Deming, Phineas, Sr.

Early Settler, Clockmaker, Revolutionary War Veteran

Birth: January 26, 1750, Canaan, Litchfield County, Connecticut [1]
Death: unknown

Military Service: Colonel Hinman's 4th Regiment, 1st Company. Enlisted at age 25 in Litchfield County, Connecticut in April 1775. He was stationed at Fort Ticonderoga. He was discharged from service on October 4, 1775.

Deming was the son of Hezekiah Deming and Hannah Warren. He married Mary Gaylord in Southbury, New Haven County, Connecticut. He had several children; Abner, Phineas Jr., Diana, and a child that died as an infant. Note that Diana would later marry clockmaker Thomas Lewis.

An early settler in Vienna, he purchased land in Vienna Township in 1816.  He used the land to manufacture clocks in the Vienna Township wooden works clock industry between 1828 and 1830. His clock business, likely an assembly shop, was financed through a $500 mortgage with his clock peddler, son-in-law Thomas Lewis.  The business employed six men during that time period. 

The factory was located on a lot through which Little Yankee Creek ran, on Sodom-Hutchins (now Sodom-Hutchings) Road, approximately a mile and a half north of Woodford's Corners.

It was believed that "patent" or shelf clocks and tall clocks were produced as Deming and Lewis, but only one clock with "P. Deming" signed on a face has been identified. 

Deming may have left the business by May of 1830 after declaring bankruptcy when Thomas Lewis was in court over debts.  At the time of the insolvency, Deming surrendered his land to Garry Lewis. Deming left Vienna Township by 1834. 

For more information on the local wooden works clock industry, click here.