UPDATE
OLNEY
(Stephan Olney)

  by Richard Slaney
March 3, 2014
       The plane maker, OLNEY, is Stephen Olney, born Jan. 25, 1775, died Aug. 7, 1854.  He lived most of his life in Scituate, Rhode Island, where he was a highly respected carpenter and builder. (notes 1, 2, 3). 

      Stephen Olney was never a full time plane maker, evidenced by the small number of OLNEY planes that survive today, probably less than 60.  He made his planes while living in Scituate, RI, in the rural western part of RI.  This location dictated his customer base and thus the types of planes he made.  I have seen OLNEY complex molding planes that are equal to the product of Joseph Fuller and John Lindenberger, but for the most part his planes have simple molding shapes and they sometimes lack precise detailing.  And I know of one OLNEY cornice plane that shows tree bark on its side.

      Olney’s tool making skills were developed and refined close to home; in Scituate, and in the neighboring town of Glocester.  In the 18th century, both Scituate and Glocester hugged the CT border and they served as important transit points for RI / CT commerce.  Both towns had developed strong independent identities that set them apart from the coastal towns of Providence and Newport.  When Stephen Olney decided to take up house-wright work and try his hand at plane making, his learning was shaped by the customs and traditions of this border area, where many talented woodworkers had plied their craft, including a few who had tried their hand at plane making.  Two surviving planes with a ZEB, HOPKINS maker’s stamp predate Stephen Olney’s work, but are examples of the early stages of tool development along the RI / CT border. (note 4).   More instructive are the planes of Duty Salsbery, a millwright and plane maker who lived in Glocester, RI.  Duty Salsbery was nine years older than Stephen Olney.  The exact relationship between the two men is not known, but the identical chamfer stops on the ends of their planes suggests some connection. (note 5).

       Stephen Olney (b. Jan. 25, 1775) had a son named Stephen H. Olney, born 1814, died 1894.  Stephen H., like his father, lived most of his life in Scituate, RI, where he worked as a carpenter.  When he was 28 years old, he made a wooden bench plane that he stamped with his name and an 1842 date.  Both stampings are on the front or toe end of the plane.  The "S. H. OLNEY" name stamp is an embossed stamp with a saw tooth border, and looks like a typical plane maker's stamp.  And the plane looks like a c1830 bench plane made by a practiced plane maker.  I believe that Stephen H. Olney was taught how to make this plane by his father, Stephen Olney, and that this one plane proves that the father, Stephen Olney, was the plane maker who signed his planes OLNEY. (note 6).  

       For 25 years, I have paid close attention to where OLNEY planes have been found and also to the owner name stamps that are on some OLNEY planes.  I can connect six OLNEY planes to the western part of Rhode Island, in or near the Town of Scituate where Stephen Olney lived.  And there are six other OLNEY planes that were found in CT towns just over the RI border, in close proximity to western RI.  That makes 12 OLNEY planes that can be linked to western RI, out of a total of 25 OLNEY planes I know of in private collections. (note 7).

  NOTES

Note 1.  Based on the land deed evidence I found at Scituate Town Hall, Stephen Olney lived from 1810 through 1822 in the Village of Rockland in the western part of the Town of Scituate.  Rockland is today underwater, having been flooded when the Scituate Reservoir was built in 1921.  Never more than a couple of acres, Olney's property in Rockland Village abutted the "Killingly Road so called," a road that is today part of Chopmist Hill Road (Rt. 102).  An 1810 land deed refers to him as a "housewright" and this is the trade he followed while living in Rockland.  In 1828, at the age of 53, Olney moved to the northeastern part of the Town of Scituate, an area that is today the Village of North Scituate at the junction of Hartford Ave. and Route 116.  Here he purchased a small farm.  After 1828,  farming took the place of house-wright work and plane making as his primary occupation.  When Olney died in 1854, his farm, "25 acres of land, with the buildings thereon," was his most valuable asset.

Note 2.  Stephen Olney married Naomi Taylor in 1798.  They had 12 children, 6 sons and six daughters.  Four of the sons became carpenters and two became painters.  Stephen Olney and his wife Naomi are buried in the “Taylor Lot” (Scituate Cemetery #SC046), located off Brandy Brook Road in the Village of North Scituate.

