Hostetter, Jacob;  Many of the tall case clockmakers of
this period purchased the works, sometimes had a cabinet
maker build the case, turned to a clock dial maker of the
face an did little more than assemble the parts.  Hanover
was the location of a brass boundary that was one of the few
sources of such works in that part of Pennsylvania and there
are probably many tall case clocks with works made in Hanover
by Jacob Hostetter, but with someone else's name on the face
of the clock.

Jacob Hostetter (1754-1831) was taxed as unmarried starting
in 1781, and by 1784 as married living on Frederick Street
adjacent to the present site of the Central Hotel.  He is
listed as a clockmaker on the 1788 and later tax lists.
From 1802 through 1823 he operated a brass foundry and was
producing clock works on the two lots he owned across
Chestnut Street from the Neas House.  There are over 100
extant Jacob Hostetter clocks cataloged, perhaps some made
by Jacob Jr.  Three of the Hostetter sons were also
clockmakers.

A strange story by one John Peel was published in a
Philadelphia newspaper, quoted in the Hanover Evening Sun,
February 24, 1940, about how Jacob got started in clockmaking.
Jacob was a watchmaker and in 1795 he set about learning how
to make clocks form Richard Chester, and that he made his
first tall case clock in 1798.  The records show that Jacob
was taxed as a clockmaker ten years earlier.  It seems odd
that at the age of 40 he would turn to Richard Chester, who
was then only about 20, to learn the trade he had been
practicing for at least 16 years.  It is far more likely that
Richard Chester was apprenticed to Jacob, although no
documentation proof has been found.  Further, there is a story
in the Hanover Record Herald for Aug. 15, 1914, about a
Hostetter clock made for and still in the possession of the
Weikert family, complete with the receipt for part payment of
15 pounds for an eight day clock signed and dated by Jacob
Hostetter on Nov. 11, 1795.

Tim Sweet
TIMEKEEPR2@AOL.COM
M.O.S.T (MY OWN SWEET TIME) WATCH COMPANY.
14002 Tuckey Lane
El Paso, Tx, 79927
(915) 852-2409  (See my add in the MART)

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