Amasa_Holcomb

Thank you, my friend TSgt Joe C. for making us aware that American farmer, surveyor, civil engineer, businessman, and manufacturer of surveying instruments and telescopes Amasa Holcomb grew up in Southwick, Massachusetts.

Fraunhofer’s 1824 Dorpat refractor mount: Reverse salients and big telescopes in the 19th century
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=103DoEMYepI

Images:
1. Amasa Holcomb
2. Amasa Holcomb headstone at Mound Grove Cemetery, Kankakee, Kankakee County, Illinois, USA
3. The Holcomb reflecting telescope
4. Eyepiece and tripod head of the Holcomb reflecting telescope shown in figure 2.

Background from [http://www.europa.com/~telscope/holcomb.txt]
"Amasa Holcomb; born 18 June, 1787 in Southwick, Massachusetts; self-taught with no formal education. At 15 years, Holcomb was a tutor at a private school in Suffield, teaching college bound youths younger & older than he. At 19 years, he viewed the solar eclipse of 04 January, 1806.
He wrote his own almanac in 1807 and 1808 because Strong's almanac was found wanting & had not predicted the 1806 eclipse. Holcomb married Gillett Kendall in 1808, and went to work as a farmer, surveyor and civil engineer. He began to fabricate surveying instruments, selling chains, compasses, and small transit telescopes.
His expansion into telescope fabrication, circa 1828, marked the first such business in the United States. In 1830 Holcomb brought a small achromat to Professor Silliman at Yale, who then ordered a telescope for Yale. The majority of Holcomb's telescopes were 6, and 8-inch Herschelian reflectors with speculum metal optics; the largest made was 10 inches in aperture. A committee at the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia examined Holcomb telescopes in 1834, 1835, and 1836, and granted awards for their workmanship. Holcomb's 8 1/2-inch telescope of 1835 was at that time the largest telescope in America, surpassed in 1838-9 by Yale students Ebenezer Mason and Hamilton Smith, who made a 12-inch Herschelian, with a focal length of 14 feet.
Albert Hopkins of Williams College, Williamstown, Mass., purchased a Holcomb Herschelian of 10 feet focus, which was placed on a large equatorial mount (the hour angle circle was a foot in diameter and the declination semi-circle was 30 inches in diameter), in a revolving dome in what is now the oldest surviving observatory in the U.S. It was replaced in 1852 with a 7 inch refractor by Alvan Clark, Sr., Clark's first large commercial contract, on a Phelps mount. The Williams trustees' records of 1852 note that Hopkins was permitted to trade the older telescope for the bones of an animal from Pennsylvania.
Other customers were Brown University, Delaware College, Williston Academy, individuals in the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere. Alvan Clark, Sr., traveled 40 miles to visit and purchase glass from Holcomb. Two telescopes by Amasa Holcomb are at the Smithsonian: A Herschelian reflector, 8 1/2 inch aperture, 9 feet 4 inches in length, shown at the Franklin Institute in 1835, USNM 310598. A transit telescope, 1 1/2 inch refractor, 21 inches in length, mounted on a 14 inch cross tube with
graduated circle, but lacking the base, USNM 310599.
Holcomb remained the only telescope maker in the U.S. until Henry Fitz and Alvan Clark began making refractors, at which point the disadvantages of speculum mirrors became a commercial liability: the speculum required regular repolishing and more attention to alignment, reflected only about half of the available light, and the image suffered from astigmatism. Herschelians were not in favor among professionals for their work in positional astronomy. In 1846, Holcomb retired from telescope making, and afterward served three terms in the Massachusetts legislature, continued
as Justice of the Peace (over 50 years service), was a Methodist minister, and a trustee of Wesleyan University. He died at 87 years, in March of 1875.

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Amasa Holcomb, text believed to be autobiographical, unsigned and undated; kept at the Smithsonian Institution.From: Holcomb, Fitz, and Peate: Three 19th Century American Telescope Makers. Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology. United States National Museum Bulletin 228. Washington, D.C., 1962. Introduction, Robert Multhauf.

Amasa Holcomb, 1787 - 1875
Amasa Holcomb was born in 1787, the year John Fitch demonstrated his steamboat before the Constitutional Convention assembled at Philadelphia, and three years before the death of Benjamin Franklin. Two of Holcomb's telescopes remained in the attic of the family home in Southwick,
Massachusetts, until 1933, when they were offered by his descendants to the Smithsonian Institution. With them came a manuscript book of meteorological and astronomical notes, and the following short sketch of the life of Holcomb, unsigned but almost certainly autobiographical. It appears to have been written when the subject was about 80 years old (1867).

