Coxe Family Papers 1638-1970 - Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Microsoft Word - finding aid 2049 Coxe backup.dotCollection 2049
Coxe Family
Papers
1638-1970 (bulk dates 1730-1900) 218 boxes, 393 vols., 130 lin. feet
Contact: The Historical Society of Pennsylvania 1300 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107 Phone: (215) 732-6200 FAX: (215) 732-2680 http://www.hsp.org
Processed by: Katherine Gallup Processing Completed: October 2005
Sponsor: Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Restrictions: None.
Related Collections at HSP:
Brinton Coxe Papers, Collection 1983 Coxe Family Mining Papers, Collection 3005 William Tilghman Papers, Collection 659 James Hamilton Papers, Collection 1612
Coxe Family Papers Collection 2049
2 The Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Coxe Family Papers, 1638-1970 (bulk 1730-1900) 218 boxes, 393 vols., 130 lin. feet
Collection 2049
Abstract Dr. Daniel Coxe, a prominent London physician who treated the courts of Charles II and Anne, began acquiring land in the American colonies as early as 1680. Most of the acreage he purchased was in the provinces of Western New Jersey and Carolana-Florida, and was administered by his son Colonel Daniel Coxe, who left London for Burlington, New Jersey in 1702 or 1703. The Colonel later relocated to Trenton, where he engaged in politics and began a family with his wife Sarah Eckley. One of their sons, William Coxe, left New Jersey in the 1740s for Philadelphia, where he embarked on a mercantile career and opened the Coxe & Furman trade house. William wed Mary Fisher and their most famous son, Tench Coxe, joined his father in the merchant business just before the beginning of the Revolution. In 1776, Tench abandoned that enterprise and the city of Philadelphia to escape persecution for his loyalist beliefs. He returned during the British occupation of the city in 1777, and later faced charges of treason but was acquitted. After the war, Tench retired from merchant life and became a significant voice in the new nation through his essay writing and civil service; he held several state and federal economic appointments under both Federalist and Republican administrations. Tench also continued the Coxe family legacy of land speculation, purchasing vast and valuable acreage in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Georgia, Virginia, and North Carolina. Tench died in 1824, and was preceded in death by his wife and cousin Rebecca Coxe. One of their sons, Charles Sidney Coxe, a prominent lawyer and judge, served as executor of their estate, which supported several generations of Coxe descendents. Materials in this collection highlight the significant and controversial accomplishments of Tench Coxe (1755-1824), a merchant, politician, land speculator, and family man. Records cover a period both before and after the American Revolution, and provide brief insight into the Coxe family origins in the colonies and his father William Coxe’s merchant business. The bulk of materials however, document Tench’s mercantile endeavors, his civil service appointments, and his activities as a land speculator. Records include correspondence, financial records, legal papers, land papers, and drafts of his writings. Other individuals who are represented in this collection include Tench’s sons, Charles Sidney, Edmund Sidney, and Alexander Sidney Coxe; they each administered portions of their father’s estate and were also lawyers. Records for Thomas Ruston and William Harrison, two of Tench’s business partners who declared bankruptcy, are also present. A smaller amount of materials documents several of Tench’s descendents.
Background note The Coxe family history in America is long and rich. Dr. Daniel Coxe, born in 1640 and the oldest of thirteen children, was the first to actively pursue interests in the American colonies in the 1680s. Daniel had graduated from Cambridge in 1669 with a medical degree, and had become an accomplished scientist and member of several of England’s most prominent societies including the Royal Society and the Royal College of Physicians of London. His most prestigious appointment however, was as physician to the courts of King Charles II and Anne. Daniel’s medical reputation and connections were heightened through his marriage to Rebecca Coldham, the only surviving child of John Coldham, London’s lord mayor, and his wife Rebecca Dethick. Rebecca inherited the entirety of her family’s fortunes, which provided the means for Daniel to satisfy his “land fever,” and purchase vast acreage in the American colonies. It is estimated that he owned one million acres in Western New Jersey, and additional lands in the province of Carolana-Florida. Although Daniel made at least two attempts to travel to the colonies and settle his lands, his responsibilities as court physician prevented him from ever leaving English coasts. Instead, he bequeathed his lands and the responsibilities of administrator to one of his sons, Colonel Daniel Coxe. Daniel came to America in 1701 or 1702 and settled first in Burlington, New Jersey, but later relocated to Trenton. At the time of his arrival it was said that he, next to William Penn, was the largest single shareholder in the new province. Colonel Coxe actively administered his family’s lands, and authored a pamphlet entitled “A Description of the Province of Carolana…” to encourage settlers to inhabit that area. The Carolana-Florida land purchase later became a problem when he was unable to locate his father’s original grant laying claim to those acres and lost royal recognition to the land title. In exchange for relinquishing his claim however, the Colonel was awarded one hundred thousand acres in Oneida County, New York. Colonel Daniel’s land holdings placed him in a position of political influence among the West Jersey Council of Proprietors, but his authority was not viewed favorably by many of his piers. William Penn described the Colonel as “one of the falsest of men,” while Jersey’s Royal Governor Robert Hunter dubbed him “a noisy old fool.” In 1707, Colonel Daniel Coxe married a devout Quaker (although he was of the colony’s anti-Quaker party), Sarah Eckley, daughter of John Eckley, a former member of the Pennsylvania Provincial Council and judge of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Sarah dutifully attended the Church of England following their marriage, and the couple had four children. Sarah died in 1725 and was followed by her husband in 1739. The Coxe family’s colonial estate was divided between Colonel Daniel’s four legitimate children and three illegitimate children he had with Mary Johnson, a spinster residing in Trenton, New Jersey. One of Daniel and Sarah Coxe’s sons, William, left his family’s home in Trenton at a young age and relocated to Philadelphia, where he established a successful merchant house. By 1762, his business had grown so profitable that he took on a partner, Moore Furman, and their establishment became known as Coxe & Furman. William, like his father, was also very active in the community. He was a member of the Proprietary Party, was elected a city alderman in 1758, served on several official investigatory
committees, was made a trustee of the College of Philadelphia in 1759, and on two occasions was elected Philadelphia’s mayor, but refused the appointments. In Philadelphia, William also married and began a family with Mary Francis, daughter of Elizabeth Turbutt and Tench Francis. Their marriage united the Coxe family with some of the city’s most aristocratic families including the Tilghman, Willing, Shippen, Bingham, Mifflin, Chew, and Burd families. Mary and William had thirteen children, but only ten survived to maturity. Their third child, Tench Coxe born in 1755, became the most illustrious of their offspring, and was also purported to be his father’s favorite. Some of Tench’s other siblings were Sarah (who married Andrew Allen and fled with him to England during the Revolutionary War), John D. (a lawyer and judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia), Rebecca (married Dr. William McIlvaine and lived in New Jersey), Ann (died unmarried), William (a horticulturist and a member of the U.S. House of Representative from New Jersey), Mary (died unmarried), Daniel W. (a successful import/export merchant), and James (an officer in the merchant marines). Like so many other colonial families, the tempestuous days leading up to the Revolution greatly affected the Coxes’ way of life and their position in the community. In 1765, Tench’s father William was appointed to the post of stamp distributor for New Jersey, after receiving a recommendation from his friend Benjamin Franklin. William did not remain long in the position however, and resigned as a result of violent colonial protests against the stamp acts, and after several threats were made against his own life. His resignation greatly angered and prompted criticism from royal officials like William Franklin, New Jersey’s governor, and put William Coxe in a precarious position. Following this event, he adopted a neutral stance in regard to colonial criticisms of the British, agreeing that the colonists had the right to question English policies but he did not advocate independence. Tench followed in his father’s footsteps in more ways than one. He adopted William’s neutral attitude toward conflicts with Great Britain, and in 1776 he became a partner in the Coxe & Furman trade house, which was then renamed Coxe, Furman & Coxe. The first several months of Tench’s mercantile career were difficult as a result of declining business in the days leading up to the war, and to a mounting pressure to choose sides in the cause of independence. The latter was brought to a head in December 1776, when word of General Howe’s nearness to the city set the Philadelphia populace strongly against a Tory presence. Although Tench had tried to remain neutral, in the end he sided with the British and abandoned his native city to live with his New Jersey and New York relatives, who were mostly pacifists or ardent loyalists. While he was away, business partner Moore Furman, who supported the colonial cause, remained in Philadelphia and managed the company’s affairs. Tench remained in New York for several months and considered relocating to England in exile, but returned to his business and to his fiancée Catherine McCall, daughter of merchant Samuel McCall, when the British invaded Philadelphia in 1777. During the period of British occupation, Tench married Catherine and became an active and prosperous merchant, trading with loyalists in New York and with commercial houses in the West Indies. His prosperity was short-lived however, and in the spring of 1778, the
