Paul Revere

by

Ryan Gifford

Paul Revere is an appellation that has been echoed throughout American history.  His skills as a craftsman and industrialist were critical to a nation in its infancy.  Unfortunately many of his talents were overshadowed by Longfellow’s poem about Reveres’ famous ride to Lexington on the night of April 1775.  This transformed Revere into a national folk hero, even though it was written and published eighty- five years later.  It is a mistake to study and remember Revere solely for his ‘midnight ride’, he was so much more than a patriot.  Paul Revere epitomized the ideal colonial American, his talents ranged from merchandising, silversmithing, goldsmithing, copperplate engraving, dentistry, canon and bell founding, and was he one of America first industrialists.  We will investigate Paul Revere as the family man, craftsman, and industrialist.

Deborah’s Father Thomas owned a small wharf in Boston, where he built and handled light cargoes.  Paul Revere Sr. and Deborah Hitchborn were the parents of eleven possible children (accounts vary from 9-11 children).  Seven of these children would survive to adulthood.  The first-born was Deborah (b.1732), Paul (1734-1818); Frances (b.1736); Thomas (b.1740); John (b.1741); Mary (b.1743-1801); Elizabeth (b.1745). ^[1]
 
 

Paul Revere Jr. was born in Boston’s North end. This part of the city  “was a mixture of an almost London elegance of living, rubbing shoulders with poverty and vice”^[2].  Boston did have a “substantial middle group like that of Paul’s father”^[3].  This ‘middle group’ consisted of shipwrights, brewers, smiths, bakers, cobblers, and cordwainers all of whom lived a far better existence than their European counterparts.  This class had the luxury of being able to provide food and clothing for their families.  Paul spent his early years attending the North Writing School, where Paul was taught skills in reading, writing, and manners.  His education was probably stopped at the age of thirteen, because it was the age that most apprenticeships were signed.  Paul Sr. had probably already made plans for him to take over the business.  Esther Forbes states that his education allowed him to “read chemical essays and other treatises connected with his work, and he loved Books”^[4].  Esther Forbes also mentions Paul’s writing, “He wrote clear letters, without a trace of the pomposity so common at that time, and no more bad grammar and spelling than many contemporary ‘gentlemen’”^[5].  So it is apparent that Paul Jr. received a sufficient education.  But Paul’s more important education was not spent at a school desk, it was received in his fathers’ workshop, learning the art of gold and silversmithing.
 
 

In 1754 tragedy struck the Revere household when Paul Revere Sr. died at the age of fifty-two, Paul Jr. was just nineteen and “by law, no person under twenty-one, and no person who had not served seven years of apprenticeship, could open a shop”^[6].  Paul Sr. left no estate, but he did leave a good name.  This left Paul Jr. in a difficult position, as head of the household.  He continued the trade, it is said that he either worked for a fellow silversmith Nathaniel Hurd, or kept the shop running under his mother’s name.  This was a tough time for the Reveres, because of King George’s War, which had brought substantial profits to the merchant classes, but the ending of the war brought a postwar depression that was felt hardest by the middle classes.  This was an especially hard time for a nineteen-year old that was the head of a household.  He would fashion rings and other trinkets to pay the landlord.
 
 

In 1756 Paul Reveres’ career as a silversmith was interrupted.  It was the third year of the French and Indian war.  Paul being the patriot he was, volunteered for enlistment into the army.  The reasons for his volunteering are not clear, but money may have been a motivating factor, considering his situation.  Many young men during this time were drawn into the military either for patriotic reasons or the lure money. The average soldier earned the equivalent of a laborer’s wage.  The benefit of military service was that the soldier had a guaranteed daily wage. Paul’s reasons we might assume were a combination of both. He was commissioned a second Lieutenant of Richard Gridley’s Artillery Unit. So being of a higher rank his wage was five to six pounds per month.  Paul Reveres military service was spent trying to seize the French fort at Crown Point (present day New York).  This expedition, led by General Winslow, turned out to be a failure.  He soon returned home to Boston.  “Paul Revere did push out some frontiers for his country, but they were not so much geographic as industrial.  Boston-not Albany-was to be his base”^[7].  It did not take long for Paul to readjust to colonial life.  Paul upon his arrival to Boston would officially take his Father’s business over.
 
