Nathan Buttrick, Early Clampmaker in Massachusetts

Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association, Inc., The, Jun 2004 by Boyd, Milt

Introduction

I discovered my first Buttrick clamp while making an inventory at the Old Schwamb Mill in Arlington, Massachusetts. Unfortunately, I misread the mark as "N. B. UTTHICK" instead of "N. BUTTRICK," and misread the town as Gardner (instead of Carlisle), Massachusetts. The result was a wild goose chase. The historical society, the library, and the museum at Gardner, all tried hard to help, but it's hard to be helpful when you start on the wrong foot. With the discovery of more Buttrick clamps, I knew that I had to find out about N. Buttrick of Carlisle, Massachusetts, and as I did, I put information on a Web site, www. clampguy.info. During the pursuit, Paul Macone, whose family are the current-and only the third-owners of Nathan Buttrick's property in Chelmsford, contacted me. Paul had also been buying Buttrick clamps and researching them, and he shared that information with me and assisted in the writing of this article. M. B.

History of Nathan Buttrick and His Mill in Carlisle

Discovering the history of a toolmaker armed only with a stamp on a tool is a daunting task. A good place to begin is The Directory of American Toolmakers,1 but the entry in the DAT for Buttrick did not include a first name, and the only sources were secondary. That was a disappointing beginning, but fortunately, some of the Buttrick clamps were also stamped with a location and some with his Christian name, Nathan. The fact that members of the Buttrick family had been important figures in the Revolutionary War was also helpful; there is a published genealogy of the family- Searching the genealogy produced many candidates. At the start, the Nathan Butricks, spelled with a single "t," that were found in the genealogy were eliminated, since it can be presumed that the maker would spell his name correctly on his products. That left several candidates for Nathan Buttrick, clampmaker, based on the date of birth: 1786, 1795, 1799, 1811, and 1812. In addition, two other possibilities were found: Nathan Alonzo Buttrick (born 1838) and Nathan Bateman Buttrick (1822). The 1799 Buttrick lived in New Hampshire, so he was eliminated. The genealogy indicated that the Nathan Buttrick born in 1811 lived in Chelmsford and Carlisle. Since some of the Buttrick planes were marked with these towns, that particular lead seemed very promising.

Chelmsford is next to Lowell, and one of the clamps is marked NORCROSS, the name of a Lowell mill. So the next step was to check the Lowell City Directories. The earliest available Lowell City Directory is dated 1849, and the Lowell Library has a copy for almost all years thereafter. A Nathan Buttrick appears in the directories from 1849 until 1866, when Mrs. Nathan Buttrick is listed as the head of the household. Nathan's death is given in the city records as October 9, 1865, age fifty-four years, nine months, and fifteen days, making his date of birth December 24, 1810. Unfortunately, the dates for the Nathan Buttrick in the directory didn't match any Nathan listed in the family genealogy, although little discrepancies in dates orages occur often in death notices. According to the directories, this Buttrick appears to have moved about and to have worked for various textile mills. A second Nathan Buttrick was found in the directories; he lived in Lowell in 1851 (but not 1849 or 1853). This Buttrick was a painter (apparently self-employed), living (not boarding) on School Street, near Pawtucket Street. This was a lot of information, and clearly more research was needed.

At this point in the research, Paul Macone made contact with the author. Because of the information he had, it became apparent that the other Buttricks that had been researched to date were red herrings. Paul knew who Nathan Buttrick was because that is the name on the deeds of the property, which had been purchased by Paul's grandfather and which Paul still owned.

The operator of Buttrick's Mill was Nathan Buttrick Jr.3, who had been born in Carlisle, on February 19, 1811, the son of Nathan and Susan (Hart), but later moved to Chclmsfbrd. He remained there until July 4, 1837 when he married Thankful A. Green (born on May 1, 1818) in Carlisle. At the time of his marriage, Nathan is listed as living in Chelmsfbrd. On March 26, 1838, at age twenty, Thankful died, and then on June 9, 1838, at the age of three months, nine days, their daughter Lois died. On May 1, 1842, Nathan Buttrick was married again to Martha ButterReld (born March 20, 1818) of Carlisle, in Carlisle. They had a number of children: Henry Oscar (born April 9, 1844), James G. (born January 17, 1846), Estella A. (born November 30, 1847; died January 4, 1849), KHa Howard (born November 6, 1849), Albert Law (born January 1, 1853), Charles E. (born March 28, 1855), and Herbert Anderson (born March 31, 1861 ). At the birth of Ella Howard, Nathan's occupation is given as "mechanic," a description which at that time meant one who works with or operates machines.

Nathan Buttrick remained in Carlisle and operated Buttrick's Mill until his death on August 20, 1883. According to Lemuel Shattuck's History of Concord, published in 1835, Carlisle had a population of 566 in 1830, with four grist and saw mills.4 Unfortunately, Shattuck doesn't name the mill owners, nor the types of mills.