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Records of the U.S. Custom House, Bristol-Warren, Rhode Island
Records, 1790-1882 Size: 65 linear feet Catalog number: MSS 28 sg2 Processed by: Harold Kemble, circa 1980 Expanded by Rick Stattler, October 1999 USE MICROFILM HD8039 .S4 R46 1982 (Certificates of enrollmentof vessels May-December 1801; Abstract of endorsements of changes of masters’ names on Registers, etc. 1822-1855; Abstract of Protections granted to American Seamen 1822-1827; Abstract of licenses to vessels under 20 tons 1818-1855; Abstracts of Permanent and of Temporary Registers, issued and surrendered in 1820-1855)
©Rhode Island Historical Society Manuscripts Division |
Historical note:
The United States Custom Service was created by an act of the Congress dated July 31, 1789 (1 Stat. L, 24) as a branch of the Treasury Department. It was responsible for the collection of duties on imports, the registering and licensing of vessels, the enforcement of all regulations restricting import and export of goods, and the enforcement of laws governing the entry and clearances of seamen and ships' passengers.
A supplementary Customs Act (1 Stat. L, 24-29) provided for the establishment of custom districts and ports of entry, the appointment of customs officers, and regulations for the collection of duties. This act created fifty-nine custom districts in eleven states. No provision was made for Rhode Island, which had not yet ratified the Constitution of the United States.
The Act of June 14, 1790 (1 State. L, 127) created the Rhode Island custom districts of Providence and Newport. Both towns were constituted Ports of Entry and for each were appointed a collector, a naval officer and a surveyor. There were seven Ports of Delivery--Pawtuxet, in the Providence district, and North Kingstown, East Greenwich, Westerly, Bristol, Warren and Barrington in the Newport district.
In 1794, Congress passed an act prohibiting the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Bristol merchants involved in the trade chafed at the aggressive enforcement of the law by the Newport customs officials. Traders James D'Wolf and Shearjashub Bourne began lobbying for a separate customs district that would be more amenable to their business. Providence merchant John Brown, a former slave trader and vocal defender of the trade, was elected to the House of Representatives in 1799. He ushered legislation through Congress that created the Bristol Customs House on February 23, 1800. Jonathan Russell was appointed as the first collector, and he continued the enforcement of the slave trading laws. After the D'Wolf family circulated a petition for his removal and generally asserted their political clout, Jonathan Russell was fired by President Jefferson in February of 1804. The new collector, Charles Collins, was a major investor in the slave trade and a brother-in-law of James D'Wolf. He served as collector through 1820.
Custom Officials
Each district employed a variety of officials including a collector, naval officer, surveyors, weighers, gaugers and inspectors. Appointments were made by the President of the United States, and were usually accompanied by considerable infighting and intrigue. The position of district Collector, because of its attendant political influence and control over the maritime commerce of the district, was a particularly valued job and one of the most honored and lucrative of government appointments.
The Providence Custom House Collector, as chief officer of the district, was responsible for collecting duties and keeping records of all financial transactions for reporting to the Treasury Department. He was required to enforce the revenue laws and impose fines, penalties and forfeitures. He was responsible for the appointment and paying of the other custom officials; for the admeasurement and documentation of American merchant vessels; licensing of fishing vessels; registration of American seamen and ships' passengers entering and clearing the port; maintenance of custom buildings and property; collection of funds for the administration of the Marine Hospital and records of the Pension Agency, and the placement of harbor stakes and buoys.
The Naval Officer, equal in rank with the Collector, was required to keep copies of all manifests and entries; to estimate custom duties; to keep separate records, and to countersign certain of the Collector's accounts,
The Surveyor, under the supervision of the Collector, kept a daily record of all vessels arriving. He was assisted by the inspectors, weighers and gaugers in estimating impost and tonnage duties on goods. The surveyor also supervised cargo lading for drawback, the collection and payment of bounty allowances and fees on goods, and the admeasurement of foreign vessels for tonnage duty.
The salaries of collectors of customs districts were paid from specified fees and a commission on the amounts paid by the district into the Treasury Department. Naval officers, surveyors, weighers, gaugers, and measurers were paid entirely from fees. Inspectors were paid a fixed sum per day.
Custom House Activities
Although the basic function of the Custom House remained relatively unchanged during the nineteenth century, its duties became more complex and specialized as the volume of maritime commerce grew. The Treasury Department required the custom collectors to keep increasingly detailed accounts of the custom house's activities and its importation statistics.
After the war between Britain and France was declared in 1793, the customs districts were required to regulate exports in addition to imports. Between 1798 and 1809, the customs enforced various embargo and non-intercourse laws, issued special clearances or permits and reported any violations of the laws.
The Marine Hospital, providing for the care of sick or disabled seamen, was founded in 1798, and the customs officials were required to collect hospital dues from vessels arriving from foreign ports and to make reports of these dues to the Treasury.
