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Home New England merchants and shipowners Guide to the records of the Merchants and shipowners of New England held at the Maritime History Archive
Introduction Buckley, Joseph, Joseph Buckley, Ship Ledger, 1693-1701 Burnham, Joshua, Joshua Burnham Papers, 1758-1817 Curwen, George, George Curwen, Fishing Account Books, 1658-1672 Davis, Thomas, (Capt) Capt. Thomas Davis Account Book, 1771-1778 Derby, Richard, Richard Derby Ledger, 1757-1776, 1786-1790: volume one of the Derby Papers English, Philip, Philip English Account Books, 1664-1718 Hunter, George W., George W. Hunter Papers, 1870-1875 Knight, William and Knight, Benjamin William and Benjamin Knight Account Books, 1767-1781, 1788-1833 Orne, Joseph, Joseph Orne Account Book, 1719-1743 Orne, Timothy, Timothy Orne Ships' Ledgers and Account Books, 1738-1767 Pickering, William, William Pickering Account Books, 1695-1718 Price, Ezekiel, Ezekiel Price Papers, 1754-1785 Rogers, Daniel, Daniel Rogers Account Book, 1770-1790 Ruck, Thomas, Thomas Ruck fonds, 1713-1722 Starbuck, Mary Coffin, Mary Coffin Starbuck Account Book with the Indians, 1662-1732 Stevens, John, John Stevens Account Book, 1769-1775 Swett, Joseph Jr. and Hooper, Robert, Joseph Swett Jr. and Robert Hooper, Jr. Letterbook, 1740-1747 Ward, Miles, Miles Ward, Account Books, 1745-1772 Introduction Dried codfish was the first of North America's great export staples and no colony prospered as impressively from codfish as did Massachusetts. Although fishermen themselves rarely grew wealthy from their work at sea, there was a great deal of business in servicing the industry, and from a very early date most of this was captured within the Bay Colony itself. The merchants who provisioned the fishery made their homes chiefly in Boston and Salem; the shipwrights who constructed fishing vessels dwelt along the coast north of Boston wherever good standing timber was within effective reach; and the farmers who carted flour, salt beef and pork, firewood, and cider to market lived in the hinterland behind. Unlike the British and French fisheries at Newfoundland and the Jersey-based fishery in the Gulf of St. Lawrence - all of which recruited capital and labor in the old country and fostered development there, too - the Massachusetts fishery enriched the colony itself. Most importantly, it offered new England's first shipowners a valuable commodity to carry abroad. The profits that seventeenth-century merchants earned transporting a number of products, but especially fish, to Spain and the West Indies underlay the rapid growth and subsequent prosperity of the carrying trade that earned most of Massachusetts' overseas credits down to the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution. Most of colonial Massachusetts' fishing fleet was based in Essex County, at Salem, Marblehead, Beverly, and Gloucester. In its earliest decades, it consisted mostly of single-masted vessels, operated by semi-independent partnerships of fishermen who obtained their outfits on credit and their earnings in truck from local merchants in return for the promised delivery of their entire catch. Through most of the year, these mariners made their living on the shoals and ledges of the Gulf of Maine, while coasters ferried their fish home. By 1700, however, the industry had gone over to larger vessels - two masted ketches and schooners - and was beginning to work the offshore banks of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Increasingly, outfitters recruited their men from the growing pool of propertyless seaport-dwellers, who now signed on as individuals and took their wages in a mixture of goods, notes, and cash. Marblehead and Gloucester in particular became urban centers of some importance, where hundreds of professional fishermen followed the sea and trained their sons to follow them. Most of the business manuscripts relating to this fishery belong to the Essex Institute in Salem, Massachusetts. Used in different ways, they enable the historian to understand the organization of the industry from a variety of angles. Most of them tell us about the origins of the fishermen, the money they earned, their habits of consumption, and the terms on which they dealt with their employers. Some also contain information on the size of fishing vessels, the cost of building, outfitting, and maintaining them, and the profits that their voyages earned. Still others