Humason, Joel J.

Pioneer, Clockmaker, War of 1812 Veteran

Born: 1794, Connecticut
Died: May 14, 1866, Vienna, Trumbull County, Ohio
Burial: Payne's Corners Cemetery, Brookfield Township, Trumbull County, Ohio
Find a Grave memorial

Military Service: Humason served as a private from August 24 to November 11, 1812, in Captain Asa Hutchins' Company, 3rd (Hayes') Regiment, Ohio Militia, during the War of 1812. Capt. Hutchins' company contained many men from Vienna Township, including Humason's future employer, clockmaker Lambert W. Lewis.[1]

Joel J. Humason (or Hummason) was the son of Joel and Ann Wheeler Humason, two of the earliest Connecticut settlers in the Township. He married Thankful Ford (1791-1868) on December 11, 1811. [2]

Clockmaker

In 1817, Humason worked at the clock factory of Lambert W. Lewis before entering into a partnership with Abel Tyler manufacturing clocks in Vienna Township.

Humason owned a water-powered sawmill on Little Yankee Creek in the south east corner of Vienna Township close to the Brookfield Township border, which was likely the location of the clock factory. Abel Tyler's property on Warren-Sharon Road was at Vienna Center. If located on the Tyler property, this clockmaking concern may have been restricted to assembly rather than shaping the clock parts and works. The business only ran for 7 months from March 16, 1818 to October 24, 1818 according to the diary of Tyler's wife, Sylvia Lewis Tyler. Tyler took out a mortgage on Humason's sawmill site in October, 1825. The business lasted until 1833.

Humason's financial woes, tied to his clockmaking ventures, left him destitute. His mother Ann Wheeler Humason died while applying for pension benefits due her husband Joel Humason, a veteran of the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783). Joel J. Humason and his brother Isaac Humason are described as "destitute" in the application and were awarded their later father's pension.

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