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Subject: Bolton and stain glass from the Strain glass quarterly
Date: Sat, 18 Nov 2000 17:55:35 EST

The Early Beginnings of Stained Glass in America
Glass making was the first industry set up in America in Jamestown, settled
in 1607. The English were running out of wood to fuel their furnaces. The
endless forests and sand in the New World dictated the choice. To reassure
his English investors, Captain John Smith wrote that the glass-making venture
was a success, but the operation was very short lived. Bottles and window
glass were the primary glass products of this venture.

In 1637 or 1638, Evert Duyckingh came from Borken, a Dutch-German border
town, to New Amsterdam (now New York). He was a painter, glazier and "burner
of glass". The sort of small house windows he made can be seen in Dutch
paintings: a small round, square or oval panel set in a background of clear
glass quarries. The subjects, often a family coat of arms, were applied with
enamels and silver stain. Several examples of this type of glass are
preserved at the New York Historical Society and the Metropolitan Museum of
Art; while they are contemporary with Duyckingh's work, it is not certain
that they are actually his work.

In 1648, Duyckingh took on Cornelius Jansen as an apprentice. In 1656 he
requested payment for glass he put in a church, 2 1/2 beavers for each.
Duyckingh also made a window for the City Hall showing the coat of arms of
New Amsterdam. He wrote complaining he had not been paid.

Labadist missionaries arrived on a ship in 1679 on which Evert Duyckingh Jr.
was mate. Their new church window was made by Evert Sr. and another son,
Gerrit. In 1674, the Duyckingh operation passed on to Jacob Melyer.

In 1654, Jan Smeedes set up glass works in lower Manhattan to make roundels.
Blowing spun roundels may be seen in old prints such as those in Diderot's
Encyclopedia. At first, the outer part of the roundel was in greater demand
for glazing windows. The center with the punty mark was cheaper. Later
windows of multiple "bullseyes" glazed in quarry patterns were quite popular.

Churches in early America were simple meeting houses of wood or brick and
white woodwork. Stained glass was out of fashion or economically impractical.
Old Swedes Church in Philadelphia, when it opened, had no glass in the
windows, only shutters. Small shutters inside the larger outside ones were
used in cold weather.

In the nineteenth century, William Gibson began the earliest known glass
business in America around 1834 in New York City. This venture did not last,
but he tried again several decades later and would promote himself as the
"father of glass painting" in the United States.

Robert Bolton, elder of one of the most interesting families in American
stained glass history, came from England when he inherited property in
Savannah, Georgia. The family moved for a time to New York State, then
returned to England where William Jay and John were born. After a time, the
family returned to New York and built a home in Pelham. William was a
talented artist and studied with Samuel F.B. Morse. They made some small
stained glass windows for their home and followed them in 1843 with the
first-known American-made figural window, the Nativity for Christ Church at
Pelham, New York. These were followed in 1844 by the tour de force of the
fenestration of Holy Trinity Church in Brooklyn, (today Saint Ann's and Holy
Trinity).

The elder Otto Heinigke wrote of them: "Let me tell you that there is nothing
being done today the world over, that can compare with the vigor, the freedom
and the fire of these remarkable windows." Otto Weir Heinigke wrote: "I
believe that group of windows to be the finest in this country in nobility of
conception as an architectural decoration and as a comprehensive exposition
of the history of God's people from the Creation to Christ's glorification in
the Apocalyptic vision."

After this job, William Bolton returned to England and opened a stained glass
studio in Cambridge where he worked restoring the windows of Kings College.
Another window by him was recently rediscovered at West Lynne in Norfolk,
England. When he went to Cambridge, William attended classes that were not
available in America. While a student, he married, but his wife soon fell ill
and died. This so upset him that he studied for holy orders and became an
ordained clergyman. He married a second time and had several children.

Meanwhile, his brother John continued to make stained glass in America long
enough to do windows for the Church of the Holy Apostles in Manhattan. He,
too, became a clergyman, and after one or two other charges, went to Holy
Trinity Episcopal Church in West Chester, Pennsylvania. While there, he made
the decorative aisle windows. The chancel window in that church is by La
Farge and is a memorial to members of the Bolton family.

Many years later, a visitor from Holy Trinity Church in Brooklyn sought out
an aged daughter of William's who was supposed to be on her deathbed. She had
never heard of her father's earlier career in stained glass. The story so
excited her she arose from her bed and traveled from England to the United
States to see the windows.

The year 19844 saw the commencement of a set of figurative altar windows for
the architect Richard Upjohn's Trinity Episcopal Church. Upjohn contributed
to the design that was probably produced by Thomas F. Hoppin. They were
fabricated by Abner Stephenson.

In the 1850s several important studios were established that would survive
and promote the industry. Henry Sharp, Henry Belcher, Joseph and Richard Lamb
of Lamb Studios and William Gibson (who had reentered the field) founded
these studios. Despite these advances, the industry was still delicately
balanced; it was growing slowly, which was a reflection of individual
dedication and struggle. The quality of materials was limited compared to
what it would be only a few decades later; further, the window artistry was
largely derivative of foreign trends in the trade and decorative furnishings
industry. By the 1870s, the economic prospects for the industry were
improving. Scotsman Daniel Cottier and Englishman Charles Booth set up firms
in New York and New Jersey respectively to capitalize on the expanded
American markets.

This ionformation came from the Stained glass quarterly
on sit at www.stainedglass.com

Dot Smith

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