prospect of a British withdrawal from the city once again forced Tench to contemplate fleeing under their protection. He remained in an attempt to save the life of his young wife, whose health had grown increasingly worse during their brief marriage, but faced much public scrutiny. On May 21, 1778, his name was included on a Proclamation of Attainder issued by the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania against persons accused of high treason. Two days later he took a voluntary oath of allegiance to the United States, and the charges against him were dismissed, but his wife died shortly thereafter. Although the war was a trying time for Tench, by 1780 he had begun to rebuild his life. The merchant house of Coxe, Furman & Coxe disbanded early in the fall, following which Tench began operating his own company with some financial assistance from his father. Tench’s self-named enterprise was active until the end of 1783, when he went into partnership with Nalboro Frazier, a Boston businessman. The house of Coxe & Frazier became an important Philadelphia enterprise, engaging in U.S. coastal trade, European trade, the West Indian trade, and (at a very early date) the China trade. Tench also re-married in 1782, to his cousin Rebecca Coxe, daughter of Charles and Rebecca Wells Coxe of Sidney, New Jersey. They produced thirteen children: Anne, Tench Jr., Edward Goold, Rebecca, Francis, Alexander, Charles, Sarah, Mary, James, Henry, Edmund, and Andrew. Throughout his life, Tench was a man of many talents and business interests, and during the eighties and nineties he became heavily involved in civic and philanthropic affairs, and, like his great-grandfather Dr. Daniel Coxe before him, also developed a taste for land speculation. Tench became active in the Episcopal Church; and was a member of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, the American Philosophical Society, and the Philadelphia Society for Encouraging Manufactures and the Useful Arts. The latter organization became a special interest to him after the war when irregular and unregulated business activities began to negatively affect his trade house. Tench eventually disbanded his partnership with Frazier in 1792, and turned his aspirations toward a political life and land speculation. In the days following the Revolution, Tench had become a fervent supporter of the new nation, and was asked to attend the Annapolis Convention in 1786 and the Continental Congress in 1788. He served in several other civic appointments under both Federalist and Republican administrations including assistant secretary of the treasury under Alexander Hamilton (1790-1792), commissioner of the revenue (1792-1797), secretary of the Pennsylvania land office (1800-1801), collector of the revenue for the city and county of Philadelphia (1801-1803), purveyor of public supplies (1803-1812), and clerk of the Philadelphia Court of Quarter Sessions (1815-1818). Tench used the income from these appointments to maintain lands he had inherited from his father William, and to purchase additional acreage in Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, North Carolina, and Baltimore, Maryland. Some of Tench’s land acquisitions were also made through joint ventures with speculation partners Timothy Pickering, Samuel Hodgdon, Thomas Ruston, and Duncan Ingraham.
Tench retired from his political career, which was often marked by controversy, at age sixty-three, but continued to write essays and pamphlets on the topics of politics, manufacturing, agriculture, and the economy. He is perhaps best known for his writings on cotton and its importance to the American economy. His retired years were also dedicated to the administration of his lands, which had almost caused his bankruptcy in the late 1790s as a result of lawsuits, the bankruptcy of speculation partner Thomas Ruston, and his purchase of land on credit for which there was no ready re-sale. By 1799, much of his property was placed in a trust and administered by Peter DuPonceau and others, but their actions were dictated by Tench’s orders. Tench never gained full control over his lands and never realized the profits which he had hoped to during his lifetime. He died in 1824 and was survived by daughters Ann and Mary, and sons Francis, Charles Sidney, Henry, and Edmund. Charles Sidney was named estate executor, and it was under his care that the Coxe family regained possession of their lands and profited greatly from the revenue earned on their vast acreage. Charles Sidney Coxe was born to Tench and Rebecca Coxe in 1791. He was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar in 1812 and worked closely with his father, often representing Tench in legal battles stemming from business and land disputes. Charles became the executor of his father’s estate in 1824, but the title to the landed property was not legally transferred to him until 1828, from Peter S. DuPonceau. When he seized administration responsibilities, the land was almost entirely unproductive; the amount of annual taxes was large; squatters and timber-thieves had to be kept off; and many adverse titles, arising from tax-sales, conflicting surveys, etc., had to be settled by compromise or litigation. Charles enlisted the help of his brothers Edmund Sidney and Alexander Sidney, and together they focused their attention on the family’s coal lands in northeastern Pennsylvania. They had the lands re-surveyed, rallied state and federal support to enact legislation promoting the development of the anthracite region, and also sold off most of the family’s Oswego patent in New York, as well as lands in Baltimore, Maryland, and Georgia to support their coal holdings. The land sale profits proved so lucrative, that by 1837 Charles was able to pay off obligations owed by his brother Francis in Brownsville, Tennessee, making his father’s estate and all of his brothers and sisters’ accounts almost entirely debt free. In addition to administering his father’s estate, Charles had several other noteworthy accomplishments. He served as the deputy attorney general for the state of Pennsylvania, and was appointed a judge of the District Court for the City and Country of Philadelphia in 1826. In 1832, he was reappointed to that position and also married and began a family with Ann M. Brinton. He retired from the legal profession in 1836 and thereafter devoted all of his time to the management of his family’s estate. Other organizations with which Charles was affiliated include the Board of Inspectors of Eastern State Penitentiary and the Pennsylvania Society for Alleviating the Miseries of the Public Prisons. He was also an officer in the Pennsylvania militia and Columbia Light Infantry, and was active in the Democratic Party throughout his life. Charles Sidney Coxe died in 1879. He and Anne had had seven children during their marriage but only six of them outlived their parents. Their eldest son Brinton Coxe was a lawyer and writer of eminence on constitutional law, and also briefly served as the
president of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The other sons Eckley and Alexander became active in the coal business, and Eckley assumed control of the Coxe family estate following his father’s death.
Scope & content This collection spans a period from 1638 to1970 (bulk 1739-1900), and highlights the acquisition of the Coxe family estate in colonial America, and the life and many accomplishments of Tench Coxe (1755-1824), a merchant, politician, land speculator, essay writer, and family man. Tench’s commercial records document his participation in three Philadelphia trade houses, provide valuable insight into the political tensions and disruptions to colonial trade in Philadelphia both before and after the Revolution, and shed light on Tench’s personal struggles as a passive loyalist, who was forced to flee the city temporarily in 1776. Also highlighted is Tench’s controversial civic career and his service in the following political appointments: assistant secretary of the treasury to Alexander Hamilton (1790-1792), commissioner of the revenue (1792-1797), secretary of the Pennsylvania land office (1800-1801), collector of the revenue for the city and county of Philadelphia (1801-1803), purveyor of public supplies (1803-1812), and clerk of the Philadelphia Court of Quarter Sessions (1815-1818). His civic records outline the structure and operations of various state and federal offices, and address tensions between the Federalist and Republican parties. Tench also contributed to politics as an essay writer and several of his original writings are also included in his papers. Highlighted among those works is his discourse on the importance of the cotton industry to the American economy. Tench’s other papers document his land speculation in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Maryland, Georgia, and Virginia; which, after his death in 1824, became the foundation for the Coxe family estate that sustained generations of his descendents. The administration of that estate is documented in the papers of three of Tench’s sons: Charles Sidney, Alexander Sidney, and Edmund Sidney Coxe. Materials in this collection have been divided into eight series. Series I and II are comprised of records created by or directly related to Tench Coxe. Series I contains over three hundred bound volumes, which include letterbooks, commercial account books, personal financial books, and printed materials. Collectively these records document Tench’s personal relationships, his merchant accounts and activities, his interests and expenses in land speculation, and various financial aspects of his political positions, especially his responsibilities as collector of the revenue and purveyor of public supplies. Some volumes created by his sons and by one of his speculation partners Dr. Thomas Ruston are also present. Records relating to Ruston are especially interesting; they document his medical education in England, treatments prescribed to his patients, his attempts at land speculation, and his bankruptcy. Tench Coxe became executor of Ruston’s bankrupt estate and seized most of Ruston’s record books in conjunction with that responsibility. (See also Series VI.) Most of the topics addressed in Series I are echoed or documented in greater detail in Tench’s unbound materials found in Series II. Series IIa is comprised of correspondence and general papers, and is the most complete and informative compilation of papers documenting Tench’s business, political, and personal endeavors.
