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Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Jackson, Riddle and Company Records #368, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

All or part of this collection is available on microfilm from University Publications of America as part of the records of ante-bellum southern plantations from the Revolution through the Civil War, Series J.

Acquisitions Information

Acquired by the Southern Historical Collection before 1940. Provenance otherwise unknown.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Jill Snider, 1990

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Bank of the United States (1816-1836)
• Birdsborough Forge (Pa.)--Commerce.
• Brook, Edward, fl. 1838.
• Brooks, Isaac, fl. 1837-1838.
• Commission merchants--Great Britain--History--19th century.
• Commission merchants--Louisiana--History--19th century.
• Commission merchants--New York (State)--New York--History--19th century.
• Commission merchants--Pennsylvania--History--19th century.
• Duncan, Stephen.
• Fires--New York (State)--New York.
• France--Commerce--United States--History--19th century.
• France--Foreign relations--United States--History--19th century.
• Iron industry and trade--Pennsylvania--History--19th century.
• Jackson, Bolton, fl. 1838.
• Jackson, Riddle, and Company (Philadelphia, Pa.)
• Jackson, Todd, and Company (Philadelphia, Pa.)
• Jackson, Washington, fl. 1836-1855.
• Kennis Whitaker Company (Reading, Pa.)
• Ker, John, 1789-1850.
• Liverpool (England)--Commerce--19th century.
• Napoleonic Wars, 1800-1815--Claims.
• New Orleans (La.)--Commerce--19th century.
• New York (N.Y.)--Commerce--19th century.
• Philadelphia (Pa.)--Commerce.
• United States--Commerce--France.
• United States--Foreign relations--France.

Washington Jackson (fl. 1835-1855), commission merchant, ran, along with his partners, Riddle and Todd, a diverse business in agricultural and hardware products. His company, Jackson, Riddle, and Company, which became Jackson, Todd, and Company in late 1838, operated out of Philadelphia, with a branch in Liverpool, England. Jackson's son, Bolton Jackson, went to England to establish operations there in January 1838. Jackson and his partners sold sugar, tobacco, and cotton produced by southern (mostly Mississippi and Louisiana) planters, and purchased northern-produced sheet iron, nails, and other hardware items and coal for resale to planters and to southern and northern retail merchants, manufacturers, and railroad builders. The company carried on business with individuals and firms in New York, Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Limited international trade consisted of the importation of French foodstuffs from J. H. Boyer and Company of Bordeaux and of English iron for use by Pennsylvania nailmakers.

Letters from 1838 indicate that Jackson, Riddle, and Company received some of its financing through loans from the Bank of the United States. Jackson also invested frequently in the stock market through his broker, George Dickey, of New York.

Jackson maintained close ties with a number of other commission merchants, including Byrne Hermann and Company of New Orleans; Daniel Buchanan and Son of Liverpool; Nevins Townsend and Company, Thomas Barrett and Company, and W. J. Brown and Company of New York; and William Ferriday and Company of Natchez, Mississippi. Planters for whom Jackson's firm carried out commission sales included Dr. Stephen Duncan and John Ker of Natchez, Mississippi. Edward Brook and Kennis Whitaker Co., iron makers of Birdsborough Forge and Reading, Pennsylvania, respectively, provided Jackson with most of the iron he purchased for resale. Isaac Brooks, who apears to have been his largest hardware customer, was a retail merchant in Baltimore.

The letters in this collection are particularly useful for the study of early nineteenth-century agricultural market conditions, the nascent iron industry in Pennsylvania, stock market trends, domestic trade networks, and trade relations with France.

Limited information appears on Washington Jackson's personal finances, and none appears on his family or social life. The activities of Jackson's partners, Riddle and Todd, find no mention in the letters. Likewise, only limited information emerges on the letters' authors, who rarely strayed from discussion of immediate business concerns.

Business letters received by Jackson, Riddle, and Company (1836-1838) and Jackson, Todd, and Company (1838-1839) from business associates, clients, and customers. About one-half of the items are letters from other commission merchants, including Byrne Hermann and Company of New Orleans; Daniel Buchanan and Son of Liverpool; Nevins Townsend and Company, Thomas Barrett and Company, and W. J. Brown and Company of New York; and William Ferriday and Company of Natchez, Mississippi. These letters discuss mostly market conditions and prices, the status of drafts and notes handled for each other and their clients, and the shipment of goods. Many of the letters are written on the back of "Prices Current" bulletins.

Other frequent correspondents include planters, iron and nail manufacturers, retail merchants, and manufacturers. Letters from planters, most notably, Stephen Duncan and John Ker of Natchez, Mississippi, discuss crop outlooks and orders for hardware. Of note among the firm's iron and hardware suppliers are Edward Brook and Kennis Whitaker Co. of Birdsborough Forge and Reading, Pennsylvania, respectively, whose letters discuss mostly orders for iron and production delays. Isaac Brooks, a retail merchant of Baltimore, wrote often to order hardware and discuss problems with its delivery. Scattered letters, appearing in 1835 and 1836 from J. H. Boyer and Company of Bordeaux, France, illuminate Jackson's attempts to branch out internationally.

Letters relating to Jackson's finances include frequent notes from stockbroker George Dickey, which list Jackson's brokerage accounts, and a number of letters from the Bank of the United States, which mention loans Jackson had from them in 1838. Miscellaneous letters also appear in 1838 from F. Beaumont, president of the Mississippi Shipping Co. of Natchez, which show that Jackson often sold stock for Beaumont.

Other topics of note in the letters include the crisis occurring in 1836 when France refused to pay spoliation claims made by American shippers for vessels seized by Napoleon. Letters from Thomas Baur and Company and Byrne Hermann and Company of New Orleans and from J. H. Boyer and Company of Bordeaux, France, between December 1835 and January 1836 express fears that France's refusal to honor these claims might lead to war and interrupt trade. There are also letters from Byrne Hermann and Company, dated 2 and 9 January 1836, discuss the destruction caused by the great fire in the financial district of New York City in December 1835.

One letter, dated 23 October 1855, appears from Phipps and Company in Liverpool to Messrs. J. L. Phipps of New Orleans, and concerns the sale of Ella A. Clark's cotton. The letter's relationship to the remainder of the collection is not clear.