Manuscripts Department
Library of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION
#974-z
THOMAS LEGARE RECEIPT BOOK
Inventory
Abstract: Thomas Legare‚ was a commission merchant in
Charleston, S.C., in the 1760s and 1770s. Legare
dealt mostly in rice and farm produce, though he also
sold other products on behalf of local planters. On
occasion, he acted as an agent in the sale of slaves.
Legare also operated as a supply merchant, frequently
buying freights of tar, turpentine, bricks, shingles,
and other goods, and reselling them for profit.
One volume, 1767-1774, containing receipts written
to Thomas Legare by various individuals whose crops
and other goods Legare sold. Receipts also appear for
goods and services, including cooperage, carpentry
work, shipping, and supplies, that Legare purchased
for his business and personal use. Signatures
appearing most frequently on receipts are Isaac
McPherson, Edward Perry, Thomas Ferguson, Henry
Ballingal, Charles Elliott, Thomas Farr, Joseph
Fabian, G. Waddon Bone, Joseph Shirving, Edward
Wilkinson, and Vardell & Wilkes. Freight receipts
often refer to shipments on the schooner Liberty.
Online Catalog Terms:
Ballingal, Henry, fl. 1768-1770.
Bone, G. Waddon, fl. 1768-1770.
Charleston (S.C.)--History--19th century.
Commission merchants--South Carolina.
Elliott, Charles, fl. 1768-1770.
Fabian, Joseph, fl. 1768-1770.
Farr, Thomas, fl. 1768-1770.
Ferguson, Thomas, fl. 1768-1771.
Legare, Thomas, fl. 1767-1774.
McPherson, Isaac, fl. 1767-1770.
Merchants--South Carolina.
Perry, Edward, fl. 1767-1770.
Plantations--South Carolina.
Rice--Marketing.
Schooners--South Carolina.
Shirving, Joseph, fl. 1768-1770.
Slave trade--South Carolina.
South Carolina--Agriculture [local heading].
Vardell & Wilkes (S.C.).
Wilkinson, Edward, fl. 1768-1770.
Size: 1 item.
Provenance: Received from Mr. Duncan Cameron Waddell of
Plantersville, South Carolina, in April 1945.
Access: No restrictions.
Copyright: Retained by the authors of items in these papers, or
their descendants, as stipulated by United States
copyright law.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Description
INTRODUCTION
Thomas Legare acted as a commission merchant in Charleston,
South Carolina, in the decade prior to the Revolutionary War.
Dealing mostly in the sale of rice and farm produce, he also sold
deer skins and other products on commission. On at least two
occasions he acted as the middleman in the sale of slaves for
local planters.
Legare evidently also served as a supply merchant, purchasing
building and construction supplies in bulk and then selling them
to local plantation owners. He frequently traded in materials
such as tar, turpentine, bricks, and shingles.
A volume of receipts kept by Legare between 1767 and 1774
illustrates the variety of goods in which early commission
merchants dealt. It also illuminates the economic connections
between merchants and planters and among various planters around
Charleston, South Carolina. Often receipts reflect the bartering
and trading off of debts common in the plantation economy. The
receipts also show many of Legare's expenses as a merchant,
including the costs of shipping and supplies. Several receipts,
including one for Legare's 1768 town taxes and a few for
clothing, firewood, coal, and carpentry work, offer limited
information on Legare's life outside his business affairs.
The bulk of the receipts document the years between 1768 and
1770, with only scant information available on other years. No
receipts appear for 1773.
DESCRIPTION
One volume, 1767-1774, containing receipts written by various
South Carolina planters and others to Thomas Legare. The bulk of
the receipts are for monies resulting from Legare's sale of
planters' crops, mostly rice and produce. Other receipts
indicate that Legare acted as a commission agent for other
products such as deer skins. Two receipts, 21 November 1768 and
11 January 1770, show that at times Legare sold slaves on
commission.
Legare also apparently operated as a supply merchant, buying
freights of construction and other materials such as bricks,
shingles, tar, and turpentine, and reselling them to planters.
He also bought freights of rum and salt for resale.
Other receipts appear for Legare's business and personal
expenses, including coopering and carpentry work, freight
charges, barrels, coal, firewood, shoes, and sugar. A 19
December 1768 receipt appears for Legare's town taxes.
The vast majority of the receipts (293 of 308) appear between
1768 and 1770, with 152 appearing in 1768, 96 in 1769, and 45 in
1770. Receipts for these years pertain mostly to the sale of
rice, with a significant number also appearing for the sale of
produce. Signatures most often seen on receipts are Thomas
Ferguson, Henry Ballingal, Charles Elliott, Isaac McPherson,
Edward Perry, Joseph Fabian, Joseph Shirving, G. Waddon Bone,
Thomas Farr, Edward Wilkinson, and Vardell & Wilkes. Of interest
is a 14 April 1768 receipt signed by Abraham Jackson, a free
black man, for cash received upon Legare's sale of 5 pounds of
rice for him.
Only three receipts, all three for rice sold, appear for 1767,
and are signed by John Rose, Isaac McPherson, and Edward Perry.
Nine receipts appear for 1771, mostly documenting final payments
Legare made to planters to settle his accounts with them.
Settlement receipts are signed by John Baker, Jonathan Fabian,
Savage Legare, Oalf Russell, Erasmus Audley, and Joseph Dill.
Other receipts include one signed by Thomas Ferguson pertaining
to the sale of Ferguson's produce; one signed by James Simpson
referring to Legare's purchase of a pair of shoes for his son;
and one signed by Downes, Jones, & Company acknowledging payment
of freight charges for a shipment of rice.
Two receipts settling final accounts appear for 1772, and are
signed by H. Crouch and Mark Morris. No receipts appear for
1773. The one receipt for 1774 settles Legare's account wit
George Kincaid.