Isaac Marquand

Isaac Marquand
BornMarch 10, 1766
DiedNovember 24, 1838(1838-11-24) (aged 72)
OccupationsSilversmith, clockmaker
RelativesFrederick Marquand (son)
Henry Gurdon Marquand (son)
Josiah Penfield (nephew)

Isaac Marquand (March 10, 1766 – November 24, 1838) was an American silversmith and clockmaker.

Early life and career

Marquand was born in 1766 in Fairfield, Connecticut,[1] to Henry Marquand and Lucretia Jennings Redfield.[2] His father's family emigrated from Guernsey five years previously.[3] His father died when Isaac was six.[4]

In 1787, aged 21,[5] Marquand was in a clockmakers' partnership with Gamaliel Bradford Whiting in Fairfield. He moved shortly thereafter to Edenton, North Carolina, where he worked as a goldsmith, silversmith, watchmaker and clockmaker on Broad Street until 1796.[1]

Between 1801 and 1810, Marquand was living and working in Savannah, Georgia, in partnership with his son, Cornelius. Hezekiah Lord later joined, as did his nephew, Josiah Penfield.[6] He also spent large amounts of time at their office in New York City, at 183 Front Street, where Orlando Harriman also worked. Between 1815 and 1823, Marquand was in partnership with Erastus Barton, as E. Barton & Co., at 166 Broadway.[1]

He established Marquand and Co., a silverware firm, in 1804.[7] In 1824, his son, Frederick, took over the flourishing company,[8] which was headquartered at 166 Broadway, and over time became regarded as "the principal jewelers in the country", as stated in the obituary of Tiffany and Co. secretary Edward C. Moore.[9] Marquand's brother, Henry, joined as a partner in the mid-1830s.[1] The business moved to 181 Broadway in 1833.[10] The business was renamed Ball, Tompkins & Black in 1839,[11] a year after the brothers sold the firm.[12]

Personal life

In 1796, Marquand married fellow Fairfield native Mehitable "Mabel" Perry,[1] with whom he had eight children: Henry, Frederick, Gordon, Cornelius, Josiah, Sarah, Julia and Henry. The second Henry, Henry Gurdon Marquand, was born in 1819, a year after the death of the earlier one, aged 21.

Death

Marquand died in 1838 in Brooklyn, New York,[1] aged 72.[13] He was interred in Oak Lawn Cemetery in Fairfield, alongside his wife, who survived him by 17 years.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Isaac Marquand". www.americansilversmiths.org. Retrieved 2026-07-29.
  2. ↑ Cutter, William Richard (1920). American Biography: A New Cyclopedia. Pub. under the direction of the American historical society.
  3. ↑ "Lucretia (Jennings) Redfield (b.1737) - American Aristocracy". americanaristocracy.com. Retrieved 2026-07-29.
  4. ↑ Cutter, William Richard (1920). American Biography: A New Cyclopedia. Pub. under the direction of the American historical society. p. 257.
  5. ↑ Bohan, Peter; Bohan, Peter J.; Hammerslough, Philip (2007-12-04). Early Connecticut Silver, 1700–1840. Wesleyan University Press. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-8195-6848-9.
  6. ↑ Fraser, Walter J. (2005). Savannah in the Old South. University of Georgia Press. p. 196. ISBN 978-0-8203-2776-1.
  7. ↑ Laidlaw, Christine Wallace (1988). ""Silver by the Dozen: The Wholesale Business of Teunis D. DuBois"". Winterthur Portfolio. 23 (1): 28–35. doi:10.1086/496355. JSTOR 1181161.
  8. ↑ Callahan, Ashley (2008). Decorative Arts in Georgia: Historic Sites, Historic Contexts. Georgia Museum of Art. pp. 13, 14, 15. ISBN 978-0915977666.
  9. ↑ "Secretary Edward C. Moore, of Tiffany & Co., Expires". The Jeweler's Circular and Horological Review: 31. August 5, 1891.
  10. ↑ Cutten, George Barton; Peacock, Mary Reynolds (1984). Silversmiths of North Carolina, 1696-1860. North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Division of Archives and History. p. 109. ISBN 978-0-86526-201-0.
  11. ↑ Campbell, Gordon (2006-11-09). The Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts: Two-volume Set. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 64. ISBN 978-0-19-518948-3.
  12. ↑ Laster, Margaret R.; Bruner, Chelsea (2018-08-06). New York: Art and Cultural Capital of the Gilded Age. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-02756-4.
  13. ↑ New-York Spectator, November 29, 1838