McMaster, Hartson & Company

McMaster, Hartson & Co. manufactured wooden-works clocks in the Vienna Township clock industry. The manufactory was located on a site purchased by Dwight McMaster (born 1802) in February 1828. It was located on the north side of Warren-Sharon Road west of Vienna Center. The site is now occupied by Crown Hill Burial Park.

McMaster was joined in this business by brothers David R. Hartson (born in 1801) and William H. Hartson (born in 1805) thus forming McMaster, Hartson & Company. [1]

Thomas Merritt, resident of Vienna, and businessman Origen Adams, of Lorain County, Ohio, initially financed the venture through mortgages of $475, payable in clocks, and $600 in cash. Successful and influential Warren merchants David and Leicester King also invested $1,000 in the company. The site had water power, so this company may have manufactured clock parts as well as assembled them. The company purchased clock parts from Ansel Merrell and from Lambert W. Lewis, whose factory stood across the road.

Charles Lewis, brother of Lambert W. and Garry Lewis, was a boss at the factory in 1828.

After the business ceased as a clock manufactory in 1830, a carding machine was installed in the building. Dwight McMaster and David R. Hartson then moved to Elyria, Lorain County, Ohio.

McMaster, Hartson & Co.'s debt led to Thomas Merritt's bankruptcy in 1832.

Dwight McMaster's brother Schuyler appears to have been an employee of one of the clock factories in Vienna. Schuyler and his wife Lucy Hart lived about one-and-a-half miles north of Woodford's Corners on the east side of Sodom-Hutchins (now Sodom-Hutchings) Road. The house still stood in 1999. [2]

A clock face with the name "D. R. Hartson" on it exists today.

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