The Subject of this notice was born June 18, 1787. The place was Simsbury Connecticut previous to 1768. That year Simsbury was divided and his birth place fell in Granby Conn., that being the name of the new town. It remained so until 1804, when the line between Connecticut and Massachusetts was moved further south and his birth place fell in Southwick, Massachusetts. The house was about a quarter of a mile north of the new state line, and on a road about half a mile west of the main road from Westfield to Simsbury and Hartford. Here his father and mother lived and died, having lived in three different towns and two different states without changing the place of their residence.
Here Amasa was born and past his early youth. His grand father and grand mother on his fathers side lived and died in a house about thirty rods further south, on the same road. His grand fathers name was Elijah, and was a son of Nathaniel Holcomb 3d, and married Violet Cornish of Simsbury Con. daughter of Capt. James Cornish. His fathers name was Elijah Holcomb Junr. He was a farmer and cooper. In the latter part of his life his father became involved in debt, and mortgaged the farm. His son Amasa paid the debt and the father Elijah Holcomb Junr occupied the farm until he died Oct 5th 1841. The grandfather on the mothers side was Silas Holcomb a son of Judah Holcomb 1st and grandson of Nathanial Holcomb 2d. He lived in the northwest part of Granby, near Hartland line, where he owned a large farm and beautiful home. He kept a park for deer and cultivated fruit, and made raisins. He married Mary Post of Hebron Connecticut, and in this beautiful place they lived and died. There Lucy Holcomb the mother of Amasa was born in 1767. During her short life, she was one of the excellent ones of the earth, and labored for the welfare of her children by instruction and example, until she died August 31 1800.
In a very hot day in 1797, she attempted to get some cattle out a field of wheat. The men were at work in a distant field, too far off to know about it. She became heated, and never recovered, though she lived three years. During the last year of her life she became so reduced, that for a long while she could not speak a loud word, but she could and did whisper some good advice to her children. Her son Amasa never forgot it, and he always remembered his mother with affection and gratitude. She had two sisters but no brother. The house where she was born is still standing, but has passed out of the family. The house where his father and mother lived and died, spent their married life, and where he was born, has been taken down, and a new house built on the same place by his brother Newton Holcomb who now owns the old home stead. Here Amasa spent his early youth and school days.
There was not a schoolhouse in the district where he lived, until he was past having any use for a common school. The schools were kept in dwelling houses, one part was occupied by the family, and the other part by the school. In these schools were taught, reading, spelling, writing and the first rules of arithmetic. In some of them a little English grammer was taught. Climena Holcomb, Lois Gains, Bethuel Barber, Samuel Frasier, and James L. Adair, in the order in which they are named, were his teachers. At the age of fifteen he was asked to take a school in Suffield Connecticut. He was inspected and passed and took the school. A large portion of the pupils were older and stouter than he was, but they had the good sense to submit to be governed and taught, and good progress
was made. But before this a great impulse had been given to his mind. He had an uncle Abijah Holcomb that went to sea about 1798 and never returned. Abijah had fitted for college and left a valuable collection of books. Some of them were classical, and some scientific. Here he found
books on Geometry, Navigation, and astronomy. Amasa had free access to these books, and they opened a brighter world before him. He went into these studies with great pleasure, and a mind fully awake, but alone. None of these branches were taught in any school to which he had access.
He had so far progressed without help, in Geometry, Surveying, navigation, Optics and Astronomy, that at the great Solar eclipse in June 1806 he could make astronomical computations, and was prepared to observe the eclipse with instruments of his own making. The stars were visible during about four minutes of total darkness. He computed, and published, an almanac for the next year 1807, and also for the year 1808. He went into the business of surveying land about this time. He loved to climb the mountains, and enjoyed fine health. In the year 1808 he married Miss Gillet Kendall, a daughter of Noadiah Kendall of Granby Connecticut. She was one of the best of women, and had no enemies, but was beloved by every body who was acquainted with her. For a while he took students into his own house, and taught them such branches as each one had engaged to be
instructed in. Julius M. Coy of Suffield, studied surveying -- Levi also from Suffield studied Navigation, and soon went to sea, and after a while commanded a vessel. Benoni B. Bacon of Simsbury, studied Surveying and astronomy, Joseph W. King of Suffield, studied surveying -- Henry Merwin of Granby studied Surveying, Jefferson Cooley, a graduate of Yale College, studied surveying and civil engineering. He had also students from Granville Mass. But the school interfered with his other business, and he discontinued it.
