Nehemiah Adams was baptized in Ipswich, Massachusetts, on April 16, 1769, and died in Salem on January 24, 1840. He married Mehitable Torry of Boston in 1802. He purchased his shop on the corner of Newbury and Williams Streets in Salem in 1796. It burned down on April 3, 1798. Adams was briefly in partnership with Benjamin Adams and Thomas Russell Williams in 1804. The former was active in the venture cargo trade and was a part owner of three vessels, including the brig Unicorn in 1804 (with the Sandersons). Documented furniture includes a labeled gentleman's secretary (Winterthur Museum) and a suite of furniture made for Lucy Hill Foster in 1810.

Sources: Ethel Hall Bjerkoe, The Cabinetmakers of America (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1957), p. 20; Henry Wyckoff Belknap, Artists and Craftsmen of Essex County, Massachusetts (Salem, Mass.: Essex Institute, 1927), p. 23; Margaret Burke Clunie, "Salem Federal Furniture" (master's thesis, University of Delaware, 1976), p. 140; Essex County Registry of Deeds, 159: 232; A. Frank Hitchings, Ship Registers of the District of Salem and Beverly, Massachusetts, 1789-1900 (Salem, Mass.: Essex Institute, 1906), pp. 62, 86, 191; Fiske Kimball, "Salem Furniture Makers II, Nehemiah Adams," Antiques 24, no. 6 (December 1933): 218-20; Charles Montgomery, American Furniture: The Federal Period (New York: Viking Press, 1966), no. 181; and Nancy Cooper, "Some Documented Salem Furniture," House Beautiful 69, no. 4 (April 1931): 280-81.

William Appleton was baptized in Ipswich, Massachusetts, on June 30, 1765, and died in Salem on September 23, 1822. He probably apprenticed with his father, William. The younger Appleton's shop was on Essex Street by 1794, and near the Sun Tavern on the corner of Liberty and Charter Streets from 1795 until 1804. He purchased a house and land on Market Street in 1798. He was a part owner of the snow Fanny with the Sandersons and the schooner Olive Branch with Josiah Austin and the Sandersons. Documented pieces include a lady's tambour desk (Winterthur Museum) and a labeled secretary-and-bookcase (Winterthur Museum).

Sources: Bjerkoe, Cabinetmakers of America, p. 29; Belknap, Artists and Craftsmen of Essex County, p. 26; Clunie, "Salem Federal Furniture," pp. 153-56; Essex County Registry of Deeds, 164: 172; Hitchings, Ship Registers of the District of Salem and Beverly, pp. 59, 136; Clunie, "Salem Federal Furniture," p. 154; and Montgomery, American Furniture, no. 178.

Josiah Austin was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, on April 27, 1746, the son of Josiah Austin (b. 1719) and Mary Austin. He died in Salem on November 5, 1825. His brother Richard was a chair maker. Josiah moved to Medford in 1775 and was in Salem by 1779 when he joined with the Sandersons to establish a cooperative furniture export business. He was a part owner of the schooner Olive Branch in 1796 with the Sandersons and William Appleton. Josiah was one of the surveyors of boards, plank, and timber for the town of Salem in 1799. In 1803, his son Josiah died at sea in the schooner Friendship that was owned by fellow society members. No documented furniture by him is known.

sources: Daniel Austin, Austin manuscript genealogy, Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum; Bjerkoe, Cabinetmakers of America, p. 32; Clunie, "Salem Federal Furniture," p. 157; Hitchings, Ship Registers of the District of Salem and Beverly, p. 136; and Brock Jobe and Myrna Kaye, New England Furniture, The Colonial Era: Selections from the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 1984), p. 232.

Richard Austin was baptized in Charlestown, Massachusetts, on July 1, 1744, the son of Josiah and Mary and brother of Josiah. He married Isabel Symonds in Salem in 1797 and died of consumption in Salem on April 20, 1826. He was primarily a chair maker. No documented furniture by him is known.