A small portion of records in this subseries, which includes correspondence, bills, receipts, articles of agreement, legal records, etc.; outdate Tench Coxe’s lifespan (1755- 1824). Records dating from 1638 to 1774 document early land acquisitions by Tench’s ancestors and also the business activities of Tench’s father William Coxe, who was a partner in the trade house of Coxe & Furman. Records dating after 1824 are Tench’s estate papers, which was administered by his son Charles Sidney Coxe. Some of the post-1824 papers also document Charles’s career as a lawyer and judge in the District Court for the City and County of Philadelphia. Also present in this series are drafts of Tench’s writings and financial records including cancelled checks, bills, and receipts. Series III through V contain the records of three of Tench’s sons, Charles Sidney, Alexander Sidney, and Edmund Sidney Coxe. The records for all three of these individuals is very similar; each pursued legal careers and most of their records document legal suits they represented or gave advise on; and to their respective responsibilities and interests in their father’s estate. Each of these three also served in the Pennsylvania militia, and some papers documenting their service are also included. Series VI and VII contain the records of two of Tench Coxe’s land speculation partners who were forced to declare bankruptcy in the late 1790s, Thomas Ruston and William Harrison. The circumstances of both these individuals is also addressed in Series I and II; records in Series VI and VII were a later acquisition and were not microfilmed with the earlier materials. One thing that distinguishes the non-microfilmed materials however, is their documentation of the consequences that Ruston and Harrison’s bankruptcies had on their marriages. Series VIII is comprised of the records of two of Tench’s other defaulted business contacts, James McCalley and Oliver Pollack. Both of these individuals are represented by a few folders of correspondence, legal, financial, and land records. Also present are a variety of records including correspondence, financial records, printed materials, photographs, tintypes, and legal materials, which provide brief insight into the lives of several of Tench Coxe’s descendents. Rounding out the collection are a few records for which the creator could not be identified and have been grouped into Series VIIIs: Miscellaneous.
Overview of arrangement
Series I Volumes and printed materials, 1698-1880, n.d. 4 boxes, 350 vols. a. Letterbooks, 1778-1819, n.d. b. Account books, 1772-1855, n.d. c. Coxe, Furman & Coxe, 1776-1796 d. Coxe & Frazier, 1783-1798, n.d. e. Miscellaneous Coxe family volumes,
1810-1871, n.d.
account books, 1759-1849, n.d.
h. Printed materials, 1698-1880, n.d. Series II Tench Coxe, 1638-1885, n.d. 138 boxes, 3 vols.,
22FF a. Correspondence and general papers,
1638-1879, n.d.
b. Unmicrofilmed Tench Coxe materials, 1775-1885, n.d.
c. Writings, c. 1775-c. 1824, n.d. d. Financial, 1782-1869, n.d. Series III Charles Sidney Coxe, 1754-1871, n.d. 33 boxes, 4 vols., 2 FF a. Legal, 1754-1871, n.d. b. Financial, 1809-1870, n.d. c. Miscellaneous, 1814-1840, n.d. Series IV Edmund Sidney Coxe, 1788-1864, n.d. 6 boxes, 2 vols., 1FF a. Legal, 1788-1848, n.d. b. Personal papers, 1819-1864, n.d. Series V Alexander Sidney Coxe, 1808-1825, n.d. 7 boxes, 3 vols. a. Legal, 1814-1820, n.d. b. Personal papers, 1808-1825, n.d. Series VI Thomas Ruston, 1736-1824, n.d. 25 boxes, 2 vols., 18 FF a. Correspondence and general papers,
1750-1824, n.d.
b. Land, 1739-1814, n.d. c. Financial, 1786-1795, n.d. d. Legal, 1789-1812, n.d. e. Other Ruston family members, 1736-
1798, n.d.
f. Miscellaneous, 1804, n.d. Series VII William Harrison, 1790-1799, n.d. 3 boxes, 2 vols. Series VIII Other related individuals and family members,
1679-1970, n.d. 8 boxes, 27 vols., 8 FF
a. Alexander B. Coxe, 1894-1906, n.d. b. Anne B. Coxe, 1945 c. Anne Rebecca Coxe, 1830-1849 d. Brinton Coxe, 1679-1893, n.d. e. Charles B. Coxe, 1873 f. Eckley B. and Sophia G. Coxe, 1895-1924 g. Elizabeth A. Coxe, 1918 h. Franklin Coxe, 1877 i. Mary Rebecca Coxe, 1830-1857 j. Rebecca Coxe, 1931 k. Richard Coxe, 1796-1857, n.d. l. Sarah A. Coxe, 1879 m. William Coxe, 1805-1820 n. Unidentified Coxe papers, 1817-1938 o. Fisher family, 1821-1895, n.d. p. James McCalley, 1787-1814, n.d.
q. Arthur and Harriet McClellan, 1880-1934, n.d.
r. Oliver Pollack, 1782-1789 s. Miscellaneous, 1730-1970, n.d.
Series description Series 1. Volumes and printed materials, 1698-1880, n.d. (Boxes 1-4, Vols. 1-332)
a. Letterbooks, 1778-1819. The nine letterbooks in this subseries are almost entirely commercial and professional correspondence, which document Tench Coxe’s mercantile career, political appointments, and land interests. Some notations of his personal life are also included in his business letters. Volumes 1 through 6 cover a period from 1778 to 1799 and provide brief insight into Tench’s participation in three mercantile companies: Coxe, Furman, & Coxe (1776-1780), his self-named firm (1780-1783), and Coxe & Frazier (1783-1790). (See also subseries 1c and d.) These letters address the difficulties affecting trade both during and after the American Revolution as well as Tench’s personal political struggles. The beginning of volume 3 was also used as an invoice book to record the receipt of goods. Volumes 7 through 9 date from 1779 to 1819, and document the settling of Tench’s affairs with his merchant houses, his participation in several land speculation endeavors, his official responsibilities as collector of the revenue (1801-1803), and the aftermath of his tenure as purveyor of public supplies (1803-1812). (See also Series 2a.) The first letters begin in May 1778, a few months after Tench had returned to Philadelphia from New York, where he had sought refuge as a Tory supporter with like-minded relatives. His return coincided with the British occupation of Philadelphia, following which he immediately resumed his commercial activities. Tench’s correspondence relates chiefly to mercantile matters and reflects wartime disruptions to business and trade, which included difficulty remitting goods as a result of the movements of the army and an inability to collect debts. Tench also used a few of these letters to discuss personal matters with his business contacts, some of whom were his close personal friends. In 1778, the British began to evacuate the city and Tench anguished over whether he should remain. His wife Catherine McCall had been seriously ill for several months, and he feared an attempt to relocate her would prove fatal. Though a difficult decision Tench stayed, but faced the scrutiny of his peers for his Loyalist political activities. In a letter dated November 29, 1778, he wrote to Benjamin Yard that a grand jury had found nothing exceptionable in his conduct during the occupation, adding, “However cencurable many people may have thought me, I feel the fullest conviction of my meaning no injury to any private man, or public body.” Tench professed his oath to the colonial cause shortly thereafter, but his wife had died in July. The correspondence relating to this brief and tumultuous period ends in December 1778.