describe how merchants assembled the supplies on which the industry relied and later disposed of its product abroad. The account books listed in this finding aid have been filmed in their entirety, but they do not represent the whole of the papers from each merchant. In many cases the repository holding the original papers holds a wide collection of other papers from the same outfitting merchants. Note: Introduction prepared by Dr. Danny Vickers, Department of History, Memorial University Joseph Buckley ship ledger , 1693-1701 1 reel of microfilm Biographical sketch Joseph Buckley was a merchant of Boston and married Joanna, daughter of Richard Shute, and widow of Nathaniel Nichols, in 1688. Source: Information provided by the Essex Institute Scope and content This is a copy of an account book, vellum, 109 pages, marked, 'Leager, 1693', Boston, Nova Anglia, June, 1693-August, 1698. It contains entries for people involved in the Newfoundland trade as well as accounts against Sir Edmund Andros, Captain Cyprian Southack, Major John Walley and others. Notes Original entitled 'Leager: 1693' Purchased from the Peabody Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, 1989. Filmed in 1989 from the original held by the Peabody Museum. Copyright is held by the Peabody Museum, Salem, Massachusetts. Location: Mic.1-3-2-13, Maritime History Archive Joshua Burnham papers, 1758-1817 2 reels of microfilm Biographical sketch Joshua Burnham (1736-1791) was a ship master of Ipswich, Massachusetts, who specialized in trade with Virginia and the West Indies. From 1761 to 1790, he mastered at least twelve vessels for prominent Massachusetts merchants. He also served as a trade agent, bartering for goods with small local merchants in Virginia and Maryland. Source: Information provided by the Essex Institute. Scope and content These papers include fishing and shipping papers, 1761-1790. They record trading activities with local merchants in Virginia and Maryland, and include unofficial cargo manifests, journal of a voyage on the sloop Phoenix and a journal of work performed aboard the sloop Robinwood. The business and family papers contain correspondence, legal and financial papers relating to shipping and business affairs and merchant correspondence, bonds and deeds, shipping accounts as well as correspondence with family members. The Joshua Burnham Papers are a reorganization and reintegration of one and a half boxes of manuscripts, seven account books and other miscellaneous papers. The collection was purchased by the Essex Institute in 1925. Three incomplete logbooks were removed from the papers. The papers are arranged in three series: Ships' papers, 1761-1790; Shipping account books, 1763-1788; Business and family papers, 1758-1817. Notes Purchased from the Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts, 1991. Filmed from the original documents held at the Essex Institute. MSS #172. Copyright is held by the Essex Institute. Permission to publish material from the collection should be obtained from the Director of the Essex Institute. Location: Mic.1-3-4-15/16, Maritime History Archive Maritime History Archive finding aid 85 Description of this collection taken from the finding aid provided by the Essex Institute. Associated material Joshua Burnham, Bill for taxes, Logbooks, Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts Samuel Burnham Family papers, Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts George Curwen Fishing account books, 1658-1672 1 reel of microfilm Biographical sketch George Curwen was born in 1610 in Sibbertoft, England and emigrated to Massachusetts in 1638. Settling down at Salem in Essex County, he quickly established himself as a prominent local merchant, provisioning farmers, townsmen, and fishermen alike. By the time of his death in 1685, he had accumulated one of the largest fortunes in New England. His business involved the fitting out of fishing companies: partnerships of independent fishermen who took their supplies from Curwen and paid him back in what they caught. He also dealt with smaller outfitters, providing them with wholesale goods that they would retail in turn to their fishermen; he was a pioneer in the offshore fishery; and finally, he played an important role in the fish export trade to Spain and the West Indies. Source: Biographical sketch prepared by Dr. Danny Vickers, Memorial University of Newfoundland. Scope and content There are three volumes of