We get all kinds of interesting requests for research here
at the Natick Historical Society. Following some recent research requests on Colonial
surveyors I started looking into the tools that were used to describe, measure
and survey land in our early history. The buying and selling of large plots of
land was an important business throughout Colonial Massachusetts. Subdividing
land and acquiring new property were especially important parts of the early
years of Natick’s history, when European settlers parceled off and purchased
land from the Native American residents. In the collection of the Natick Historical
Society we have a number of different items that would have been used by
surveyors: chains, stakes, and compasses
that would be used in different ways to determine the size, shape and
characteristics of pieces of land. Two of these pieces, a pair of surveyors
compasses manufactured in Boston in the mid-1700s, are especially striking.
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| John Dupee's Surveyor's Compass |
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| Thomas Greenough's Compass |
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| Detail of John Dupee's Compass, notice the specific directions to his shop in Boston |
These compasses or
circumferentors to use the technical term, were created by Thomas Greenough and
John Dupee respectively and both represent excellent examples of American Colonial
craftsmanship. The compasses are generally similar in dimension and style, and both
are approximately the same size and design, which was typical for compasses
used for surveying. There are a few differences; Dupee’s compass is made of
wood, which was more common in surveyor’s equipment. Greenough’s compass is
made of brass, though he regularly worked with wood as well. Dupee’s wooden
compass also has extensions at either end of the compass face that were useful
in surveying to extend the North/South Axis when measuring angles, a feature
Greenough’s compass lacks. Both men worked in Boston in the mid-1700s, and
while Greenough was younger, they were contemporaries and worked in Boston
during overlapping periods.
Deacon Thomas Greenough (born 1710) and his son, incidentally
also named Thomas Greenough, produced a number of mechanical devices used for
sea travel, navigation and surveying land. Both Greenough men worked making
compasses and would label them, as our piece has been, with their name “T.
Greenough,” though without a designation for Junior/Senior it is not easy to
determine whether our piece was created by the father or son. Thomas Greenough,
Senior was a Patriot and served on a Committee of Correspondence in the years
leading up to the American Revolution in Boston. He died in 1785 and is buried
at Copp’s Hill Burial ground in downtown Boston.
John Dupee’s life is not quite as well-documented. His shop
was established in Boston in the early 1700s and only a few of his pieces still
survive. Though the exact details of many parts of his life remain unknown a
small part of his life’s story has survived. Born in France under the name Jean
Dupuis, he fled France as a Huguenot refugee to Boston as many other Protestant
Frenchmen were doing at the time, including Paul Revere’s father. Upon arriving
in Boston Dupee anglicized his name.
He married and had several children before his death in 1743. On his compass
the arrow pointing north is marked with a Fleur de Lis, possibly an imported
French style and possibly a nod to the maker’s birthplace.Around the face of
the compass is also a maker’s mark giving credit to John Dupee along with
rather odd instructions on where to find his shop. The Inscription reads “Made
& Sold by John Dupee, North Side Swing Bridge Boston NE”. In a time before
most businesses had individual addresses, they were instead referred to based
on land marks or by an image on a sign that hung outside.
