Complex Molding Plane
Dateca.1770-1780
Maker
Samuel Doggett Jr.
1751 - 1831
MediumBirch, iron, and steel
DimensionsLength: 9 3/8"; width: 1 3/8"
Credit LineGift of Thomas Elliott
Object number2024-270
DescriptionComplex molding plane with a relieved wedge, flat chamfers that end with a line and turn-out, and a molded shoulder.Label TextLike his father before him, Samuel Doggett, Jr. worked as a millwright, housewright, and planemaker. As a member of the Dedham, Massachusetts company of Minutemen, Doggett took to the field on the morning of April 19, 1775, the day of the Battles of Lexington and Concord were fought. Doggett saw action at Menotomy late in the afternoon, firing on the beleaguered British column as it strove for the safety of Charlestown. Putting his woodworking career on hold, Doggett progressed from local militia service and found his way to a Lieutenant's commission in Capt. Steven's Company of Colonel Henry Knox's Regiment of Artillery. When his term of service expired after a year, Doggett volunteered for further service, this time as a Lieutenant in the 1st. Regiment of Suffolk County Militia. Sent on active duty once more, Doggett was with his unit during the summer of 1778, operating against the British in Newport, Rhode Island. For his Revolutionary War service, Doggett was awarded a pension by Congress in 1828.
Prominent in the Dedham community, Samuel Doggett and his wife Elizabeth Badlan Doggett (1753-1832) were portrayed by Gilbert Stuart in 1815. Both canvases are now in the collection of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art (1941.7.1 and 1941.7.2), in frames produced by their son John Doggett, a first-rate looking glass and painting framer then working in Boston.Mark(s)S⁝DOGGETT in relief within a serrated rectangle, is struck into the toe (Elliott, GAWP 5th ed., p.108, imprint A). Also struck with owner's initials A.P.K. in relief within a serrated rectangle, twice into toe and twice into heel.ProvenanceApril 1991, purchased by Thomas Elliott (Westbrook, CT); 2024, given to The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA)