Sources: Daniel Austin, Austin manuscript genealogy; Bjerkoe, The Cabinetmakers of America, p. 32; and Belknap, Artists and Craftsmen of Essex County, Massachusetts, p. 26.

Samuel Barnard was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, on July 22, 1776, the son of Major Samuel Barnard and Elizabeth Bond. He died in Watertown on June 14, 1858. He was in Salem by May 30, 1799, when he married Elizabeth Cook. He was a part owner of the schooner Friendship in 1802 with Edmund Johnson, George W. Martin, and Jonathan Marston. Barnard shipped furniture in 1805 on the schooner Good Intent with other members of the society. A card table branded "S.B." (Yale University Art Gallery) has been attributed to him.

sources: Benjamin Hewitt et al., The Work of Many Hands: Card Tables in America, 1790-1820 (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 1982), p. 136, no. 19; Hitchings, Ship Registers of the District of Salem and Beverly, p. 67; David L. Barquist, American Tables and Looking Glasses in the Mabel Brady Garvan and Other Collections at Yale University (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 1992), pp. 188-91.

Samuel Cheever was born in Manchester, Massachusetts, on March 12, 1756. He was the son of the Reverend Ames Cheever, the town's minister, and his fourth wife, Sarah Davis. Samuel hung himself on May 14, 1818, and left an estate valued at $1,420.80. He was in Salem by March 29, 1787, when he married Anna Ropes (d. 1799). He took his second wife Hannah Clark on May 10, 1800. Samuel purchased his shop at the end of Court Street from cabinetmaker and merchant Henry Rust in 1796. No documented furniture by him is known.

Sources: Bjerkoe, Cabinetmakers of America, p. 62; Belknap, Artists and Craftsmen of Essex County, Massachusetts, p. 33; John T. Hassam, Ezekiel Cheever and Some of His Descendants (Boston: David Clapp and Son, 1879), pp. 36-37; and Essex County Registry of Deeds, 159: 268.

Daniel Clarke was born in Braintree, Massachusetts, on March 14, 1768, and died in Salem on March 30, 1830. He was the son of Captain Peter Clarke and Hannah Clarke. In October 1794, he moved from Boston to work for the Sandersons for whom he did carving, turning, and cabinetmaking. Clarke established his own shop on Essex Street opposite Cambridge Street in 1796. On February 11, 1800, he moved to Chestnut Street near Summer and Norman Streets. He married Mary Sanderson in 1803. A sideboard made by him for Nathaniel Ropes in 1797 is in the Ropes Mansion (Peabody Essex Museum).

Sources: Belknap, Artists and Craftsmen of Essex County, Massachusetts, p. 33; Bjerkoe, Cabinetmakers of America, p. 65; and Clunie, "Salem Federal Furniture," p. 161.

Ezekiel Goodnow was born in Princeton, Massachusetts, on October 27, 1774. He married Sophia Farrington in Salem on December 20, 1801, and died before December 25, 1810, when his wife advertised for the administration of his estate. No documented furniture by him is known.

Sources: Belknap, Artists and Craftsmen of Essex County, Massachusetts, p. 43.

William Hook was born in Salisbury, Massachusetts, on February 19, 1777, and died in Roxbury, Massachusetts, on May 15, 1867. He was apprenticed at the age of fourteen to John Swett in Salisbury. He came to Salem in 1796 and worked for Edmund Johnson for two years and then the Sandersons for one year before opening his own shop at Essex and Court Streets in 1800. He married Abigail Greenleaf in 1800. He moved his shop to Federal Street in 1803, to Marlborough Street in 1804, and to Essex Street in 1818. Documented pieces include furniture made for his sister in 1809 (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), a chest of drawers and dressing glass made in 1818 (Peabody Essex Museum), and a suite of furniture made for Capt. George Hodges in 1819. Hook's business papers are in the Phillips Library of the Peabody Essex Museum.

