Name/Title
Clock, Tall CaseEntry/Object ID
GHS 974Description
Tall case clock; arched bonnet top, molded cornice, tombstone arched face, face: brass, iron pierced work, painted moon phases above, four corner columns with gilded Corinthian style capitals, plain case with bevelled plate glass door, brass escutcheon, lower portion of case is square with molded base (no legs or feet).
Engraved, on dial: "Augustin NIesser"; on brass plate above door: PRESENTED TO THE SITE AND RELIC SOCIETY OF GERMANTOWN MARY W. LOGAN AND ROBERT R. LOGAN FEB. 1926"; sterling silver plate inside door: "THIS IS THE OLD WISTER CLOCK ONVE THE PROPERTY OF JOHN WISTER WHO CAME TO AMERICA IN 1727 AND WHO PROBABLY BOUGHT IT FOR HIS TOWN HOUSE IN MARKET STREET ABOVE THIRD STREET ABOUT 1740. HE BUILT THE WITER MANSION ON MAIN ST. OPPOSITE QUEEN LANE, GERMANTOWN IN 1744. LATER THE CLOCK BECAME THE PROPERTY OF HIS GRANDSON, JOHN WISTER OF VERNON (BOUGHT BY HIM IN 1812) AND AT HIS DEATH IN 1862 IT BECAME THE PROPERTY OF JOHN WISTER, HIS SON, WHO ALSO LIVED AT VERNON, A MAN REMARKABLE FOR HIS PUNGENT WIT, HIS READY ELOQUENCE, HIS STRENGTH OF LIMB AND FORCE OF CHARACTER. THE CLOCK STOOD IN THE DINING-ROOM AT VERNON FROM 1812 TILL JANUARY, 1889, WHEN AT A DIVISION OF CERTAIN PERSONAL EFFECTS OF THE LAST-MENTIONED JOHN WISTER, IT FELL BY LOT TO ALGERNON SYDNEY LOGAN, HIS NEPHEW, ANDONE OF HIS HIERS. THIS JOHN WISTER (BORN 1804) DIED JAN. 28, 1883; HIS SISTER MARY, PCT. 24, 1886; AND HIS SISTER ANNE, THE LAST SURVIVOR AT VERNON, OCT. 3, 1888. AFTER THE CLOCK CAME INTO THE POSSESION OF A.S. LOGAN IT RECIEVED THE FOLLOWING IMPROVEMENTS: JEWELED PALLETS; 4 JEWELS IN THE PIVOT HOLES; A MAINTAINING POWER; A MERCURIAL PENDULUM; A PLATE GLASS DOOR. NO OTHER CHANGES WERE MADE IN THE FACE, CASE, OR WORKS EXCEPT THAT THE BRASS OUTSIDE ORNAMENTS WERE ADDED AT THE SAME TIME. THIS TIMEPIECE WAS HIGHLY VALUED BY A.S. LOGAN AS A REMINDER OF HIS MANY HAPPY DAYS AT THE BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY SEAT, BERNON, (TO HIM, FROM BOYHOOD TRULY A FAIRY SOJOURN OF THE HEART) AND ALSO AS AN ESPECIAL MEMENTO OF HIS UNCLE JOHN, TO WHOM HE WAS GREATLY ATTACHED.Made/Created
Place
* Untyped Place
Germantown, Philadelphia, PADimensions
Height
101-3/4 inWidth
18 inLength
10 inDimension Notes
Details: Face is 11 x 11 inches square.Material
Walnut, Iron, BrassRelationships
Related Publications
Publication
Germantown Crier 17(4):110
Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography v.XXIII p.126, 1899
Independent Gazette, March 11, 1929; October 14, 1929
Germantown Crier 5(2):20
15(2):44
Curator Research File-Clocks and Watches
Eckhard, George, Pennsylvania Clocks and Clockmakers, 1955
Horner, W.M., Horner's Blue Book of Philadelphia Furniture 1682-1807, 1935, 1977 p.126, 129
PAM BOX- Industries (Box 1)Provenance
Notes
See inscriptions in description for history of clock. Object donated by Mary W. and Robert R. Logan, February 1926.
