He was the junior and the father was the senior and they both had the
same name and you all know teh son. Apollos-the-senior was born in
Riocaud, France and emmigrated to the New World in 1715. He was a
French Huguenot silversmith and after arriving in Boston became
apprenticed to John Coney.
Rivoire then changed his name and his son–taking on dad’s new
name–apprenticed under him and also became a silversmith and did
much subcontracting work for Samuel Minott and Nathaniel Hurd as well
as other well respected Bostonian silversmiths. On the side…
Rivoire’s son practiced dentistry. I digress for a slight instant.
Did I ever mention the time a gentleman came into my shop and asked
me if I could set a diamond into his tooth. I accepted the challenge
and I imagine that to this day the guy has a gleaming smile. I know I
know. Groan groan groan. Anyway… this is all one merry ride we’re
on so why not?
Rivoire’s son also became an engraver and a caricaturist… a talent
which he used abundantly in the patriot cause. By 1768… Rivoire’s
son was making silver plate for the Old South Church in Boston and in
1768 he crafted his most celebrated piece of American silver, the
“Sons of Liberty Bowl”, which now resides in the Museum of Fine Arts
in Boston. Appolos Rivoire–the father–of course when changing his
name… anglicized it to Paul Revere and his son… Paul Revere, Jr.
is the famous man we all know–not only for his silver-- but also for
his famous midnight ride which was honored in Longfellow’s great poem
which was entitled: Paul Revere’s Ride and which began with:
Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere…
So now dear souls… when someone you know shrugs and says: What’s in
a name–as I’m sure most of your friends are wont to do–you can ask
them if they know who Apollos Rivoire was.
For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits…may I
direct you to my home page at www.tyler-adam.com where you will
scroll down the left side menu till you get to the area that says
Current Tidbits… and then click on it in order to view image of the
Liberty Bowl with the names of 15 members of the Sons of Liberty
engraved around the rim.
And there ya have it.
That’s it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark
