James Wilson III was a globe maker in Bradford, Orange County, Vermont, He made the first pair of terrestrial and celestial globes ever made in America.
1 His wife,
Molly, died circa 1786 in Francestown, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, leaving him a widower.
He lived between 1796 and 1855 in Bradford, Orange County, Vermont.
His wife,
Sarah, died circa 1812 in Bradford, Orange County, Vermont, leaving him a widower.
From: Bernie L. Hughes
hughes@coopresources.net
5 June 2003
James is one of my favorite relatives, my 1st cousin, four times removed. James was the son of James and Janet Wilson and was a farmer, blacksmith and globe maker from Bradford, Vermont.
Enclosed is a magazine article about him written by Donn Haven Lathrop, a clockmaker and clockwork historian in Thetford, Vermont. The article appeard in the July/August 1995 issue of the Upper Valley Magazine which was published at 5 Atwood Avenue, West Lebanon, New Hampshire. Attempts to get in touch with the author have failed. The magazine is no longer being published. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. BLH.
Of Scots-Irish descent, he [James Wilson III] was born at Londonderry, New Hampshire, on March 15, 1763. He was seventeen when he began learning the art of blacksmithing from his uncle, Daniel McDuffee. Daniel was married to Margaret Wilson, sister to James, Sr. [Jr.?] However, his basic education was acquired by going to the local school whenever he could get away from his farm chores.
About 1784 he bought 100 acres of farmland in Francestown. There he built a log cabin, a home for himself and his new bride, Molly Highland of Londonderry. It was there his son James [Wilson IV] was born. Molly died early on in the marriage and James returned to Londonderry, and around 1789 married Sarah Donaldson also of Londonderry. The couple had ten children, three of whom died in infancy. It was during this period in his life that he became interested in globe making, both terrestrial and celestial. Biographical notes show him to be ''a voracious reader, with a wonderful faculty for grasping scientific principles,'' and the ability to utilize them. He lived in an era which was very exciting historically and perhaps realized globe making would be a better and easier way to understand those many changes.
It was early 1795 when he headed up to Bradford, Vermont, where his cousin James McDuffee lived. Young James McDuffee is the son of Daniel McDuffee, under whom he [James Wilson III] had apprenticed. Tradition indicates he visited Dartmouth College to see his friend William Miltimore. There he saw the first pair of celestial and terrestrial globes and ''confirmed his determination to make his own globes.'' In July of that same year he bought a piece of land in Bradford and immediately brought his family there. In December he bought another ninety-two acres from his cousin. During that winter, for a livelihood, the two worked at making ''finely manufactured and tempered axes,'' of which ''there could be found no such axes anywhere [else].''
In 1796 he found time to make his first globe, a crude affair a large solid wooden ball covered with paper, on which he drew the continents and countries. Of course, he understood this could not compete with the fine globes imported from England, and his aim was to surpass them. James needed to learn more of geography, math and astronomy. He began by making a trip to Ryegate, Vermont, where, for $130, he bought the Third Edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. James began to study. Next he had to learn all he could about engraving. James, now about thirty-three, walked to Boston and then to Newburyport, Massachusetts, to study under John Aiken, but was not able to afford the $100 tuition. He walked back home and for a time, tried again, but did not succeed. He then walked two hundred and fifty miles to New Haven, Connecticut, to consult with Amos Doolittle. Amos was impressed with Wilson's dedication and consented to teach him the basics of engraving. The next problem facing James was the construction of the globe itself. After several attempts he came upon the idea of gluing several layers of paper on the globe, tracing the continents and countries on the paper, cutting the paper into hemispheres, and gluing the hemispheres together. The result was a lightweight, strong and easily portable globe. James had drawn his maps on the globe earlier, now he wanted to print the maps on his paper sphere. This involves learning from scratch, mathematics' complicated steps necessary to transfer a spherical surface to a flat surface, and then correctly engraving the copper plates necessary to print the maps. In addition James had to make his own tools: lathes, printing presses, inks, glues and varnishes. Tradition indicates that he worked for three hundred days engraving his first copper plate, but could not solve the problem of getting a true projection of the meridians on his globe. Once again James took a long walk. With his plate tucked under his arm, he set off for Charlestown, Massachusetts to consult with Reverend Jedidiah Morse, the ''Father of American Geography.'' He was shown by the Reverend how to make the necessary corrections but also learned that those corrections could not be made on the plate he had spent ten months toiling over. James returned to Bradford. He then ''procured, at great sacrifice on the part of all members of the family,'' a new copper plate, and began anew. How long he worked on this phase of his work is not known, but succeed he did and in about 1809 James Wilson sold his first ''Made in America'' globe. The first recorded sale was ''18 January, 1810, sold Mr. Wellman 1 globe,'' and another on January 25. Records indicate he sold seventeen globes before those dates and another eleven after. An early historian wrote: ''The small unpainted blacksmith shop had become a globe factory which was throwing off its products as far as Amherst and paralyzing the heart of the English globe trade in America.'' Justice Nathaniel Niles of West Fairlee, at that time was sitting on the Vermont Supreme Court and had served as Representative from Vermont in the Congress in Washington and undoubtedly was able to bring the new American-made globes to the attention of important people throughout the country.
