Back in 1804, ten years before this story begins, Dexter Wheeler, an
uncle of Israel Brayton’s wife, had bought the Martin Farm in Swansea;
43 acres with water power and a grist mill. In 1806, he sold half his
farm to his brother, Nathaniel, the village blacksmith. The brothers
intended to build and operate a Cotton Yarn Factory. This was years
before the power loom had been used successfully anywhere in the
country, twenty six years before mule spinning was even attempted.
Factory construction went on slowly. Dexter Wheeler quit, though his
brother Nathaniel Wheeler continued to be interested for some years
longer. Ownership of the yarn mill became involved. Then the War of
1812 stopped the shipping north of cotton--overland transportation
was of course impossible. And you can’t run a cotton factory without
cotton, you know. And you can’t raise a cotton crop in New England--in
case you don’t know!
There was reorganization at the close of the War. The third oldest
paper in the barrel is a certificate of stock in this “Swansea Union
Cotton Manufacturing Company” as it finally came to be called. The
stock had been issued to Wheaton Luther, February 21, 1816, when
he was clerking for Israel in Scrabbletown and must have been left
carelessly around the store. (This Wheaton Luther was a Somerset man,
his board bill in Swansea where he stayed with David Brown was also in
the barrel, paid up to August 1, 1816.) Wheaton gave $145.00 for his
mill stock. It was not a whole share of stock, only a quarter share,
and he did not pay for it all at once, but in 39 installments. This is
testimony to Wheaton’s industry. (Though the lottery ticket was his.)
And to his small wages. And to the difficulty men had in getting any
capital at all to finance a yarn mill.
By the close of 1815, the factory was spinning some cotton. The
spinners had been carefully selected, for the factory machinery was
supposed to be rather a secret, certainly experimental, the process
not too easy to get the hang of. At first the spinners were eager to
take home the yarn and weave it on their own looms. Their families
and friends wanted the work. But this was haphazard and unbusinesslike
and would never do. There must be a distributing center for the yarn,
a center to which the finished work could be returned, inspected, paid
for.
Uncle Nathaniel Wheeler wrote up to his niece Kezia. He was still
running his blacksmith shop in Swansea and knew what was going on. He
saw what looked like a good job for Israel--the factory needed some one
to run a Company Store.
Why a Store? Because the weavers would not want to be paid in cash,
he knew very well they wouldn’t. They would want to be paid in
goods--which they could get immediately. They certainly would not want
to save what they might earn, for the farms were short of everything
and needed replacements at once. With no shipping, not only cotton
but many staples had not come up from the South; no English or West
Indian Goods had been in the market for a long time, no whale ships had
brought oil for the lamps of Swansea, no ships of any kind had brought
any lamps.
After sounding out the Swansea Union Cotton Manufacturing Company,
Israel and Kezia and Mary came down at once, as I have told you, and
Israel found housing in Swansea for his family and began to look about
for a partner. He was a cautious man, was Israel.
John Mason, well thought of in Swansea where he was Postmaster, was not
averse to investing in the project. The two men formed what they called
a “Co-Partnership”. They bought a small shop whose owner had failed.
They bought the shop and its meagre contents at auction. And what they
bought and what they paid for it is listed in the barrel.
They filled the almost empty shelves with, well, with everything.
I have read the inventories. They were then ready to trade with
the Swansea Union Cotton Manufacturing Company; and with the whole
countryside.
And they did. And Israel continued to do so until he went out of
business altogether in 1832. Seventeen years. A few years later the
Swansea Union Cotton Manufacturing Company’s factory burned down;
bankrupt, I have heard. Of that the barrel knows nothing. It was a very
successful little yarn factory while it lasted.
Brayton and Mason had engaged Wheaton Luther as clerk. (Yes. He was a
cousin of Kezia’s.). For they did not intend to spend much time in the
shop themselves. Mason had his post-office. Israel had to get around.
All their ventures were complicated and were going to need personal
attention. Wheaton Luther proved to be efficient, though he certainly
conducted many affairs of his own on the side. And Mrs. Brayton
(Kezia), after the birth of her second child, little William Bowers, in
August, 1816, helped in the store when needed.
“Mr Brayton----please to send me the handkerchief that your wife laid
aside----and charge it----
Sarah Ann Luther”
As soon as little Mary could reach up to the counter, she too helped
out, after school hours. She was a very handsome girl, and graceful.
Her father hired a dancing teacher to give her dancing lessons. The
bill is in the Barrel. Also I found a bill showing that she began her
regular schooling at the age of three.