He manufactured about this time a good many sets of surveyors instruments -- compasses, chains, scales, protractors, and dividers, some for his pupils and some for others. He also manufactured magnets, electrical machines, leveling instruments, and some others. He was greatly attached to the business of surveying, and had more applications than he could attend to. He was compelled to leave it in 1825, and go into the business of civil engineering, which also in a few years, gave way for the business of manufacturing telescopes. At the commencement, he never thought of its ever becoming a business of profit. About the year 1830 he had completed an achromatic telescope, which he took to New Haven, and asked Prof. Benjamin Silliman to look at it. He did so, and at once took an interest in it, and published a notice of it in the American Journal of Science, of which he was editor. He manufactured principally Reflecting telescopes, of the Herschelian kind. About the year 1833, he
began to have orders for telescopes. Among these orders was one from William J. Young, a celebrated Philosophical instrument maker of Philadelphia, who wanted two small diagonal metallic reflectors for two Transit instruments that he was making. Mr Holcomb made the articles wanted, and thought he would take them and a telescope and visit Philadelphia. Mr Young introduced him to the late Sears C. Walker, and Mr Walker introduced him to Mr Hamilton, Actuary of the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania, and the Actuary appointed a committee to examine the telescope. He selected the committee from the standing committee on Science and the Arts of the Institute. Mr Patterson of the Mint, Alexander D. Bach superintendent of the Coast survey, Dr Robert Hare
the chemist, James P. Espey, Sears C. Walker, Isiah T. Lukens and some others. These were among the first scientific men of America. The committee examined the telescope, and compared it with others of European manufacture. The Report of that committee may be found in the Journal of
the Franklin Institute Vol. 14, p169. The next year 1835 he took a larger telescope to Philadelphia, and offered it to the same committee for examination and comparison with European telescopes. That Report may be found in the Journal of the Franklin Institute Vol. 16, p11. The next year 1836 he presented a Telescope 14 feet long to the same committee. Their report may be found in the Journal of the Franklin Institute Vol. 18, p312. These Reports furnish the best information in regard to the
performance of these telescopes. The committee gave them a high character, and they were sold in almost every state in the Union. One went to Seramp in the East indies, and one to one of the Sandwich islands in the Pacific ocean.
While he was pursuing his labors as Engineer, and manufacturing Telescopes, and other instruments, in 1839 the news reached this country from Paris, of Daguerres great discovery of taking pictures on silver plates by solar light. The discoverer had not then succeeded in taking likenesses from life. Holcombe immediately commenced experimenting and soon succeeded in taking portraits, on silver plates, made sensitive to light by iodine. There was soon a great demand for instruments to take portraits. He had for a considerable time as much as he could do to supply the applications he received for these instruments, from 1839 to 1845. As the calls for these instruments lessened he continued the manufacture of telescopes. He was the first that sold a telescope of American manufacture. All the telescopes used in this country before 1833, had been obtained in Europe. It had been said that they could not be made in this country. He had been greatly assisted in his sales, by the influence and recommendation of scientific men. It was soon discovered that telescopes could be made in America and about 1845, one after another went into the business, and there is now no further need of going to Europe for telescopes, as good ones can be made in the United States as can be made in Europe.
The whole market was in his hands during thirteen years. During this time the business was good and paid well. The competition afterward reduced the profit. In 1816 he was chosen select man and assessor in his own town, which office he held during four successive years, and held the office occasionally by subsequent elections. In 1832 he was chosen to represent the town in the Legislature of Mass and he was reelected three successive terms. In 1852 he was elected to the State senate. In 1833 he was appointed a Justice of the Peace for the county of Hampden, which office he has held every year since, and his last commission does notexpire until May 1875, at which time, if he should live to see it, he will be but a few days less than 88 years old. In 1837 he received from Williams College the Honorary degree of A.M. In 1831 he was ordained a minister in the Methodist Episcopal church. He preached constantly on the sabbath during many years, and afterward occasionally until he was eighty years old.

