David Franklin Durfee and wife Nancy Ellen Hunt thought to be taken at the time of their wedding.

Photo courtesy of Uvonne McCarty and Frank Maxfield.

Photo courtesy of Uvonne McCarty and Frank Maxfield.

David Franklin Durfee-

photo courtesy of Dale Pierce, grandson

Photo courtesy of Uvonne McCarty

Well, the clock project is finished after about 1.5 years of learning and doing. Wall clock was completed on his 129th birthday. The pictures on the wall show him standing in front of the clock which I retrieved and restored. Clock keeps perfect time.



The other items are memorabilia which Mom had given me as his namesake... white cane, magnifying glass (it's the same one as shown in the picture at his work bench), glass frames, book on carpentry, etc.

Since I now have the original photos of the newspaper articles, I decided to re-typeset them.

I've also attached these. So now I have my David Franklin Durfee 'shrine'.

Clock made by David Franklin Durfee- the blind clock maker.

Restored to working condition by his grandson Frank Lamar Maxfield of Pennsylvania.

•The most 'classic' one is the grandfather clock. By my calculations, he build this for my Mother in about 1948 or 49. Sometime after I left home and went into the Navy... 1960, my folks sold the Caliente home and, at my request, included the stipulation that they could store the clock under the house (in a makeshift atom bomb shelter) for me to eventually claim. Sometime after 1970 we knocked on the door and asked for the clock. The owner had no recollection of it and I crawled under the house and retrieved it. The wood was all rotted away but the movement was intact. At one time I tried to get it working and it ran for awhile but the gears finally let go. A couple of years ago, we located a clock builder in Allentown, PA who agreed to rebuild it for $2500. He had it in his possession for a full year (with my $1000 deposit) and we finally came to blows before I was able to retrieve the clock and the deposit. In the course of the year, I studied clock building and obtained all the necessary vintage clock building tools on eBay and became proficient enough that I've now got the two other clocks running and now working on the grandfather clock.

You can see that he used cut off nails as rivets, old metal plates hack sawed into shape, old common wire soldered and bent for the pendulum attachment, metal pipe for the weight chains to rotate on, etc. The newspaper articles talk about his 'pride and joy' being a clock which tells the day of the month. It's highly likely that this clock is the one he was talking about since it does have the calendar gears and hand.

As I mentioned, I was born on his birthday (June 13) so it's possibly as a result of feeling that connection as his namesake that I've taken on the challenge to restore his clocks. It kind of seems like his legacy lives on if his clocks continue to run. Courtesy of Frank Lamar Maxfield, grandson of David Franklin Durfee.

Please take caption with photo!

The orginal article published in the Richfield Reaper was retypeset using the orginial photos used in the newspaper article. Courtesy of Frank Lamar Maxfield, grandson of David Franklin Durfee.

Please take caption with photo.

The orginal article published in the Richfield Reaper was retypeset using the orginial photos used in the newspaper article. Courtesy of Frank Lamar Maxfield, grandson of David Franklin Durfee.

Please take caption with photo.

Clock made by David Franklin Durfee- the blind clock maker.

Restored to working condition by his grandson Frank Lamar Maxfield of Pennsylvania.

•The 'Gingerbread' one has a case which he hand cut with a coping saw and includes a Welch Clockworks movement... which would date it to about 1870. The fancy pendulum bob is highly prized by collectors.

Please take caption with photo.

Clock made by David Franklin Durfee- the blind clock maker.

Restored to working condition by his grandson Frank Lamar Maxfield of Pennsylvania.

•The square clock is a Sessions case (dated after 1900), but the internal movement is an Ansonia Clockworks (which was destroyed by fire about 1901) so the movement would date to somewhere between 1850 and 1900. Note the pendulum hangs out the bottom of the case indicating the he matched it up with a case not designed for it.

Please take caption with photo.

Clock made by David Franklin Durfee- the blind clock maker.

Being Restored to working condition by his grandson Frank Lamar Maxfield of Pennsylvania.

•The most 'classic' one is the grandfather clock which I'm in the process of rebuilding. By my calculations, he build this for my Mother in about 1948 or 49. Sometime after I left home and went into the Navy... 1960, my folks sold the Caliente home and, at my request, included the stipulation that they could store the clock under the house (in a makeshift atom bomb shelter) for me to eventually claim. Sometime after 1970 we knocked on the door and asked for the clock. The owner had no recollection of it and I crawled under the house and retrieved it. The wood was all rotted away but the movement was intact. At one time I tried to get it working and it ran for awhile but the gears finally let go. A couple of years ago, we located a clock builder in Allentown, PA who agreed to rebuild it for $2500. He had it in his possession for a full year (with my $1000 deposit) and we finally came to blows before I was able to retrieve the clock and the deposit. In the course of the year, I studied clock building and obtained all the necessary vintage clock building tools on eBay and became proficient enough that I've now got the two other clocks running and now working on the grandfather clock.

