Samuel Bemis & Samuel A. Bemis

Upon discovering long-forgotten -- and very rare -- 18th-century watch account books in museum storage, author Andrew Dervan undertook a journey of in-depth research to uncover the history of two colonial watchmakers. Samuel Bemis and Samuel A. Bemis were father and son who logged their extensive pocket watch repair work for customers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The account books and Dervan's detective work provide us with an inside look at life in post-Revolutionary War America.