The next letterbook resumes in February 1783, and reflects Tench’s renewed energy and optimism in his independently run trade house. (His activities with Coxe, Furman & Coxe had ended in 1780, when Moore Furman dissolved the partnership.) Tench wrote of the business climate and the prospects for the growth of trade after the peace settlement. He was able to reestablish trade with merchants and agents in Europe (especially Great Britain), the West Indies, and had also increased his trade with American merchants. Other important topics were ships’ arrivals, supplies and prices of commodities, and ship disasters. In addition to Tench’s success in business, he had also remarried and begun a family with his cousin, Rebecca Coxe. In November 1783, Tench took on partner Nalboro Frazier of Boston to expand his business, and by December 1783 his correspondence reflects that joint venture. It is important to note that this was Tench’s letterbook and much of the correspondence relating to Coxe & Frazier was written and signed by him. (Coxe & Frazier’s other letterbooks can be found in Series 1d.) Throughout 1784, Tench’s letters to traders discuss the overabundance of goods in the American market and advised them to send only goods of medium quality, because the top goods were not fetching adequate prices. That problem continued into 1785 and created widespread financial instability in the business community. Coxe & Frazier felt these effects, and their financial difficulties eventually led to the firm’s dissolution in 1790. While engaging in business with Coxe & Frazier, Tench was also actively pursuing a political career. Letters in volumes 4 through 7 provide some evidence of his support for the new country and the Constitution, and document his increasing communications with several influential politicians. Tench also began administering financial matters for several of his family members and close friends. Some of those responsibilities included procuring shares in the Bank of the United States for E. Gerry and Joseph Bartlett; and also administering the following estates: Rebecca Coxe (Tench’s aunt), Thomas Ruston, William Harrison, and Nalboro Frazier. Most of the correspondence in volumes 4 through 7 however, document Tench’s land speculation, both in his own right and in partnerships, in Pennsylvania, New York, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia. He also managed properties on behalf of others, including Alexander Hamilton and David Franks. Tench’s correspondence to Franks evidences the lingering negative effects of his political affiliations during the Revolution. Tench wrote to him on August 30, 1785, to recommend another candidate for his position as land administrator stating, “I could not have asked this had I thought I could do justice to the business of that nature. My character in politicks during the war would be remembered on these occasions, and would occasion interruptions.” Correspondence relating to Tench’s own lands documents the receipt of rent, tax payments, and improvements made on the properties. Tench had bought much of his land on credit, which became a major financial strain. His monetary troubles were compounded by lingering debts from his dissolved merchant firms, and his obligations to Thomas Ruston, a land speculation partner who went bankrupt and defaulted on notes Tench had secured. (See also Series 1f
and Series 6.) The correspondence documents several of Tench’s attempts to sell his North Carolina land holdings to potential buyers, and those letters often contain descriptive details of his lands. Tench noted that the plots were located on rivers or had large creeks running through them and was adamant about their potential as cotton land, flat land, or meadow land. In an April 7, 1802 letter to several unnamed potential buyers, he boasted, “I am perfectly satisfied that this property is rendered so valuable by its situation healthiness fine water navigation by the river and Canal wood and timber and its fitness for cotton vines and tobacco that there is no superior objects at the same low price in the United States and that in your hands and mine it may be made a very grand object for both our families.” Unfortunately, all of his attempts to sell the land proved fruitless. Tench’s appointments as collector of the revenue and the aftermath of his position as purveyor of public supplies are documented in volumes 8 and 9. As collector of the revenue, Tench was responsible for collecting taxes from distilleries, sugar refineries, and auctioneers, as well as revenue earned from carriages and licenses. Tench wrote to his collectors about their responsibilities for this position, to distillers who were improperly licensed with warnings they would be shut down, and to stop individuals who were not authorized to collect tax money on behalf of the United States. There are also several references to Tench’s predecessor, James Ash, and the settling of his accounts. All of the letters in volume 9 (1813-1816) date after Tench’s position as purveyor of public supplies was abolished during the War of 1812. Upon termination, Tench was asked to furnish a full account of the funds spent during his tenure. Tench protested that he was unable to provide the information because he was refused access to his official record books by Commissary General Callender Irvine, who had taken over several of Tench’s purveyor responsibilities. Letters documenting this dispute are addressed to Secretary of the War John Armstrong, Accountant of the War Department William Simmons, and Secretary of the Treasury William Jones, whom Tench sought assistance from. Several of the letters are also addressed to General Irvine. Tench was eventually granted access to his records, and the last few letters in the volume document the settling of that account. There are very few letters with dates after 1813 in the last volume. b. Account books, 1772-1855, n.d. This subseries is comprised of a variety of financial volumes and memorandum books, which were used by Tench Coxe to record his personal finances, contributions to charitable organizations, mercantile expenditures, and the earnings on his land holdings. It is important to note that the financial volumes relating to Tench’s mercantile adventures included in this subseries, differ from those found in Series 1c and 1d in that they are typically a combination of business and personal expenditures. However, a few of the commercial volumes in this subseries including a receipt book (vol. 58), two cash books (vols. 118-119), an invoice book (vol. 124) an alphabet (vol. 122), and bills books (vols. 123-125), are strictly business related. Those particular volumes appear to have been recorded by Tench for his own use, and not by office clerks for the benefit of Tench and his partners. Also present are
financial volumes documenting Tench’s responsibilities and the record keeping practices of the revenue department and the purveyor’s office. Records documenting Tench’s personal and business expenditures include daybooks (vols. 10-14), journals (vols. 15-18), ledgers (vols. 23-24), checkbooks (vols. 29-30, 38, 40-41), bankbooks (vols. 42-48), a receipt book (vol. 60), a fee book (vol. 105), a cashbook (vol. 120), and memorandum books (vols. 126-131). Personal expenses in the daybooks, journals, and receipt book included pew rentals, repairs made to Coxe property, music lessons for his children, groceries, the tailoring of clothing, servants’ wages, letter postage, and donations to charitable organizations including the Poor House and the Abolition Society. The dues and account books (vols. 107-111) and a bankbook with the Farmers and Mechanics Bank (vol. 55), also record Tench’s participation and contributions to the Pennsylvania Society for the Encouragement of Manufactures and the Useful Arts and the Defense Fund. The names of several other Philadelphia members are also recorded in these volumes including R. Patterson, Benjamin Rush, and Henry Simpson. Tench used his memorandum books to jot down helpful reminders such as court sessions he needed to attend, lists of calculations, and also hypothesized on how cotton production could be improved. The last memorandum book (vol. 131) is a summary of Tench’s estate and the whereabouts of important documents, which he wrote down for the benefit of his estate’s executors following his death. Business entries in the daybooks, journals, and ledgers record the receipt of money for goods including tea, Spanish pistols, lemons, needles, threads, ribbons, rum, linen, sealing wax, petticoats, bibles, necklaces, fans, garters, and looking glasses. Several silver or metal plated items are also mentioned such as candlestick holders, tea pots, coffee urns, goblets, and vases. Most of the goods were sold on Tench’s behalf by Colburn Barrell. Other business related entries record the receipt of money on bills of exchange, the purchase of shipping insurance, and fees paid to lawyers for prosecuting debtors. Other business volumes include a receipt book (vol. 58), two cash books (vol. 118- 119), an invoice book (vol. 121), an alphabet (vol. 122) and bill books (vols. 123- 125). All three of Tench’s mercantile adventures involved shipping goods to various American and overseas ports, and the specifics of those transactions can be found in the receipt book, invoice book, and alphabet. They provide information on the name of the ship, the name of the ship captain, the intended destination, and details on the quantity and type of cargo. The two cashbooks record money paid for invoices and sometimes mention the type of merchandise purchased. The bill books trace the exchange and remittance of bills and indicate the drawer’s name, where the money was drawn, to whom the bill was payable, who and where it was drawn on, when and to whom the bill was remitted, and the type of currency and rate of exchange used to settle the bill. Volumes documenting Tench’s land investments in Pennsylvania, New York, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia begin as early as 1777 and include both financial and official land documents. This group of records consists of
daybooks (vol. 67, 112-114), ledgers (vols. 25, 68-71), a bankbook (vol. 53), survey books (vols. 72-77), a letterbook (vol. 78), account books (vol. vol. 115-117) and several notebooks or memorandum books (vols. 79-82). The daybooks, ledgers, bankbook, and account books document monies paid for the following types of transactions: the drawing of deeds, payments to individuals managing the Coxe land estate at Oswego, tax payments, surveyors’ fees, and the receipt of rent. Speculation partners who are frequently mentioned in these volumes include Samuel Hodgson, Timothy Pickering, Andrew Craige, Miers Fisher, Duncan Ingraham, James Potter, Issac Wikoff, David Franks, and James Wilson. The survey books are a land record and do not provide financial information. Entries in the survey books are a copy of the surveyor’s field notes and provide detailed descriptions of the acreage of plots, list the names of owners with neighboring plots, note land markers, and indicate special features that increased the value of the property, such as the presence of lumber. Most of the surveys are signed and dated by the surveyor, include a notation of the county that the property was located in, and include notations of how the property could be improved. Most of the lands mentioned in these volumes were located in the following Pennsylvania counties: Wayne, Luzerne, Pike, Northampton, Rutherford, and Bedford. Correspondence in the letterbook (vol. 78) begins in 1822, and is mostly addressed to Peter S. DuPonceau, who managed the Coxe family landed trust, and letters to him outline instructions for the sale of those properties. Also recorded in the letterbooks is a list of all the deeds owned by Tench. Similar information can be found in the land notebooks, which were created for the use of the executors of Tench’s estate following his death. Entries in the notebooks document the names of individuals with warrants on the lands, the number of tracts owned, the acreage, and the names of the township and county where the property was located. The remaining financial volumes in this subseries reflect Tench’s political appointments as a collector of the revenue for the city and county of Philadelphia, his promotion to supervisor of the revenue, and also his position as purveyor of public supplies. A bankbook (vol. 45) with the Bank of New York also reflects Tench’s responsibilities as the assistant secretary of the treasury under Alexander Hamilton from July to October 1790. Volumes illustrating Tench’s responsibilities to the revenue office include a journal (vol. 19); bankbooks with the Bank of the United States, the Bank of Pennsylvania, and the Stephen Girard Bank (vol. 49-52, 56-57); a receipt book (vol. 59) and several account books (vols. 83-100). Records begin as early as 1791 and end in 1814, although his official titled position in that office only lasted from 1801 to 1803. The journal and account books document the names of the collectors of the revenue, the districts in which they worked, and the amount of money turned over to the revenue office. Besides Tench, other revenue supervisors who are mentioned in the volumes include George Clymer, Henry Miller, and head supervisor Peter Muhlenberg. Tench took over that position of head supervisor in 1802, following which all entries were recorded by him. Other individuals listed in the volumes are J. Nevill, inspector
of the revenue; and William Ewing, John Wills, Benjamin Wells, John Webster, H. Wertz, and James Brice, who were collectors. Some account statements between the United States and head supervisor Peter Muhlenberg, and between the United States and Tench when he became head supervisor, are also included in a few of the account books. They document monthly totals of cash received by the collectors, contingent expenses, and payment and remittances paid to the collectors. Duties could be paid in cash or bonds, and were collected on stills, carriages, sugar refineries, distilleries, retailer’s licenses, sales at auction, and on snuff. Duties were also collected on properties and those records provide the name of the land owner, the number of occupants on the property, the location of the property, the amount of the tax, and from whom the money was received. Land tax records also document the name of individuals who failed to pay their taxes and the amount of money owed. The records relating to land are typically broken up by county and township. Two of the revenue account volumes (vols. 98-99) and the receipt book (vol. 59) were Tench’s personal record books during his collectorship. Tench used the account volumes as notebooks while he was out in the field, and recorded a variety of helpful job reminders such as how to measure the proof of spirits. Tench also recorded the names of individuals issued fines for being improperly licensed, and jotted down information on merchant houses that had relocated out of his collecting district. The receipt book documents tax money that Tench turned in to his supervisor Peter Muhlenberg from 1801 to 1802. The last of the revenue account books (volume 100), documents the final settling of Tench’s account with the revenue department in 1814. Tench served as the purveyor of public supplies from 1803 until the position was terminated in 1812, and records documenting that office include journals (vols. 20- 22), ledgers (vols. 26-28), checkbooks with the Bank of the United States and the Bank of Pennsylvania (vols. 31-37, 39), a bankbook with the Bank of Pennsylvania (vol. 54), receipt books (vols. 61-66), and a variety of purveyor account books (vols. 101-104). The journals and ledgers document payments made on a variety of goods distributed to the United States military. The journals are a helpful guide to goods purchased on a daily basis, while the ledgers provide more information on individual department expenditures and on the purveyor department suppliers. The ledger entries also record the location of the supplier and the products they supplied. The receipt books records similar information. The purveyor department purchased a variety of goods including soap, trunks, rifles, uniforms, shoes, blankets, horse bells, cooperage, swords, rifles and pistols, cartouche boxes, and clothing. Other expenses recorded in the purveyor financial volumes are employee salaries. Several females were employed by the department as seamstresses, and among those listed in the ledgers and receipt book were Anne Wood, Ann Hurley, Ester Davison, and Sarah Ogden. Information on these women and the quantity and types of clothing (shirts, socks, pants, etc.) each produced can also be found in the orderly account book (vol. 101). The cost of producing these
goods was charged to the following departments: the Indian department, the ordinance department, the clothing department, the war department, the committee of distribution, and the hospital department. The appropriations account book contains calculations of total money expended by the purveyor department in 1810 compared with the amount of money appropriated for that year. Also present is a miscellaneous notebook Tench used to record notes and calculations on ordered goods. c. Coxe, Furman & Coxe, 1776-1796. This subseries is comprised of a letterbook, waste book, journal, ledger, invoice book, and cash book, which document Tench Coxe’s business activities with the Philadelphia merchant house Coxe, Furman & Coxe from 1776 to 1796. Prior to 1776, the enterprise had been known as Coxe & Furman, and had been established in 1762 by Tench’s father William Coxe and partner Moore Furman. Tench began working as a merchant in this establishment in 1775 and was taken as an official partner in 1776. The firm was dissolved in 1780 by Furman, following several unprofitable years during the American Revolution. Records dating after 1780 document the settling of Coxe, Furman & Coxe accounts, and also Tench’s individual mercantile efforts from 1780 to 1783. (See also series 2a.) The period of operation for Coxe, Furman & Coxe was wrought with trade difficulties as a result of the American Revolution. Evidence of their struggles is most apparent in the letterbook dating from 1776 to 1779, which documents the capture of foreign vessels consigned to Coxe, Furman & Coxe by American privateers, unstable market prices, difficulty collecting on debts, and trouble receiving and sending mail. From 1776 to 1777, Tench spent much of his time in New York, where it is believed he fled because of his political beliefs. He returned to Philadelphia following the British occupation in 1777, and most of the correspondence in the letterbook after that date is signed solely by him. In light of these difficulties, Coxe, Furman & Coxe still managed to execute a fair amount of trade and the letterbooks provide information on their clients, the goods they bartered, the market value of those goods, the status of sales transactions, and shipping information. The wastebook, journal, ledger, and cashbook also provide financial information on these topics. Some of the more popular clients were Benjamin Andrews, Nathaniel Carter, Duncan Ingraham, and Edward Goold. Coxe, Furman & Coxe traded a variety of goods including chocolate, coffee, sugar, pork, flour, rum, beeswax, iron, indigo, tea, salt, and tobacco. Tench continued trading these types of goods after the dissolution of Coxe, Furman & Coxe. The invoice book also included in this subseries was used solely to document Tench’s flour account with Dr. Thomas Ruston and William Harrison (see also series 1f). Entries state the number of flour barrels sold, the name of the supplier, and the price received per barrel. d. Coxe & Frazier, 1783-1798, n.d.
Records in this subseries document Tench Coxe’s third and final mercantile adventure under the moniker Coxe & Frazier from November 1783 to 1798. Representing this enterprise are letterbooks, journals, accounts current, a shipping receipt book, a store book, and memorandum books. Coxe & Frazier disbanded in 1790 for financial reasons and to pursue other career interests. All of the records dating after that event document the settling of their accounts. (See also series 2a.) Coxe & Frazier recorded outgoing letters in two separate volumes, distinguishing correspondence sent to their American (vols. 138, 140, 142) and foreign contacts (vols. 139, 141, 143). Because so many of their transactions incorporated both groups of clients, the information in the foreign and American letterbooks overlaps to some degree. It appears that the letterbooks were recorded by Nalboro Frazier’s clerks as some notations in the margins of the letterbooks read, “letters which were written by our own T. C.,” or, “see Tench Coxe’s letterbook.” Tench most likely acquired the letterbooks in 1790, when the firm dissolved. Many of the letters after that date were recorded by Tench’s brother Daniel Coxe, who acted as Tench’s attorney in the liquidation process, or by Tench. Addresses recorded in the American letterbooks indicate that Coxe & Frazier traded with clients in Newburyport, New York, Savannah, Boston, Richmond, Baltimore, and Charleston. The commercial correspondence addressed to these traders discusses the sale of arms and other goods including lemons, limes, oranges, sugar, flour, rice, rum, candles, and cotton. Most of the early letters announce the newly formed house of Coxe & Frazier, express optimism about the unrestricted trade environment, inquire after the status of shipments and sales on cargo, and discuss the competitiveness of the market. Letters to their foreign contacts located in Amsterdam, Tortola, London, Liverpool, St. Croix, Barbados, and Kingston, also discuss the specifics of shipping and sales of merchandise. Goods traded to the foreign clients were the same as merchandise mentioned in correspondence to American traders, except for the case of two “negro wenches,” who were sent to St. Croix merchant Benjamin Yard for sale. The letter addressed to Yard in April 1787 indicated that the slaves were the property of Mr. Stephen Prosser, but the profits of the sales were to be directly credited to Coxe & Frazier. This is the only mention of that type of transaction in these volumes. The business operations of Coxe & Frazier were mostly profitable throughout 1784, but that success was short-lived. By 1785, a large portion of their correspondence begins to address their struggles collecting on debts owed to them and their own resulting financial difficulties. Much of the strain was caused by increased restrictions placed on American commerce by Great Britain, protested payments on bills of exchange resulting from unstable United States currency, and unregulated business practices, all of which were tarnishing American business credibility. Letters addressed to their foreign contacts attempted to express the firm’s dedication to principled and regulated business practices, but their inability to collect on the debts of some of their American clients, most specifically that of Messrs. Scarbrough & Cooke, were making it difficult for Coxe & Frazier to meet their own financial responsibilities. In April 1787, they wrote to Capt. Elliot, Messrs. Crocketts &