account books, 1658-1672, describing Curwen's relations with the several hundred fishermen who worked out of Salem and Marblehead in the mid-seventeenth century. These account books form part of the Curwen papers held at the Essex Institute. Notes Purchased from the Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts, 1989. Copied from the original account books held at the Essex Institute. Copyright is held by the Essex Institute. The ledger may not be duplicated or quoted without written permission from the Essex Institute. Location: Mic.1-5-1-4, Maritime History Archive Associated material Curwen Family papers, 1641-1902, Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts Inventory of George Curwin Estate, in George F. Dow and Mary G. Thresher, eds., Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts, 1636-1686, 9 volumes (Salem, Mass., 1911-1975), IX, 492-503 Related secondary sources Christine Heyrman, Commerce and Culture: The Maritime Communities of Colonial Massachusetts, 1690-1750, New York, 1984, pp. 209-230 Daniel Vickers, "Work and Life on the Fishing Periphery of Essex County, Massachusetts, 1630-1675", in David D. Hall and David Grayson Allen eds., Seventeenth-Century New England, Charlottesville, Va., 1984, pp. 83-117. Capt. Thomas Davis account book, 1771-1778 1 part reel of microfilm Biographical sketch Born at Salem, Captain Thomas Davis (1716-1801), was a fisherman's son, who owned a small business across the North River in Beverly in the decades before the outbreak of the American Revolution. During the period covered by this account book, he owned three schooners that he employed in the offshore fisheries and the coastal trade to Virginia. On shore, he owned a flakeyard where hired men dried the fish that his vessels brought in. Source: Biographical sketch prepared by Dr. Danny Vickers, Memorial University of Newfoundland. Scope and content An account book, 1771-1778, for Thomas Davis' three offshore schooners and the flakeyard where he dried his catch of fish. The book also records the towns where all of his customers and workers lived, and includes notations for every voyage and the quantity of cod caught by each of his fishermen. Notes Purchased from the Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts, 1989. Copied from the original ledger held at the Essex Institute. Copyright is held by the Essex Institute. The ledger may not be duplicated or quoted without written permission from the Essex Institute Location: Mic.1-5-1-8, Maritime History Archive Related secondary material Douglas Lamar Jones, Village and Seaport: Migration and Society in Eighteenth Century Massachusetts, Hanover, NH, 1981 Daniel Vickers, "Maritime Labor in Colonial Massachusetts: A Case Study of the Essex County Cod Fishery and the Whaling Industry of Nantucket, 1630-1775", Ph. D. dissertation, Princeton University, 1981 Richard Derby ledger, 1757-1776, 1786-1790: volume one of the Derby Papers 1 reel of microfilm Biographical sketch Richard Derby (1712-1783) was the wealthiest merchant in Salem, Massachusetts during the middle decades of the eighteenth century. He owned numerous sloops, schooners, and brigantines, which he employed in the cod fisheries and in overseas trading voyages to Southern Europe and the West Indies. Source: Biographical sketch prepared by Dr. Danny Vickers, Memorial University of Newfoundland. Scope and content These ledgers, 1757-1776 and 1786-1790, are part of the Derby Family papers, a huge collection of business records and family materials belonging to the James Duncan Phillips Library of the Peabody-Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. It records Richard Derby's debits and credits with other merchants, as well as with mariners, fishermen, shoremen, artisans, farmers, and widows from Salem and surrounding towns. Additionally, there is a copy of Richard Derby's will dated 1783. Notes Purchased from the Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts, 1992 Copied from the original ledgers held at the Essex Institute. Copyright is held by the Essex Institute. The ledger may not be duplicated or quoted without written permission from the Essex Institute. Location: Mic.1-5-1-14, Maritime History Archive
