Type of clock: Tallcase clock Clock maker: Lane & Jack Location: University Hall 106, President's Office Catalogue number: Historic Property #179 Height: 98 in. Width: 18 1/2 in. Depth: 9 in. Country: New Jersey, USA Date: ca. 1780-1800 Marks: Lane & Jack Bound-Brook Engraved by George W. Babcock 1840-50 Donor's Plaque: The family Clock of James Manning D.D. First President of Brown University Presented by the Family of Richard Jackson
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Description: This tallcase clock is encased in tiger maple wood and a sliding hood of elegant neck-shaped fretwork and cove-and-ovolo top. There are three maraca-shaped wooden finials sitting atop plinths. Inside, an eight-day, hour strike clock is driven by two cast iron weights with brass jackets and two faithful brass pulleys. Its arch-dial, signed Lane & Jack, Bound-Brook, displays foliate etchings and a set of blued steel hands. Its ring of silvered brass, 2 1/2 inches wide, is engraved with Roman numerals, the incisions filled in with black wax. During a restoration in 1996, the chiming mechanism was abandoned at the request of President Gregorian, who did not wish to be disturbed while working. Provenance: John Gano married Sarah Stites, sister-in-law of Brown's First President James Manning. After Sarah's death, John Stites Gano married Mary "Polly" Talmadge, widow of Capt. Thomas Bryant and daughter of Colonel Jonathan Hunt, on August 4, 1789. One of their daughters, Maria Talmadge Gano was born April 22, 1794 in Providence, RI. In 1822, Maria, married Rev. Henry Jackson, son of Richard Jackson, donor of the Manning clock. Indeed, it is interesting to note that this clock is in fact related to the one across the hallway in the Provost's office, donated by the Gano family. It should be noted that President Manning had graduated from Princeton, NJ in 1763 before taking up office at Brown in 1765. Clockmaker biography: Aaron Lane (1753-1819) operated between 1782-1800 from Elizabethtown, New Jersey. New Jersey was an active clock-making region, and Lane was skilled at making musical clocks. [1] References: [1] Palmer, Brooks The Book of American Clocks The Macmillan Company, New York 1959 p 230)