Hi Gabel,
Many thanks for those links. I have only had a chance to chase one of them up so far.
I read the Chain-bearer passage with great interest, he really paints a picture of the thrills and dangers of raising a frame.

I guess I am not suprised that the first frame is claimed by a number of places. The history of new ideas and inventions is that they often crop up almost simultaneously in two or more locations, and this may fit the facts in the case of square rule.
Thanks again

Gabel – Good stuff !

I am particularly intrigued by the Northfield possibility, ( site of a Guild event ) a picture perfect New England town that I know well, having spent nine months on a restoration in the next town north, just over the NH line. ( site of another Guild event )

It’s intriguing for two reasons, a huge building boom began in the area in the 1760’s with the end of two wars, The F&I ( or the Seven Years War as I’m guessing SussexOak would know it ) and The Dispute over the New Hampshire Grants, ( the Grants being an undeclared and little recognized war, but a war all the same ) which opened up vast areas to now be safely settled. ( many NH towns were incorporated in the 1720’s but not settled until the 60’s and 70’s ) Coastal areas in Northern New England were long settled, ( if I travel 25 miles east I can be in towns settled in the mid 1620’s though mine was not for another 150 years ) but the interior was settled almost en masse.( there were exceptions, good bottom land and mill sites and self interest in keeping squatters off valuable grants meant some risked the threat of raids ) While the settlement of Massachusetts differed in that much of the interior was settled, I believe the Pioneer Valley (in which Northfield falls) was then the frontier. Northfield was settled in 1673 but certainly an area wide building boom would have had effect there – The longstanding trained carpenters home-quatered on the frontier would have been in high demand, as example, Winchester NH – the next town north – was razed completely in a fiery raid in 1747, during King Georges War

Such building booms often spark innovation. All my towns earliest buildings are scribe and English Tying, but obviously someone somewhere was innovating. And while The War of 1812 may well have been the vehicle responsible for the rapid dissemination of SR ( forget where I heard that theory or whose it is ) on a national scale, that does not mean it’s innovator and his crew had not been quietly practicing it for some years.

The other reason it is intriguing is that it is potentially verifiable! Records verifying the steeples date of construction might well exist, and if the Meetinghouse likewise still exists, a survey of it’s framing will tell us much.

I already have a call in to the towns historic commission hoping to arrange such a survey, should I find something to report, I’ll post it here.

Thanks, Will. Let us know what you find out.

I read the whole chapter before I connected with the commission, so was not surprised to learn that the building was lost in 1833.

All the same the locals are being more than cooperative and seemingly happy to help research one of histories mysteries, and have offered to try to determine if anything he did build, still stands.

I know it's as likely as not that the gentlemen who penned the history might well have been trying to shine a little extra light on the town they loved, but I'm gonna keep looking because there is still some potential for verification, and I find it interesting that there's a name to research...

After the Revolution Capt. King moved to Vermont (the Grants) and is now two hundred years gone, (1807) so if he was the innovator, he didn't live to see SR move into dominant practice. There's also the potential to find something he built there. Either would be telling.

Thanks for following this thread up everybody.
It does sound as though you are narrowing in on the locallity and the date range .
Have you seen Eli Whitneys barn at New Haven? built in about 1815.
Whilst this will not be the first square rule frame it would give a benchmark on how well developed the method had become by this date.
I just built a small square rule frame the other week, using a lot of similiar tools and techniques to scribe rule until you get to the housings, where as you know the two techniques then diverge. Interestingly it does not appear to be much quicker for the primary timbers. The real increase in speed is for the smaller secondary timbers. We were not cutting housings on the layout faces, and just snapping one (or at most) two chalklines on the timbers as the layout required. No trial fits, and luckily no mistakes! Shoulders at the joints were not as good as with scribe rule.

Thanks for following this thread up everybody.
It does sound as though you are narrowing in on the locallity and the date range .
Have you seen Eli Whitneys barn at New Haven? built in about 1815.
Whilst this will not be the first square rule frame it would give a benchmark on how well developed the method had become by this date.
I just built a small square rule frame the other week, using a lot of similiar tools and techniques to scribe rule until you get to the housings, where as you know the two techniques then diverge. Interestingly it does not appear to be much quicker for the primary timbers. The real increase in speed is for the smaller secondary timbers. We were not cutting housings on the layout faces, and just snapping one (or at most) two chalklines on the timbers as the layout required. No trial fits, and luckily no mistakes! Shoulders at the joints were not as good as with scribe rule.