Browse Items (477 total)

  • Item Type: Member

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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: 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

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: 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: 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: 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: 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

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

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

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: 418
Date elected: 5/30/1871

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: 247*
Date elected: 1/1/1810

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

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: 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: 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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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

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

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

Description: Ralph Smith was a master builder elected to the Carpenters’ Company in 1807. He served as a Warden of the Company from 1827-1829 and on the Managing Committee from 1830-1832 and 1838-1840. Ralph Smith initially resided at 77 Cherry street but moved…
Member number: 233*
Date elected: 1/1/1807

Description: The master builder Nathan Allen Smith may have been from Burlington, New Jersey, but he certainly signed the articles of the Friendship Carpenters' Company in 1775 and the Carpenters' Company of Philadelphia in 1786 when the two organizations of…
Member number: 142*
Date elected: 1/1/1786

Description: The master builder John Smith, Jr. should not be confused with John Smith, son of Robert Smith. John Smith, Jr. was elected to The Carpenters' Company in 1796 and died in 1820. He was a subscriber to Owen Biddle, The Young Carpenter's Assistant…
Member number: 194*
Date elected: 1/1/1796

Description: Joseph Smith was a master builder elected to the Carpenters' Company in 1828. He resided at 179 Green street. He worked in partnership with Daniel Smith, likely a close relative, who was also elected to the Carpenters' Company in 1828. Joseph died in…
Member number: 296*
Date elected: 1/1/1828

Description: John Smith, son of the master builder/architect Robert Smith, was registered as a student at the Pennsylvania Academy in Philadelphia from July 1760 to April 1765. He was listed as the administrator of his father's estate in 1777, and, in fact, was…
Member number: 104*
Date elected: 1/1/1779

Date elected: 1/1/1834

Description: Daniel Smith was a master builder elected to the Carpenters' Company in 1828. In the 1814 Directory, he was listed as residing at 216 South Third street. By 1820, he had moved to 222 Green Street. In 1834, he made a successful application to measure…
Member number: 297
Date elected: 1/1/1828

Member number: 490*
Date elected: 5/27/1893

Description: Sameul Sims was a master builder elected to The Carpenters' Company in 1794. He died the next year. Samuel Simes, or Sims, was a member of the company for around a year. There are multiple listings in the Philadelphia Directory between 1785 and 1794.…
Member number: 176*
Date elected: 1/1/1794

Description: Joseph Simes, or Sims, the carpenter, not to be confused with the well-known Philadelphia merchant Joseph Sims, was a member of the Carpenters' Company elected in 1810. Interestinly, Simes is not listed in the Philadelphia Directory until 1813 when…
Member number: 246*
Date elected: 1/1/1810

Description: Thomas F. Shuster was a master builder of Philadelphia in the 1800s. Born in 1816, he was elected to the Carpenters' Company in 1849, twelve years after his older brother, Henry Shuster. Little is known of his professional work but he served as an…
Member number: 360
Date elected: 1/1/1850

Member number: 446
Date elected: 4/23/1877

Description: Henry Shuster was a master builder elected to the Carpenters' Company of Philadelphia in 1837. He served as a Company Warden and and six terms on the Managing Committee. Finally, he served as the Treasurer of the Carpenters' Company from 1881-1888.…
Member number: 338
Date elected: 1/1/1837

Description: Isaac Shunk was a master builder in Philadelphia elected to the Carpenters' Company in 1823. It is revealed in Donna J. Rilling's book, Making Houses, Crafting Capitalism: Builders in Philadelphia, 1790-1850, that Isaac Shunk worked for carpenter…
Member number: 286*
Date elected: 1/1/1823

Member number: 443
Date elected: 5/2/1877

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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

Description: Charles M. Shoemaker was a master builder working in Philadelphia around the middle of the 19th century. Likely the grandson of Thomas Shoemaker, an earlier master builder and President of the Carpenters' Company of Philadelphia, Charles Shoemaker…
Member number: 366*
Date elected: 1/1/1851

Member number: 412
Date elected: 11/4/1868

Description: Michael Shaffer was a master builder elected to the Carpenters' Company of Philadelphia in 1834. He served on the Company's Managing Committee in 1852-1854. In the 1830 City Directory he was listed as a house carpenter living at 356 North 5th street.…
Member number: 321
Date elected: 1/1/1834

Description: George Senneff was a carpenter who first appeared in Philadelphia city directories in 1830 at 100 South Twelfth Street; he remained at that address throughout most of his life. In 1831 Senneff attempted to make the transition from carpenter to…
Member number: 281*
Date elected: 1/1/1823

Description: Thomas Savery, son of the cabinetmaker William Savery, Sr., entered Thomas Nevell's school for persons "anxious to improve themselves in the art of architecture" in December of 1771. Just as Nevell had been groomed for The Carpenters' Company by…
Member number: 140*
Birth date: 1/1/1751
Date elected: 1/1/1786

Member number: 225*
Date elected: 1/1/1803

Description: Matthias Sadler was a master builder apprenticed to Joseph Ogilby from 1771 until 1776. He served during the Revolution in Baldwin's Artillery Artificer Regiment and by 1780 appears as a resident of Mulberry Ward in Philadelphia. On April 30, 1781 he…
Member number: 105*
Date elected: 1/1/1781
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