Philip English account books, 1664-1718 1 part reel of microfilm Biographical sketch Philip English (1651-1736) was one of the foremost fishing and shipping merchants of seventeenth century Salem, Massachusetts. He was born on the Isle of Jersey, and immigrated to Salem sometime before 1670 and set himself up as a general merchant, outfitter of fishing voyages and exporter of local produce to Spain, France, Ireland, Maryland, Virginia, Jersey and the West Indies. As early as 1680, he was already one of the wealthier merchants in town, and, by 1692, he was said to own a wharf and warehouse, fourteen buildings in Salem, and twenty-one sea-going vessels. English was one of the first merchants in Massachusetts to specialize in outfitting voyages to the offshore banks, and most of his vessels, chiefly two-masted ketches, divided their year between this branch of the fishery and the export trade to Europe and the West Indies. Although originally a mariner himself and one of the very few local merchants who actually dwelt on the waterfront amongst the seamen he employed, English maintained a relationship with the maritime community that was stormy at best. He was a frequent litigant before the courts, mostly suing his customers for debt; and when the witchcraft hysteria erupted in 1692, he had to flee the colony for a year to escape prosecution himself. Source: Biographical sketch prepared by Dr. Danny Vickers, Memorial University of Newfoundland. Scope and content These three account books, 1664-1708, 1678-1690, 1699-1718, describe mainly Philip English's dealings with fishermen and maritime artisans, the financial arrangements of fishing voyages and the expenses of keeping his vessels afloat. Notes Purchased from the Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts, 1989. Copied from the original account books held by the Essex Institute. Copyright is held by the Essex Institute. The ledger may not be duplicated or quoted without written permission from the Essex Institute. Location: Mic.1-5-1-9, Maritime History Archive Associated material English Family Papers, Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts Related secondary sources George Cheever, "Sketch of Philip English", Essex Institute, Historical Collections, I, 1859, pp. 157-181. David T. Konig, "A New Look at the Essex 'French': Ethnic Frictions and Community Tensions in seventeenth-Century Essex County, Massachusetts," Essex Institute, Historical Collections, CX, 1974, pp. 167-180. Richard P. Gildrie, Salem, Massachusetts, 1626-1683: A Covenant Community, Charlottesville, Va., 1975, pp. 155-169. George W. Hunter papers, 1870-1875 1.5 meters of textual records Biographical sketch George W. Hunter was a shipping agent and commission merchant of Boston, Massachusetts. Born in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Hunter had moved to Boston by 1855. The Directory for that year shows that Hunter and Thomas W. Johnson were doing business at 6 Commercial Wharf as commission merchants under the name of Thomas L. DeWolf and Co. By 1860, the DeWolf name had been dropped, with their interests handled by the firm of Johnson, Hunter and Company at 5 Commercial Wharf. Five years later, the office was moved to 1 Commercial Wharf, where the successor firms of Hunter Ryder and Crawley (1869) and George W. Hunter & Co. (1870-1875?) carried on business. When the 1869 partnership broke up, Benjamin Crawley, possibly from Nova Scotia, opened his own office in Philadelphia. Hunter's last partner was George Lovitt who may have been connected with the Lovitts of Yarmouth. Source: Information extracted from a letter from Captain Lew Parker to Dr. Keith Matthews, May 24, 1977 Note: A fuller administrative history is included in the finding aid for the collection. Scope and content These papers include photocopies of the incoming correspondence of the firm of George W. Hunter, from 1870 to 1875, from many shipowners for whom Hunter acted as agent, and from whom he chartered vessels. Much of his business was done with shipowners from Atlantic Canada. The letters include almost weekly reports of freight markets from the Thomsons in Saint John, New Brunswick and from other Saint John and Yarmouth shipowners, as well as from brokers in New York and Philadelphia who were concerned with the chartering of Canadian vessels. The correspondence has been arranged geographically and listed by individual correspondent. Notes Supplied title based on description. The original papers were loaned to the Maritime History Archive for copying by Capt. Lew Parker, in 1977. The original letters, which were in the possession of Capt. Lew Parker, were to be donated to Dalhousie University Archives