Sources: Belknap, Artists and Craftsmen of Essex County, Massachusetts, p. 48; Bjerkoe, Cabinetmakers of America, pp. 128-29; Clunie, "Salem Federal Furniture," pp. 169-83; Fiske Kimball, "Salem Furniture Makers III, William Hook," Antiques 25, no. 4 (April 1934): 144-46; Richard H. Randall, Jr., American Furniture in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Boston: by the museum, 1965), nos. 37, 49, 99, 101; Clunie, "Salem Federal Furniture," pp. 177-82.

Edmund Johnson was the son of Edward Johnson (1722-1799) a Lynn, Massachusetts, "shop joiner." He died at sea before July 19, 1811. He was in Salem by 1793 when he married the widow Betsy Smith. He purchased property on Federal Street at Bickford from the estate of cordwainer John Bullock in 1798. He had a shop at River and Federal Streets in 1796 and subsequently moved to Essex Street. Very active in the export trade, he was a part owner of the schooner Friendship with George W. Martin, Jonathan Marston, and Samuel Barnard in 1802 and a half owner of the schooner Theoda in 1803. Labeled pieces by Johnson include a gentleman's secretary (Winterthur Museum), a slant top desk (Peabody Essex Museum), a lady's tambour desk, a sideboard, a tambour desk, and a pair of knife boxes.

Sources: Belknap, Artists and Craftsmen of Essex County, Massachusetts, p. 50; Bjerkoe, Cabinetmakers of America, p. 135; Clunie, "Salem Federal Furniture," pp. 184-91; Essex County Registry of Deeds, 165:19; Hitchings, Ship Registers of the District of Salem and Beverly, pp. 67, 183; Montgomery, American Furniture, no. 179; Dean A. Fales, Jr., Essex County Furniture: Documented Treasures from Local Collections, 1660-1860 (Salem, Mass.: Essex Institute, 1965), nos. 22-23; Winterthur Museum Decorative Arts Photographic Collection, 71.3513; Antiques 65, no. 6 (June 1954): 466-68; Fales, Essex County Furniture, nos. 20, 21.

Jonathan Marston was born in Hampton, New Hampshire, on May 13, 1777, the son of farmer Elisha Marston. Jonathan died in Machiasport, Maine, on March 12, 1862. He married Sarah Holt in Salem on July 5, 1801. The following year he was a part owner of the schooner Friendship with Edmund Johnson, George W. Martin, and Samuel Barnard. His brother Morrill Marston (1785-1831) was in business in Salem around 1805. Jonathan moved to Machiasport about 1812 where he kept a store and engaged in the lumber business with his brother Elisha. No documented furniture by him is known.

Sources:  Hitchings, Ship Registers of the District of Salem and Beverly, p. 67; Nathan W. Marston, The Marston Genealogy in Two Parts (South Lubec, Maine: by the author, 1888), pp. 143-44.

George Whitefield Martin was born on March 5, 1771, in Marblehead, Massachusetts, and died in Salem on January 5, 1810. He was in partnership with Robert Choate (b. 1770) in Concord, New Hampshire, from 1794 to 1796. Martin moved to Salem by April 11, 1797, when he married Sally Bullock. Through his wife's family he acquired land and a shop on Federal Street next to Edmund Johnson. In 1802, Martin was a part owner of the schooner Friendship with Edmund Johnson, Samuel Barnard, and Jonathan Marston. His tools and shop on Federal Street were sold at auction on June 19, 1810. A card table with the label of Choate and Martin (New Hampshire Historical Society) is the only documented piece by him.

Sources: Belknap, Artists and Craftsmen of Essex County, Massachusetts, p. 58; Bjerkoe, Cabinetmakers of America, p. 150; Clunie, "Salem Federal Furniture," pp. 198-99; Hewitt et al., Work of Many Hands, p. 118; Hitchings, Ship Registers of the District of Salem and Beverly, p. 67; Hewitt et al., Work of Many Hands, no. 3.

