The planemaker Duty Salsbery was born c1766 in Smithfield, RI.  He is the son of Edward Salisbury (1733-1829) and Abigail (Ballou).  He married Cynthia Smith in (?) and they had six children.  Duty died Jan. 12, 1859 in Burrillville, RI, age 93. (note 1)

He was a carpenter, millwright, and farmer.  He resided in the Town of Glocester, RI until 1806 when the town boundary changed and he became a resident of the Town of Burrillville, which was formed from part of Glocester.  A biographical sketch in the book Representative Men And Old Families Of Rhode Island has this information on Duty Salsbery.  “He was a carpenter by occupation.  He became especially well known for his work in mill construction.  He and his son-in-law, Thomas Slack, erected and operated the first woolen-mill at Pascoag” [a village in Burrillville, RI]. (note 2)

I found seven Glocester, RI land deeds for Duty Salsbery which refer to him as either a “House Carpenter” or “House Wright,” these deeds dating from 1793 through 1801.  I found another deed, dated 1801, which refers to him as a “Yeoman alias House Carpenter,” and two other deeds, dated 1798, in which he is called a “Yeoman.”  The spelling of his name in nine of the deeds is Duty Salsbery, the same spelling that is on his wooden planes.  In one deed the spelling is Duty Salisbery. (note 3)

I found three Burrillville, RI land deeds for Duty Salsbery which refer to him as a “carpenter,” these deeds dating from 1811 through 1814, and one deed, dated 1815, which refers to him as a “gentleman.”  The spelling of his name in the first three deeds is Duty Salsbury and in the last deed Duty Salsbery. (note 4)

The name Salsbery is a variant spelling of the family name Salisbury.  Most family members in Rhode Island in the late 18th and early 19th centuries used either Salisbury or Salsbury.  The spelling used by the plane maker is seldom seen and made it easier for me to identify the Glocester / Burrillville carpenter as the plane maker “D + SALSBERY.”

There are five known examples of D + SALSBERY planes.  He made planes for his own use and probably an occasional plane for a friend or fellow worker.  The total number of planes he made over 50 plus years may be less than 25.  His ability to make a functional plane was one of the many skills he possessed as a carpenter and millwright.

I have three D + SALSBERY planes in my collection, an ogee molding plane, a plow plane, and a panel raising plane.  The three planes are pictured on the Early RI Toolmakers & Tradesmen website.  If I had to describe the style and appearance of these planes, I would say “country plain.”  They are a bit crude and awkward looking, but in a charming sort of way.  Without question, all three would perform well the work for which they were made.  The panel plane and the molder are birch and the plow plane is fruitwood, probably apple.  The panel plane has an offset handle and has round chamfering at the top and ends.  The wedges in both the plow plane and the molder have long necks and small round finials, and both plane bodies have 3/16+ flat chamfering along the top.  The end treatment on these two planes is quite distinctive.  The flat chamfers end with a right angle flat step out, and then immediately below is a full gouge cut, the top of the gouge cut just touching the bottom of the step out.  The end detailing is very close to what is seen on the planes made by Stephen Olney (b.1775) of Scituate, RI.

Duty Salsbery in Glocester, RI and Stephen Olney in Scituate, RI lived in neighboring towns in the rural western part of the state.  Both towns were mainly agricultural, although this began to change after 1810 as the textile industry spread into rural RI.  The plane making that took place in such towns served the needs of a farm based economy and the planes that were made do not have the practiced look that men like Joseph Fuller and John Lindenberger gave to their work.  Duty Salsbery (b.1766) was nine years older than the plane maker Stephen Olney (b.1775).  The relationship between the two men is not known, but the almost identical chamfer stops on the ends of their planes suggests a connection.  What can be said is that both men adopted a plane making style that was unique to the western part of the state. (note 5)

If the planes made by Duty Salsberry are typical of western RI planemaking, what is to be made of the planes marked A. SAYLES and E. SAYLES?  Both men are listed in A Guide To The Makers of American Wooden Planes, [Fourth Edition. 2001]; the A SAYLES mark reported on ten planes and the E. SAYLES mark on one plane, but with no information in the book as to the identity of either man.  I now know that A. Sayles is Ahab Salyes and E. Sayles is either Elisha Sayles or Esek Sayles; three brothers, all working as carpenters, who lived in the same part of Glocester and then Burrillville as Duty Salsbery.  Salsbery (b. c1766) was 6 years younger than Ahab Sayles, 9 years younger than Elisha Sayles and 13 years younger than Esek Sayles.  In 1801, Salsbery was living on a farm that bordered on the farm owned by Elisha Sayles. (note 6)  Yet the D + SALSBERRY stamped planes are so very different than the SAYLES planes. The 11 SAYLES planes are identical to the work of the planemaker Henry Wetherel from Norton, MA.  All are beautifully crafted, with precision detailing.  And two of the planes with the A. SAYLES mark also have the H. WETHEREL / IN NORTON mark. (note 7)  A likely scenario is that the Sayles brothers inherited from their father, Israel Sayles, a set of planes made by Henry Wetherel of Norton.  Either most of the Wetherel planes were not stamped when made or someone carefully removed the Wetherel stamp, providing space on the planes for two of the Sayles brothers to place their owner stamps.  The planes marked A. SAYLES and E. SAYLES are made in the best tradition of Southeastern Massachusetts planemaking as it evolved from the work of Francis Nicholson, whereas Duty Salsbery’s planes should be thought of as examples of country toolmaking in western RI.