on his death. Copyright is held by the creator or his/her heirs. Maritime History Archive finding aid 13 Location: Bank 36, shelf 1 and 2 William and Benjamin Knight account books, 1767-1781, 1788-1833 1 part reel of microfilm Biographical sketch William Knight (1722-1799) and his son Benjamin Knight (1767-1843) were shoremen from Marblehead, Massachusetts, who were involved in the deep sea cod fishery. The family owned several schooners, outfitted voyages from their waterfront chandlery, retailed provisions and dry goods to fishing families, and kept a flakeyard in Marblehead, where they employed retired mariners to dry the cod that their vessels brought in. William conducted the business until his death in 1799, when it passed to his son Benjamin who operated it through to 1833. Source: Biographical sketch prepared by Dr. Danny Vickers, Memorial University of Newfoundland. Scope and content These three volumes of account books, covering the periods 1767-1781 and 1788-1833, contain the Knight dealings with the hundreds of fishermen whom they hired, the export merchants to whom they sold their cod once cured, and the dozens of maritime artisans and labourers who maintained the Knight fleet of schooners. Notes Purchased from the Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts, 1989. Copied from the original account books held at the Essex Institute. Copyright is held by the Essex Institute. The ledger may not be duplicated or quoted without written permission from the Essex Institute. Location: Mic.1-5-1-9, Maritime History Archive Related secondary sources Samuel Roads, Jr., The History and Traditions of Marblehead, Marblehead, Mass., 1897, pp 349-356, 365-377. Raymond McFarland, A History of the New England Fishery with Maps, New York, 1911, pp. 102-175. Daniel Vickers, "Maritime Labor in Colonial Massachusetts: A Case Study of the Essex County Cod Fishery and the Whaling Industry of Nantucket", Pd.D. dissertation, Princeton University, 1981, 193-250. Joseph Orne account book , 1719-1743 1 part reel of microfilm Biographical sketch Joseph Orne (1683-1748) of Salem, was a shoemaker's son who rose to become an important fish and export merchant in the period after Queen Anne's War. Source: Biographical sketch prepared by Dr. Danny Vickers, Memorial University of Newfoundland. Scope and content This is a copy of an account book , 1719-1743. It covers the period in the 1720s when the Massachusetts fishery was rapidly expanding after nearly a quarter of a century of continual interruption. It describes Orne's dealings with the fishermen who crewed his schooners to the offshore banks. Notes Purchased from the Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts, 1989. Copied from the original account book held at the Essex Institute. Copyright is held by the Essex Institute. The ledger may not be duplicated or quoted without written permission from the Essex Institute. Location: Mic.1-5-1-6, Maritime History Archive Related secondary sources Daniel Vickers, "Maritime Labor in Colonial Massachusetts: A Case Study of the Essex County Cod Fishery and the Whaling Industry of Nantucket", Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University, 1981, pp. 193-250. Timothy Orne ships' ledgers and account books, 1738-1767 1 part reel of microfilm Biographical sketch Timothy Orne (1717-1767) was one colonial Salem's wealthiest merchants, and the range of his business interests was very wide. Throughout a career spanning the middle decades of the eighteenth century he traded in fish, cloth, wine, rum, slaves, grain, and molasses to a wide variety of European and West Indian ports. He probably owned over fifty vessels throughout his career, many of which were schooners that he owned in partnership with local shoremen and master mariners who were also involved in the fishery. Source: Biographical sketch prepared by Dr. Danny Vickers, Memorial University of Newfoundland. Scope and content These ledgers and account books, describe fishermen who crewed Orne's vessels, local artisans who furnished provisions for the voyages and maintained the vessels, and his merchant acquaintances from whom he bought and sold fish and supplies. The accounts list occupation of individuals. The records are arranged in three series: Ledgers, 1738-1767; Ship's journal, 1748-1751; Ship's ledger, 1758-1767. Notes Purchased from the Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts, 1989. Copied from the original records