Michael Stoner, cabinetmaker and chairmaker

Magazine Antiques, May, 1996 by John J. Snyder, Jr.

Born on September 20, 1764, Stoner was the son of Jacob Steiner (the German spelling) of Frederick, Maryland, and Margaretha Thomas, both Moravians of German origin.(3) Nothing is known of Stoner's youth or training, and there is no record of his having worked in the vicinity of Frederick.(4) When his widowed mother moved to Lancaster in 1782, the Moravian records noted that she had previously lived in Virginia, where Stoner may have served his apprenticeship. On the other hand, it is plausible that Stoner was trained in Lancaster, where his uncle Philip Thomas (17331815) had been a joiner and cabinetmaker since the 1750s.(5)

Stoner reached legal age in 1785 but his place of residence is unknown for five years thereafter. He was recorded in the 1790 census in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, about thirty-five miles northwest of Lancaster. As a resident of Harrisburg, he married Elizabeth Trissler (1767-1811) of Lancaster in 1791. In 1792 he was taxed as a chairmaker in Harrisburg.(6) A 1793 deed(7) identified Stoner as a chairmaker, and on July 1 of that year he advertised in the Oracle of Dauphin and Harrisburg Advertiser for an apprentice "to the Windsor Chair-making business."(8) At that time Harrisburg was both the seat of the newly established Dauphin County and a growing center of trade on the Susquehanna River.

Stoner's whereabouts in 1794 and 1795 are unknown, although the Lancaster Moravian Congregation noted the birth of his daughter in August 1795, implying that he was living not far away. Stoner's ties to Lancaster had strengthened by this time, for his cousin George Thomas (1766-1816) had married his wife's sister, Anna Magdalena Trissler. On April 12, 1796, Stoner bought property on East Orange Street in Lancaster.(9) According to a tax record of 1798 the lot was improved with a log house one-and-a-half stories high that measured nineteen by twenty - nine feet and a frame shop measuring nineteen by fifteen feet.(10) By 1804 Stoner also had a lumberyard at the east end of East Orange Street.(11) Lancaster tax records list Stoner as a carpenter in 1797, a joiner from 1800 through 1803, and a cabinetmaker from 1807 through 1809.(12)

Lancaster was then the largest inland community in the United States and the seat of an affluent county of the same name. In addition, from 1799 to 1812, it was the capital of Pennsylvania. Stoner's career there of at least fourteen years appears to have been characterized by professional diversification and increasing economic difficulties. In 1806 debts of at least six hundred dollars forced him to mortgage his property to the Bank of Pennsylvania.(13) Although he recovered from this adversity, his speculation in real estate in the newly founded town of Marietta nearby may have brought more financial pressures.(14) on September 19, 1809, his Lancaster property, "a log dwelling house...two carpenter's shops and a furniture room," was offered in a sheriffs sale.(15) Stoner, identified as a "cabinet maker," died on February 13, 1810.(16) His estate inventory, taken March 15, 1810, valued his household furniture and tools at [pounds]139 4s. 1 1/2 d.(17)

Based on documentary and physical evidence, Stoner was a chairmaker when he was in Harrisburg before the mid-1790s. In only one source is he otherwise identified: in a 1792 deed he was called a "painter."(18) Stoner may have continued to make windsor chairs after his arrival in Lancaster, but no tax lists or newspapers identify him as a chairmaker there, and his estate inventory includes no chair parts or wood-turning tools. This suggests that the windsors marked "M*STONER" date from about 1785 to 1795.

The marked windsors include two high chairs, at least three bow-back side chairs, and one armchair.(19) The high chair and side chair shown in Plates III and VI are representative of the character and quality of Stoner's windsors. They are well made and the turnings are generally precise, but their proportions and over-all design indicate their provincial origin. It may be significant that none of the marked chairs has bamboo turnings, which could indicate that he ceased producing windsors before bamboo turnings became popular in inland Pennsylvania in the decade after about 1795.

In Lancaster, documents prove that Stoner worked at many jobs. In 1799 he did painting for the county of Lancaster,(20) while the inclusion of "3 Dorment Windows, Sash & Cornices" in his estate inventory indicates that his shop executed architectural carpentry. For at least two years Stoner and his cousin George Thomas were in partnership as lumber dealers. On June 23, 1804, they advertised an extensive stock of wood, including cherry, walnut, mahogany, yellow pine, white pine, yellow poplar, and white pine shingles.(21) Between September 1804 and December 1805 they supplied scantling, shingles, and boards to Charles Smith (1765-1836), a wealthy Lancaster lawyer, for use in building Hardwicke, Smiths elegant country seat near Lancaster.(22)

Notices in the Lancaster Journal indicate that Stoner conducted a large cabinetmaking business in the first decade of the nineteenth century. On August 15, 1801, he advertised for a runaway apprentice, David Trissler (most likely a relation of his wife), "by wade a cabinetmaker." He sought journeymen cabinetmakers on April 17, 1804, and stated that he had on hand "a large quantity of excellent mahogany." On June 23, 1809, he advertised for "2 or 3 Journeyman Cabinet Makers." His estate inventory included many tools and "4 Working Benches with Screws." That he made veneered and inlaid furniture in the Federal style is attested by the presence in the inventory of "1 Fennier Saw & key...1 Fennir Screw...1 frame for a Fennir Saw." Objects left in the shop at his death ranged from "Mahogony Frames" to "1 new Clock case (Cherry)."