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== Life and businesses == |
== Life and businesses == |
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[[File:Old North church organ.jpg|thumb|upright 0.5|The present organ in Old North Church]] |
[[File:Old North church organ.jpg|thumb|upright 0.5|The present organ in Old North Church]] |
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Johnston was born in 1708 in [[Boston, Massachusetts]].{{sfn|Stauffer|1907|p=144}} |
Johnston was born in 1708 in [[Boston, Massachusetts]].{{sfn|Stauffer|1907|p=144}} He became a member of the [[Brattle Street Church]] on June 5, 1726.{{sfn|Dunlap|1918|p=312}} His workshop was in his home's backyard.{{sfn|Williams|1915|p=177}} and he advertised his various businesses as being organ making, engraving, and furniture merchant.<ref name=JapannedMaking>{{cite news |date= May 7, 1998 |title= Japanned Furniture: An 18th Century Faux Finish |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50275004/ |newspaper= The News Journal |page= 48 |location= Wilmington, Delaware |via=[[Newspapers.com]] {{open access}} }}</ref> |
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Johnston also worked as a japanner, a coats of arms painter, and a publisher of books.{{sfn|Hitchings|1973|p=83}} His furniture manufacture included rendering raised and embossed images into clocks and furniture. He was also notable as an engraver of skill, as well as a [[heraldic]] painter.{{sfn|Dunlap|1918|p=312}} |
Johnston also worked as a japanner, a coats of arms painter, and a publisher of books.{{sfn|Hitchings|1973|p=83}} His furniture manufacture included rendering raised and embossed images into clocks and furniture. He was also notable as an engraver of skill, as well as a [[heraldic]] painter.{{sfn|Dunlap|1918|p=312}} |
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Revision as of 12:45, 21 February 2023
Thomas Johnston | |
---|---|
Born | 1708 |
Died | May 8, 1767 | (aged 58–59)
Nationality | American |
Occupation | Engraver |
Known for | organ building, engraving |
Notable work | first American engraved historical print, of the Battle of Lake George |
Thomas Johnston (1708–1767) was an American engraver, japanner, and heraldic painter in Colonial Boston. Johnston engraved the first historical print in the Colonial America and was also the first manufacturer of church organs in the colonies. The pipe organ he built in 1758-1759 for Boston's Old North Church was in use until another organ replaced it in 1886.
Life and businesses
Johnston was born in 1708 in Boston, Massachusetts.[1] He became a member of the Brattle Street Church on June 5, 1726.[2] His workshop was in his home's backyard.[3] and he advertised his various businesses as being organ making, engraving, and furniture merchant.[4] Johnston also worked as a japanner, a coats of arms painter, and a publisher of books.[5] His furniture manufacture included rendering raised and embossed images into clocks and furniture. He was also notable as an engraver of skill, as well as a heraldic painter.[2]
Johnston sold his paintings and engravings, including various views of Boston and heraldic works, in his own store.[6] At his death items from his estate included an unfinished organ, numerous pictures, various paintings, artist supplies, and copper plates.[7]
Though at least one other person had created a singular organ in the colonies before him, Johnston ran the earliest church organ manufacturing business in Colonial America.[8] Boston's Old North Church's organ was one imported by William Claggett in 1736.[9] In 1752 the church decided to buy a replacement organ from Johnston that they wanted to be as loud as the Boston Trinity Church organ.[3] Johnston constructed this organ starting in 1758 and finishing the next year.[10] This Johnston pipe-organ was in complete use until the mid-1880s[11] and some of its workings including the case (and possibly some now 200+ year-old pipes) are still in evidence in the present 1958/1991 organ.[10]
Engravings
Johnston seems to have been a self-educated engraver. His engraved items include scenes, tradesmens' cards, legal certificates, currency, and even noted music scores.[5] His first known engraving is his 1729 Plan of Boston which had a dedication to Massachusetts Governor William Burnet.[1] John Greenwood, the artist, was probably Johnston's most notable apprentice.[12]
Johnston engraved the initial known print of a historical event in the colonies,[13][14][15] a scene of the Battle of Lake George. The battle scene —A prospective plan of the battle fought near Lake George on the 8th of September 1755 – was originally drawn by Samuel Blodgett, a sutler who had witnessed the event.[16] Johnston engraved Blodgett's sketch onto a copper plate with Boston printer Richard Draper printing it,[17] and the print then being sold by Blodgett in December 1755.[18][19] Johnston's engraving of the battle is divided into different sections. On the left an above view of marching soldiers, on the right the view of a camp and the battle. The engraving also pictures the Hudson River, Fort William Henry and the New York town of Fort Edward.[20] A pamphlet with notes accompanied the engraving.[21] Johnston's print was reprinted in London by Thomas Jefferys and published in 1756, along with an explanatory eight-page pamphlet.[22]
Many of Johnston's print engravings along with various images can be found in the Colonial Society of Massachusetts' publication Boston Prints and Printmakers 1670-1775.[23], including his engraving of artist John Greenwood's Yale College view, Prospect of Yale College.[24]
Marriages and family
Johnston's first marriage was to Rachel Thwing on June 22, 1730, he secondly married Rachel's cousin, Bathsheba in 1747. Eight of his eleven children survived to adulthood with some of the sons developing careers based on skills adjacent to their father's livelihood.[25][26]
Death
Johnston died (from what was called a fit of apoplexy) on May 8, 1767. His grave is located in Boston's historic King's Chapel Burying Ground.[27][28]
References
- ^ a b Stauffer 1907, p. 144.