held at the Essex Institute. Copyright is held by the Essex Institute. The ledger may not be duplicated or quoted without written permission from the Essex Institute. Location: Mic.1-5-1-6, Maritime History Archive Associated material Orne Family Papers, Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts Related secondary material Daniel Vickers, "Maritime labor in Colonial Massachusetts: A Case Study of the Cod Fishery of Essex County and the Whaling Industry of Nantucket, 1630-1775", Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University, 1981, pp. 193-250. William Pickering account books, 1695-1718 1 part reel of microfilm Biographical sketch William Pickering (1671-1720) was a Salem shipmaster and merchant in the fishery and coasting trades of New England in the first quarter of the eighteenth century. He owned several vessels and employed them hawking merchandise in the Chesapeake colonies and Newfoundland and fishing on the offshore banks of Nova Scotia. Source: Biographical sketch prepared by Dr. Danny Vickers, Memorial University of Newfoundland. Scope and content These account books, 1695-1718, cover the voyages of his two fishing sloops, Speedwell and Content, as well as his dealings with mariners, fishermen and the tradesmen of Salem's waterfront. It also includes a description of the peddling activities of the brigantine Hope in fishing settlements from Ferryland to Bonavista, Newfoundland. Notes Purchased from the Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts, 1989. Copied from the original material held by the Essex Institute. Copyright is held by the Essex Institute. The ledger may not be duplicated or quoted without written permission from the Essex Institute. Location: Mic.1-5-1-5, Maritime History Archive Associated material There are a variety of miscellaneous papers relating to William Pickering in the Rare Book Room of the Boston Public Library, Boston, Massachusetts, and in the Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts. Related secondary sources C. Grant Head, Eighteenth Century Newfoundland, Toronto, 1976, pp. 100-137. Harrison, Ellery and Charles Pickering Bowditch, The Pickering Genealogy, 3 volumes, Cambridge, Mass., 1897, pp. 54-62 Ezekiel Price papers, 1754-1785 1 reel of microfilm Biographical sketch Ezekiel Price was a great-grandson of Ezekiel Cheever, who was a noted Boston school teacher. He was born in Boston c. 1728. Early in his career Price was secretary to three of the Colonial Governors successively, William Shirley, Thomas Pownell and Sir Francis Bernard. He was clerk of the Courts of Common Pleas and Sessions for several years before the revolution and later from 1776-1800. He was described as one of the most respectable inhabitants of Boston, holding offices as the Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, and the Registrar of Deeds. He was a Notary Public and an insurance broker. On April 18, 1765 he married Ruth Avery and they had six children. Ezekiel Price died in Boston on July 5, 1802 at the age of 74. Scope and content The Ezekiel Price Papers, 1754-1785, were one of the Massachusetts Historical Society's earliest manuscript acquisitions. Included are manuscript letters, petitions, statistics, lists and observations concerning the American Revolution, Maine lands and cod fisheries, Boston merchants, Boston town meetings, East India trade and materials relating to William Bollan, John Hancock, Sylvester Gardiner, the Marquis de Vaudrieul, Edward Payne and other Massachusetts founders. The original papers were donated to the Massachusetts Historical Society by Ezekiel Price in 1792. Notes Purchased from University Microfilms International, 1991. Copied from the original papers held at by Massachusetts Historical Society Copyright is held by the Massachusetts Historical Society. Location: Mic.1-5-1-12, Maritime History Archive Daniel Rogers account book, 1770-1790 1 part reel of microfilm Biographical sketch Daniel Rogers (1736-1800) was a successful merchant and shipowner of Cape Ann, Massachusetts. In 1774, Rogers was owner or part-owner of ten vessels, mainly fishing schooners which were employed on the banks. Although many of these vessels were lost to the British Navy during the War for Independence or to natural decay, Rogers regained his fortune in the 1780s and 1790s. Source: Biographical sketch prepared by Dr. Danny Vickers, Memorial University of Newfoundland. Scope and content This account book, 