b. 1768 d. 1847
Site Affiliation: Jonathan Fisher House
Jonathan Fisher was an artist, farmer, scientist, mathematician, surveyor, linguist, architect, woodworker, and writer. Born in New Braintree, MA, he grew up working on the family farm. He attended Harvard, pursuing classical and liberal studies and graduate work in divinity.
Fisher became Blue Hill’s first settled minister in 1796. He married Dolly Battle, who journeyed with him to Maine. Although his duties as a parson engaged much of his time (followed closely by farming), Fisher pursued many interests: he created survey maps, bound books, made buttons and hats, built furniture, built his own home, raised a large family, and kept a daily journal in a shorthand of his own invention.
He was an accomplished artist in oils and watercolors, and his masterpiece in the woodcut medium was Scripture Animals, which depicted every creature named in the Bible. A true polymath, Fisher was a master of many arts, crafts, and sciences.
Primary Medium: Woodworking, Painting, Woodcutting, Etching, Drawing, Map-maker
Primary Stylistic Term: Early American Republic
Fun Fact: Jonathan Fisher invented his own “philosophical alphabet,” or shorthand system of writing, which he used for his daily journals, sermons, and other writings. At the end of his life, he proudly estimated that use of his shorthand had saved him about $70 in paper costs.
Recommended Publications: Jonathan Fisher, Maine parson, 1768-1847 by Mary Ellen Chase (1948); Versatile Yankee: The Art of Jonathan Fisher, 1768-1847 by Alice Winchester (1973); Hands Employed Aright: The Furniture Making of Jonathan Fisher (1768-1847) by Joshua A. Klein