He was an "encourager" to the…
Member number:
45*
Wood, George
Description:
The master builder George Wood was a resident of the North Ward of Philadelphia in 1769 (he lived near Isaac Zane, Sr.) and of the Northern Liberties in 1774. There is confusion concerning his election to The Carpenters' Company that suggests two men…
Member number:
87*
Date elected:
1/1/1770
Worrell, Ezekiel
Description:
The master builder Ezekiel Worrell became a member of The Carpenters' Company prior to the date of the earliest surviving Company records of the 1760s. He is first noted as present at a meeting of The Company in 1770. On 7 August 1760 Worrell had…
Member number:
50
Date elected:
1/1/1770
Rakestraw, Joseph
Description:
oseph was one of the most prominent master builders of the years immediately before and after the Revolution. The son of Joseph and Elizabeth Fox Rakestraw, he had become important in Carpenters' Company affairs by the 1760s, although his date of…
Member number:
59*
Birth date:
1/1/1732
Date elected:
1/2/1763
Engles, Silas
Description:
Silas Engles was a master builder elected to The Carpenters' Company prior to 1770, but no Company records prior to the 1760s survive to confirm the date of his membership. From 1779 through 1790 he served as a committeeman or officer of The Company,…
Member number:
51*
Birth date:
1/1/1740