1770-1790, shows detailed credits of the customers of Daniel Rogers, from the fishing voyages of mariners to the butter delivered by local farm wives to his store. The entries for the 1780s describe the early development of the Cape Ann chebacco boat fishery. Notes Purchased from the Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts, 1989. Copied from the original account book held at the Essex Institute. Copyright is held by the Essex Institute. The ledger may not be duplicated or quoted without written permission from the Essex Institute Location: Mic.1-5-1-8, Maritime History Archive Associated material Joshua Burnham papers, 1758-1817, Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts These papers include Burnham's accounts and his logbooks while a master in Roger's employ Daniel Rogers, Account Book, 1790-1800, Cape Ann Historical Society, Gloucester, Massachusetts Daniel Rogers, Jr., Account Book, 1790-1808, Cape Ann Historical Society, Gloucester, Massachusetts Related secondary sources John J. Babson, History of the Town of Gloucester, Cape Ann, Including the Town of Rockport, Gloucester, Mass., 1860, pp. 382-387, 448-466, 477-478, 565-577. 1 reel of microfilm Biographical sketch Thomas Ruck Jr. (1659- ?) was a New England merchant, mariner and shipowner who became involved in the Newfoundland trade during the period 1713-1722. He dealt with many Newfoundland fishermen and planters, with a range of operation extending from Ferryland to Bonavista. Most of his trade, however, was concentrated at the ports between Torbay and Bay Bulls. Source: Thomas Ruck Fonds, Maritime History Archive Scope and content This fonds includes journals, 1715-1722, and ledgers, 1714-1722, of this New England merchant showing accounts of fish procured from Newfoundland fishermen in exchange for molasses, rum, foodstuffs and hardware. The ledgers contain numerous references to persons residing in St. John's, Quidi Vidi, Bay Bulls and Petty Harbour. It also includes a separate volume entitled "Accounts of ventures and business undertaking," 1713-1722, which records trade with Newfoundland. Notes Original material purchased from Newbury Port Rare Books Ltd., Boston, 1988. Filmed from the original material which is jointly owned by the Maritime History Archive and the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador (PANL). Original material is held at the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador. No restrictions on access to the microfilm. Access to the original material is restricted. Copyright on the microfilm is held jointly by the Maritime History Archive and PANL. Location: Mic.1-1-4-15, Maritime History Archive Maritime History Archive finding aid 11 Mary Coffin Starbuck account book with the Indians, 1662-1732 1 reel of microfilm Biographical sketch Mary Starbuck and her descendants constituted one of the more important merchant families on Nantucket Island in Massachusetts during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The bulk of their business was in the whaling industry although the Starbucks were also farmers and general traders. Source: Biographical sketch prepared by Dr. Danny Vickers, Memorial University of Newfoundland. Scope and content The Mary Starbuck account book with the Indians, 1662-1732, contains all of the family's dealings, not only hers but also subsequent generations, with Indian customers, labourers, and whalemen between 1680s and the 1730s. It documents in remarkable detail the evolution of the economic relationships between the Indians and the colonists from a period not long after settlement almost to the time when the local tribe was destroyed by disease. Notes Purchased from the Nantucket Historical Association, 1994. Filmed from the original account book by the Nantucket Historical Association. Nantucket Historical Association holds the original material, Coll 10 AB475. Copying must not exceed fair use Permission to quote must be obtained from the Nantucket Historical Association. Location: Mic.7-9-5-8, Maritime History Archive John Stevens account book, 1769-1775 (Account Book also includes accounts for Samuel Whittemore, 1786-1807) 1 part reel of microfilm Biographical sketch John Stevens (1702-1779) was a merchant and landowner in Gloucester, Massachusetts in the late colonial period. He kept a number of schooners in the bank fishery and manned them with local men who provisioned themselves and their families at his store. Stevens also