Israel spent the rest of the year of 1815 riding about the country-side
making connections with the weavers needed to weave the spun yarn of
the factory. He knew all the farms and the villages, of course. He had
grown up among them. He got the names of quite a lot of reliable men
and women who would be willing to weave for the Swansea Union Cotton
Manufacturing Company through the agency of Brayton and Mason. They
began to come in for yarn. Israel started the Weave Books found in the
barrel.
We know from these books the prices paid each man and woman, and the
pattern each had to follow.
As the amount of yarn spun in the factory increased, the number
of weavers had to be increased. The better weavers--any very good
weaver had always been celebrated through the villages--were the
first employed by Israel--also the weavers nearest to Scrabbletown.
Weaving, I think, was an Art, when Israel went to find his weavers;
and started to make up his weave books. Possibly it did not remain
an art for long. The demand for weavers was soon so great that the
factory could not--did not--reject badly woven cloth. The price paid
for the weaving was the same for good or bad. Each weaver knew that
a critical appraisal of the quality of his finished work was placed
against his name, but the factory, though it grumbled, took the good,
bad, indifferent. Every weaver got his pay, didn’t he--why worry?
Occasionally a man wove so badly that he could not be kept on the
list--but only occasionally.
And the factory was not spinning the yarn evenly--not as well as the
better home spinners had spun it. Down in the weave book went the
comment of the weaver who was asked to weave bad (“tender”) yarn. “The
yarn was very rotten in spooling” wrote Sarah Ann Luther. But it was
rarely returned unwoven. Possibly the weavers hated to waste their time
weaving bad yarn--their own spinning had been pretty good. But they
wove what Israel gave them. Of course they did--eventually. And it made
usable cloth, mostly.
Finally, few bothered to weave too well, I suppose. Soon they all got
used to the second rate. Along the village streets you would have heard
the looms clicking. New prosperity could have been seen about the farms.
Men wove this factory yarn more often than women. Retired
sea-captains--seafaring men without ships at the moment--sat down
at the loom, especially in the winter months. And still the demand
for weavers grew. The yarn was taken by weavers living in Assonet,
Barrington, Dighton, Rehoboth, Tiverton, Warren, Freetown and Troy
(old names for Fall River) as well as by those living in Swansea and
Somerset and the farms round about. And it was all distributed by
Brayton and Mason who checked it most carefully. There was a system by
which yarn was sent to the homes of the weavers by baggage waggon, the
woven cloth returned the same way. But many weavers did not live on the
baggage waggon route and there were horses on every farm. Farmers would
ride in to Scrabbletown, have a drink, get the yarn their households
needed; and bring back to Israel the woven cloth in their own good
time. I must repeat that they could have been paid in cash had they
so desired. But few did so desire. For they could select goods right
off the shelves--there was no better store in Swansea than the little
Company Store run by Brayton and Mason.
The farmers would sometimes bring in fresh eggs, a pail of berries,
some bear steaks or venison--Israel was always glad to get anything
in the way of trade. There is record of a crop of Swansea currants so
disposed of, to a man down from Dighton. He was going to make currant
wine. A village shoemaker would make a few extra shoes for the shop; in
trade for a gilt mirror and some imported rum.
For of course Brayton and Mason carried rum both imported and
domestic--some weavers favored one, some another. They even stocked
Port Wine, straight from Spain to Somerset. Silk from China could be
had, too, and French Wall Paper; British goods, surprisingly, were very
popular the moment the British were defeated.
When the weavers had brought in their cloth, and it had been inspected,
Israel often picked out some particularly good piece to keep in stock.
He arranged this with the factory. Households busy weaving for the
factory sometimes needed a little cotton cloth for household use which
they no longer had the time to spin and weave; especially bed-ticking.
Israel kept more and more of this homewoven cloth for trading. He had
to send his cart up to Boston where he bought his main supplies of
drygoods, china and glass ware, and it seemed foolish to send it empty.
He began to load up with cloth and goosefeathers, etc. And trade was
soon pretty brisk. A Company Store in Raynham took all he could spare;
he stopped off in Raynham on the way up. There was in Boston as at home
an especially good demand for bed-ticking. The trade in more fancy
weaves was not always satisfactory.
With the yarn issued to the weavers, went, as I have said,
“directions”. Each weaver was told by the factory what colors to use,
what design to make. Yarn of each color, just enough, went with each
bundle.