Francis Pulcifer was born in 1771 (possibly in Ipswich, Massachusetts) and died on June 24, 1823, in Salem. He married four times: Hannah Trask (1792), Martha Hodgkins (1806), Hannah Haskell (1814), and Lydia Lakeman (1816). Pulcifer was in business with Samuel Frothingham on Church Street until he moved to Court Street in 1795 when the partnership dissolved. Four years later, he purchased property on Williams Street from watchmaker James Dalrymple. Pulcifer was active in the venture cargo trade. No documented furniture by him is known.

Sources: Belknap, Artists and Craftsmen of Essex County, Massachusetts, p. 65; Bjerkoe, Cabinetmakers of America, p. 180; Clunie, "Salem Federal Furniture," pp. 213-14; Essex County Registry of Deeds, 165: 183.

Elijah Sanderson was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, on October 10, 1751, and died in Salem on February 18, 1825. In 1781, he married Mary Mulliken whose brother Samuel was a clockmaker. With his brother Jacob and Josiah Austin, Elijah started a cooperative furniture export business in 1779. Their firm employed many of the town's cabinetmakers, journeymen, turners, carvers, gilders, and upholsterers. The partners owned the schooner Olive Branch with William Appleton in 1796, the snow Fanny with Appleton in 1799, and the brig Unicorn with Nehemiah Adams in 1804. Documented furniture by him includes a desk-and-bookcase branded "ES," a slant-top desk (New England Historic Genealogical Society), a night table, a branded lady's tambour desk, a labeled (with Jacob Sanderson) desk-and-bookcase (Diplomatic Reception Rooms, U.S. Department of State), a card table (with Jacob Sanderson) with painted initials (Winterthur Museum), and a labeled (with Jacob Sanderson) pembroke table (Winterthur Museum). His business papers are in the Phillips Library of the Peabody Essex Museum.

Sources: Belknap, Artists and Craftsmen of Essex County, Massachusetts, p. 68; Bjerkoe, Cabinetmakers of America, pp. 189-90; Clunie, "Salem Federal Furniture," pp. 216-20; Hitchings, Ship Registers of the District of Salem and Beverly, pp. 59, 136, 191; Mabel M. Swan, Samuel McIntire, Carver and the Sandersons, Early Salem Cabinetmakers (Salem, Mass.: Essex Institute, 1934); Winterthur Museum Decorative Arts Photographic Collection, 88.472; Swan, Samuel McIntire and the Sandersons, opposite p. 32; Fales, Essex County Furniture, no. 37; Winterthur Museum Decorative Arts Photographic Collection, 70.279; Clement E. Conger and Alexandra W. Rollins, Treasures of State: Fine and Decorative Arts in the Diplomatic Reception Rooms of the U.S. Department of State (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1991), no. 121; Montgomery, American Furniture, nos. 300, 322.

Jacob Sanderson was born about October 20, 1757, in Watertown, Massachusetts, and married Katherine Harrington of Watertown in 1781. He died in Salem in December of 1810. In partnership with his brother Elijah, he was a part owner of three vessels (see above). Documented furniture by him includes a bed cornice (Peabody Essex Museum), two tables (Winterthur Museum), and pieces jointly labeled with Elijah Sanderson (see above). His business papers are in the Phillips Library of the Peabody Essex Museum.

Sources: Belknap, Artists and Craftsmen of Essex County, Massachusetts, p. 68; Bjerkoe, Cabinetmakers of America, p. 190; Clunie, "Salem Federal Furniture," pp. 220-26; Hitchings, Ship Registers of the District of Salem and Beverly, pp. 59, 136, 191; Margaret Burke Clunie, Anne Farnam, and Robert Trent, Furniture at the Essex Institute (Salem, Mass.: Essex Institute, 1980), no. 34. Montgomery, American Furniture, nos. 300, 301.

Robert Wallis was born about 1764 and died in Salem on October 2, 1824. He married Mary Polly Aveson in the town on December 13, 1787. The following year, he purchased land and buildings on Essex Street from the estate of Mary Ford. No documented furniture by him is known.

Sources: Vital Records of Salem, Massachusetts, 4: 430, 6: 302; Essex County Registry of Deeds, 147: 275.