Towle

The renowned Towle Silversmiths, founded in 1690, is one of the most prestigious silver manufacturers in the United States. more...

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History

Although Towle Silversmiths was not founded until 1857 (as Towle & Jones) and then 1873 (as A.F. Towle & Son), its progenitors included several members of the Moulton family, whose silversmiths dynasty is claimed to have the longest continuous span of silversmithing of any American family. From father to son, this family produced silversmiths for two hundred years.

In 1637, William Moulton (1615-1664) came together with his two brothers John and Thomas from Ormsby, Norfolk County, England and settled on Winnacunnet Road in Hampton New Hampshire.

In 1664 his son William Moulton II (1664-1732) was born. At the age of 18, in 1682, William Moulton II left the family farm in Hampton, New Hampshire and settled near the Merrimac River in a section of Newbury, Massachusetts that would later become Newburyport.

By some accounts, he was the first in six generations of silversmiths. This has since been disproved. While he did buy and sell silver goods, he was basically a general trader.

His son Joseph Moulton (1694-1750) has also been proposed as the first Moulton to work in silver, but he was actually a blacksmith by trade, though he likely turned his hand to whatever came through his shop door.

Although most of the Moultons carried on their craft in Newburyport, some went to other communities where they established themselves as silversmiths.

The first verified silversmith was William Moulton III (1720-1793) He worked from 1742 to 1762 as a silversmith in Newburyport MA and from 1762 to 1788 in Hempstead NH. He than moved in a covered wagon to Marietta, Ohio, carrying his silversmith's tools with him, (and was one of the forty-eight pioneers to settle in the Northwest Territory, and is considered as one of its founders.)

His son Joseph Moulton (1744-1816) the fourth in line. Working from about 1764 to 1810 as a silversmith in Newburyport MA with home and shop on State Street. He had four sons that were silversmiths. 1) Ebenezer moved to Boston 2) Enoch moved to Portland, Maine, each of them continuing their crafts in their respective places. Abel inherited his father's business in Newburyport

His son William Moulton IV (1772-1861) was the fifth in line of the Moulton chain he established his own shop in the same place.

He had two Apprentices Anthony Francis Towle and William P. Jones.

He worked from 1795 to 1845 as a silversmith in Newburyport MA in addition to supplying well- crafted church silver and other vessels, he made jewelry in his shop on Merrimack Street.

His son Joseph Moulton (1814-1903) the sixth and final in line was the one that sold the silver business he inherited, to his father’s two Apprentices Anthony Francis Towle and William P. Jones who also were his Apprentices in 1857 to form Towle & Jones, Co. in 1873 the son of Anthony Francis Towle, Edward Bass Towle was added to the business and the name was changed to A.F. Towle & Son, it was in business through 1902 at which point their dies were purchased by Rogers, Lunt and Bowlen who were later to become Lunt Silversmiths.

Read more at Wikipedia.org