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Olney is
probably
Stephen Olney, a Providence, R.I. carriage-maker. Stephen Olney was
born Feb. 2, 1770 and died in 1841.1 He signs in
1793 a Providence church document that also has the names of Joseph Fuller
and Joseph Fuller Jr.2 In 1794, Stephen Olney is
married in this same church.3 He is called a "Chaise
Maker", another term for a carriage-maker, in Providence land deeds
of 1796 and 1797.4 In 1798, Olney is "languishing
within the dreary walls of a prison", and petitions the R.I. General
Assembly for redress under "an act for the relief of insolvent debtors."5
And finally there is the 1801 promissory note for $9.50 from Stephen
Olney to Joseph Fuller.6
observations - I did not find any document
where Stephen Olney, the carriage-maker, is called a toolmaker or planemaker.7
Yet I believe he made the "Olney" planes. His ties to Joseph Fuller, the
plane-maker, were strong. The church life and religious beliefs that both
men shared would have made them close friends. My guess is that this friendship
extended beyond the church and into the workplace. I do not think Stephen
Olney apprenticed to, or worked for, Joseph Fuller. The "Olney" planes
are not made in the "Fuller" style. Olney may simply have learned from
observing his friend Fuller at work that toolmaking could be a profitable
enterprise. Or perhaps the work-place connection was Fuller giving advise
and encouragement to Olney as he tried his hand at toolmaking. Such selfless
behavior would be completely in character for a man as religious as Joseph
Fuller. I believe that Stephen Olney made the occasional woodworking plane
to supplement his income as a carriage-maker. His working dates as a planemaker
are probably the seventeen nineties. Olney apparently developed his own
style of planemaking. There are probably less than thirty "Olney" planes
that survive today. "OLNEY" should be rated four stars.
Notes:
1. James H. Olney, A Genealogy of the Descendants of Thomas
Olney, Providence,1889, p.53. Stephen Olney is called a 'cabinetmaker"
in this book.
2. Memorials of the Beneficent Congregational Church.
Providence, 1869 The church document signed by Stephen Olney was
"The Articles of Faith and Covenant" . Signed by thirty two people in July
of 1793, this document marks the beginning of the present day church.
3. James N. Arnold, Vital Record of R.I. 1636-1850. First
Series. Providence,1895,Vol.VII,"Friends and Ministers", p.451.
4. Providence Land Deeds at Providence City Hall. Vol.25, p.195,
Vol.32, p.81
5. Petitions to the R.I. General Assembly, Vol.32, Petition
100.
6. Joseph Fuller, Probate Records at Prov. City Hall, Inventory
Bk.1, p.399
7. Petitions. Vol.32, Petition 100. In his petition asking
for debt relief Olney talks about a fire in his work shop in which "a number
of Chaise Bodies were stove in and other articles of his Work-manship,
partly finished, were extremely injured or consumed".
Perhaps these "other articles of his Workmanship" included wood-working
planes and other joiner's tools.
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