Guide to the David Alling (1773-1855), Chair maker Records 1801-1857 MG 309

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Descriptive Summary

Biographical Note

Scope and Content Note

Restrictions

Access Points

Related Material

Administrative Information

Bibliography

Container List

Chair Maker Records

Guide to the David Alling (1773-1855), Chair maker

Records

1801-1857

MG 309

© 2006 All rights reserved.

The New Jersey Historical Society, Publisher

Processed by Luis Delfino, October 2000, as part of the “Farm to City” project funded by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

Finding aid encoded by Julia Telonidis. February 2006. Production of the EAD 2002 version of this finding aid was made possible by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Finding aid written in English.

Biographical Note

David Alling, the son of Mary Clisbie (1749-1792) and Isaac Alling (1749-1819) was born on September 17, 1773. Like his father,
he became a chair maker in Newark, New Jersey and set up home and shop at 345-347 Broad Street. He established a reputation
as a “fancy” chair maker and ran a successful business, shipping his product to southern markets as far as Buenos Aires, Argentina
and eventually hiring large numbers of craftsmen to work in his factory.

On April 2, 1802 David Alling married Nancy Ball (1779-1815). Nancy and David had three children together, Mary C. (1805-1878),
Stephen B. (1808-1861), and Isaac A. (1814-1890), before Nancy’s death in 1815. David Alling married a second time, on November
25, 1817, to Eunice Roberts (1787-1864), with whom he had three more children: Joseph C. (1819-1895), David W. (1820-1883),
and Horace (b. 1822). He died on February 25, 1855.

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Scope and Content Note

The records consist of account books, daybooks, and record books from David Alling’s chair making business and estate. The
collection dates from 1801-1857, consists of twelve volumes, and measures approximately 1.0 linear feet.

The records include five account books, the first of which contains most of the daily account records from Alling’s business.
This volume dates from 1803-1851 and lists date, job, and price in each customer’s account. Most jobs involve the making,
matting, molding, painting, or varnishing of stools, chairs, and rocking chairs.

The remaining account books in the collection were used for particular purposes or customers, such as the book solely for
the account of Moses Lyon, and another containing mostly accounts with Alling’s sons. The final two volumes track southern
shipments and employee’s work hours. The former of these contains accounts documenting chairs shipped, on what vessels they
traveled, and their destination. Alling’s southern customers included such firms as Meeker & Clark, Robert Stewart, Lyons
& Merchant, J. W. Meeker & Co., Elias B. Crane, and O. J. Hayes & Co. He shipped to such places as Savannah, Georgia; Norfolk,
Virginia; Mobile, Alabama; and Buenos Aires, Argentina. The final volume is labeled “Book for keeping account of Apprentices
work” and contains accounts listing the rate at which each worker is paid (i.e. “13.00 per week”), the days and weeks he worked,
and how much he is owed.

The collection also contains two daybooks, dating from 1826-1854. These volumes document Alling’s daily business through
chronological entries consisting of customer name, job, and price. There are also three receipt books dating from 1803-1856
documenting money received from Alling for bills, purchases, or notes; and a record book containing a small number of accounts,
records of “bills not settled,” and business orders. These records are from various time periods and are not extensive.

The final volume contains financial records from David Alling’s estate, including a complete inventory of Alling’s “moveable
property…finished & unfinished chairs & chair stuff & tools in shop & lumber & flagg, etc, etc.”

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions on this collection.

Photocopying of materials is limited and no materials may be photocopied without permission from library staff.

Use Restrictions

Researchers wishing to publish, reproduce, or reprint materials from this collection must obtain permission.

The New Jersey Historical Society complies with the copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code), which
governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions and protects unpublished materials as well as published materials.

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Related Material

Manuscript Group 435, Alling Brothers & Company Records

Manuscript Group 482, Alling-Campfield Family (Newark, NJ) Papers

Painting, Artist Unknown. “House and Shop of David Alling,” Oil on canvas, ca. 1830s, Gift of Mrs. Clarence Willis Alling,
Call number (museum collections): 1928.5

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

This collection should be cited as: Manuscript Group 309, David Alling (1773-1855), Chair Maker

Records, The New Jersey Historical Society.

Acquisition Information

The source of the record books is unknown. The apprentice account book was donated at a later time than the other four volumes
in the collection.

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Bibliography

Allen, George P. AHistory and Genealogical Record of the Alling-Allens of New Haven, Connecticut: The Descendants of Roger Alling, First, and
John Alling, Sen., From 1630 to the Present Time (Press of Price, Lee & Adkins Co.: New Haven, CT, 1899), pg. 63.

Van Hoesen, Walter Hamilton. Crafts and Craftsmen of New Jersey(Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, Associated University Presses, Inc., 1943), pg. 95.

White, Margaret E. The Decorative Arts of Early New Jersey (D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., Princeton, NJ, 1964), pgs. 118-120.

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Container List

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