[Illustration]
There were found in the barrel, a few pieces of the woven cloth. They
show the red and the orange yarn, the two shades of blue, and the
general look of this home-and-factory product. More white yarn was
given out than colored--undyed, a “natural” white. The bits of cloth
are most pleasing.
Weavers who were accustomed to weave their own devised patterns, as
many were, naturally found these directions irksome. But it was take it
or leave it, and they took it, and brought back their finished work to
the Company Store, getting in exchange, women’s kid boots, teapots of
lustre ware, good China Tea. It probably seemed worth it. Of course,
Brayton and Mason kept Store Books as well as Weave Books--it is easy
to trace by name and date the goods that the weavers selected.
The Swansea Union Cotton Manufacturing Company gave their spinners
credit at Brayton and Mason’s store. There are hundreds of little
notes in the barrel signed by the Factory Manager, Benjamin Anthony,
asking that the bearer be given credit for certain specified articles,
the same to be charged to the Company. It meant more book keeping for
Israel, but what could he do about it. Yes, there are hundreds of such
notes, and nobody knows how many more were destroyed. More personal
notes run as follows:
“You must not trust Elisha Sweet”. This was in 1820.
“Please to let Otis Handy have cloth nuff for jacket and trowsers and
charge the same to me
Abraham Gardner”
“Please to let the bearer have eight shillings worth out of your store
and charge the same to me
Abraham Gardner” (notice, they wrote of shillings).
“It is particularly requested as a favor that if Jeremiah Brown
should send any of his children or family for spirits that you should
refuse him, and confer a favour upon his family who on account of his
excessive drinking are much distressed
Swanzey. October 13, 1828. A friend.”
“Please to let the bearer have one dollar and 59 cents on my weaving
Account.
Isaac Threeshere.”
“Please to let the bearer have a pint of lamp oil for the eggs which
Gardner Slade left.
Mary Earle.”
Not only the weavers and the spinners but even some of the relatives
were being obliged. And that did complicate things.
“Betsy P. Slade wants you to send her a yard of Italian Crape.
Phoebe Slade.”
“Please let the boy have seven pounds of fish and charge to me.
Charles Slade.”
All this credit was none too good. But that was the way the village
wanted it. It kept them in debt. Had they wished to leave! But they
did not want to leave. They were very well pleased with Scrabbletown
and Swansea. Just read the letters in the barrel. People were moving
in, not moving out.
_Stocking the Company Store_
To stock their stores, the partners had had to buy an immense variety
of things. Long and varied invoices are in the barrel. I have seen in
the homes of the descendants of the men and women who wove for Brayton
and Mason, the china they took in trade for the cloth they carried back
to the Company Store. I have seen the furniture, the wall hangings, the
linen, that Brayton and Mason sold to the countryside. There is nothing
better.
The trade, with Boston especially, grew rapidly. Israel picked up what
he could, where he could, but most of his drygoods were brought over
the road from Boston. Philip Bowers was soon renting his waggon to
take Israel’s venture in woven cloth to Boston, weekly; (before Israel
bought a waggon of his own;) bringing back all he could carry; and very
bulky many of the articles were. Once he brought down a trunk. But that
was a special order. By the way, nothing from Boston was sent down on
approval or in speculation.
Israel had some merchandize brought down by the regular baggage waggon.
Perhaps the need for a waggon of his own was more obvious then than
now. It will help to understand his situation if we read a Boston
newspaper of 1819:
“Taken from behind the Baggage Waggon, between Boston and Milton Hills,
on Monday afternoon, by cutting the rope with which it was fastened,
a basket containing knives, forks, a few snuffers and trays, pocket
knives, slates, Naples soap, brass lamps and candlesticks--reward ten
dollars.” In the same issue: “Just received from London, drygoods.
Gentlemen can occasionally be furnished with Garments readymade.”
And--“Lane and Honeywell have received--from Bremen--scales,
lookingglasses, Bristol teapots.” Israel’s customers expected him to
stock whatever was advertised, of course, and get it down to Swansea
somehow.
_The Boston Wholesale Houses_
Many Boston wholesale houses did business with Israel Brayton. Appleton
and Paige sold him book muslin, Brittania handkerchiefs, red flannel,
lilac Calico, pink and white robes, Tartan Plaid, Caroline Plaid,
swansdown, and many other things. Fowle and Lincoln sold him India
Goods, mostly Indian Shawls.
Grant’s Paper Hanging Warehouse at 6 Union Street (near the Old Market)
sold him both imported and domestic wall paper; many rolls of striped
paper and some with borders.
