There are a number of interesting parallels between Henry Cheney and David Maydole. These two men were perhaps the earliest U.S. manufacturers of hammers — or at least the first successful ones. Heller Brothers in Newark, New Jersey (1866); Yerkes & Plumb in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1869); Vaughn & Bushnell in Peoria, Illinois (1869); and many others followed elsewhere in the country.
Most of what we know about David Maydole comes from a glowing biography in Captains Of Industry Or Men Of Business Who Did Something Besides Making Money written by James Parton and published in 1884. According to this source, David Maydole founded the David Maydole Hammer Company in 1845. Henry Cheney founded his hammer company (which was later known as the Henry Cheney Hammer Company) with childhood friend Silas W. LeRow in the Spring of 1854. This is according to many sources, including census records and gravestones.
Maydole was located in Norwich, NY, a little more than 60 miles south west of Little Falls, NY, where Henry was located. Not only that, but Henry spent his first 33 years in Fly Creek, NY, which is only 40 miles from Norwich, NY. Multiple sources state that Henry and Silas were manufacturing hammers at Orestes Badger’s Fly Creek Foundry and Machine Shop sometime before they removed to William Ingham’s Fulling and Carding Mill — on the site of the first gristmill in Little Falls, NY, which was burned by the Mohawk during the Revolutionary War. This is hallowed ground in American History that has been sadly ignored. At least they’ve left the lot vacant rather than build another Starbuck’s.
Maydole is credited with inventing the adz-eye hammer. However, there is no evidence to support this claim — only Parton’s dubious assertion which has been universally repeated by anyone writing about Maydole and/or adz-eye hammers. In 1877 he was granted three patents (186,588; 186,590; 196,917) for dies for forging adz-eye hammers. Henry received his first patent (66,298) in 1867 for a process of brazing or welding a malleable iron socket [adz-eye] to a wrought-iron or steel hammer head. In 1923 the company published a booklet, The Cheney Hammers, in which they claimed that Henry invented this twenty-five years earlier, in 1842 — edging out Maydole’s 1845 claim. At least two other men received patents related to adz-eye hammers before either Cheney or Maydole. Charles Hammond of Philadelphia was granted U.S. Patent 14,058 on 08 Jan 1856. Phineas Eastman of Canaan, NH was granted U.S. Patent 1,247 on 17 Jul 1839.
Both Henry and David had brushes with U.S. Presidents before they took office. In February 1861 Abraham Lincoln made a brief stop at the Little Falls train station, about a block from Henry's hammer works. In 1878 James A. Garfield visited Norwich and was shown around the works by Mr. Maydole. Both Lincoln and Garfield were assassinated while in office.
When Henry died in March 1878, his son-in-law helped manage the business for the next five years. When David died in October 1892 his sons-in-law managed the business for about 50 years.
After their founder’s deaths, both companies pushed back their founding dates. In 1904 the Henry Cheney Hammer Company claimed to have been making hammers since 1845. By 1921 this had been pushed back to 1836. The David Maydole Hammer Company first pushed their date back two years to 1843. Then later pushed it back to 1831 — as seen on the example below, a Maydole 13M bell face curved claw hammer (7 oz. head).
The Cheney Hammer Company disolved in 1954. Production of Cheney brand hammers was continued by the Collins Company and others in England, Australia, and possibly other countries up until 1966. In 1957 The Maydole Hammer Company suffered a fire from which they never recovered -- finally ending in 1961. Thus, by their earliest founding dates, both brands existed for exactly 130 years.
Both companies advertised in Popular Science, often in the same issue, as seen in the examples below from the May 1926, March 1927, and July 1927 issues respectively.
Below are more ads from various 1925-1927 issues of Popular Science.
Here's a Garehime & Boone Hardware Co. catalog listing from 1952 showing Cheney and Maydole hammers side by side. G&B was located at 234 9th Street in San Francisco, CA which is now occupied by Monaco Digital Film Labs.
The Hammer by Robert Garay
Norwich once had largest hammer plant in nation, by Mark Simonson, The Daily Star, March 11, 2002
Captains Of Industry Or Men Of Business Who Did Something Besides Making Money by James Parton (two series, 1884 and 1891)
Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Chenango County, NY Biographical Publishing Company - Buffalo, NY - 1898