Harris, “We must repeat our earnest desire that the reimbursement we requested in our last may be made without delay-our situation is cruel and distressing.” By 1788, Coxe & Frazier’s trade correspondence became scarce, and some of the letters document the firm selling off some of their ships to cover their debts. The few trade orders they did complete were mostly for muskets and other weapons, as well as fine china, potash kettles, tea, and leather provided to them by John R. Livingston. In May 1790, Coxe and Frazier decided to quit their business. In both the American and foreign letterbooks, the reported reason for the dissolution was Tench’s newly acquired position as assistant secretary to the treasury. The final letters in both sets of volumes regard suits brought against individuals for unpaid bills, fulfilling final contracts of goods consigned to them, and paying off Coxe & Frazier debts. The financial volumes also included in this subseries provide a concise view of Coxe & Frazier’s client base, the types of goods supplied by individual contractors, the receipt of shipments, and the exchange of cash and goods. Three journals covering a period from December 1783 to July 1798, document Coxe & Frazier’s daily transactions and offer clear summaries of individual accounts. Two indices for ledgers are also present, but the ledgers themselves are not included in this collection. Two record books labeled accounts current provide similar information to that found in the ledgers. Records are entered by the name of the client and act as an invoice, with debts entered on the left hand side of the page and credits on the right. Unlike a ledger however, the accounts current detail the goods exchanged between the client and Coxe & Frazier, and provide a balance of outstanding debts. The first few pages of the account book dating from 1784 to 1791 (vol. 148), was also used as a sales book. Sales book entries list the name of the ship on which cargo was carried, the name of the ship’s captain, the merchant purchasing the goods, and the quantity and type of goods purchased. Other shipping information can be found in the shipping receipts, which cover a period from 1783 to 1787. The receipts are written out to Tench Coxe, and document the quantity of goods being shipped, the name of the ship captain, the name of the sailing vessel, and the intended destination. The remaining financial volumes include a store book and two memorandum books. The store book provides a record of goods sent to a store located on Water Street (now Front Street), and another store titled Pearson, Hunt & Company, the location of which was not indicated. The two memorandum books record outstanding debts owed to Coxe & Frazier as well as some of Tench’s personal expenses including house repairs. e. Miscellaneous Coxe family volumes, 1810-1871, n.d. Materials in this subseries represent four of Tench Coxe’s children: Alexander Sidney, Charles Sidney, Edmund Sidney, and Mary Rebecca. The volumes relating to these individuals highlight their legal careers, the distribution and maintenance of Tench Coxe’s estate, and their personal finances. One volume cover attributed to another son Henry Sidney Coxe, and a schoolbook containing notes on politics, the
economy, astronomy, and electricity, for which the creator could not be identified, are also included. Alexander Sidney Coxe pursued a legal career and relating to him are a notebook in which he recorded legal lectures (vol. 154A) and a docket book for the District and Common Pleas Court (vol. 154). The docket book records the names of individuals involved in the court case, the charges, the presiding lawyers, and often a brief note about the outcome. Alexander used the back of the docket book to record the receipt of his legal fees. Charles Sidney Coxe followed in his brother’s footsteps in the legal profession, and records relating to his career include a docket book from the Court of Common Pleas and Mayor’s Court (vol. 155). Some of the cases tried before the courts were for unpaid debts, larceny, and assault and battery. Upon Tench Coxe’s death in 1824, Charles took on additional responsibility as the primary executor of his father’s estate. An account book and a personal memorandum book (vols. 157-158) document the dispersal of the estate’s land earnings to his siblings, and his personal expenses accrued while traveling to evaluate the quality of the Coxe mining lands and other properties. One additional volume belonging to Charles Sidney records the minutes of a public meeting held in 1826 to relieve Thomas Jefferson from his debts (vol. 156). The minutes also document the names of individuals who participated at the meeting and subscribed to the “Jefferson Fund.” This group was later dubbed the Committee of Superintendence. Edmund Sidney Coxe also pursued a legal career, which is documented by a case book (vol. 160) in which he recorded the details of legal suits he represented. Most of the cases were tried in the Court of Common Pleas. Edmund’s personal finances including household expenses and his personal investments are also documented in his personal account book (vol. 161). A large portion of his income was earned on rent from his father Tench Coxe’s estate. Representing Mary Rebecca Coxe is an account book (vol. 162), which records her household expenses including rent, groceries, and pew rentals. f. Thomas Ruston, 1762-1802, n.d. This subseries documents the medical, mercantile, and land speculation career of Philadelphian Thomas Ruston. Ruston’s involvement in land speculation led to his ultimate demise and bankruptcy in 1796, when he defaulted on several bank notes and land deals. Tench Coxe, one of Ruston’s speculation partners, became one of the administrators of the bankrupt estate and many of the entries dating after 1796 were created by him. Some of the record books also belonged to Ruston’s wife Mary, and reflect her actions on the bankrupt estate as well as her daily activities. Additionally, there is one memorandum book (vol. 179) recording Ruston’s position as executor and land administrator of the Virginia Suffolk estate, and one notebook (vol. 165),which he used as a diary during a trip to Paris and London in 1785. Entries in the notebook chronicle his daily activities, provide copies of letters of
introduction to individuals in the two locations, and record essays Ruston wrote on United States political topics. Thomas Ruston’s primary occupation was medicine, and reflecting that vocation are several memorandum books of medical notes (vols. 183-184, 186-186d), which he recorded while attending lectures at the University of Edinburgh. He received a Master’s degree from that institution in 1765. The lectures cover a variety of topics including prescribed treatments of fevers, the benefits of mineral water over seltzer water, the qualities of various medicines, chemistry notes, anatomy notes, and characteristics of many 19th century diseases. Also present are memorandum books (vols. 185 and 185a) in which Thomas recorded the medical conditions of patients he treated. These volumes document the name of the patient, their age, previous medical problems, detailed descriptions of the current symptoms, and prescribed medications and treatments. Some of the more frequent medical conditions he treated were gonorrhea, stomach pain, excessive coughing, and swollen limbs. Thomas became involved in land speculation and the wheat industry sometime in the early 1790s, while he was living in the Philadelphia countryside. Much of the wheat Ruston traded was produced in the grist mill located on his farm. Records documenting his involvement in the wheat trade include a journal (vol. 169), a ledger (vol. 170), and account books (vols. 171-172). Entries in these volumes document Ruston’s purchase of large quantities of wheat, provide the names of his wheat suppliers, record grist mill operating expenses, and payments made to ship captains and other individuals for transporting the wheat. Some of the accounts in the ledger and account books are a grist mill account, a farm account, household accounts, and individual accounts for farm and grist mill employees. Evidence of Thomas’s land investments can be found in the letterbook (vol. 166) and two daybooks (vols. 167-168), which record the receipt of money collected on land sales and rent, money paid for surveys, and expenses for maintaining his properties. The earliest correspondence dates to 1793, and are mostly letters regarding the settling of bills; the renting and selling of his properties located in Wythe County, Virginia; Northampton County, Pennsylvania; and Franklin County, Georgia; for the acquisition of warrants and surveys; and instructions to individuals surveying his properties. Some of the individuals with whom he corresponded include Edward MacCullock & Company, Benjamin Thomson, deputy surveyor Alexander McClain, Thomas Norwell, and Moses Austin. Thomas also joined another Philadelphia flour merchant, Levi Hollingsworth, in promoting the sale of his American properties to European buyers. Letters relating to this are addressed to Stephen Austin, to whom Ruston and his wife granted power of attorney, and Mr. Phillip Sansom, another American land owner. The attempt to sell American lands to wealthy Europeans was very unsuccessful and became a major financial burden for Ruston when he was unable to pay his property taxes in 1796. Shortly thereafter, he went bankrupt. Records documenting Ruston’s bankruptcy were mostly created by Tench Coxe and include two memorandum books (vols. 164, 180-181). The memorandum books
