The Meeks cabinetmaking firm in New York City: Part I, 1797-1835

Magazine Antiques, May, 2002 by Jodi Pollack

Throughout the first half of the nineteenth century, New York City was the center for the manufacture of high-style furniture in the United States. The Meeks firm, run by three generations of the family from 1797 until 1869, was one of the principal furniture establishments in the city. Large and prolific, Meeks produced good to excellent quality furniture in most revival styles and expanded its markets beyond New York. Although not credited for producing such stellar examples as Duncan Phyfe (1768-1854), Honore Lannuier (1779-1819), or Alexander Roux (1813-1886), the Meeks firm is an excellent case study for the evolution of the nineteenth-century furniture trade, illustrating the shift from the master craftsman shop to factory style production.

This three-part series of articles is organized around the chronology of the firm. Four major stages can be identified, namely the period from 1797 until 1828, when Joseph Meeks (Pl. I) ran the firm on his own (except for 1797-1800, when he was in partnership with his brother Edward); the years from 1829 until 1835, when Joseph and his two sons operated together; the period from 1836 until 1859, when Joseph retired and his two sons vastly expanded the firm; and the years from 1859 through 1869, when the business was run by Joseph Meeks's grandson and then liquidated. This first article will focus on the firm's first two stages from 1797 through 1835.

Little is known about the early years of the Meeks firm, and only one piece of furniture can be unambiguously attributed to it before 1829. Only in retrospect, with full knowledge of the firm's later success, is it possible to assign due importance to Meeks's modest and largely unrecorded beginnings.

Joseph Meeks was born on September 4, 1771, in New York or New Jersey. (1) He was one of eight children of Captain John Meeks (1739-1817) and Susanne Helene Marie de Moulinars (1745-1823). (2) According to oral tradition, three of Joseph's Meeks ancestors-Edward, John, and Joseph Meeks-immigrated to New York City from Wales in the seventeenth century. The Moullnarses appear to have been French Huguenots who had immigrated to New York City by 1718 and settled in New Rochelle, New York, by 1726. (3)

Joseph Meeks probably apprenticed under his father, who identified himself in his will as a 'Turner of The City and County of New York" (4) In 1797 at age twenty-six, Joseph established the Meeks cabinetmaking firm on lower Broad Street with his brother Edward. (5) In 1800 the brothers separated. The reason for this separation is not known, but it may be related to Joseph's marriage to Sarah Clark Van Dyk (P1. II) on June 29, 1800.6 For the next ten years Joseph operated alone under his own name. (7)

The American economy began to decline sharply following the passage of the NonImportation Act in 1806 and the Embargo Act in 1807. Although the commercial isolation of the United States tended to stimulate some domestic manufacturing, the general recession made life very difficult for small businesses. (8) Therefore, perhaps it is not surprising that Joseph Meeks's name is absent from the New York City directories in 1811, 1812, and 1813. He may have worked for another cabinetmaker during these years, or perhaps took a brief leave from cabinetmaking. The city directories identify him as a chocolate maker in 1814 and 1815, and as a chocolate maker and cabinet-maker-from 1816 through 1818. (9)

In 1819 Joseph Meeks appears to have become fully reestablished in the furniture trade, promoting himself as a cabinetmaker through 1825 and as a cabinet-and chairmaker from 1826 until 1828. From 1819 through 1828 he ran the business at 43 Broad Street in a modest two-story shop that, judging by the drawing in Figure 1, appears to have had limited storage and work space. (10)

As early as 1798, Meeks had begun to develop markets in the South for his furniture. Because of protectionist policies passed by Congress starting in 1789 and the disruptive War of 1812, the South found itself cut off from European imports, thus creating demand for northern goods. Recognizing these opportunities, cabinetmakers in New York, Philadelphia, and Boston began to market their wares aggressively in the South as early as the 1790s. (11) In 1798, only one year after establishing his business in New York City, Meeks began exporting his furniture to Savannah. Unlike most craftsman who shipped their merchandise, Meeks made short trips there with his wares in hand. (12) An advertisement in the Columbian Museum and Savannah Advertiser of March 6,1798, is the earliest document to record his activity in the city

JOSEPH WEEKS [sic], CABINET MAKER, from New-York, INFORMS the Public, that he has lately arrived, & has for sale, a handsome assortment of elegant MAHOGANY FURNITURE, and will dispose of it at very reasonable prizes [sic]. Likewise a number of FIRE BUCKETS. (13)

While it may seem odd that Meeks stressed the availability of fire buckets in this advertisement, fire buckets were required in all Savannah residences following the city's devastating fire of November 26, 1796. (14)