Note 3.  A biographical sketch in the book "Representative Men and Old Families of Rhode Island," 1908, page 1761, says of Stephen Olney that he "was a well known builder of his day, and at times gave employment to a large number of men.  It used to be his practice to employ a force of men on construction work in Providence and vicinity, in the summer season, while in the winter he would take his men to the southern States by boat, and in that section he would do work in the winter season.  He did considerable work throughout the State of Georgia.  The latter years of his life were spent in farming on the home farm in Scituate, and there he died Aug. 7, 1854.  He was a man of splendid judgement, and he held the office of president of the town council for several terms, _ _ _.  He was a man of fine appearance and commanding presence, and was most highly esteemed and respected."

Note 4.  The two ZEB, HOPKINS planes were reportedly found in CT, along the RI border.  They look early, c1750-70, and bring to mind the work of the earliest RI makers, Benjamin Waterman (b.1719-d.1799) and Jonathan Ballou (b.1723-d.1770).  There are several possible candidates for ZEB, HOPKINS, all having lived in either Scituate or Glocester, RI. 

Note 5.  I have three D + SALSBERY planes in my collection, an ogee molding plane, a plow plane, and a panel raising plane.  They all have the same maker's mark that is shown in Tom Elliott’s book “A Guide to the Makers of American Wooden Planes” (Fourth Edition, 2001).  The three planes are complete, with all original parts.  In describing these planes, I would say “country plain.”  They are a bit crude and awkward looking, but in a charming sort of way.  Without question, they would all perform well the work for which they were made.  Duty Salsbery, the maker of these planes, was born c1766 and died in 1859.  He was a carpenter, millwright, and farmer in Glocester, RI.

Note 6.  The "S. H. OLNEY" bench plane was found at a Providence, RI estate sale in 2001.  The plane is 23 inches long, made of beech, and has a closed handle.  The plane has 5/8 inch wide flat chamfering along the top.  The chamfering is unusually steep, sitting almost entirely on the side of the plane.  There is 1/2 inch wide flat chamfering at the nose and heel of the plane, with the chamfers extending half way down and ending in a gouge cut.  The plane has seen very little use and the iron looks original.  It is a single iron with a four line stamp that reads GROVES & SONS / USE / CAST-STEEL / WARRANTED.  The plane maker style name stamp on this plane suggests that Stephen H. Olney at one point hoped to follow his father as a plane maker.  But the evidence is that this did not happen, as this plane is the only example I know of with an "S. H. OLNEY" mark.  Stephen H. Olney is listed in the 1850 Federal Census as age 31, working as a carpenter.  In this 1850 entry, his middle name Henry is used instead of Stephen to differentiate him from his father, Stephen Olney, who was still living.  In the 1860 Federal Census, Stephen H. Olney is listed as age 41, working as a carpenter.  In the 1870 Federal Census, he is listed as age 50, working in a cotton mill.

Note 7.  These are the 12 OLNEY planes that can be linked to western RI:

  1. an OLNEY plow plane was found in a house in Scituate, RI in 1995.  This plane was in a large group of tools with a history of descent in the town of Scituate, RI.
  2. an OLNEY molding plane with an owner's name stamp "BARNET WHIPPLE."  Barnet Whipple, born c1773, lived in Glocester, RI, a town that borders on Scituate, RI.  He was a carpenter.
  3. an OLNEY cornice plane (5 1/2 inches wide) with an owner's name stamp "P. KINYON."  P. Kinyon is probably Peleg Kinyon, born c1772.  As a young man, he lived in Hopkinton, RI, a town in southwestern RI about 25 miles from Scituate.
  4. an OLNEY skewed rabbet plane (1 1/8 inches wide) that was bought at an antique shop in Foster, RI in the early 1970s.  Foster, RI borders on the town of Scituate.
  5.  an OLNEY molding plane that was bought at a yard sale in Foster, RI in 2003.  Foster, RI borders on the town of Scituate.
  6. an OLNEY skewed rabbet plane (1 inch wide) that was bought at an estate auction in Johnston, RI in 2007.  Johnston, RI borders on the town of Scituate.
  7. an OLNEY cornice plane (3 7/8 inches wide) that was found at an antique shop in Plainfield, CT in 1990.  Plainfield is just over the RI/ CT line, about 17 miles from Scituate, RI.
  8. (5) OLNEY planes that were found in a house in Brooklyn, CT in 2012.  The five planes were in a group of 22 planes that belonged to the father of the man who owned the house.  Brooklyn is just over the RI/CT line, about 20 miles from Scituate, RI.