Manuscripts Department
Library of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION
#368
JACKSON, RIDDLE, AND COMPANY
Inventory
Abstract: Jackson, Riddle, & Company, commission merchants of
Philadelphia and Liverpool. The firm, which later became
Jackson, Todd, & Co., dealt in the sale of cotton, sugar,
tobacco, sheet iron, nails, and coal. Washington Jackson was
principal owner, and his son, Bolton Jackson, oversaw operations
in Liverpool. The company, which received some of its financing
from the Bank of the United States, carried on business with
clients and associates in the Northeastern and Southern states,
England, and France.
Business letters received by Jackson, Riddle, and
Company (1836-1838) and Jackson, Todd, and Company (1838-1839).
About one-half are letters from other commission merchants.
Other frequent correspondents are planters in Mississippi and
Lousisiana, including Stephen Duncan and John Ker Natchez, Miss.;
Edward Brook and Kennis Whitaker Company, iron makers of
Birdsborough Forge and Reading, Penn., respectively; Isaac
Brooks, retail merchant of Baltimore; and George Dickey, stock
broker of New York. Letters discuss crop outlooks, agricultural
prices, stock market trends, and domestic and international
trade. Other topics of interest are France's refusal to pay
claims of American shippers for vessels seized by Napoleon and
the great fire of 1835 in New York City's financial district.
On-line Bank of the United States.
Computer Birdsborough Forge (Penn.)--Commerce--19th century.
Terms: Brooke, Edward, fl. 1838.
Brooks, Isaac, fl. 1837-1838.
Commission merchants--Great Britain.
Commission merchants--Louisiana.
Commission merchants--New York.
Commission merchants--Pennsylvania.
Duncan, Stephen, fl. 1838-1839.
France--Commerce--United States.
France--Foreign relations--United States.
Iron industry and trade--Pennsylvania.
Jackson, Bolton, fl. 1838.
Jackson, Riddle, and Company (Philadelphia, Penn.).
Jackson, Todd, and Company (Philadelphia, Penn.).
Jackson, Washington, fl. 1836-1855.
Ker, John, 1789-1850.
Kennis Whitaker Company (Reading, Penn.).
Liverpool (England)--Commerce--19th century.
Napoleonic wars--Claims.
New Orleans (La.)--Commerce--19th century.
New York (N.Y.)--Commerce--19th century.
Philadelphia (Penn.)--Commerce--19th century.
United States--Foreign relations--France.
Size: About 270 items (0.5 linear foot).
Provenance:Acquired by the Southern Historical Collection before
1940. Provenance otherwise unknown.
Access: No restrictions.
Copyright:Retained by the authors of items in these papers, or
their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
INTRODUCTION
Biographical Note
Washington Jackson (fl. 1835-1855), commission
merchant, ran, along with his partners, Riddle and Todd, a
diverse business in agricultural and hardware products. His
company, Jackson, Riddle, and Company, which became Jackson,
Todd, and Company in late 1838, operated out of Philadelphia,
with a branch in Liverpool, England. Jackson's son, Bolton
Jackson, went to England to establish operations there in January
1838. Jackson and his partners sold sugar, tobacco, and cotton
produced by southern (mostly Mississippi and Louisiana) planters,
and purchased northern-produced sheet iron, nails, and other
hardware items and coal for resale to planters and to southern
and northern retail merchants, manufacturers, and railroad
builders. The company carried on business with individuals and
firms in New York, Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Louisiana,
Maryland, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Limited international
trade consisted of the importation of French foodstuffs from J.
H. Boyer and Company of Bordeaux and of English iron for use by
Pennsylvania nailmakers.
Letters from 1838 indicate that Jackson, Riddle, and
Company received some of its financing through loans from the
Bank of the United States. Jackson also invested frequently in
the stock market through his broker, George Dickey, of New York.
Jackson maintained close ties with a number of other
commission merchants, including Byrne Hermann and Company of New
Orleans; Daniel Buchanan and Son of Liverpool; Nevins Townsend
and Company, Thomas Barrett and Company, and W. J. Brown and
Company of New York; and William Ferriday and Company of Natchez,
Mississippi. Planters for whom Jackson's firm carried out
commission sales included Dr. Stephen Duncan and John Ker of
Natchez, Mississippi. Edward Brook and Kennis Whitaker Co., iron
makers of Birdsborough Forge and Reading, Pennsylvania,
respectively, provided Jackson with most of the iron he purchased
for resale. Isaac Brooks, who apears to have been his largest
hardware customer, was a retail merchant in Baltimore.
Collection Overview
The letters in this collection are particularly useful
for the study of early nineteenth-century agricultural market
conditions, the nascent iron industry in Pennsylvania, stock
market trends, domestic trade networks, and trade relations with
France.
Limited information appears on Washington Jackson's
personal finances, and none appears on his family or social life.
The activities of Jackson's partners, Riddle and Todd, find no
mention in the letters. Likewise, only limited information
emerges on the letters' authors, who rarely strayed from
discussion of immediate business concerns.
DESCRIPTION
Business letters received by Jackson, Riddle, and
Company (1836-1838) and Jackson, Todd, and Company (1838-1839)
from business associates, clients, and customers. About one-half
of the items are letters from other commission merchants,
including Byrne Hermann and Company of New Orleans; Daniel
Buchanan and Son of Liverpool; Nevins Townsend and Company,
Thomas Barrett and Company, and W. J. Brown and Company of New
York; and William Ferriday and Company of Natchez, Mississippi.
These letters discuss mostly market conditions and prices, the
status of drafts and notes handled for each other and their
clients, and the shipment of goods. Many of the letters are
written on the back of "Prices Current" bulletins.
Other frequent correspondents include planters, iron
and nail manufacturers, retail merchants, and manufacturers.
Letters from planters, most notably, Stephen Duncan and John Ker
of Natchez, Mississippi, discuss crop outlooks and orders for
hardware. Of note among the firm's iron and hardware suppliers
are Edward Brook and Kennis Whitaker Co. of Birdsborough Forge
and Reading, Pennsylvania, respectively, whose letters discuss
mostly orders for iron and production delays. Isaac Brooks, a
retail merchant of Baltimore, wrote often to order hardware and
discuss problems with its delivery. Scattered letters, appearing
in 1835 and 1836 from J. H. Boyer and Company of Bordeaux,
France, illuminate Jackson's attempts to branch out
internationally.
Letters relating to Jackson's finances include frequent
notes from stockbroker George Dickey, which list Jackson's
brokerage accounts, and a number of letters from the Bank of the
United States, which mention loans Jackson had from them in 1838.
Miscellaneous letters also appear in 1838 from F. Beaumont,
president of the Mississippi Shipping Co. of Natchez, which show
that Jackson often sold stock for Beaumont.
Other topics of note in the letters include the crisis
occurring in 1836 when France refused to pay spoliation claims
made by American shippers for vessels seized by Napoleon.
Letters from Thomas Baur and Company and Byrne Hermann and
Company of New Orleans and from J. H. Boyer and Company of
Bordeaux, France, between December 1835 and January 1836 express
fears that France's refusal to honor these claims might lead to
war and interrupt trade.
Letters from Byrne Hermann and Company, dated 2 and 9
January 1836, discuss the devastation caused by the great fire
that devastated the financial district of New York City in
December 1835.
One letter, dated 23 October 1855, appears from Phipps
and Company in Liverpool to Messrs. J. L. Phipps of New Orleans,
and concerns the sale of Ella A. Clark's cotton. The letter's
relationship to the remainder of the collection is not clear.
Folders 1-15
SHELF LIST
Box 1 (only) (folders 1-15)