By 1813 the globes had been introduced in Boston where William Wells became Jame's agent. The globes then met with a high demand. In particular his celestial globes met with highly favorable reception. The 13-inch edition, ''with elegant drawings of the constellations, contain nearly 5,000 stars, carefully compiled and laid down, from the latest and approved astronomical tables, and reduced, according to the precession of the Equinoxes, to the present time,'' were considered to be the best available.
By 1815 the globe factory - blacksmith shop could no longer keep up with the demand for globes. Wilson deemed Albany, New York, to be a strategic center for the manufacture and sale of his fine product. He went into partnership with two of his sons, Samuel and John, and opened a plant there in mid-1815 for the manufacture of 13-inch and 9-inch terrestrial and celestial globes. Samuel and John ran the plant by themselves and received two thirds of the profits. A younger brother, David, who did the intricate engraving for an edition of three-inch globes, soon joined the brothers. Young David left the globe factory to go to New York, bent on winning fame as a painter of miniatures, but before he could realize his dream, tuberculosis claimed him in 1827. That very year, an entirely new edition of globes was advertised nationally.
Thirteen Inch Globes mounted on mahogany pedestals, per pair with compasses .... $46 & $55
Ditto, Mahogany and curly maple, turned frames, with compasses .... $40
Nine Inch Globes, common frames, per pair .... $40
Three Inch Globes, fancy mountings, per pair .... $5
Most of his globes were sold in pairs, many to schools and colleges, and a matched pair of three-inch globes added a perfect touch to the well-decorated parlor of the time and complimented the 9-inch globe in the library.
Samuel and John both died in 1833 of unknown cause. James gave over to Cyrus Lancaster, a schoolteacher from Bradford, the responsibility of running the Albany plant. Cyrus had been working in the plant for seven years. However, James held firmly onto the reins. How long Cyrus ran the plant is not known, but he did die in 1862.
One of James Wilson's grandsons recorded that his grandfather ''was a large, powerful, stalwart man, fully six feet tall, of commanding presence and very erect. His countenance, stern, thoughtful and dignified. A kind-hearted and generous man, modest and reserved as regarded his own ability, caring nothing for dress or show, and entirely free of conceit.'' The globe maker lived on his first farm for seventeen years, then bought another farm on the Upper Plain, north of the center of town [Bradford, VT] where he built a one and one half story brick house, ''reputed to be the finest house then in Bradford.'' It was about this time his wife Sarah, died. He then married Agnes McDuffee of Bradford, and the couple had three more children. In all he had fourteen. The new house burned in 1834 and was immediately rebuilt, as the brick walls were still standing. The house burned twice more, the last time in 1901, when it was completely destroyed.
James was a solid and prosperous citizen of Bradford. In 1820, he and other leading citizens incorporated Bradford Academy. He served as the vice president of the trustees for a number of years and many more years as a trustee. When James was in his mid-eighties, he built an orrey (mistakenly called a planetarium) to show the positions of the sun and planets. James Wilson, who certainly followed his own star with an unusual degree of determination and perseverance, died in Bradford on the 26th of March, 1855 at the age of ninety-two.
This information on the globe maker was researched and written by Donn Haven Lathrop, a clockmaker and clockwork historian in Thetford, Vermont. The article appears in the July/August 1995 issue of the Upper Valley Magazine which was published at 5 Atwood Avenue, West Lebanon, New Hampshire, pp. 22-27.