Born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and apprenticed to watchmaker John Gaines, descendant of the Gaines family of chairmakers, Oliver Gerrish (1796-1888) went on to work as a journeyman in Boston in 1817 where he worked as an accomplished goldsmith. By 1819 he moved to Portland, Maine and opened a jewelers shop on Exchange Street; from 1858-77 he worked in partnership with his nephew, Nathaniel Pearson. Gerrish became an active member of the community as President of the Portland Savings Bank, prominent Mason, and Secretary and Treasurer of the Releif Fire Society.

Gerrish identified the plate of this clock with a stamp in the same manner he marked his metalwork. With this training as a watchmaker Gerrish was probably the manufacturer rather than the importer of this clock movement and it is therefore an important document of American craftsmanship and a rare example from Portland, Maine. For a detail of his imprint, see Flynt and Fales, The Heritage Foundation Collection of Silver (Deerfield, 1968), p. 225. See also Fredyma, A Directory of Maine Silversmiths and Watch and Clockmakers (Hanover, N.H. 1972).