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they were likely his former apprentices. Cesar Chelor remained in
Wrentham and fostered his own unique legacy of craftsmanship in
that region.

THE PLANEMAKER-CRAFTSMAN
As a free man, Cesar Chelor launched a colonial craft enterprise like
that of his predecessor – but with some adjustments. As a Black man
running his own shop in the mid-eighteenth century, few, if any,
semi-skilled white workers would have consented to work under
Chelor’s authority. Chelor hired day laborers to do menial tasks and
continued to make planes himself until he could train a new workforce.
Some of them may very well have been members of his own family, as
he had nine children with wife Juda Russell (m.1758). A census taken
a year after Chelor received his freedom shows there were at least 16
enslaved people in Wrentham, and that the system of slavery remained
very much the norm elsewhere. It may also have been the case that
some of Chelor’s white neighbors hired out enslaved members of their
household to work in Chelor’s shop.
Illustration of the town of Wrentham, Massachusetts, 1848. In an eighteenth-century planemaking shop, apprentices or day
laborers spent time sawing stocks, planing the sides and grooves,
cutting to length, planing the chamfers, smoothing, and scribing the
After a certain point in his career, Francis Nicholson left the bulk of
his day-to-day production to his apprentices and journeymen. The layout for cutting the throat and filling the blade. Skilled workers took
on the next steps: chiseling out the throat and fitting in the blade and
mark of a successful master craftsman was his ability to step away from wedge. Everything needed to be held in place tight enough so that the
the workbench and take on a more public-facing role in the business. blade could shave with ease. This is work Chelor did himself or allocated
Cesar Chelor therefore became responsible for most of the planes to journeymen in his shop. Chelor’s name and location was then
stamped with Francis Nicholson’s name. A close examination of the stamped on their nose or toe. Wooden planes are fascinating due chiefly
tool marks on planes stamped “Nicholson'' and those stamped to the fact that nearly every one of them contains similar markings, a
“Chelor” provides evidence that the same hands made both. When technique used by British planemakers as a guarantee of quality abroad
making a molding plane, Chelor used a rabbet plane to shape the body, and adopted by Francis Nicholson when he started making planes in
creating a “step” along the side of the handhold. The rabbet plane often America. In comparison, so few artifacts made in the United States
left behind a series of evenly spaced waves or ridges on the surface of the before the Industrial Revolution bear the names of their makers or the
step that run the full length of the plane, also called “chatter” marks. places they were made. In this way, planes not only tell the histories of
Because the rabbet plane held its blade at a straight angle, rather than their origin but also enable investigation into related trades of wood-
at a slight skew angle, there was more resistance when making the cut. working, blacksmithing, cabinetmaking, and carpentry.
Chatter marks were partially obscured during the finishing process but
can be found on nearly all Chelor molding planes, as well as molding
planes stamped with Nicholson’s name. The prevailing theory is that
Chelor did the planing for Nicholson and continued to use the same
rabbet plane years later in his own shop.
When Francis Nicholson died in 1753, he left the bulk of his estate
to his son John. He also emancipated Cesar Chelor and gave him the
means to establish his own independent business. According to his will:

“As to my Negroman Caesar Chelo[r] considering his faithful service, his
tender care, & kind & Christian carriage I do set him free to act for himself
in the world & I do will and bequeath unto him his bed and beding, his
shift and clothing, his bench & common bench tools, a set of chisels, one
vice, one sithe & tackling & ten acres of land to be set of to him at the end
of my woodland…& one third part of my timber.”

This was no small inheritance. In addition to granting his freedom,
Nicholson gave Chelor a big advantage by leaving him a third of his
dried timber and ten acres of land. The average shop needed to expend
enormous time and resources to locate and cut down yellow birch trees,
saw them into boards, and wait for them to dry, a process that could
take up to three years to have enough wood for a standard three-inch
thick plane body. Chelor could start his business right away with the
Detail of Cesar Chelor plane, 1753-84. Concord Museum Collection.
resources at hand, including plenty of trees to prepare the next round
of timber. Nicholson’s complicity in upholding the system of slavery Like most colonial craftsmen, Chelor worked with the available
cannot be ignored, nor can his unwillingness to emancipate Chelor materials at hand. While British planemakers used European beech for
until after his death. Yet, the wording of Nicholson’s will indicate most of their planes, New England makers often favored yellow birch,
a desire to provide Chelor some measure of security and a source a local species in abundant supply. The two woods are similar in
of income. appearance, with a honey-brown color and straight grain, but beech is
Chelor and John Nicholson worked independently in Wrentham
for the next several decades, and the latter eventually moved to typically uniform while birch is more likely to have wild swirls and
flame-like patterns. American planemakers did also use beech, but in
Providence, Rhode Island. John Nicholson’s planes bear the same Chelor’s case yellow birch prevailed for reasons of cost, availability, and
“Living in” and “Wrentham” stamps that Francis had, and which appeal. But while New England had plenty of wood, steel was in short
Chelor also adopted. Nicholson’s other apprentices went on to become supply. Chelor likely bought steel blades from England and filed them
masters of their own shops in nearby Norton, Middleborough, and down to fit his planes, or he sourced blades from local blacksmiths, who
even Providence. Henry Wetheral, E. Clark, and Jonathan Ballou are could painstakingly extract steel from wrought iron or weld a thin steel
just a few planemakers whose work resembles Nicholson’s enough that
tip to a wrought iron blade.
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