contain copies of ads and other official documents issued for the sale of Ruston’s property and belongings, and provide notes on the legal proceedings of Ruston’s bankruptcy trials. (vols. 164, 180-181). One memorandum book (vol. 182) belonging to Mary Ruston also documents some aspects of her husband’s bankruptcy. She used the memorandum book to record her social obligations such as dinners, theatre events, and balls. She also scribbled down occasions when potential suitors visited her daughters. Toward the end of the memorandum book her social obligations were sparse, and most of the entries record visitors collecting on her husband’s debts. Other volumes that reflect Mary Ruston’s record keeping practices and the Ruston family’s personal expenses include household receipt books (vols. 174-178) and a bankbook with the Bank of the United States. Entries in the receipt books illustrate goods purchased for the farm and also house expenses including groceries. Some of their purchases included hay, clothing, bushels of lime, bread, sugar, eggs, oysters, mutton veal, goose, lobster, sausage, fowl, tea, yeast, and soap. Other expenses were worker’s wages, blacksmithing, and money paid to surveyors. The receipt book dating from 1800 to 1803 (vol. 176) also documents room and board paid to Margaret Evans. g. Miscellaneous letterbooks and account books, 1759-1849, n.d. This subseries is comprised of a conglomeration of record books, including financial records, land records, letterbooks, notebooks, and writings. These volumes belong to individuals who had business interactions with Tench Coxe in one or more of his many career interests, are the records of estates for which Tench became executor, are the records of individuals with no clear connection to Tench or his family, or are miscellaneous volumes for which the creator could not be identified. A few of the volumes in this subseries were created by Tench Coxe, although it is unclear why they were microfilmed in this subseries and not with his other account books in series 1b. Among those volumes are a receipt book, an unidentified index, memorandum books, and records of Tench’s administration of the Francis family estate. The receipt book and memorandum books record Tench’s personal expenses such as money paid for the poor tax, militia fines, street and paving tax, and groceries, as well as personal reminders such as “have the chimneys swept out.” Tench Coxe conducted business with a number of American and foreign merchants, whose commercial records are present in this subseries. Merchants James McCally; Beekman, Son & Goold, Colburn Barrell, James Abercrombie, Shippen & Yates, A.C. Cuyler, Clark & Nightingale, and M. Coulougnae are represented by commercial volumes, which document the goods they sold, their clients, and their accounts with other merchants. Some of the record books representing these merchants include sales books, daybooks, journals, ledgers, invoice books, and accounts current. All of these firms traded similar types of goods, which included textiles, coffee, tea, liquor, necklaces, and ink powder to name a few. Also present are shipping records for the ships Canton, Ritchie, Elegant, and Bella. One “account of seamen’s wages” belonging to Captain M. Powers is also present for the year 1793. This volume documents cash issued to the sailors at various ports, deductions against their wages for the loss or damage of goods aboard the ship, and deductions for medical attention. A few
miscellaneous volumes documenting goods exported from Philadelphia ports from 1759 to 1794, and a prices current of the Province of Languedoc are also included. Some of the records in this subseries belonged to Tench’s supervisors and to fellow revenue department workers. The records of the following collectors are included in this subseries: E. Forman, James Newport, and John Webster. Representing these individuals are their personal account statements with the revenue department, and memorandum books, in which they listed the names and locations of distilleries they visited. Two letterbooks belonging to revenue supervisors George Clymer and James Ash are also present. Their correspondence was written to their collectors to update them on the changing tax laws and to acknowledge the receipt of duty money. A few of the letters were also addressed to individuals being tried for tax evasion. Henry Miller, another supervisor from the revenue department is represented by an account statement of all the duties gathered by his collectors for the years 1791 to 1801. A similar account statement is present for Tench Coxe, while he was serving as commissioner of the revenue from 1792 to 1797. A list of applications for licenses to retail merchandise, which was signed by Charles Sidney Coxe, is also included. One miscellaneous volume documents the activities of the Pennsylvania land office. The volume was used as a register of warrants on all properties located in districts under the control of Anthony Crothers and George Palmer in Wayne County, Pennsylvania. The following townships are represented in this volume: Buckingham, Damascus, Palmyra, Lackawaxen (now in Pike County), Mount Pleasant, and Canaan. There are also a number of financial and land records representing individuals hired to administer, maintain, or survey Tench’s properties, or who were land owners in their own right. The following individuals are included in this category: H. Wiederholdt, Andrew Allen Jr. and his wife Sarah, (employees on Tench’s property in Mount Airy, Pennsylvania); Benjamin Morgan, Francis Manfield and Finch Bovell (renters); David Franks, Captain Ball, George Harrison, and Moses, David, and Jacob Franks (land owners); and John Smith (surveyor). John Smith’s field notes of a survey conducted on Tench’s property known as “Coxe’s Patent,” (located on the south side of the Susquehanna River in Tioga and Broom Counties), provide detailed descriptions of those properties and also offer suggestions for improvements to be made to the land. Other miscellaneous surveyor notes, not necessarily created by John Smith, also describe Coxe family property known as the “Owego Patent,” which was located in New York. A miscellaneous deed poll of twenty-five tracts of land in Northampton and Luzerne Counties, Pennsylvania, and a rent and tax account book for which the creator could not be identified, are also present. Also noteworthy are additional records belonging to the land owner George Harrison, which document his responsibilities as a representative of the Office of the Naval Agent. Relating to this position are a letterbook and a journal, which both document the navy’s purchase of goods including sheep skins, timber, bread, beef, and other groceries to stock United States naval ships before their departure, provide
information on navy suppliers, and also the payment of sailor’s wages. In one instance in June 1802, Harrison also acted as a liaison between sailors’ wives and the navy accounting department, to request advanced payment of wages to the wives of sailors who were delayed at sea. Records of payments made to these wives in the journal also list their names and the name of their husbands, who were aboard the frigate Philadelphia. Also present in this subseries are land records belonging to William Harrison, who was one of Thomas Ruston’s land speculation partners. (See also series 1f, 2a, and 7.) Land records belonging to Harrison are two ledgers (1793-1796), which document improvements made on his properties, money earned from the sale or renting out of those lands, and tax payments. Most of these transactions mention Thomas Ruston, who was Harrison’s speculation partner. Ruston and Harrison were unable to sell those properties, and both eventually declared bankruptcy. One case book and a volume labeled “Accounts rendered against his estate,” document legal suits brought against Harrison for unpaid debts, and the dispersal of his estate by administrators Tench Coxe and William Hunt. Other individuals represented in this subseries include Thomas Cucask, Anthony Bleeker, Thomas Wood, Francis Corbin, and Dr. Jacob Frederick Hummel. Financial records for these individuals are notations of their personal purchases, contributions to various organizations, or document debts they owed. The entries in these volumes contain limited information. A subscription book and ledger belonging to the Philadelphia Society for the Promotion of American Manufactures, a register of the shareholders of the state bank, a biography of the life of Major Edward Duffield Ingraham (2nd Battalion, Pennsylvania militia), and the constitution and by-laws of the female benevolent daughters of Wesley (an organization comprised of African American women) are other record books present in this subseries. Also of note is a volume labeled “Principles of the Plan for making an Appian Way or National Portage.” This volume dates between 1804 and 1812 and describes a plan to unite the extensive inland navigation of the western lakes with an Atlantic port. The plan offers specific details for the location of the path, reasons for preferring that route, a proposal for funding, projected profits that would result from increased trade, and suggestions for civilizing the natives along the designated route. The address is directed to President Thomas Jefferson, Vice President George Clinton, Congress, and the citizens of Pennsylvania. Other miscellaneous volumes for which the creator could not be identified include a school book of math problems, bible lectures, a notebook written completely in Latin, unidentified check stubs from the Bank of Pennsylvania, and several unidentified indices. h. Printed materials, 1698-1880, n.d.. Printed materials in this subseries date from 1698 to 1880, and were collected by Tench Coxe and other members of his immediate family. Records include books,
pamphlets, circulars, form letters, broadsides, and newspapers; and cover a variety of topics. Some of the more noteworthy volumes are a bound copy of the laws of North Carolina (1802), a volume of British trade statistics (1698-1764), and a volume of reports and letters to congress from the president, the secretary of the treasury, and the post master general (1803-1804). Four of the books, and a number of the smaller pamphlets are written in German, and mostly concern manufacturing. About eighty of the pamphlets included in this subseries were authored by Tench Coxe, although not all of his writings are represented. Common topics are cotton production, manufacturing, the Connecticut Claims controversy, the disruption to trade during the War of 1812, and debates on Missouri’s application for statehood. Also present are circulars and form letters used in Tench’s position as purveyor of public supplies and collector of the revenue, and also land forms. Government forms and blank legal forms include licenses and treasury forms, blank bills of sale, powers of attorney, deeds, bonds, leases, naturalization petitions, and articles of agreement. Several form letters Tench received as a shareholder in the North American Land Company are also present. Broadsides pertain to land sales, politics, and trade statistics. Most of the newspapers included in this subseries were published by the Federalist or Republican parties.
