This mini ogee dates to the period when Chauncey Jerome was affiliated in some way with the U.S. Clock & Brass Co. in Austin, IL. The company was formed in February 1856, but clock production likely did not start until August, when construction of the factory was completed. Operations ceased in January 1868, due to a fire that destroyed the rolling mill building and the movement shop (sparing the case-making shop). Given that the 1867 New Haven directory lists him as living with one of his sons, it appears that he stopped working for the US C&B Co. shortly after it started production. Although described in some accounts as the superintendent of the factory, it may be more plausible that he assisted the company with getting the case-making and movement-making operations up and running and then returned to New Haven. Payment may have been, in part, in the form of clocks which he sold under his own label.
Label identifying Chauncey Jerome as the maker and giving his location as Austin, IL. Clocks with US C&B Co. labels give the location as Chicago. At the time, Austin was on the far outskirts of Chicago. The company had a retail shop in Chicago owned by one of the partners of the clock company.
Detail of the printer’s line showing “Chicago Evening Journal Print, No. 48 Dearborn Street”.
Typical 30-hr spring-driven movement made by the US C&B Co.
Rear view of the movement.
Tablet depicting the log cabin of Abraham Lincoln’s childhood. Note that this clock was made within a couple of years of Lincoln’s assassination in April 1865.