Browse Items (11136 total)
Mitchell, Benjamin
Description:
Benjamin Mitchell was a master builder who joined the Friendship Carpenters' Company in 1770; and when that company merged with The Carpenters' Company in 1786, he signed the articles. Written by Roger W. Moss, from thePhiladelphia Architects and…
Member number:
141*
Date elected:
1/16/1786
Wallis, Samuel
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
Jervis, Samuel
Description:
Samuel Jervis was a master builder elected to The Carpenters' Company in 1770. He was an "encourager" of the Philadelphia edition of Abraham Swan's The British Architect (R. Bell for J. Norman, 1775), the first book on architecture published in…
Member number:
83*
Birth date:
1/1/1748
Date elected:
1/1/1770
Edge, Andrew
Description:
Andrew Edge was a master builder who erected several speculative houses on Fifth and Sixth Streets in the 1760s and 1770s. On the recommendation of Benjamin Loxley, he was elected to The Carpenters' Company in 1770 but rarely attended meetings.…
Member number:
82*
Birth date:
8/10/1736
Date elected:
1/1/1770
Middleton, Thomas
Description:
Thomas Middleton was a master builder believed to have come to Philadelphia in 1762 from Monmouth County, New Jersey. He signed the articles of The Carpenters' Company in 1770 and died the following year. Written by Roger W. Moss, from…
Member number:
78*
Birth date:
1/1/1716
Date elected:
1/1/1770
Jones, Abraham
Description:
Abraham Jones was a successful master builder from Southwark elected to The Carpenters' Company in 1770, and brother of Isaac Jones. He was an "encourager" of the Philadelphia edition of Abraham Swan's The British Architect (R. Bell for J. Norman,…
Member number:
77*
Date elected:
1/1/1770
Colladay, William
Description:
William Colladay was a master builder elected to The Carpenters' Company in 1769, serving as a member of various committees throughout the l770s. One of several master builders who were active in civic affairs in the last quarter of the eighteenth…
Member number:
76*
Birth date:
1/1/1738
Date elected:
1/3/1769
Evans, David
Description:
David Evans is unfortunately a common eighteenth-century Philadelphia name; the lives of three house carpenters and one cabinetmaker overlap, making it difficult to separate documentary references. Nonetheless, two master builders have been…
Member number:
75*
Birth date:
1/1/1733
Date elected:
1/2/1769
Shoemaker, Thomas
Description:
Thomas Shoemaker was a master builder elected to The Carpenters' Company on 1 February 1769, the same year he appears in the Philadelphia tax lists as a resident of the North Ward. He was an "encourager" of the Philadelphia edition of Abraham Swan,…
Member number:
74*
Date elected:
1/1/1769
Reary, Jacob
Description:
The master builder Jacob Reary was elected to The Carpenters' Company prior to the date of earliest surviving records of the 1760s. At The Company meeting of April 15, 1771, Thomas Nevell reported that Reary "Stood in Need of Some Assistance After…
Member number:
72*
Graisbury, James
Description:
James Graisbury was a master builder elected to The Carpenters' Company prior to 1769, but no Company records prior to the 1760s survive to confirm the date of his memebership. Written by Roger W. Moss, from thePhiladelphia Architects and…
Member number:
71*
Birth date:
1/1/1724
Robinson, William
Description:
William Robinson was a master builder elected to The Carpenters' Company prior to the date of surviving records; first present at a Company meeting in 1766; elected Warden of The Company in 1773 but was "Out of the Province" much of that time.…
Member number:
70*
Gridley, Joseph
Description:
Joseph Gridley was a master builder elected to The Carpenters' Company prior to 1767, but no Company records prior to the 1760s survive to confirm the date of his membership. Inactive in Philadelphia after 1771 and marked as dead in Company records…
Member number:
69*
Lownes, William
Description:
William Lownes was a master builder elected to The Carpenters' Company prior to 1768. From 1773 through 1775 he was elected a Philadelphia City Assessor and was probably actively floowing his craft inasmuch as he took several apprentices in the early…
Member number:
67*
Powel, Samuel
Description:
The master builder Samuel Powel has commonly been mistaken for the wealthy and socially prominent Mayor of Philadelphia, Samuel Powel (1738-1793), grandson of Samuel Powell. The date of this Powel's election to The Carpenters' Company is unknown; he…
Member number:
68*
Peters, Evan
Description:
Evan Peters was a master builder elected to The Carpenters' Company prior to the date of the earliest surviving records of the 1760s. He first appears in the Company records early in 1770, the same year he made a pump for The Company's lot. (Making…
Member number:
65*
Date elected:
1/9/1763
Pancoast, Joshua
Description:
Joshua Pancoast was a master builder who briefly appears on the rolls of The Carpenters' Company in 1770, after his death at the age of 32 the previous year. The earliest record of him in Philadelphia was the announcement of his intention to marry…
Member number:
63*
Birth date:
4/2//1737
Date elected:
1/7/1763
Hitchcock, John
Description:
John Hitchcock was a master builder who became a member of the Carpenters' Company in the 1760s, although no Company records prior to 1763 survive to confirm the date of his election. He was the illegitimate son of Joseph Hitchcock, who bequeathed…
Member number:
62*
Date elected:
1/6/1763
Rakestraw, William
Description:
Master builder William Rakestraw is probably the son of William (d.1736)) and grandson of William (d. 1718), making it difficult to sort early references. As a lad he was apprenticed to the leading master builder James Portues who bequeathed him 40…
Member number:
61*
Birth date:
1/1/1718
Date elected:
1/5/1763
Bringhurst, James
Description:
James Bringhurst was a master builder who subsequently became a successful merchant. He was elected to The Carpenters' Company of Philadelphia before 1768, but no Company records prior to the 1760s survive to give a specific date. Prior to the…
Member number:
66*
Birth date:
1/1/1730
Date elected:
1/9/1763
Carson, Robert
Description:
Robert Carson was a master builder who became a member of the Carpenters' Company prior to 1770. He is recorded as having built pews for the Third (Old Pine) Presbyterian Church of 1768. During the American Revolution, English soldiers utilized the…
Member number:
57*
McMullin I, William
Description:
William McMullin was a master builder elected to The Carpenters' Company c.1768 (records unclear) and then dropped from the membership rolls in 1770.Written by Roger W. Moss, from thePhiladelphia Architects and Builderswebsite.
Member number:
73*
Date elected:
1/1/1768
Coats Jr., Isaac
Description:
Isaac Coats, Jr., was a master builder elected to The Carpenters' Company by 1768 although no Company records prior to the 1760s survive to provide a specific date. He was an "encourager" of the Philadelphia edition of Abraham Swan's The British…
Member number:
53*
Rush, Joseph
Description:
Joseph Rush was a master builder already active in Carpenters' Company affairs by February 15, 1763, when he was elected to the important committee to set the prices used by masters in measuring carpentry work in Philadelphia. On January 20, 1766, he…
Member number:
60*
Date elected:
1/4/1763
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
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
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
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
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*
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
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
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
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
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*