Enos Doolittle

November 9

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Connecticut Courant (November 9, 1773).

“Shall have their Money return’d if the Work he does shall not be found upon Tryal to answer their End.”

In the fall of 1773, Enos Doolittle, a silversmith, took to the pages of the Connecticut Courant to advise prospective clients that he also offered services as a “CLOCK and WATCH-MAKER.”  To that end, he “lately furnished himself with a universal Assortment of WATCH FURNITURE” or parts, including springs, glasses, dial plates, keys, and seals.  Doolittle assured “Any Gentlemen that please to Favour him with their Custom” that he possessed the skills necessary both to repair damaged clocks and watches or make new ones.

To entice prospective customers, Doolittle presented a return policy.  He pledged that customers “shall have their Money return’d if the Work he does shall not be found upon Tryal to answer their End.”  That put him in company with other watchmakers who issued similar guarantees.  For instance, Thomas Hilldrup, a “WATCH MAKER from LONDON” who advertised extensively in newspapers published in Connecticut during the previous year, asserted that he “restored [watches] to their pristine vigour, and warranted [them] to perform well, free of any expence for one year.”  Similarly, Issac Heron in New York noted, “As usual, he warrants their performance – not for ever, but one year,” while Thomas Morgan in Baltimore “proposes to engage his performance for one year, provided the owners do not abuse the same, nor apply to unskilful hands, where many good watches are greatly abused for want of experience.”  Watchmakers set some conditions along with their guarantees.

Doolittle paired his warranty with a promise of low prices that matched those set by his competitors.  He may have been making a jab at the “WATCH MAKER from LONDON” who so often advertised his own shop in Hartford when he declared that “his Motives are barely to obtain such a Support as one of his Profession has a right to expect.”  Accordingly, Doolittle “is determined to Work as Cheap as any one in the Colony.”  Eschewing the pretensions that played such a significant role in advertisements placed by some of his competitors, Doolittle promised quality work for reasonable prices.  In contrast to watchmakers who sought acclaim for themselves and their work, Doolittle suggested that he labored industriously on behalf of his clients and focused on customer satisfaction.

April 27

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Connecticut Courant (April 27, 1773).

“WATCHES! only.”

Having established himself in Hartford, watchmaker Thomas Hilldrup continued his advertising campaign with a new notice in the April 27, 1773, edition of the Connecticut Courant.  He stated that his “motive was to merit the approbation of the public from his first commencing business here” in the fall of 1772, while also providing an update that he had been successful in that endeavor as measured by “the many repeated favours already confer’d” by customers in the area.  Hilldrup also reminded prospective clients of the services and incentives he offered, including repairing watches “in a perfect and durable manner,” giving a warrantee that they would “perform well, free of any expence for one year,” and providing “advice gratis.”

Connecticut Courant (April 27, 1773).

Those appeals echoed Hilldrup’s earlier advertisements, but other aspects of his notice seemed to comment on a notice that a competitor, Enos Doolittle, placed in the previous issue of the Connecticut Courant.  Doolittle used a headline that read, “Clocks & Watches,” and informed the public that he had been trained in “the business of Clock Making and repairing all kinds of Watches.”  In turn, Hilldrup emphasized that he specialized in watches with a headline that proclaimed, “WATCHES! only.”  Doolittle also noted that he “employed a journeyman who has serv’d a regular Apprenticeship to the Watchmaking business in London.”  Hilldrup implied that this indicated some sort of shortcoming in the way that Doolittle managed his business.  In a nota bene, marked with a manicule to draw attention, Hilldrup declared, “The public are desired to take notice that I am capable of going through the business myself without any assistance.”  Hilldrup suggested that hiring a journeyman to handle some of the business that came into the shop meant that Doolittle lacked the skill necessary to do the work on his own.  Doolittle, like other artisans who mentioned employees, presented the journeyman’s presence as evidence of a thriving business.

Artisans rarely made direct comparisons between themselves and their competitors when they placed newspaper advertisements during the era of the American Revolution.  Hilldrup was an exception, though he did not explicitly name Doolittle in his notice.  Still, readers of the Connecticut Courant likely noticed that Hilldrup’s advertisement commented on the one placed by his competitor.