• Born: 9 Sep 1789, Portland ME
• Marriage (1): Selina Cranch on 18 Jul 1819 in Portland ME
• Died: 29 Jan 1859, Boston MA

  General notes:

Silversmith, watchmaker, and astronomer

  Events in his life were:

• Alternate Mark.

• Apprenticed: William Bond, after 1801, in Boston MA. After his training, his interest turned to timepieces and astronomy. ³

• He worked in 1806-1812 as a silversmith and watchmaker in Boston MA excelling at the making of chronometers and ship's compasses.

• Partnership: William Bond, circa 1815-1832, in Boston MA. As WILLIAM BOND & SON, with a shop at 8 Congress Square.

• Appointed: Director of Harvard Observatory, in 1839, in Boston MA. In 1815 he was sent by Harvard College to Europe to visit existing observatories and gather data preliminary to the building of an observatory at Harvard. In 1839 the observatory was founded; Bond supervised its construction and became its first director. In 1847 a 15-in. (37.5 cm) telescope, then matched in size by only one other in the world, was installed. With it, Bond made elaborate studies of sunspots, of the Orion nebula, and of the planet Saturn, publishing his results chiefly in the Annals of the Harvard College Observatory.
  ³

• Partnership: Joseph Cranch Bond, in 1845-1850, in Boston MA. As BOND & SON, listed in the 1845 city directory at 26 Congress Street.

• Example: Watch paper for W. BOND & SON, circa 1845, in American Antiquarian Society.

• Partnership: Charles and Richard Fifield Bond, circa 1855, in Boston MA. As WM BOND & SONS, listed in the 1855 city directory at 17 Congress Street.

William married Selina Cranch on 18 Jul 1819 in Portland ME. (Selina Cranch was born on 21 Sep 1800 in Kingsbridge England and died on 11 Dec 1831 in Dorchester MA.)