Complex Molding Plane
Dateca.1770-1790
Maker
Ebenezer Newell
1747 - 1808
MediumBirch, iron, and steel
DimensionsLength: 10"; thickness: 1 5/16"
Credit LineGift of Thomas Elliott
Object number2024-306
DescriptionComplex molding plane with flat chamfers that end with a turn-out, and a molded shoulder.Label TextBorn in Dudley, Massachusetts, Ebenezer Newell's family relocated to the just-settled town of Lanesborough, Massachusetts in the sparsely populated western part of the colony when he was young. His father died when he was about five years old, and it is not known from who Ebenezer received his training as a woodworker, but he is recorded as having worked on Lanesborough’s meeting house in 1774.With a number of Revolutionary veterans of this name resident in Massachusetts, the man who possessed the skills of cabinetmaker and planemaker acquired distinction by styling himself "Captain Ebenezer Newell." It was a title he earned during the war by commanding a number of militia companies in the service of the state in 1777 and 1778. Newell marched his company to Manchester, New Hampshire for the alarm of July 1777, fought with them at the Battle of Bennington, Vermont. Next they were off to Providence, Rhode Island for the remainder of the year, bringing Newell's total service to about ten months.
A jack of most woodworking trades, Newell is today known from a few surviving planes, a remarkable signed cherry and white pine "highboy" chest-on-chest, and his estate inventory.
Appearing on the market in 2016 and described in the press as "a closed bonnet-top highboy" of a "whimsical Connecticut River valley-like design," it is truly a beautiful piece of cabinetry. Written in graphite on the bottom of the pinwheel-carved top central drawer is Newell's inscription reading “February 1789, Lanesborough, in the shop of Capt. Newal.”
Bit the next decade, he was working with an Aaron Newell, likely a kinsman. Running in the September 21, 1795 issue of Andrews’s Western Star, published in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, the Newell's ad read;
“Wanted immediately, a Journeyman Joiner, for the ensuing Fall, to whom generous wages will be given, by Aaron Newell. Enquire at Capt. Ebenezer Newell’s, near Lanesborough Meeting-house."
Captain Newell died on May, 2, 1808, and was buried in Lanesborough's Center Cemetery. His will, proved October 10, 1808, lists the following items relating to his career as a woodworker; "20 Chisills, 20 files, 8 Gouges, 5 Hand Saws, One Lathe, frow, paint stone, Sundry Joiners Tools."Mark(s)The toe of the plane marked with E ••• NEWELL over LANESBORO' in relief within two rectangles, the first conforming. (Elliott, AWP, p.268, imprint A).ProvenanceJanuary 2001, purchased by Thomas Elliott (Westbrook, CT); 2024, given to The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA)