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Report on Amasa Holcomb's Reflecting Telescope.
From: Journal of the Franklin Institute, July 1834, new series vol. 14 (whole no. 18), pp. 169-172.
The Committee on Science and the Arts, constituted by the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania for the promotion of the Mechanic Arts, to whom was referred for examination a Reflecting Telescope, manufactured by Mr Amasa Holcomb, of Southwick, Hampden county,
Massachusetts, REPORT:
That the following is the description of the instrument as given by Mr. Holcomb.
"The telescope submitted to the examination of the Committee of the Franklin Institute is of the reflecting kind; has a focal length of six feet; the diameter of the speculum is three inches nine-tenths; the rays of light are reflected but once; the image formed in the focus of the speculum is viewed by a common astronomical eye piece, or by a single
lens; it has also an eye piece for viewing land objects, which shows them erect. The telescope is of the same construction as those of Sir William Herschel, the observer having his back towards the object and looking directly towards the speculum. It has an advantage over those of the Gregorian and Newtonian forms, by showing the object brighter with the same aperture, there being no light lost by a second reflection. The diameter of the speculum is small in proportion to the length of the instrument; it will bear a diameter of eight inches, with much advantage for viewing very small stars, in consequence of the great increase of the light. The magnifying powers that are used are, forty, ninety, and two hundred and fifty."