 

Paul did have some advantages upon coming back to his Father’s shop, advantages that would give him a head start in his own silver business.  It was Mentioned before that his Father left no estate, but he may have left something more important:   “He [Paul’s father] bequeathed a valuable inheritance to his oldest son by training him and leaving him a fully stocked shop, including molds that his son used throughout his career.  Revere also inherited some of his father’s customers”^[8].
 
 

Paul soon took interest to a young lady named Sarah Orne.  “Sarah Orne may have first guessed his devotion when she noticed how, during Sabbath meeting, his eyes sought hers and never Reverend Ebenezer Pemberton’s”^[9].  Their courtship would eventually lead to their marriage.  They were married on August 4, 1757.  Together they would have eight children in a period of fourteen years; Deborah (1758-1797); Paul Jr.(1760-1813); Sarah (1762-1791); Mary (1764-1765);  Frances (1766-1799); Mary (1768-1853); Elizabeth (1770-1805); Isannah (1772-1773)^[10].  Sarah Orne died in 1773, five months after giving birth to Isannah, Sarah was thirty-nine.
 
 

Paul would soon marry Rachel Walker on October 10 1773. An interesting poem exists that illustrates Paul’s courtship technique; this comes from the back of a bill that Paul scribbled on:
 

Paul and Rachel would have 8 children; Joshua (1774-1801); John (born/died 1780); Joseph (1777-1868); Lucy (born/died 1780); Harriet (1783-1860); John (1783-1786); Maria (1785-1847); John (1787-1847)^[12].  Rachel also took full care of Paul’s children from his previous marriage.

Paul Revere spent forty years a s a silversmith and goldsmith. Revere’s business ledgers tell us that at the height of his workshop he employed numerous apprentices and journeymen.  His style is celebrated for its artistic and historic value.  During his time he was one of Boston’s most prominent craftsmen.  His clientele ranged from noble aristocrats to commoners.  Revere’s business specialized in supplying the needs of his customers by  never hesitating to adopt new styles that were always changing.  He was not just versatile in style but in material as well.  He frequently worked in brass and copper.  It is rumored that Paul’s shop was called upon frequently by other craftsmen, because his shop was especially skilled in repousse.  This was a type of surface ornamentation formed in relief by hammering on the reverse side.  His silver products include:
 

“Flateware, mostly spoons; table wares such as cups, tankards, porringers, salts, casters, trays and bowls; tea and coffee equipment such as coffee and teapots, creamers, sugar tongs and sugar urns; personal items such as gold jewelry and buttons and silver buckles; and metal harness fittings”[13].
 
 

There are some work business records that have survived, they cover Paul’s business transactions from 1761 to 1797. The documents tell us that his shop made over five thousand silver objects, and twenty-four thousand prints. Many of these silver pieces were engraved by Paul himself.  A majority, for those that could afford it, paid extra to have Paul custom engrave their piece with a monogram or family crest. Paul’s entrepreneurial instincts lead him into the field printing; he bought a small printing press.  With this press he printed money for the state of Massachusetts and some were of used in advertising.  His versatility didn’t stop there.  From 1768 to 1775 Paul Revere advertised as a dentist.  His skills as a dentist were limited, as probably all dentists were at the time.  Paul’s practice consisted of cleaning teeth and wiring in of false teeth.  These false teeth were fashioned from animal teeth and walrus ivory.  He sold dentifrice as well, which is a cleaning agent that is used on teeth.  It was basically toothpaste for the colonists.
 
 
 

A lot of Paul Reveres success can be attributed to his membership to his in the St. Andrew’s lodge of freemasons, this would “form an association that would shape his life for the next forty years”^[14].  This membership which lasted from1760 to 1809 would broaden his commercial horizons.  He held several offices in St. Andrew and Rising Sun States lodges as well as the Massachusetts Grand Lodge.  His success can be attributed to his membership, because Freemasonry brought bonds of a brotherhood that catapulted him: “Beyond the provincial confines of the wharves, shops, and taverns of the North End into a larger realm where he was part of a potentially worldwide movement based on brotherly love and universal benevolence”^[15].
 
