Samuel Minott

  General notes:

Silversmith

  Events in his life were:

• Alternate Mark

• Apprenticed about 1745 to William Holmes (tentative) in Boston MA ⁷

• He worked from 1753 to 1803 as a silversmith in Boston MA
Listed in city directories beginning in 1789 with a shop on Ann Street. ⁷

• Mourning ring, 1754
Boston Museum of Fine Arts ⁸
d: 13/16"
Engraved "F. (?) Brattle ob • 10 July 1754 • 11 years." possibly for Elizabeth, the daughter of William and Katherine (Saltonstall) Brattle.

• Porringer, c 1755-1800
Boston Museum of Fine Arts ³¹
h: 1¾"
d: 5 1/8" (lip)

• Receipt, 1755 ⁷
Boston William Brattle Esq^r to Samuel Minot D^r

1755 Octor 21	to a pair of flowd Silver knee Buckles	£0=	8-0
Novembr 14	to a Silver Strainer wt four ounces one pennywight	1=	7-0
	to makeing Ditto	0=	14-8
	to two Large Silver Spoons wt four ounces five penny & a half	1=	8-6
	to makeing Ditto	0=	5-4
decem 2	to a Silver punch Bole wt fifteen ounces six grains	5=	0-1
	to makeing Ditto	0=	18-0
		10=	1-7
	Cr By 2 spoons a Silver Cup & a peppercaster	7=	17-2
	Balance Due	2=	4-5

• Communion dish, 1764
Boston Museum of Fine Arts ⁸
h: 1 5/16"
d: 13 1/16"
wt: 24 oz, 7 dwt
Engraved on rim: The Gift of the Hon^ble THOMAS HANCOCK ESQ^R (arms) to the CHURCH in Brattle Street Boston 1764. Six dishes, three by John Coburn and three by Minott were purchased with the Thomas Hamilton bequest of £100 to the church.

• He was a partner from 1765 to 1769 with Josiah Austin in Charlestown MA as MINOTT & AUSTIN ⁴

• Advertised in the The Boston Weekly News-Letter (Boston MA), 1 Oct 1772, "at his Shop opposite William's Court, Cornhill" he offers assorted groceries and pottery and was pursuing "the Goldsmiths Business in all its Branches as usual at his other Shop Northward of the Draw Bridge ." The goods enumerated included tea, delft, silver-mounted swords, coral beads, plate and jewelry. ³

• Memorial pendant, c 1775
Private Collection
l: 1½"
w: 1¼"
Engraved on back "Mercy Wiswell Ob. 25 July 1775 AE+43 / Bradstreet Ob. 30 Jan 1773 AE+4 / Robert Ob. 10 June 1773 AE+2 / Elizabeth Ob. 23 July 1775 AE+9" for Mercy (Minott) Wiswall and three of her children. The piece is unmarked, but attributed to Minott based on Mercy's family relationship to him, John Wiswall's Tory sympathies and presence in Boston at the time, and Minott's known inventories of such goods.

• Boston MA, 1776: arrested as a Tory by order of the Common Council. ³

• Advertised in the Independent Chronicle (Boston MA), 8 Jun 1786, offering for sale, ". . . at his shop Northward of the Draw-Bridge" an extensive selection of silver, jewelry, and fancy goods. ⁷

• Samuel Minott is said to have bought tools from Edward Winslow's estate, which would have been just as he was completing his apprenticeship to an unknown master (possibly William Holmes). He began his career as a fashioner of tutorial plate at least as early as 1758. In August 1761 he was debited by Paul Revere for silver. His mark is found with that of Josiah Austin, Joseph Coolidge, and William Simpkin, indicating his extensive retail trade. He appears in the first Boston Directory in 1789 as "Minot Samuel, goldsmith, and importer of plated and jewellery-ware, Ann-street". He was still there in 1796, but had added his house address on Court Street. His estate was inventoried October 17, 1803; there was 84 oz. of plate and numerous silversmithing tools. The appraisers were Samuel Belknap, Stephen Howe, and Azor G. Archibald. ⁸

Samuel married Elizabeth Davis, daughter of Hannah Winslow, on 7 Oct 1762 in Boston MA. (Elizabeth Davis was born in Apr 1738 in Boston MA, christened on 30 Apr 1738 in Boston MA and died on 14 Dec 1823.)