Through the politeness of Prof. A. D. Bache, the committee were permitted to compare the performance of Mr. Holcomb's reflector with that of a five feet achromatic, of four inches aperture, by Dolland, the property of the University of Pennsylvania. The instrument was also compared with a three and a half feet achromatic, by Dolland, and with a Gregorian of four inches aperture, tne mirrors of which had been lately repolished in London. The short stay of Mr. Holcomb in Philadelphia, prevented the comparison of it with reflectors in the possession of other
members of the committee.
On the evening of the 14th of April, the committee met by adjournment in the open lot south of the Pennsylvania Hospital, the use of which was politely permitted to the committee by the managers of that institution.
The following were the results of the comparisons:
The moon, nearly full, was at a height to be conveniently viewed with the lower powers of the instruments: with a power of 350 in the five feet achromatic, the moon appeared bright and well defined, -- with the same eye-piece, giving a power of 400, in the reflector by Mr. Holcomb, the moon was sufficiently bright, and equally well defined. The same, with the exception that the moon was more brilliant, and the field of view much
greater, was remarked with the use of Mr. Holcomb's highest magnifier, giving a power of two hundred and fifty.
As an illustration of their comparative performances, it was remarked that the waved appearance of the outer declivities of the craters of some of the apparently extinct lunar volcanoes, indicating the successive depositions of the lava, was more manifest with a power of four hundred in the reflector.
The immersions of 3 and 4 Geminorum of the sixth and seventh magnitude, were observed at the same instant of time in each.
The same occurred the evening before with a star of the eighth or ninth magnitude.
The immersions, however, of two very small stars, apparently of the tenth or eleventh magnitude, were observed with difficulty in the refractor, but could not be observed at all in the reflector.
The comparison of Polaris was best seen when the moon was up in the refractor, but in the absence of the moon it was readily seen in both.
Castor was easily divided with the lower powers of either, but in the case of this, as well as of other binary and double stars, the dark space between the stars was less disturbed by scattering rays in the reflector than in the refractor.
Epsilon Bootes was seen double in each, but more distinctly in the reflector. Mu Draconis, Gamma Leonis, and 4th and 5th Epsilon Lyra, were seen distinctly double in both instruments; Mu Draconis, from the equality of the disks and softness of light, presented the finest appearance. Gamma Virgines, with a power of three hundred and fifty in either telescope, gave no certain indications of being double. Some of the members of the committee were of opinion that it was slightly elongated.
It was stated by the artist that his reflector would divide stars distant 3 arcseconds from each other.
Estimating the distance of the stars observed by the late observations of South, Struve, and Herschel, Jr., the committee were of opinion that his instrument is adequate to the distinct division of double stars distant from each other 2.5 arcseconds.
The motion of this instrument, plainly mounted, was steady, and with the finder, even without rack work, objects were easily made to range with the centre, or line of collimation of the instrument.
The position of the observers with the Herschelian telescope, was natural and easy in contemplating objects having seventy or eighty degrees of altitude, though quite constrained and inconvenient in using the achromatic.
The reflector gave a distinct view of land objects, even when within one-fourth of a mile.
Some light was lost by the position of the head, an inconvenience partially obviated by making the end nearest the object three inches greater in aperture.
The Gregorian, which probably was not a very fine instrument of its kind, bore no comparison in distinctness, or in quantity of light, with the Herschelian telescope.
From these trials, the committee are of opinion that Mr. Holcomb has been entirely successful in the difficult art of polishing specula with the true curve, which gives to the objects viewed all the distinctness of figure that is given them by the best refractors by Dolland.
In one respect, the largeness of the field of view, the reflectors by Mr. Holcomb have a decided advantage over achromatics and reflectors of different construction. The apparent diameter of the field of view in the Herschelian being nearly double that of either, with equal freedom from aberration. The quantity of light furnished by the refractor was greater with the same aperture, an important advantage in searching for, and observing very minute objects. This deficiency of light in the Herschelian for viewing faint objects near the moon, or satellites near their primaries, the committee are of opinion may be removed by enlarging the aperture of the Herschelian reflector to five or five and a half inches.
The simplicity of the method of preparing and mounting Mr. Holcomb's telescopes is worthly of notice, since on this plan, the artist is enabled to furnish for an expense of one hundred dollars, with plain mounting, or of one hundred and fifty to two hundred dollars, with more expensive mounting, telescopes whose performance equals that of Gregorians and achromatics hitherto imported into the country at an expense of five
hundred dollars.
By order of the committee. May 8th, 1834. William Hamilton, Actuary.

