Courtenay, Hercules (1739-1769)
Courtenay (Courtney), Hercules
Belfast, Ireland, London and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; carver and gilder (b.1739-fl. 1756-1769)
Courtney was born in Belfast in 1739 and moved to London where in 1756 he was apprenticed to Thomas Johnson. He emigrated to Philadelphia in 1766 and became an indentured tradesman in the workshop of Benjamin Randolph, who had paid his passage to America [Pennsylvania Chronicle, 14 August 1769].
Source: DEFM; Heckscher, American Furniture in the MMA (1985), p. 24; Simon, ‘Thomas Johnson’s The Life of the Author’, Furniture History (2003); Glin & Peill, Irish Furniture (2007), p. 15; Beckerdite, American Furniture, (2016).
The original entry from Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, 1660-1840 can be found at British History Online.