Thomas Masters papers, 1792-1880.

ArchivalResource

Masters, Thomas, d. 1844. Thomas Masters papers, 1792-1880.

Thomas Masters papers, 1792-1880.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/475900164

Papers and correspondence, 1792-1880 (bulk 1792-1813). The collection includes correspondence, invoices, accounts, bills, receipts, powers of attorney, bills of exchange, and other papers, mostly related to the import and export, and commission business, in Philadelphia through 1808, thereafter in New York City. The material deals with trade with the West Indies, Hamburg, Bremen, England, Batavia, and some places in the U.S.; sales of vessels; the international situation and its effect on trade; market conditions; Masters's partnership with Florimond Dusar in Philadelphia; salvage of the ships Feliz Innocencia and Success; business affairs of Nellie Marshall in New York, and of Divie, Bethune, & Co. There are a large number of letters from Broome P. Fisher, of the firm Witts & Fisher, London, 77 letters from members of the Kintzing family in Philadelphia, 1813, and some letters and papers of Anthony Latapie. After 1813 the correspondence tapers off and consists mostly of family letters, including letters from Masters's daughter Martha to her mother, describing travel in England in 1828, and two love-letters to another daughter, Sarah, from her future husband, Jeremiah Wilbur. There are also two letter books, August 1798 - February, 1801 and August, 1802 - October, 1806, containing copies of letters sent by Masters. During August, 1798 - October, 1799, he worked for Seton, Maitland & Co. in New York City, and wrote to his family in London, generally about family matters and his activities in New York. In October, 1799, he left New York to work for Florimond Dusar, a merchant in Philadelphia, and continued to write to his family. Letters to his family discuss anxiety about yellow fever in Philadelphia and New York, and his dislike of the local climate. The collection includes his letters to Dusar when the latter was out of town, keeping him advised about business matters. During August, 1802 - March, 1803, Masters was in England, and wrote to Dusar about their mutual business interests, particularly about his dealings with Broome P. Witts, of the London firm Witts & Fisher. From May, 1803 - October, 1806 he was in Philadelphia and continued to write to his family and to Broome P. Witts in London. The letters deal with personal and family matters, general business, the European situation and uncertainties caused by it, sale of vessels, prospects of war, and market conditions. Other miscellaneous papers include some printed ephemera, such as vouchers, dated 1814, for the distribution of firewood to the poor, some blank, some with notes on the beneficiaries.

0.8 linear feet (2 boxes)

Churchill County Museum