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Report on Holcomb's Reflecting Telescopes.
From: Journal of the Franklin Institute, July 1835, new series vol. 16 (whole no. 20), pp. 11-13.
The Committee on Science and the Arts, constituted by the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania for the promotion of the Mechanic Arts, to whom was referred for examination, two reflecting telescopes, made by Mr. Amasa Holcomb, of Southwick, Hampden County, Massachusetts,
REPORT:
That the following description of these telescopes is given by Mr. Holcomb:
"The two reflecting telescopes now submitted by the subscriber, are constructed on the plan of Sir William Herschel, having the front view. The largest has a focal length of 9 1/2 feet; the diameter of the speculum is 8 1/2 inches, and has five astronomical eye pieces, and one terrestrial eye piece, for showing objects erect; the lowest power is 57, the highest 900. The smallest has a focal length of 7 feet 9 inches; the diameter of
the speculum is 6 1/2 inches, and has one terrestrial, and four astronomical, eye pieces; the lowest power is 60, the highest is 600. They are of the same kind as those that were submitted a year ago, except the manner of mounting, which is very different." --Amasa Holcomb

On the evening of the 4th of May, the committee met, by appointment, in an open lot south of the Pennsylvania Hospital, for the purpose of testing the performance of the telescopes, which had previously been tried by some of the members of the committee, and by other gentlemen, on the evening of the 2d. The result of the examination was highly creditable to Mr. Holcomb, and cannot fail to gratify all who have at heart the advancement of astronomical science in this country.
The instruments, with powers varying from 50 to 600 in the smaller, and to 900 in the larger, gave satisfactory views of the moon with a sufficiency of light.
Mr. Holcomb's ability to manufacture telescopes which should bear a comparison, on favourable terms, with the best four and five feet achromatics now in the country, having been established by the report of the committee in May, 1834, their attention was chiefly directed to ascertaining the degree of perfection to which he has attained in his art,
by his persevering efforts during the past year. Accordingly, the remarks which follow are made with reference to the larger telescope, of about ten feet focal length, eight inches aperture, and with a positive eye-piece, giving a power of about 900, and the surface of the field of view nearly twice as great as that of a Gregorian, and onethird greater than that of an achromatic telescope, under similar circumstances.
The view of the moon with its rugged surface, its ridges of mountains, and the endless variety of indentations on its surface, was interesting beyond description, and exceeded anything of the kind the committee have ever witnessed.
Saturn's ring, though not in a favourable position, was seen manifestly double, for the first time in this country, as far as the information of the committee extends.
The companion of Polaris appeared as a star of the fourth or fifth magnitude, to the unassisted eye.
The double stars, Castor, Mu Draconis, 4 and 5 Epsilon Lyrae, and 44 Bootes, were distinctly separated, and the dark space between them made evident. The last mentioned, consisting of two stars of the fifth magnitude, distant 3 arcseconds, made a fine appearance; they were soft, and well defined, and there were no scattering rays of light, as was the case with Castor, in both instruments.
A class of closer doubles stars, of which 6 Coronae, distant 1.2 arcseconds, and Zeta Bootes, distant 1.4 arcseconds, may serve as examples, was acknowledged by the artist, last year, to be too difficult for his telescope. This has furnished a stimulus for his exertions, and the complete division of the latter, as witnessed by the committee on the
present occasion, has been the reward of his disinterested labours. The discs of the two stars in Zeta Bootes appeared to be tangent to each other. The committee have no evidence that the same has been effected by any other telescope in the country.
For the purpose of finding the limit to the power of Mr. Holcomb's telescope, the committee called his attention to a class of still closer stars; among them were mentioned, Zeta Cancri, Mu 2 Bootes, Iota Coronae, 36 Andromedae, and Epsilon Arietis, the last of which is only divisible by two telescopes now in use, viz.: the Dorpat telescope, and the twenty foot reflector of Sir John Herschel. These stars, distant from 0.6 arcseconds to 1.0 arcseconds, are made to appear with their discs tangent to each other in those celebrated instruments, as appears by their notes appended to the observations contained in their printed catalogues. It is almost needless to add, that Mr. Holcomb acknowledged these stars to be too
difficult for any telescopes he has yet made.
It may seem presumptuous to compare the small instrument of Holcomb with the chefs d'oeuvre of British and German genius; but, thanks to the admirable labours of the Herschels, of Struve, and of South, observers are enabled, through their printed catalogues, to compare together the optical capacities of their telescopes in distant regions. Accordingly it appears from an examination of these catalogues, and of Holcomb's instruments, that what the best telescopes in Europe can do upon stars distant 0.6 arcseconds, can be done upon stars distant 1.4 arcseconds, by instruments which are the work of an unassisted, and almost neglected, American optician.
Judging from the progress made in his art, by Mr. Holcomb, during the past year, the committee look forward, with confident expectation, to the not far distant period, when, should his health be spared, the country will be in possession of a twenty feet reflector, of native workmanship, rivalling the best European instruments, and that, too, without the patronage of any corporate institution, should all of them be willing to
waive the opportunity of sharing with him the merit of such an enterprise.
The committee have been led to enlarge upon this subject, from a knowledge that one of our national institutions has, within a few years, imported into the country, at an expense of $2,500, a telescope which, though excellent in its kind, is inferior to that exhibited by Mr. Holcomb, which was made and mounted to order for an individual in Georgia, at less than the eighth part of the above-mentioned sum. It is not probable that a twenty foot instrument from Mr. Holcomb, would cost eight times as much as one of the length of ten feet.
The mode of mounting the instrument appears to be original, and nothing can exceed it in simplicity, or steadiness. Indeed, with a power of 900, no inconvenience was perceived from resting with one hand on the frame, and another on the tube, although the same could not be done with the mounting used by Mr. Holcomb last year, or with that of common achromatics with a power of 200, without serious inconvenience.
In conclusion, the committee beg leave to recommend Mr. Holcomb to the Board of Managers of the Franklin Institute, as a candidate for a premium and medal from the Scott's legacy fund, for his new mode of mounting reflecting telescopes. By order of the committee. William Hamilton, Actuary. May 14th, 1835.