James W. Paige and Co. sold him scarlet chintz prints--among other
things. Norcross and Mellon, later Otis Norcross and Co., sold him
blue edged plates, tifflers and muffins. Lustre tea sets. State House
Plates. Imported glass ware. Fancy mugs. Toy images. Oval tea pots and
sugar bowls. Nappies. Threaded creams. Square sallads. And so forth.
Thomas Tarbell of 66 State Street, under the Massachusetts Bank;
Rich silks. Thomas Thurber; Italian silks, Russian sheetings, flag
handkerchiefs. Tuckerman, Rogers and Cushing; Blue broadcloths, towels,
tablecloths, Madras handkerchiefs, white silk.
Hubbard and Greenough at 69 State Street, sold him Russian sheetings
and hooks and eyes. Richard and Seaver of 5 Liberty Square sold him
Tartan Plaid, woolen stockings, doeskin mittens, Canton silk, spool
cotton, tape, silk gloves, Mecklin lace; and J. and E. Phillips sold
him Canton crape and sarsanet.
Thomas A. Davis sold him brass candlesticks and shell canes, while
Lowell, Adams and Co. sold him brass andirons and supporters.
Charles Davenport sold him nothing but Malaga raisens, and Rufus
Farnham furnished him with nothing but gold beads.
But Lane and Honeywell at 17 Dock Square sold him all sorts of
hardware, particularly snuff boxes.
Lane and Read sold him knives and forks, German Jews Harps, gilt
buttons, black tin tea pots, and Maynard and Noyes’ ink powder.
P. Hale sold him velvet bindings, Valentia shawls, Thread, and
Merrimack sheetings, along with other commodities.
There were other Boston merchants who carried his accounts, of course.
One day, Israel bought from Jeremiah Fitch, of 5 Market Street, Boston,
some “Power Loom Cotton Cloth”. This was in 1820. Of course he did not
know that the power loom cotton cloth would soon be shutting down the
looms in the farmhouses. He did not know that the farms and villages
were at the peak of their buying power, their desire and their ability
to buy really beautiful things.
This trading in what we call “luxury articles”, was hazardous. But all
trading was a venture, as Israel well knew. He could not always pay
his bills promptly. There are letters from the Boston firms demanding
settlement, really demanding it. There are also letters showing that
Israel began at once to try to collect money due him. He was not always
successful. There must have been anxious moments in the back room of
the shop in Scrabbletown, fairly often. There was no security that the
firm might not fail, the factory did not stand behind it. Israel had to
borrow money from the bank occasionally--and would have borrowed more
often if the bank had been more willing to lend. It is also true that
Israel was caught out in passing counterfeit money rather surprisingly
often. He apparently took it without a thought and sent it up to the
Boston Merchants who were more thoughtful. The letters from the Boston
Firms about counterfeit money are unpleasant, but Israel kept them and
put them in the barrel.
I think Israel’s solvency amazing, considering all the irons he had in
the fire. And he was only a farm boy, with no experience in trading.
Unless you count horse trading, of which the whole family had done
plenty. Israel and his partners kept books and corresponded with dozens
of different firms--there is no sign of confusion anywhere.
_The New York Wholesale Houses_
Connections with New York Firms were few, but Israel did have
commission merchants in New York, to whom he sent, care of some
Somerset skipper, such goods as he thought would sell in New York.
There were also a few New York importations. G. B. Miller sent Israel
American Segars and Smoaking Tobacco. So did Thomas Agnew. Samuel Gray
shipped them on. Samuel Waring and Co. sent him some drygoods in 1820,
among which were “cotton flag handkerchiefs” and “imitation shawls”.
_Whale Oil, Nails, and Pitchforks_
Whale oil he bought at wholesale from the Rodmans of New Bedford.
Nails, and he sold a good many, were bought from the Fall River Iron
Works. Israel bought a lot of pitchforks from Amasa Goodyear of New
Haven; two-tined and three-tined pitchforks.
_The Leather Trade_
His leather goods he did not buy outright, but got them on consignment
from John Peckham Jr. of Bristol. Peckham wrote Israel the following
letter in 1824:
“Sir. Wishing to keep a quantity of saddling in Swansea for sale,
such as harness and saddles, trunks, bridles, etc. and knowing
you, I thought I would write you word to see if you would take a
quantity of the above articles to sell for me on commission; if you
would be kind enough to take an assortment of the above articles to
sell please to write me word and at what commission
Yours etc.
Jno. Peckham Jr.”