I've included pictures of the grandfather clock in various stages of assembly to show his hand efforts involved. You can see that he used cut off nails as rivets, old metal plates hack sawed into shape, old common wire soldered and bent for the pendulum attachment, metal pipe for the weight chains to rotate on, etc. The newspaper articles talk about his 'pride and joy' being a clock which tells the day of the month. It's highly likely that this clock is the one he was talking about since it does have the calendar gears and hand. I'm getting ready to mount this clock on the wall and give it it's maiden flight with a weight... with my fingers cross that it come's back to life.
As I mentioned, I was born on his birthday (June 13) so it's possibly as a result of feeling that connection as his namesake that I've taken on the challenge to restore his clocks. It kind of seems like his legacy lives on if his clocks continue to run.

Please take caption with photo.

Clock made by David Franklin Durfee- the blind clock maker.

Being Restored to working condition by his grandson Frank Lamar Maxfield of Pennsylvania.

•The most 'classic' one is the grandfather clock which I'm in the process of rebuilding. By my calculations, he build this for my Mother in about 1948 or 49. Sometime after I left home and went into the Navy... 1960, my folks sold the Caliente home and, at my request, included the stipulation that they could store the clock under the house (in a makeshift atom bomb shelter) for me to eventually claim. Sometime after 1970 we knocked on the door and asked for the clock. The owner had no recollection of it and I crawled under the house and retrieved it. The wood was all rotted away but the movement was intact. At one time I tried to get it working and it ran for awhile but the gears finally let go. A couple of years ago, we located a clock builder in Allentown, PA who agreed to rebuild it for $2500. He had it in his possession for a full year (with my $1000 deposit) and we finally came to blows before I was able to retrieve the clock and the deposit. In the course of the year, I studied clock building and obtained all the necessary vintage clock building tools on eBay and became proficient enough that I've now got the two other clocks running and now working on the grandfather clock.

I've included pictures of the grandfather clock in various stages of assembly to show his hand efforts involved. You can see that he used cut off nails as rivets, old metal plates hack sawed into shape, old common wire soldered and bent for the pendulum attachment, metal pipe for the weight chains to rotate on, etc. The newspaper articles talk about his 'pride and joy' being a clock which tells the day of the month. It's highly likely that this clock is the one he was talking about since it does have the calendar gears and hand. I'm getting ready to mount this clock on the wall and give it it's maiden flight with a weight... with my fingers cross that it come's back to life.
As I mentioned, I was born on his birthday (June 13) so it's possibly as a result of feeling that connection as his namesake that I've taken on the challenge to restore his clocks. It kind of seems like his legacy lives on if his clocks continue to run.

Please take caption with photo.

Clock made by David Franklin Durfee- the blind clock maker.

Being Restored to working condition by his grandson Frank Lamar Maxfield of Pennsylvania.

•The most 'classic' one is the grandfather clock which I'm in the process of rebuilding. By my calculations, he build this for my Mother in about 1948 or 49. Sometime after I left home and went into the Navy... 1960, my folks sold the Caliente home and, at my request, included the stipulation that they could store the clock under the house (in a makeshift atom bomb shelter) for me to eventually claim. Sometime after 1970 we knocked on the door and asked for the clock. The owner had no recollection of it and I crawled under the house and retrieved it. The wood was all rotted away but the movement was intact. At one time I tried to get it working and it ran for awhile but the gears finally let go. A couple of years ago, we located a clock builder in Allentown, PA who agreed to rebuild it for $2500. He had it in his possession for a full year (with my $1000 deposit) and we finally came to blows before I was able to retrieve the clock and the deposit. In the course of the year, I studied clock building and obtained all the necessary vintage clock building tools on eBay and became proficient enough that I've now got the two other clocks running and now working on the grandfather clock.

I've included pictures of the grandfather clock in various stages of assembly to show his hand efforts involved. You can see that he used cut off nails as rivets, old metal plates hack sawed into shape, old common wire soldered and bent for the pendulum attachment, metal pipe for the weight chains to rotate on, etc. The newspaper articles talk about his 'pride and joy' being a clock which tells the day of the month. It's highly likely that this clock is the one he was talking about since it does have the calendar gears and hand. I'm getting ready to mount this clock on the wall and give it it's maiden flight with a weight... with my fingers cross that it come's back to life.



As I mentioned, I was born on his birthday (June 13) so it's possibly as a result of feeling that connection as his namesake that I've taken on the challenge to restore his clocks. It kind of seems like his legacy lives on if his clocks continue to run.

Please take caption with the photo.