San Saba County news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1874-19??, 1892-02-19
THE JAOK-KNIFE KING.
HOW ELI TERRY WHITFIELD HIS
WAY TO FORTUNE.
fife of JonncetIcut's Noted Citizen Who
Was cIockmaker. PsddIer. Drum
mer. Capitalist and
Phiianthropist. -

In the United States were limitations
(and very poor ones too in most
cases) of the rough metal timepieces
imported from Europe.
In that year. however according &c
the Brooklyn Citizen. the art OF Amer
lean cloekmaking was inaugurated by
an individual as original in his way
as the crude 'chroniclers of the fly
ing hours which he turned out
Eli Terry was the person who may
be justly considered the founder OF
the great industry which now forms
so large a part OF the wealth of Con-
Hecticut and upon which thousands
OF persons depend for their daily
bread.
The little shop. scarcely larger than
n closet in which Eli Terry began the
manufacture Of clocks is still standing
in an excellent state of preservation.
Eli Terry was born in East Windsor,
Conn, in May 1772 From the time
he learned to talk he was engaged in
making his mothers life miserable by
spiriting away the sharp knife which
was kept in the kitchen as a potato
and apple parer. The disappearance
of this knife was always sure to be
followed by the appearance of sundry
Informed and only partially rounded
wheels which the youthful mechanic
carefully concealed under the house.
When he was about years old
relative gave him a iaekknife as
Christmas present and this may be
truly said TO have been the beginning
OF Terry's remarkable career. His
rough little wheels were brought out
from their dusty place of concealment.
notches were Whitfield into some. others
were ''triced up" until on his ninth
birthday Terry exhibited to his startled
mother a rough windmill u about
feet high which when put upon a
table or other level surface would
whirl its fans rapidly, the motive
power being supplied by stone at
tached to a piece of strong Irvine
This so encouraged Ellis parents-they
had previously believed him deficient
IN intelligence. that they determined
to apprentice him to a carpenter
But the boy appeared to develop so
many traits OF shiftlessness that this
plan was abandoned.
Terry continued to white with his
jackknife and having seen some of
the imperfect affairs called clocks.
which Windsor man had made. he
concluded he could do no worse and he
accordingly set to work Being out OF
employment at the time he obtained
permission to build the little shanty
(mentioned above) on the bank of the
Pequabuck river which at first served
him both as workshop and dwell
ing. His existence at this time was a
precarious one. He started three
clocks and after a good deal of
patience and numerous setbacks, he
had a good timepiece embodying a
new principle, which was that of the
windmill which he made twelve
years before. The magnitude Of
Terry's original undertaking may be
appreciated when it is remembered
that he had only some augers, a saw.
hammer and jackknife to aid him in
the construction OF the rather compll-
Gated and to him, entirely new ma.
ehinery.
The young mechanics clocks kept
good time and he found little diff |
Guilty IN aisposing Of them at S25
apiece but as the number of persons
who could afford to indulge in such an
expensive luxury was extremely lin
tied IN those days Terry was obliged
to make trips over the state line into
New York to dispose of his manufac-
lures. lie was able to make ten clocks
a year. and he kept up this primitive
method for about eight years when
she demand becoming greater than
the supply. he purchased better tools
two assistants and devoted |
much Of his time to selling the out
put.
II required a genuine man Of bust
ness to make a success of this depart
ment for the pay was seldom in cash.
almost always being made in butter
wool or other produce. A shrewd man /
like Eli Terry at once saw the oppor-
tunity to double up" on his profits
and he was not slow TO avail himself |
of it He sought and obtained orders
for farm produce and then traded his
clocks for what he wanted. always re- !
luiring from the man OF crops a high |
sr price on account of the lack Of
ready money. In this way he not only
made the profit on his goods but also /
realized large sum per annum on his
business. In fact it is al
legged that the money which he made
in this way enabled him to start the
large factory which subsequently
made him famous and Independently J
Eli Terry may also be said TO have
been the first drummer or commercial
as it is now called. for his
business having grown apace and his
new factory having developed ca
Dacity for turning out work far beyond
his expectations he found it neces-
sary to devise some new plan of dis
posing Of his wares He hit upon the
idea OF making semi-annual trips to
the principal trade centers notifying
the dealers 10 each vicinity sufficiently
in advance to enable them TO arrange
TO meet him In this way he found
no trouble in getting orders for more
clocks than he could make
Terry died q wealthy man. and
might have been a millionaire but for
his great philanthropy. Almost all
Of the important improvements in the
foundation principles of clock-making
were the inventions of Eli Terry. the
king Of the jackknife. the original
pedier the first drummer and the
'ounder OF an important American
Honeysuek Superstition.
''One OF the popular superstitions Of