- ^ a b Dunlap 1918, p. 312.
- ^ a b Williams 1915, p. 177.
- ^ "Japanned Furniture: An 18th Century Faux Finish". The News Journal. Wilmington, Delaware. May 7, 1998. p. 48 – via Newspapers.com .
- ^ a b Hitchings 1973, p. 83.
- ^ "Boston Folks' Coat of Arms". The Boston Daily Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. February 7, 1915 – via Newspapers.com .
- ^ "Herald Printer, No. 1 (Thomas Johnson)". The Heraldic Journal. 1–4: 6. 1865. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
- ^ Owen 1979, p. 23.
- ^ Ogasapian 2007, p. 59.
- ^ a b "The OHS Pipe Organ Database". OHS Database ID 41284. The Organ Historical Society. 2016. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
- ^ Babcock 1947, p. 140.
- ^ Hitchings 1973, p. 85.
- ^ Ciment 2016, p. 2596.
- ^ Massachusetts Historical Society 1957, p. 260.
- ^ New York State 1966, p. 10.
- ^ New-York Historical Society 1969, p. 15.
- ^ Green 1890, p. 4.
- ^ Ramsey 1975, p. 568.
- ^ Winsor 1887, p. 586.
- ^ Exhibition Catalogs 1908, p. 46.
- ^ Readex Books 1964, p. 245.
- ^ NYPL 1964, p. 245.
- ^ Hitchings 1973, pp. 86–115.
- ^ Library of Congress 1975, p. 59.
- ^ Hitchings 1973, pp. 117–122.
- ^ The Society 1918, p. 406.
- ^ Beers 1905, p. 572.
- ^ "Obituary". Boston Evening-Post. Boston, Massachusetts. p. 4.
Sources
- Babcock, Mary Kent Davey (1947). Christ Church, Boston. T. Todd.
- Beers, J. H. (January 1, 1905). Record of New London County, Connecticut. J.H. Beers & Company.
- Ciment, James (September 17, 2016). Encyclopedia of Colonial America. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-317-47416-6.
Thomas Johnston produces the first engraving of a historical event ever produced in America.
- Dunlap, William (1918). Arts of Design in the U.S., Volume 3. C.E. Goodspeed & Company.
- Exhibition Catalogs (1908). Exhibition Catalogs, 1886–1909: 1908–1909. Exhibition Catalogs.
- Green, Samuel A. (1890). Blodget's plan of the battle on the shores of Lake George, 8 September, 1755. Cambridge University Press.
- Hitchings, Sinclair (1973). "Thomas Johnston". Boston Prints and Printmasters 1670–1775. University Press of Virginia.
- Library of Congress (1975). American printmaking before 1876 : fact, fiction, and fantasy : papers presented at a symposium held at the Library of Congress, June 12 and 13, 1972. Library of Congress. pp. 59–60.
Moreover, as in the case of other prints, Blodget's work, which came complete with a five-page quarto pamphlet
- Massachusetts Historical Society (1957). Massachusetts Historical Society. The Society.
The large engraved plan of the battle by Johnston has been called 'the first historical print engraved in America.'
- New-York Historical Society, Library (1969). New-York Historical Society. New York Historical Society.
This is the first historical print engraved in America. Blodget witnessed the battle and immediately afterwards drew the original plan from which Thomas Johnson made the line engraving.
- NYPL (1964). New York Public Library bulletin. New York Public Library.
A-Prospective-Plan-of-the-Battle-fought-near-Lake-George-on-the-8th-of-September-1755. This plan, part map and part view, was engraved by Thomas Johnston and has the distinction of being the first historical print engraved in this country.
- New York State (1966). The Conservationist. N.Y.S. Environmental Department.
- Ogasapian, John (2007). Church Music in America, 1620–2000. Mercer University Press. ISBN 978-0-88146-026-1.
- Owen, Barbara (1979). The organ in New England: an account of its use and manufacture to the end of the nineteenth century. Sunbury Press. ISBN 978-0-915548-08-8.
- Ramsey, L. G. G. (June 1975). Complete color encyclopedia. Hawthorne Books. ISBN 978-0-8015-1538-5.
- Readex Books (1964). Bulletin of Research in the Humanities. Readex Books.
- Stauffer, David McNeely (1907). Biographical sketches. Grolier club of New York City.
- The Society (1918). Colonial Society of Massachusetts. The Society. p. 406.
Thomas Johnston (1708–1767) three of Johnston's children followed their father's profession.
- Williams, Cornelia Bartow (1915). Ancestry of Lawrence Williams. R.R. Donnelley and Sons Co. p. 177.
- Winsor, Justin (1887). Critical History of America. Houghton, Mifflin.