ENOS DOOLITTLE (1751 - 1806)
Hartford, Connecticut

Enos Doolittle was born in Wallingford, May 17, 1751. His father, whose name was also Enos, was a younger brother of Isaac Doolittle, the clockmaker of New Haven. Young Enos served an apprenticeship under his uncle Isaac Doolittle in the latter's shop in New Haven and by 1772, when 21 years old, he had completed his apprenticeship, made his first clock, and moved to Hartford. On December 15, 1772, he ran his first advertisement in the "Connecticut Courant" announcing the establishment of a clockmaking business at the printing office.

On March 24, 1788, he advertised among others that he made Mariners and Surveyor's compasses.

In 1793 he began to make up bells for stock, an indication that he must have found an excellent market for his product, and he continued actively making bells, mariners' compasses, protractors and miscellaneous brass goods until 1802, when he retired (probably due to ill health) and his son James Doolittle took over the bell business. In 1804 his wife, Asenath, died at the age of 45, and two years later, in 1806, Enos himself died on October 26, and was buried in the Center Church Burying Ground at Hartford where his tombstone still stands. (from Penrose R. Hoope's "Connecticut Clockmakers of the Eighteenth Century")

ISAAC DOOLITTLE (1721 - 1800)
New Haven, Connecticut

Isaac Doolittle was born in Wallingford, Connecticut on August 13, 1721, a son of Joseph and Elizabeth Doolittle. He died in New Haven on February 20, 1800.

"He settled in New Haven prior to 1743 and for over fifty years was one of the most outstanding mechanics of the colony. He made clocks, instruments, and small brasswares, cast church bells, operated one of the leading powder mills during the Revolution, built printing presses, and trained a number of apprentices. His nephew and apprentice, Enos Doolittle, settled in Hartford in 1772 and served that town for thirty years as a clockmaker, brass founder, instrument maker and bell founder." (from Penrose R. Hoope's "Connecticut Clockmakers of the Eighteenth Century")

ISAAC DOOLITTLE, JR (1759 - 1821)
New Haven, Connecticut

Isaac Doolittle, Jr., a son of Isaac the clockmaker, was born in New Haven in 1759, and he died there in 1821.

He served an apprenticeship under his father. He started in business in New Haven about 1780 and on June 7, 1781, advertised in the Connecticut Journal: "Compasses of all kinds, both for sea and land, surveyor's scales, and protractors, gauging rods, walking sticks, silver and plated buttons, turned upon horn; also clocks and watches made and repaired, and a variety of other work, by Isaac Doolittle, Junr. at the house lately occupied by Mr. William Noyes, in Leather Lane, New Haven."

N. B., said Doolittle wants a lad of about 13 or 14 years old to serve as an apprentice to his business.

(from Penrose R. Hoope's "Connecticut Clockmakers of the Eighteenth Century")

JAMES DOOLITTLE
Hartford, Connecticut

He took over his father's (Enos Doolittle) business in 1802 and is listed in 1839 as Bell Founder in the Hartford directory.

James married Sarah Parsons of Hartford June 13, 1809. She died May 1, 1874 and is buried in Old North Cemetery along with four children (1814-1827).

In the "Doolittle Family of America" (Wm. F. Doolittle, Cleveland, Ohio 1901-08) Enos Doolittle is listed as being born in Wallingford May 17, 1751, and having died in Hartford October 26, 1804. The marker in the Center Church Burying Ground in Hartford states that he died October 26, 1806.

"The Doolittle Family in America" does not list James Doolittle, nor can any trace be found of him after 1840.