Gravedigging

This article has been included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 7, now available here.

If you don't want the book but you enjoy the article, please consider supporting the Blog project here.

“Gravedigging,” I call it – researching the personal histories of people whose names and stories have mostly been lost to history.  One of the items in that little mini-hoard from yesterday’s article had me reaching for my shovel:

It wasn’t shown this way in the auction pictures - it was shown with its badly damaged nib exposed:

It’s a Paul Vassar Number 3 nib.  Although these nibs are not all that uncommon, I haven’t replaced it yet because I don’t have an identical one on hand.  Even though this nib could have been swapped out at any point over the last 150 years, I’d rather replace it exactly, just in case Vassar proves at some point to be connected with the story I’m about to tell.  For now, I’m leaving the broken remains of this nib there as a reminder of how it came to me.

Usually these dip pen holders have a reversible pencil at the other end, and this one was no exception; however, the pencil unit was wedged down inside the barrel.  It took a lot of patience and persuasion (not to mention lighter fluid as a lubricant) to extract it:

It had become wedged in there by a second dip pen nib, which miraculously emerged from the barrel completely unscathed.  An E.S. Johnson Number 2 nib - not a bad little bonus!

Judging from the weight, this piece feels like solid gold, so I grabbed my loupe to examine it more closely for any indication of gold content.  I didn’t find any, although I found something even better to a gravedigger like me:

“Z. Dederick.”   Now there was a man I needed to meet!

Our “Mr. Z.” was Zachariah Dederick – the third, that is.  His grandfather, Zachariah, died in 1812 in Catskill, New York, survived by eight children including Zachariah Jr. – our Zachariah’s father, who was born in 1790.  The Dederick family, including our man Zachariah (born on March 30, 1821), remained in Catskill until 1829, when his father sold his boot and shoe business and the family moved to New York.  An announcement of the new owner’s liquidation of Zachariah’s shoe and boot inventory appeared in the Catskill Recorder on June 11, 1829:

One Zachariah “Dedderick” appears in New York City directories in 1832, as a “dealer” residing at 94 Barrow, then in later editions at 143 Delancey:

Zachariah Sr. died in 1838 when our Zachariah was 18 or 19 years old, and the 1840 directory lists Frances L. Dedderick, “widow of Zachariah,” at the same address:

In 1845 our Zachariah appears in the New York directory for the first time, as a “pencilcasemaker” residing at 15 Commerce:

By 1850, Dederick had established a business address at 18 Maiden Lane.

In the 1852 and 1853 directories, Dederick is shown at 58 Nassau.  The 1852 business directory lists him among “pencil case makers,” and I was surprised that out of the entire list, I recognize only one other name - our old friend Edward Deacon:

Beginning in 1854, Dederick’s occupation has changed to “refiner,” and his business address has returned to 18 Maiden Lane.  The 1855 directory provides that he is an “assayer,” and he had formed a new partnership, Dederick, Sears & Co., “manufacturers of jewelers’ stock & dealers in gold dust, specie, &c.”

Dederick, Sears & Co. was apparently a very successful partnership, as it is listed continuously through the 1871 directory.  The partnership was apparently terminated that year, when Zachariah was elected president of the Amicable Mutual Life Insurance Company, as reported in The Insurance Journal on July 13, 1871:

Zachariah’s mother, Frances, passed away in Ohio on December 17, 1874; her funeral was held at Zachariah’s residence on 86th Street in New York, according to The New York Times on December 22, 1874:

As Dederick eased into semi-retirement, news accounts detail his involvement as manager and sometimes as trustee of The American Institute, an organization of “manufacturers and mechanics” which published The Journal of The American Institute, collections of articles of interest to their membership.

Dederick was also very active in the Masons, serving for many years as Trustee of the Masonic Hall as well as taking charge of the Asylum Fund – a benevolent fund established by the lodge to assist the beggars who apparently hung around the lodge property, much to the annoyance of the Masons inside.  

Succession to leadership roles in the Masons was apparently not moving fast enough for Zachariah, who announced in 1884 that he was resigning as trustee of the fund in order to be considered for Deputy Grand Master, opposing the heir apparent to the position, Frank R. Lawrence.  

The scuffle was covered in greater detail in the press than one would suspect for a “secret” organization: The Buffalo (New York) Commercial published Zachariah’s resignation letter and request for consideration on April 5, 1884, and the author’s indignation at Dederick’s “self assurance” was palpable.  “Pandering to the ambition of those who aim and strive for popularity is un-Masonic,” the author stated, “and instead of encouraging political dodgers and electioneering tricksters to gain their ends in the Grand Lodge, the brethren should manifest their disapprobation in the strongest possible manner.” 

You can’t fight City Hall, or in this case Masonic Hall, and Dederick’s supporters eventually acquiesced.  Lawrence became Deputy Grand Master, and after a few months in Masonic purgatory, Dederick returned to his former position – apparently because there wasn’t anyone else willing to do it.  There is no evidence that he ever again made any effort to advance further within the organization – or if he did, it wasn’t publicized.

On October 19, 1893, the 72-year-old Zachariah Dederick, “wealthy retired bullion merchant,” died suddenly of heart disease while visiting 62 John Street “to transact some business.”  Notice of his passing was published in The Brooklyn Citizen on October 20:

My Dederick-marked combo was made by the young Zachariah between 1845 and 1853, when he left the industry to become a gold dealer.  However, with his assayer business in the heart of the New York jewelry district, his long-forgotten contributions to the writing instruments industry reach much farther – many other gold pens, pencils, and nibs from other, more well-known makers such as Mabie Todd and another maker we’ll discuss tomorrow, likely sourced the materials from which their pens and pencils were made from Zachariah Dederick.