Israel took them. Larned Wilmarth ran a sort of baggage waggon from
Bristol up to Dighton and points beyond, and was willing to bring up
Peckham’s goods as wanted. Peckham and Israel traded with each other
with mutual satisfaction until Feb. 6, 1832, when, with the payment of
$16.00 in full, the account was closed out. For Israel was shutting up
shop.
There are a number of letters in the barrel which throw light on the
saddlers’ trade.
--“The harness, I calculated for the hearse harness, if they should
want it. I therefore put all black buckles.”
Mr. Peckham did not believe in a fixed price. “I want you to get the
price these things are marked, but if you cannot, you must take less. I
had rather you should take less than have a man go away and not buy on
account of price.” He was not one to be put upon, either. In 1826, he
wrote to Israel:
“Sir
This bill I took of you appears to be counterfeit. I did not
undertake to spend it before today and I carried it to the bank to
change and the cashier says it is a counterfeit bill. If you will
change it and send it back by Mr. Wilmarth you will oblige your
humble servant
John Peckham Jr.”
In 1828, Mr. Peckham wrote again:
“When I was at your store a few days since, your son (it must have been
William Bowers Brayton, he was just twelve years old) said there was a
man talking of wanting a saddle. Therefore I thought I would send the
one I have on hand. The price is nine dollars. If you please, you may
put on a pair of stirrups that you have on hand, and you can arrange
them on your book accordingly.”
He also wrote: “no doubt you thought the cheeses to be what you
recommended them to be, but they are not.”
There was quite a bit of trade with the shoemakers; local men. Enoch
Babbitt who lived in Berkeley was in the habit of sending down a few
shoes every once in a while. In 1830, he brought Israel 9 pairs of
boots to sell on commission of ten per cent. But in 1831 he wrote
he was so busy he could not make any more shoes for Israel. He had
sent down 12 pairs three months earlier. Anthony Morse who lived in
Scrabbletown was employed by Israel to mend shoes brought into the
stores of Scrabbletown and Egypt. A certain Mr. Chace of Swansea made
shoes to order. “If Mr. Chace has no shoes that is raised higher in the
instep than common, he must make a pair or else I dont want any.” It
was not unusual to order a pair of morocco walking shoes. But calfskin
shoes made by John S. Russel were more in demand. The calves were born
on the farm.
_The Cracker Barrel_
In Israel’s day, the cracker barrel was not a figure of speech. Israel
kept a barrel of crackers in his store. In 1824, Edward Wilcox sold
to Israel 200 crackers for one dollar. The bill is in the barrel. The
next year he charged only a dollar for 220 crackers. Daniel Saunders’
crackers were 210 for $1.00. The amounts billed are small but the
bills were frequent. The largest single shipment to Israel was 600
crackers, bought May 20, 1825. This was wholesale. One cracker cost the
customer one cent, bought right out of the barrel. I am forgetting the
time Israel bought a whole barrel of crackers at once, from Stephen
Wrightington, for three dollars. The barrel held 720 crackers, so
Wrightington said.
And Horatio Smith sold crackers to Israel. So did Alvin K. Luther.
This cracker business was a big one. For of course the ships wanted
crackers. I found no “ship biscuit” listed on any bill. The ships
bought crackers.
Some of these bakers of crackers made gingerbread as well. Israel
usually kept a few pans of gingerbread in stock. They cost him ten
cents a pan.
_Hearts and Kisses_
Israel ran a confectionary department, of course. Isaac Lum of Somerset
supplied peppermints, hearts, and kisses. Hiram Buffinton was the
Swansea confectioner. He charged 20 cents a pound for his sweets,
wholesale. And he sold oranges to Israel, wholesale. Though very few
oranges were billed to Israel. It was hard to get them up from the
South, unspoiled, in a sailing vessel.
_Combs and Codfish and Palm Leaf Hats_
The list of Israel’s purchases is very long, but I hate to omit the
traders in combs Daniel Briggs, Asa Holman, Thomas Coggshell, and Abiel
Fuller. Did they manufacture combs? They were Swansea and Somerset men.
James Sherman sold Israel what pork he carried; and many barrels of
flour. Though Hezekiah Anthony had most of Israel’s flour trade. (See
about him later.)
Henry Cleaveland, a farmer in Swansea, sold Israel 12266 feet of board
at one time. He had a woodlot--and somebody handy with the axe.
Simeon Talbot of Dighton sold Israel hats, felt hats, not straw. Asa
Kilby of Somerset kept him supplied with dried codfish. Nathan P.