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1.  Charles William Farnham, John Smith, the Miller, of Providence, Rhode Island, and some of his Descendants, reprinted in the book Genealogies of Rhode Island Families From Rhode Island Periodicals.  Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co. 1983. Vol. 2, page 136.

There is a short biographical sketch of Duty Salsbery in the book Representative Men And Old Families Of Rhode Island.  Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. 1908. Vol. III, pages 1470-1.
 
Duty Salsbery and his wife are buried in the “Rhode Island Historical Cemetery - Pascoag - 14,” in Burrillville, RI.

2.  Representative Men And Old Families Of Rhode Island.  Page 1470.

-Duty Salsbery passed on his carpentry skills to four of his sons who made woodworking their life’s work.
*Martin S., born Mar. 28, 1793.  A wheelwright who lived in Burrillville and Prov., RI.
*Moses B., born July 30, 1797.  A carpenter and wheelwright who died in Prov., RI
*Alexander, born Apr. 15, 1802.  A carpenter who died in Burrillville, RI.
*Daniel M., born Mar. 24, 1808.  A carpenter who moved to Prov., RI in 1834.

3.  Land Deeds at Glocester Town Hall
[Grantee Deeds]
Book 12, page 384. 1793. “Duty Salsbery of Glocester House Carpenter”
Book 12, page 446. 1794. “Duty Salsbery of Glocester House Carpenter”
Book 13, page 149. 1795. “Duty Salsbery of Glocester House Carpenter”
Book 13, page 231. 1796. “Duty Salsbery of Glocester House Carpenter.” 
Book 13, page 289. 1796. “Duty Salsbery of Glocester House Carpenter.” 
Book 13, page 479. 1798. “Duty Salsbery House Wright.”
Book 14, page 69. 1798. “Duty Salsbery & Silvanus Cook, Yeoman.”  Benjamin Aldrich of Glocester sells Salsbery and Cook “The one eighth part of the Sawmill standing on the southeasterly part of Joseph Shippee’s farm together with one eighth of the Mill irons and Sawmill Yard & all other privileges and appurtenances thereunto belonging, the saw only excepted, _ _ .”
[Grantor Deeds]
Book 14, page 55. 1798. “Duty Salisbery (wife Cynthia) of Glocester Yeoman”
Book 14, page 229. 1800. “Duty Salsbery (wife Cynthia) of Glocester House Carpenter”
Book 15, page 59. 1801 “Duty Salsbery Yeoman alias House Carpenter.”  Duty Salsbery sells Elisha Sayles of Glocester, “Yeoman alias House Carpenter,” _ _ the “south part of the said Salsbery farm whereon he now lives” _ _  “it being a bound of the said Sayles and Salsbery.                                                    

4.  Land Deeds at Burrillville Town Hall
[Grantee Deeds]
Book 1, page 60. 1811 “Duty Salsbury of Burrillville, carpenter.”  Benjamin Mathewson of Burrillville sells Duty Salsbery “all the right and privilege I own in the Monkey Town Sawmill privilege so called and Sawmill Lot, it being one fifth of half and half quarter, also half and half quarter of the old Mill irons that belonged to the old sawmill.”
Book 1, page 70. 1811 “Duty Salsbury of Burrillville, carpenter.”  Elisha Sayles of Burrillville sells Duty Salsberry “all the right and title I own in the Monkey Town Sawmill place privilege lying on the South side of the highway, and in water, and mill yard, and irons, it being one eighth and one sixteenth part of the mill privilege, and yard, water, and irons.”
Book 1, page 107. 1814 “Duty Salsbury of Burrillville, carpenter.”  Daniel Mathewson of Preston, NY, sells Duty Salsbury “all the right and privilege I own in the Monkey Town Sawmill so called and Sawmill Lot, it being one fifth of half and half quarter _ _.”
[Grantor Deed]
Book 1, page 141. 1815 “Duty Salsbery of Burrillville, gentleman.”  Salsbery sells to a Mary Smith “Three small tracts of land lying and being in Burrillville near Passcogue or Salsbery Factory _ _  the first piece is wood and improved land _ _ beginning at the Northeast corner of my old farm where Adin Steere now lives _ _ bounded by the Southwest corner of the Factory Lot and runs _ _  to a rock to the Southwest of the Sawmill _ _.”

5.  The planes Abraham Fisk (b.1762) made after he moved to NY State c1788 have the same end treatment as seen on Salsbery and Olney planes.  Fisk was raised in the Scituate, RI area, as was Olney, and there is a connection between Fisk, Olney, and Salsbery.   Fisk (b.1762) is older than both Salsbery (b. c1766) and Olney (b.1775) and Fisk would be the first of the three to have “taken hold of” this distinctive end detailing. Either Fisk originated this end detailing or he learned it from someone working in the Scituate, RI area.  The years 1777-1782 would be when Fisk learned his trade, probably as a house-wright or shop joiner.  Surprisingly, Fisk appears to have made few, if any planes, while living in RI; most Fisk planes having been found in NY State.

6.  See the 1801 Glocester, RI “Grantee” land deed referenced in Note 3 above.

7.  A Guide To The Makers of American Wooden Planes, [Fourth Edition. 2001], says the ten A. SAYLES planes (including the two marked H. Wetherel / In Norton) are in the collection of Old Sturbridge Village.