owned a number of houses in Gloucester which he rented to fishermen and other customers. Source: Biographical sketch prepared by Dr. Danny Vickers, Memorial University of Newfoundland. Scope and content This is the oldest known surviving account book from Cape Ann, Massachusetts. As a general provisioning merchant, Stevens carried a wide variety of wares. The account book is valuable for its portrait of fishermen as consumers. It also contains accounts under the name of Samuel Whittemore, 1786-1807. Notes Purchased from the Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts, 1989. Copied from the original account book held at the Essex Institute. Copyright is held by the Essex Institute. The ledger may not be duplicated or quoted without written permission from the Essex Institute. Location: Mic.1-5-1-8, Maritime History Archive Related secondary sources Christine Leigh Heyrman, Commerce and Culture: The Maritime Communities of Colonial Massachusetts, 1690-1750,New York, 1984, pp. 143-181. Joseph Swett Jr. and Robert Hooper, Jr. letterbook, 1740-1747 1 part reel of microfilm Biographical sketch Joseph Swett Jr. (1689?-1745) and Robert Hooper Jr., 1709-1790 were merchants in the fish export trade at Marblehead, Massachusetts during the 1740s. Swett was one of the first in that town to engage directly in export, and Hooper, his son-in-law, eventually gained such dominance in the fishery that he became popularly known as "King" Hooper. Their firm was almost certainly the largest trading concern in town and had dealings in many major centres around the North Atlantic. Source: Biographical sketch prepared by Dr. Danny Vickers, Memorial University of Newfoundland. Scope and content This letterbook, 1740-1747, consists mainly of instructions to their business agents; Samuel Storke in London, Steers and Barrons in Lisbon, Joseph Gardoque y Mueta in Bilboa and Gedney Clarke in Barbados. The conditions in foreign fish markets and the state of the fishery in New England are the chief topics. Notes Purchased from the Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts, 1989. Copied from the original letterbook held at the Essex Institute. Copyright is held by the Essex Institute. The ledger may not be duplicated or quoted without written permission from the Essex Institute. Location: Mic.1-5-1-5, Maritime History Archive Related secondary sources William H. Bowden, "The Commerce of Marblehead", Essex Institute, Historical Collections, LXVIII , (1932), pp. 117-145. Christine Heyrman, Commerce and Culture: The Maritime Communities of Massachusetts, 1690-1750, New York, 1984, pp. 231-2272, 230-365. James G. Lydon, " Fish for Gold: The Massachusetts Fish Trade with Iberia, 1700-1773", New England Quarterly, LIV (1981), pp. 539-582. Miles Ward account books, 1745-1772 1 reel of microfilm Biographical sketch Miles Ward (1702-1792) was a prosperous fish dealer and general merchant from Salem, Massachusetts. He began his working career in the 1720s as a joiner and in the 1730s he expanded his activities to trading and by 1740 he was involved in the shipping business. All of his vessels combined fishing with the coasting trade to Maryland and Virginia, and overseas voyages to Europe and the West Indies. Source: Biographical sketch prepared by Dr. Danny Vickers, Memorial University of Newfoundland. Scope and content These copies of three account books, 1745-1754, 1753-1764, and 1765-1777, show the history of fishing vessels and the relationships between merchant and individual fishermen over an extended period. Notes Purchased from the Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts, 1989. Copied from the original account books held at the Essex Institute. Copyright is held by the Essex Institute. The ledger may not be duplicated or quoted without written permission from the director of the Essex Institute. Location: Mic.1-5-1-7, Maritime History Archive Related secondary sources Daniel Vickers, "Maritime labor in Colonial Massachusetts: a Case of the Essex County Cod Fishery and the Whaling Industry of Nantucket, 1630-1775", Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University, 1981, pp. 193-250. James G. Lydon, "Fish for Gold: The Massachusetts Fish Trade with Iberia, 1700-1773", New England Quarterly, CIV, 1981, pp. 539-582. James G. Lydon, "North Shore Trade in the Early Eighteenth Century", American Neptune, XXVIII, 1968, pp. 261-274. |
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