Gurdon Tracy

  General notes:

Silversmith

  Events in his life were:

• Apprenticed about 1780 to Thomas Harland in Norwich CT ¹

• He worked from 1790 to 1792 as a silversmith in New London CT in 1790 on recommendation of Thomas Harland, given a commission to keep in repair the clock in the tower of the new church in New London, for 40 shillings a year. In 1791 purchased a small plot of land "on which his goldsmith's shop now stands." ³

• He worked before 1790 as a silversmith in Norwich CT advertised as silversmith in 1787. ³

• Tankard, c 1790
Private Collection ¹¹
h: 6 ¾"
Engraved THE GIFT OF Mr JOSEPH MARVIN TO / JANE LORD, HIS GRAND DAUGHTER 1790.

• Died in New London and buried in "Ancient Buriall Place of New London." Gravestone states, "In Memory of Mr. Gurdon Tracy who died July 11, 1792, in the 26th year of his age." Inventory of estate taken July 18, 1792 shows a full line of silversmith tools. A tankard bearing his mark and inscribed, "The Gift of Mr. Joseph Marvin to Jane Lord, his grand daughter 1790," was exhibited at Yale University, Connecticut Tercentenary. ³