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Amasa Holcomb: Yankee Telescope Maker. by Nicholas Der Bagdasarian. Sky & Telescope, June, 1986, p620-622. (edited)
Early in the 19th century, astronomy in the United States was still in its infancy. President John Quincy Adams' plea in 1825 for the establishment of a national observatory 'to be in constant attendance upon the phenomena of the heavens' fell upon deaf ears, and his call for a 'lighthouse of the skies' became something of a national joke.
Not until 1838 was a permanent American observatory established, at Williams College in Massachusetts. But America still depended much on Europe for telescopes. When Harvard College opened its observatory in 1839, virtually all the instruments were of English make.
The first American to build telescopes as a profit making venture was Amasa Holcomb (1787-1875) of Southwick, Massachusetts. Holcomb had received only a rudimentary education, but by age 15 he was already teaching school in Suffield, Connecticut. When his uncle Abijah went off to sea, never to return, young Amasa took over the sailor's books on astronomy, geometry, and navigation. He studied them with such zeal that he was able to predict the total solar eclipse of June 16, 1806. For several years thereafter he published almanacs; that for 1807 contained predictions of two lunar and two solar eclipses.
In 1828, at age 41, Holcomb began to make telescopes. Laboring alone in a workshop attached to the rear of his home, he built small achromatic refractors that were said to give excellent views of Jupiter's belts and moons. He also constructed reflectors of 8 to 12 foot focus. According to a story still circulating in Southwick, he tested his optics by pointing them at the spire of the Methodist church a quarter mile from his home. There was inscribed the 23rd Psalm; if he could read 'The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want' -- he was satisfied.
Later in life, Holcomb boasted that his telescopes were sold 'in almost every state in the Union.' He delivered them personally, often by oxcart,
to customers in New Haven, New York, and Philadelphia. One went to the Hawaiian Islands and another to the East Indies. But mostly Holcomb's telescopes were made for American amateur astronomers and colleges.
During a visit to Philadelphia, Holcomb came to the attention of the local scientific community. On four occasions in 1834 - 1836, his telescopes were scrutinized by a committee from the Franklin Institute, and this committee's reports tell something about the quality of Holcomb's work. Two 8 1/2 inch reflectors, for example, had focal lengths of 9 ½ feet and useful powers ranging from 57 to 960 times. The view of the Moon, 'with its rugged surface, its ridges of mountains, and endless variety of indentations on its surface, was interesting beyond description, and exceeded any thing of the kind the committee have ever witnessed.' Saturn's rings were 'seen manifestly double, for the first time in this country,' and 'the dark space between the rings could be observed on each ansa, half way to the conjugate axis of the perspective ellipse.' At that time, Saturn's rings were only 12 degrees from edge on.
The committee also trained the instruments on double stars. Both Zeta Bootis and Zeta Cancri were resolved, each with a separation of 1.2 arcseconds in the 1830s. But Gamma Virginis (Porrima) was a different story. 'This remarkable pair, of which the distance is 0.8 arcseconds according to Herschel's ephemeris, or 0.6 arcseconds, according to Struve's late measurements, gave no indication of being double.' Today we know, from K.Aa. Strand's definitive orbital elements, that the separation was indeed 0.6 arcseconds in April, 1835, when the committeeobserved this star. Currently the components of Porrima are 3.4 arcseconds apart, easy in any telescope.
In 1836, members of the Franklin Institute tested Holcomb's largest telescope, a 10 inch with a focal length of 14 feet. They used magnifications up to 1,000 times on the Moon, assorted nebulae, star clusters, and some double stars. While no close binaries were observed, the Institute called this the finest of Holcomb's telescopes, possessing
'every attribute of excellence which the best optical skill could give to an instrument of these dimensions.'
Holcomb's telescopes fare tolerably well when compared with those used by European astronomers, excepting perhaps the 9 inch Fraunhofer refractor at Dorpat. The most minute separation listed in the 1824 double starcatalogue of John Herschel and James South was 1.3 arcseconds, for 32 rionis, obtained with a 3 3/4 -inch Dollond refractor. When South compiled a second catalogue of 458 doubles a few years later, he included
a 0.9 arcseconds measure made with a 5 inch Tulley refractor. Any conclusions about the quality of Holcomb's optics must take into account the fact that his telescopes were of the front view type that had been adopted so successfully by William Herschel. This arrangement dispensed with the flat secondary mirror found in the Newtonian reflector. Instead, the primary was made of rather long focus and was tilted slightly to put the image at the front rim of the tube, where an eyepiece was mounted. This avoided the need to make a small flat, and also the light loss of a second reflection.
The Herschelian's advantages, however, were offset by the astigmatism that resulted from the tilted mirror -- a handicap in double star bservations here definition is crucial. Holcomb's mirrors, like all those made before 1856, were cast from speculum metal, a copper - tin alloy having lower eflectivity than the mirrors of today.
Telescope making was just one facet of Holcomb's varied life. He was at times a surveyor, teacher, civil engineer, and farmer, as well as an authority on water-power. He was at first a Democrat and then later served as a Republican in the Massachusetts state legislature; he began life as an Episcopalian and ended it as an ordained Methodist minister.
Little is known of his personal life. He was apparently a devoted family
man, but a rare contemporary account describes him as being 'bilious - nervous - lymphatic.'
From 1828 to about 1842, Holcomb was the sole commercial maker of telescopes in the United States. Moreover, he was able to sell quality instruments at a much lower price than his foreign competitors. A 4 -inch European reflector cost $500. in the 1830's. In contrast, Holcomb's 4 inch went for about $100.; 6 inch, $250.; 8 inch, $400.; and 10 inch,
$600.
Yet today Holcomb's name is relegated to obscurity. The reasons are no fault of his. America lagged behind Europe in wealth, cultural achievement, and scientific progress. Unlike William Herschel and other prominent English astronomers, Holcomb received no governmental patronage. And, because he virtually started the telescope industry in America, he could not benefit by learning his craft as apprentice to a master. He missed a wider recognition because no astronomer made notable discoveries with his instruments. That Holcomb overcame such handicaps makes his achievements as a self-educated Yankee entrepreneur all the more remarkable.

