An American Silversmith

Paul Revere was the third child of Apollos Rivoire and Deborah Hitchborn.  The French-born and Huguenot Rivoire anglicized the family name to Revere.  His son Paul apprenticed in his father's silver shop at an early age.

Today Paul Revere is most widely remembered for his famous midnight ride (which we commemorate tomorrow) warning the American colonists of advancing British troops before the battles of Lexington and Concord.  The lines of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem commemorating that event contain numerous inaccuracies but nevertheless paint a memorable picture.   Here are stanzas 1 and 2 from "Tales of a Wayside Inn,  The Landlord's Tale: Paul Revere's Ride"

"Listen my children, and you shall hear,
 Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
 On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
 Hardly a man is now alive
 Who remembers that famous day and year.

 One if by land, and two if by sea;
 And I on the opposite shore will be,
 Ready to ride and spread the alarm
 Through every Middlesex village and farm."

Paul Revere went on to serve other roles in the American Revolution.  He served in the Massachusetts militia's ill-fated Penobscot Expedition of 1779.

After the war he expanded his metalworking interests to include cast iron and the use of rolling mills in the production of sheets of copper.   His firm went on to produce church bells and cannons.   Revere remained politically active throughout his life and died on May 10, 1818.

John Singleton Copley (1738 - 1815) painted a portrait of Paul Revere in 1770.  Copley often painted individuals with an artifact that was associated with the subject's life and here Paul Revere is shown holding a teapot.  Tea was a hot-button issue for the American colonists at the time this portrait was painted and Revere seems to be seriously contemplating the importance of the work of his hands.