Series 2. Tench Coxe, 1638-1879, n.d. (Boxes 5-142, Vols. 333-335, FF 1-22) a. Correspondence and general papers, 1638-1879, n.d. The correspondence and general papers for Tench Coxe span a period from 1638 to 1879. Tench was born in Philadelphia in 1755 and died in the same city in 1824. Although several of the materials in this subseries were created outside his lifespan, all records that outdate him have a clear connection to the Coxe family land holdings or Tench Coxe’s personal estate. The earliest materials (1638-1774) include powers of attorney, wills, and various land papers, which belonged to Tench Coxe’s grandfather Colonel Daniel Coxe, and commercial correspondence addressed to Tench’s father William Coxe, who was a partner in the merchant house Coxe & Furman (est. 1762). Some of the materials dating before 1775 also belong to the Franks family and to Joseph, John, and William Shippen, and document their interests in the Oxford furnace. Correspondence and financial records housed at the end of this subseries dating from 1824 to 1873, are mostly addressed to Tench Coxe’s son Charles Sidney Coxe and reflect his administration of his deceased father’s estate. Charles’s career as a judge in the Philadelphia Court of Quarter Sessions and his interest in prison reform is also briefly addressed. During his life, Tench Coxe was a man of many talents and business interests. His correspondence, which begins in 1768, highlights all of his aspirations to some degree, including his mercantile activities in the house of Coxe, Furman & Coxe (1776-1780) and later Coxe & Frazier (1783-1790); his land speculation in Pennsylvania, New York, Georgia, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina; and his political affiliations with the Federalist and Republican parties, political writings, and also appointments including assistant secretary of the treasury under Alexander Hamilton (1790-1792), commissioner of the revenue (1792-1797), secretary of the
Pennsylvania land office (1800-1801), collector of the revenue for the city and county of Philadelphia (1801-1803), purveyor of public supplies (1803-1812), and clerk of the Philadelphia Court of Quarter Sessions (1815-1818). Tench’s papers also address his personal finances and his relationships with various members of the Coxe family. Because of the variety of noteworthy topics addressed in this body of papers, Tench’s most significant accomplishments have been grouped into four major categories: Mercantilism and the American Revolution, Political Appointments, Land Speculation, and Family and Estate. The dates and topics included in these categories overlap to some degree. Mercantilism and the American Revolution Correspondence and general papers relating specifically to Tench Coxe begin about the time that he was abandoning his youth and becoming active in business. One of the earliest documents relating specifically to Tench is dated 1768, and is a power of attorney from Samuel Kirk authorizing Tench to receive rent on his behalf. In his early years, Tench also received a great deal of personal correspondence from his friends and family members, who commissioned him for small business tasks and also reported on their daily activities. In 1775, Tench turned twenty-one and was hired in his father’s merchant house Coxe & Furman. Commercial correspondence addressed to Tench highlight his responsibilities and document Coxe & Furman’s trade with overseas clients in the West Indies, Spain, Portugal, and England; and also trade with American merchants, most who were based out of New York. Business for Coxe & Furman was profitable and Tench was taken as an official partner in his father’s establishment in 1776, which then became known as Coxe, Furman & Coxe. Correspondence forms the majority of materials relating to this enterprise, but also present are sales accounts, bills of exchange, mariners’ contracts and sailors’ wage accounts, invoices, bills of lading, and marine insurance policies. These records collectively provide financial information on Coxe, Furman & Coxe’s trade of wheat, salt, tobacco, iron, sugar, rum, and other goods to the locations listed above. Also well documented is the Fame, a ship owned by Coxe, Furman & Coxe and captained by John Gensell. Business contacts who were popular correspondents included Edward Goold, Benjamin Yard, John Pringle, William Tilghman, Colborn Barrell, Robert Watts, Isaac Low, Richard Yates, Gerald Beekman, A. C. Cuyler, Robert Wingram, Isaac Hartman, Isaac Ogdon, and Walter Livingston. The leading topics in Tench’s business correspondence address the market value of goods, the status of sales transactions, and the shipping of goods; however, many of his correspondents also used their letters to discuss the conduct of the British toward the colonists and the desirability of the impending Revolution. The opinions regarding these issues range from the Tory sentiments of some of Tench’s New Jersey relatives and New York friends, to the expression of commitment to the cause of American independence voiced by others. John Pringle wrote to Tench on December 24, 1775 in regards to a bill passed by Parliament which would restrict American trade, “It is the most cruel and oppressive of all the most cruel and oppressive acts they have passed; it will greatly prejudice and as plainly evinces they
have thrown away the scabbard and that their pretended desires and declarations for a just reconciliation are only to amuse and to serve their devilish purposes-it will I trust spur us on in our martial course-throw oil (if any be wanting) upon the glorious flame which burns among us.” Most of Tench’s correspondents expressed hopes for a moderate and peaceful solution, especially in the face of halted business activity. Tench’s outgoing correspondence does not explicitly indicate his personal opinion regarding British policies and the war. Letters addressed to him do provide some evidence that he was most likely a loyalist, but he appears to have wavered in his viewpoint. In a letter dated March 10, 1775, from H. Coxe (a female cousin), she commented on sentiments he had expressed in a letter to her, “and so you have kindly determin’d not ‘to starve poor Britain all at once’ she is to die by Inches! Well, it is quite agreeable to ye present modes of Torture and is worthy of a tarring feathering race. Bring her to her senses.” Letters dating from December 1776 to August 1777 are addressed to Tench in New York City, where it is believed he was exiled for his loyalist tendencies. He returned to Philadelphia following the British occupation in September 1777. Upon his return, Tench became much more active in business, and some of his letters contain messages that were to be transmitted to British officers. Tench’s loyalty to the British later became a problem when English troops withdrew from Philadelphia in June 1778. Tench wrote to his good friend William Tilghman that he would remain in the city because of his wife Catherine McCall’s (wed in February 1778) terminal illness. Shortly thereafter, in May 1778, he took an oath of allegiance to the United States. Tench wrote several other letters to Tilghman that year describing his subsequent treatment by local authorities and private citizens, his opinions on the course of the war, the progress of American diplomacy and political developments, the Philadelphia social scene, and his personal struggles following the death of his wife Catherine on July 22, 1778. From 1779 to 1780, Tench mostly engaged in small scale domestic commerce on behalf of Coxe, Furman & Coxe with traders in New York, Newburyport, and Baltimore; and his letters address the state of the markets and scarcity of goods, trade regulation and proposed and attempted state regulation of prices. Tench also engaged in limited foreign trade with merchants in the West Indies, France, and Amsterdam, and began receiving more personal correspondence from his New York and New Jersey relatives, and also from his friends James and William Tilghman, Henry W. Pearce, and William Hemsley, for whom Tench often acted as agent in business matters or in procuring scarce household supplies. Their letters contain comments on the length of the war and prospects for peace, the confidence George Washington inspired, the scarcity of money and comparative values of various currencies, the requisition acts of Congress, the confiscation of flour and wheat in Maryland for use by the army, and other disruptions caused by the war. These disruptions so affected the business activities of Coxe, Furman & Coxe, that Moore Furman dissolved the partnership in October 1780.
Tench had endured financial, social, and personal hardship during the early years of the Revolution, but the years 1781 to 1784 were a period of renewed vigor for his private life and business. In 1781, he began receiving correspondence from friends and family congratulating him on his engagement to his cousin Rebecca Coxe, whom he married on January 26, 1782. Some letters from Rebecca about the beginnings of their young family are also present. Tench also began operating his own merchant house (although the official announcement of his succession to the Coxe, Furman & Coxe trade house was not sent out until Jan. 1, 1783), and expanded his circle of business contacts to include traders in the Far East, Amsterdam, London, Havana, St. Croix, and Cadiz. Correspondence from Amsterdam contacts Ingraham & Bromfield is especially informative; they were hopeful of replacing England as America’s chief trading partner and urged that ports attractions. Tench bartered tobacco, lace, butter, soap, ham, tea, violins, and fans, among other commodities. For a short time in 1783, he, along with Jacob Broom, David S. Franks, and George Meade, also purchased a surplus of lead, gun powder, and carriages from French Commissary of War, Monsieur de Chesnel. Letters and documents about the acquisition and disposition of those goods, and the problems and controversy attendant thereto, continued throughout that year. As the rumors of peace with Britain began to spread throughout the latter half of 1782, Tench’s business correspondents began to speculate on the probable effects on trade. News of peace typically indicated a fall in the market value of goods, but most of the merchants were skeptical about the likelihood of England’s surrender, as the number of vessels seized by the enemy began to increase. In December 1782, Jonathan Williams wrote to Tench that the preliminaries of peace had been concluded. Both American and European contacts became eager to exchange information about the mercantile climate, new business opportunities, and the value of state currencies. Optimistic about the future of American trade, Tench formed a partnership with Nalboro Frazier of Boston in November 1783, following which some of the correspondence is addressed to Coxe & Frazier. The majority of their commercial ventures were focused on West Indian and European trade. Their business was mostly profitable throughout 1784, but Tench’s optimism was short-lived and Coxe & Frazier began to receive warnings that British restrictions on American commerce and protested payments on bills of exchange resulting from unstable currency and unregulated business practices, were beginning to tarnish American business credibility. Many of Coxe & Frazier’s European correspondents began to withdraw from American trade or delayed future investments until market conditions became more settled. Coxe & Frazier also received word that many of the business houses with whom they were associated were failing financially and were unable to remit payments. These problems continued in 1785 and much of Coxe & Frazier’s correspondence concerns the settlement of accounts, the collection of outstanding debts, and legal battles. In response to the hardship befalling American commerce and Tench’s own merchant house Coxe & Frazier, he became heavily involved in private and
corporate efforts to promote the development of manufacturing. Correspondence and meeting notes document his participation in organizations such as the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and the Philadelphia Society for Encouraging Manufacturers and the Useful Arts. He also became a subscriber to the Bank of Pennsylvania, and supported legislation to establish patent protection for inventors. In August 1797, Tench sponsored the efforts of Andrew Mitchell and George Parkinson to go to Englan

Date post:	09-Feb-2022
Category:	Documents
Upload:	others
View:	1 times
Download:	0 times

Coxe Family Papers 1638-1970 - Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Documents