 

So it is safe to say that this ‘movement based on brotherly love’ probably had a lot to do with the solidification of business contacts, and it most certainly helped to broaden his customer base.  There may have been some pressure to join Freemasonry, because Paul hailed from an economic class called the 'mechaniks’.  This class included shop owners, manufacturers, and lesser merchants.  The ‘mechaniks’ were a large class in a port town such as Boston.  Socially it was superior to journeymen, sailors, and servants, but it was socially inferior to clerics, Lawyers, and the wealthier merchants.  So it was probably necessary for an upstart merchant to join a ‘brotherhood’ that would enable him to network.
 
 

One of Paul Revere’s most significant achievements came later in his life.  In 1787 he built an iron and brass foundry on the corner of Lynn and Foster streets in Boston’s North End.  He financed this business venture through his silversmith business and he received some financial assistance from his Hitchborn cousins.  This foundry manufactured bolts, spikes, and nails to the North End shipyards.  He manufactured also brass fittings that were used on the U.S.S Constitution.  His foundry later would produce canons, and after 1792 his shop fashioned bells.  One of his greatest and largest bells still rings in Boston’s Kings Chapel.
 
 

This foundry proved to be only the beginning for Paul Revere as the industrialist.  In 1800 ate age 65 he became the “first American to successfully roll copper into sheets in a commercially viable manner”^[16].  He purchased and renovated a former gunpowder mill in Canton, Massachusetts.  Paul soon gained a large customer base that included the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, they used his copper for the dome of its new statehouse.  The Federal government used his copper for the hull sheeting on their ships.Revere describes his success in a letter to his acquaintance Thomas Ramsden:

“I have spent for the last three years most of my time in the country, where I have mills for Rolling Sheets, and Bolts, making Spikes, etc. and every kind of copper fastening for Ships, it has got to be a tolerable advantageous business”^[17].

Paul in 1811, at the age of seventy-six, retired and left his established copper business to his son Paul.  He retired with wealth and good reputation.  His retirement was marred by the death of his wife Rachel and son Paul, in 1813.  Paul Revere died on May 10, 1818.  He was laid to rest in The Granary Burying Ground on Tremont Street near Boston Common. The obituary in the Boston Globe stated, “seldom has the tomb closed upon a life so honorable and useful”^[18].
 
 

Paul Revere was an important to figure politically, industrially, and artistically.  His influence and legend will forever be with us.  Hopefully his legend as the ‘midnight rider’ has been enervated by our examination into his real character.  E.H. Goss, a Revere biographer, quote an individual who knew Paul as:

“A prosperous North End Mechanic, quietly but energetically, pushing his business interests.  He had an organizing brain, great judgment and courage, a determined will, unfailing energy, and remarkable executive ability.  He was born leader of the people, and his influence was pervading, especially among the mechanics and workingmen of Boston, with whom his popularity was immense”^[19].

Leehey, Patrick. 1988.Paul Revere-Artisan, Businessman, and Patriot. Boston: Paul Revere Memorial Association.

This book is a collection of authors dealing with different aspects of Paul’s life.  It topic range from the Reveres genealogy and to Paul’s silver, which this book has extensive amount of material on.  It also variety of sketches, prints, and has an extensive collection of photographs of Reveres’ silver.  This book, also provide the reader with letters handwritten by Paul to friends and family.  It is interesting to see these letters because it reveals the more intimate side of Revere.

Forbes, Esther. 1942. Paul Revere and The World He Lived In.  Boston:  Houghton Mifflin Company.

Even though this book is fifty-nine years old.  It is no wonder it remains a classic.  This book is colorful in its description of Paul’s life; sometimes it is to colorful.  Especially when one is researching for facts about Paul, one might find it laborious to wade through a lot of adjectives and adverbs.

Triber, Jayne. 1998. A True Republican The Life of Paul Revere. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press

Book is more aimed at Paul Revere activities in politics, but does gives excellent accounts of Paul’s domestic life.  Makes interesting points about how Paul’s political and business lives were inexorably linked.  The benefit of using this book is it’s the fact that it was published recently.

Goss, Henry Elbridge.  1891. The Life of Colonal Paul Revere. vol. 1-2  Boston: Gregg Press.

This Historical account of Paul Revere I found to be outdated.  Facts and detail are scattered. Not to say that it does not have useful information, it  Is just that this information is difficult to find. But we must take into consideration that it was written over a hundred years ago.

This website was an excellent source.  It was simple and to the point.  It covered all aspects of Paul’s life from silversmith to industrialist. This website also provided many pictures of Reveres work.  This site gave interesting background to the art of silversmithing.