Johnson sold him all the palm leaf hats and palm leaf brooms he could
use. And more. They did not sell rapidly. The palm leaf hats brought up
from the South by Isaac White did better.
Windsor soap was a good article to carry, for the turnover was rapid.
Abner Beard of Somerset and Henry Sanderson both supplied Israel with
Windsor Soap. Powder, more used then than now (not face powder) was
supplied by Charles Pettibone. Elijah Corbett had many bills for scythe
sneads. And William G. Chace once sold him 2000 cigars.
_Garden Seeds_
The little trays of garden seeds which stand on many country counters
today, were on Israel’s counter, of course. In 1828 Israel wrote: “I
have a good assortment of garden seeds from the Shakers, for sale.”
In 1830, Jeremiah Williams of Warren wrote to Israel: “I have sent you
one box or bundle of garden seed; containing 109 papers for which I
shall make you a deduction of 20 per cent when sold on account.” He
wrote a little later: “The time for making a return on garden seeds
has arrived. Your balance would be gladly received as soon as is
convenient.” Jeremiah Williams had sent seed to Israel from Warren from
the opening of Israel’s first store. The kind of seed he sent never
varied.
“Warren, April, 1829.
Mr. Brayton. Dear Sir,
When you were in Warren, you were speaking to me about onion seed
from Concord. It has just arrived and should you now want it, I can
supply you with a good article at----
Yours most respected
Jeremiah Williams
by James Gardner”
The only named seeds carried by Israel were:
Concord Onion Seed
Rob Roy Beans
China Dwarf Beans
Early Red Eyed Beans
Dwarf Prolific Peas
Early June Peas
Beet Seed
Clover Seed
_Trading with Providence_
Trading with Providence was mostly confined to trading with Hezekiah
Anthony, Israel’s brother-in-law. Hezekiah and his wife, Sally Bowers,
had moved up to Providence from Bowers’ Shores in Somerset in 1818.
On June 15th of that year he opened a wholesale Grocery Store in
Whitman’s Block at 11 Weybossett Street, Providence, which he conducted
successfully for 48 years.
One branch of his trade was extremely successful. He imported rum
from St. Croix which was put through the Customs at a small port in
Connecticut. The Custom declarations are in the barrel, receipted.
Israel sold a great deal of this St. Croix rum. Israel also sold a
great deal of flour imported from Albany by Hezekiah. This was “Canal”
flour. And Israel sold “Philadelphia” flour, imported by Hezekiah
from Philadelphia of course. Flour was billed to Israel by Hezekiah
in every invoice. Sugar was billed almost as often. Israel really did
sell a great deal of coffee and tea, purchased wholesale from Hezekiah.
But some of the China Tea sold by Israel came direct from Canton to
Somerset.
Snuff was in great demand. Israel bought it from Hezekiah. The invoices
tell of bladders of snuff sent down from Providence. Snuff boxes had
been purchased rather often from the Boston Merchants. I seem to
remember that there were snuff mills at one time in the South County,
but the barrel tells nothing of the origin of Hezekiah’s snuff.
Segars were purchased from Hezekiah in large quantities, American
Segars were the cheapest. Molasses, salt, ginger, nutmegs, cloves,
allspice, and raisens, were supplied frequently. Occasionally some
window glass was shipped down, some shaving soap, wrapping paper, corn
brooms, salt cod, starch, and of course, shot. There was a gun on every
farm.
Gin was bought by everybody; “Jenck’s Gin”, “Haskell’s Gin”, and the
gin of “Fox Point”, and Hezekiah sent down a great deal. There was some
demand for cognac brandy, which he supplied, and for many a barrel of
“sweet wine”.
Hezekiah carried on a correspondence with Israel through the years by
means of notes appended to the invoices.
“Mr. Anthony’s son died this morning”. This was written by a clerk, of
course. Mr. Anthony had six sons, all of whom died in childhood, I am
told.
“If father is severely ill, I will come down by stage” was written in
Mr. Anthony’s own hand.
“Perry got in from Spain this morning and is still in quarantine. I do
not know how long it will be before he can get down.”
“Perry is expecting to sail for the East Indies about October 15.”
There were a good many notes about Perry.
“Times is hard”, at the bottom of an invoice of flour.
“Late news from Europe has checked all speculation, particularly in
cotton goods.” What news was that?
This close friendship between Hezekiah Anthony and Israel Brayton
existed through Israel’s life, and he named one of his sons Hezekiah
Anthony Brayton. The business relations between the two men were also
satisfactory. And well it was so, for business came first and was no
more secure than mutual confidence could make it.