Hopkins Observatory, established at Williams College in 1838, had a erschelian reflector as its first telescope. Holcomb's shop was 50 miles southeast, first at Southwick and later at Westfield, Massachusetts.
In a Holcomb telescope, the Herschelian eyepiece is mounted at the left, just inside the telescope tube. The tube itself is slightly wider at the top than at the mirror end, so the head of a right eyed observer will not obstruct the incoming light. The two sliding legs may be lengthened or shortened by means of thumb pins. Catgut cords, wound on the pin shafts, extend down the legs to pulleys and then partway back up.
Turning either pin alone gives lateral movement, while turning them both alters the elevation. The mounting predates by a century a similar type devised by the English amateur F.J. Sellers, seen in S & T, August, 1976, page 138. (Smithsonian Institution photograph 11000)
One of the 8 1/2 inch Holcomb reflectors examined at the Franklin Institute in 1835 is preserved at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Apparently no other Holcomb reflector has survived. (Smithsonian Institution photograph 11000-A)
The only other surviving Holcomb telescope is a transit instrument with a 1 1/2 inch objective lens, with the graduated circle but lacking the original base. (Smithsonian Institution photograph 43472-C)

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Scientific American, June 1935. by: Albert G. Ingalls. (edited)
"The telescope illustrated is a professional job of 1835. It was made by Amasa Holcomb(e) of Southwick, Mass., who was probably the first man in the United States to make telescopes in any number for sale to astronomers. This telescope was recently presented to the United States National Museum at Washington by his descendents.
"Holcomb began the construction of instruments for students whom he instructed in astronomy and surveying about 1820. From the manufacture of small refracting telescopes he progressed to the construction of reflectors on the pattern of Sir William Herschel, only a few of which had been seen in the United States at that time. About 1833 Holcomb took two of his telescopes to Philadelphia, where they were examined by a committee
of the Franklin Institute, which was very favorably impressed with their performance.
"The instrument at the Museum has a 9-inch Russia iron tube approximately 9 feet long, closed at the lower end with a slip-on cover within which is attached a tin-alloy speculum. On the inside of the upper end is a roughly-made rack which carries the eyepiece and which meshes with a small pinion attached to a focusing knob on the outside of the telescope. The lower end of the tube is supported on a brass bar which terminates in a spike at one end and a wheel at the other, designed to permit the tube to pivot easily about the spike as a center. The upper end of the tube is supported on a simple bipod [Similar bipod mounting in Scientific American, Apr., 1933, p. 241.-Ed.], each limb of which is readily adjustable by means of a cord wound about a winch and running
through small blocks in combination with the two sliding parts of each limb. By working the two small winches properly, the upper end of the tube can be made to describe practically any motion required in sighting or
following a star."
The speculum of the telescope is in good condition, and it has been used with some success since it was presented to the Museum. --Albert G. Ingalls. Scientific American, June 1935

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Behold the Moon in clouded state is seen
and stars unnumbered wait around their queen.
Rang’d by their Makers’ hand in just array,
They march majestic thro’ the ethereal way.
Are these bright luminaries hung on high,
Only to please with twinkling rays our eye,
Or rather may we count each star a sun;
Round which full peopled worlds their courses run,
Orb above Orb, harmoniously they steer,
Their various voyages, thro’ seas of air.
--Amasa Holcomb

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References

Davis, Maud Etta Gillett. Historical Facts and Stories About Southwick. July, 1951. Unpublished manuscript kept at Southwick Public Library. (Davis, great grand daughter of Holcomb.)

Der Bagdasarian, Nicholas. Amasa Holcomb: Yankee Telescope Maker. Sky & Telescope, June, 1986, p620-622.

Faits, Ed. Amasa Holcomb, Pioneer Telescope Maker.
http://www.reflector.org/holcomb.htm

Holcomb, Amasa. (Almanac for 1807.) Kept at Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

Holcomb, Amasa. Handwritten text, believed to be autobiographical, unsigned and undated; kept at the Smithsonian Institution. (Reprinted in
Holcomb, Fitz, and Peate)

Holcomb, Amasa. Manuscript notebook kept by Holcomb between 1834 and 1841, on meteorology and astronomy. The Smithsonian Institution, U.S.
National Museum catalog 310600.

(Holcomb, Fitz, and Peate: Three 19th Century American Telescope Makers.) Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology. United States National Museum Bulletin 228. Washington, D.C., 1962. Introduction, Robert Multhauf.

(Report on Amasa Holcomb's Reflecting Telescope.) Journal of the Franklin Institute, July 1834, new series vol. 14 (whole no. 18), pp. 169-172.
(Reprinted in Holcomb, Fitz, and Peate)

(Report on Holcomb's Reflecting Telescopes.) Journal of the Franklin Institute, July 1835, new series vol. 16 (whole no. 20), pp. 11-13. (Reprinted in Holcomb, Fitz, and Peate)

(Report on Holcomb's Telescope) Journal of the Franklin Institute, August 1836, new ser. vol. 18, whole no. 22, p110)

(Report on Holcomb's Telescope) American Journal of Science and Arts, various issues, between 1833 and 1836."

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