Peter Stretch
American, 1670 - 1746
A constant complaint voiced by early settlers of Philadelphia and its environs was that “they scarcely knew how time passed, nor that they hardly knew the day of Rest, or the Lord’s day, when it was.” 1 William Penn (1644–1718), Pennsylvania’s founder, was among them when he insisted that city residents have a means for telling time so that “the hours for work and meals to Labourers are fixt, and known.” 2 Their need to know the time of day and day of the week set the stage for the arrival of Peter Stretch (1670–1746), one of early America’s most celebrated clockmakers.
Stretch, born to Quaker parents in the hamlet of Harpers Gate, Staffordshire, England, learned the craft of clockmaking from his older brother, Samuel, after which he practiced clockmaking for about a decade in the town of Leek. Though apparently successful, Peter determined to emigrate with his wife, Margery, and four young children to Philadelphia. He arrived in the recently founded city in 1703 and quickly became part of the town’s Quaker ruling elite, commencing his forty-three-year career as Philadelphia’s leading clockmaker.
Stretch, born to Quaker parents in the hamlet of Harpers Gate, Staffordshire, England, learned the craft of clockmaking from his older brother, Samuel, after which he practiced clockmaking for about a decade in the town of Leek. Though apparently successful, Peter determined to emigrate with his wife, Margery, and four young children to Philadelphia. He arrived in the recently founded city in 1703 and quickly became part of the town’s Quaker ruling elite, commencing his forty-three-year career as Philadelphia’s leading clockmaker.
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