Terry relocated to Northbury Connecticut in 1793, and helped incorporate Plymouth, Connecticut in 1795. Terry was appointed the town Sealer of Weights and Measures. His first clock shop was attached to his dwelling. Terry boarded girls like Candace Roberts to work in his shop painting clock dials. His second shop was considered the first water powered clock shop in the United States, and was built twenty feet square over Niagara Brook, which flowed through his property. Some of his earliest clocks were fitted with silvered brass dials, which were engraved for him by Burnap. The movements of the clock were made primarily of wood, or brass, depending on the requests of his customers. Brass was more commonly used for movements at the time, but it was also considerably more expensive and difficult to work with. In 1801, Terry was granted a patent on an equation clock. This was the first patent for a clock mechanism that was ever granted by the United States Patent Office.