Holcomb grew up in Southwick, Massachusetts, the son of Elijah Holcomb and Lucy Holcomb, and a descendant of the immigrant Thomas Holcomb. There were no schools in his district, so he didn't have formal schooling, but gave himself an education. He studied books on geometry, navigation, optics and astronomy that were previously owned by his uncle Abijah, who was lost at sea. At fifteen years of age Holcomb became a tutor at a private school in Suffield, Connecticut, teaching college preparatory courses to students older than himself.
Mid life
Holcomb went into the business of surveying land about 1808 since he was familiar with optics and associated equipment. For a while he also did private tutoring in the fields of surveying, optics, and astronomy. In the 1820s he manufactured many sets of surveyors' instruments. His buyers were his students as well as other civil engineers. Holcomb wrote his own almanac in 1807 and 1808, when he was twenty-one years old, because he found Nehemiah Strong's almanac was in need of much improvement. It did not predict the 1806 solar eclipse that he viewed on January 4 of that year. Holcomb had made astronomical computations from the books he had on hand and predicted this eclipse himself. Holcomb observed the eclipse with instruments he had made himself. Sometime around 1810 he decided to fabricate surveying instruments, selling chains, compasses, and small transit telescopes. He also fabricated for sale magnets, electrical apparatus and leveling instruments. He was quite successful in the surveying trade, however left it in 1825 and went into civil engineering.
Holcomb’s telescopes
Holcomb fabricated the first telescopes manufactured in the United States. The first reflecting telescope Holcomb made to order was for John A. Fulton of Chillicothe, Ohio, about 1826. It was fourteen feet long with a ten-inch aperture with six eye pieces with a magnification of from 90 to 960 times. He fabricated and manufactured telescopes in earnest soon thereafter, probably around 1828, which marked the first such manufacturing business in the United States. He enjoyed making telescopes and at the beginning of his manufacturing venture he never thought of it ever becoming a profitable business, just a labor of love. The telescopes he made were in four sizes:
Two telescopes manufactured by Holcomb were donated by Holcomb's descendants to the Smithsonian Institution in 1933. Until then they were in the attic of the family home in Southwick, Massachusetts.
Herschelian reflector, aperture, in length, shown at the Franklin Institute in 1835, USNM 310598.
Transit telescope, refractor, 21 inches in length, mounted on a cross tube with graduated circle, but lacking the base, USNM 310599.
Other aspects of his life
In 1816 Holcomb was chosen a "father" in his town he lived in. He held a city office position there during four successive years and occasionally by subsequent elections. In 1832 he was chosen to represent the town in the Legislature of Massachusetts. In 1852 Holcomb was elected to the State senate. He served three terms in the Massachusetts legislature, was a Justice of the Peace for the county of Hampden for over 50 years, and had been a Methodist minister since 1831, preaching until he was 80 years old. Holcomb was also a trustee of Wesleyan University. In 1837 he received from Williams College the Honorary degree of A.M. Holcomb died when he was 87 years old in March 1875. Asteroid 45512 Holcomb, discovered by astronomers with the Catalina Sky Survey in 2000, was named after him. The official was published by the Minor Planet Center on 8 November 2019.
Primary sources
Holcomb, Amasa. Autobiography written in 1867 when he was 80 years old.
Holcomb, Amasa. Handwritten text, believed to be autobiographical, unsigned and undated; kept at the Smithsonian Institution.
Holcomb, Amasa. Manuscript notebook kept by Holcomb between 1834 and 1841, on meteorology and astronomy. The Smithsonian Institution, U.S. National Museum catalog 310600.