After 1819, the customs districts were required to collect passenger lists from all incoming vessels from foreign ports for the preparation of United States immigration statistics.
In addition to the above activities, the customs district was charged with keeping the records of the naval and army pension agency. The collectors were designated as pension agents in 1790 and were directed to pay the military pensions which had been granted by the states and which had been assumed by the United Sates.
Other functions of the customs district were to warehouse goods imported in a custom warehouse until duty could be paid (established in 1846); to keep the official records of the sale of vessels, after 1850; and to regulate steamship commerce. Although steamship trade began in the 1830s, the first steamboat inspectors were appointed in 1852 and were required to issue licenses after inspection and to enforce safely regulations.
Bibliography:
Coughtry, Jay. The Notorious Triangle: Rhode Island and the African Slave Trade, 1700-1807 (Philadelphia: Temple University, 1981), 221-229.
Kemble, Harold. "United States Custom House - Providence, Rhode Island: Records, 1789-1900" (unpublished typescript in Rhode Island Historical Society Manuscripts Division).
Scope and content:
The records of the Bristol/Warren Custom House date from 1790 to 1899. Some of the records (1790-1797) predate the federal custom offices and were the records kept by the state customs service.
A card index to the Bristol/Warren crew lists was prepared in the 1980s by volunteer Renee White. The index covers the years 1802 to 1865. It is stored in a wooden cabinet on a shelf at the end of the collection. The crew lists after 1865 are not indexed.
Unlike the Providence Custom House Papers, the Bristol/Warren materials are organized chronologically and include the following types of records: business letters, manifests for inward and outward coastal and foreign trade, seamen protections, licenses, imports and exports, crew lists, entries and clearances, passenger and crew lists, whaling voyages, lists of sick and injured, marine hospital records and postal records.
The last nine (9) boxes are by type of record. They include:
Abstract of bounty, pickled fish, 1816-1821 (box 62)
Cashbooks 1801-1836 (box 62)
Correspondence, outward (1805-1808) box 62)
Debentures (1821-1826) (box 62)
Enrollments and licenses, abstracts, 1819-1855 (box 62)
Enrollment bonds & oaths, 1804-1865 (box 63)
Inspectors returns, 1820-1869 (box 64)
License bonds, 1818-1849 (box 64, 66)
Gauger returns (1804-1825) (box 65)
lost marine papers,1822-23
masters' oaths of citizenship, 1802-10
measurer returns
Mediterranean passports, abstracts and bonds, 1821-1835 (box 66)
Passport bonds, 1801-1820 (Box 66)
Publications, 1817-1863
Licenses abstracts 1801-1848
Register abstracts of surrendered, issued, bonds and oaths, 1801-1849 (box 67)
Weigher returns, 1806-1869 (box 68)
Seaman's timebook, bonds, and protections abstract, 1803-1878 (box 69)
Sick and disabled-funds received and expenditures, 1843-1854 (box 59)
The earliest correspondence files include letters to and from many important early Federalists. The following is a selected list:
Bosworth, Samuel. Collector/inspector of the Revenue at Bristol. Correspondence, 1791-1801.
Brown & Francis. Letter from, 3/7/1795.
Collins, Charles. Correspondence, 1804-1820.
Dearborn, Henry (1751-1829). Letters from, 7/19/1809, 8/9/1809.
Ellery, William (1727-1820). Letters from, 6/16/1794, 7/24/1794, 10/15/1794, 11/27/1794, 8/24/1801, 3/1806, 5/5/1806, 11/10/1808, 12/24/1808, 2/1809. Also copy letters to Ellery, 1794.
Gallatin, A.A.Albert (1761-1849). Many signed letters and circulars from, 1801-1813.
Hamilton, Alexander (1757-1804). Letter copy to, 1/26/1791
Howell, David (1747-1824). Several letters from, 1808-1809.
Lamb, John (1735-1800). Letter from, 7/7/1791
Rush, Richard (1780-1859). Frequent correspondence as comptroller of the Treasury, 1812-1814.
Russell, Jonathan (1771-1832). Correspondence, 1801-1804.
Wolcott, Oliver (1760-1833). Letters from, 7/31/1792, 8/5/1799.
Provenance:
These records almost certainly arrived in 1902 as part of the records delivered by the Providence Customs Collector. This gift was mandated by an act of Congress, and is discussed in the October 1902 issue of Rhode Island Historical Society News Sheet. The Bristol/Warren records are not specifically mentioned there, but they are mentioned in conjunction with the Providence records in the April 1918 issue of Rhode Island History.
Processing note:
These records were organized circa 1980 in conjunction with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, by a staff including Harold Kemble, Caroline Preston, Lucinda Manning and others. The historical note for this subgroup was taken almost verbatim from their guide to the Providence records. Rick Stattler typed in the box list as a volunteer in 1993, and completed the finding aid in 1999.
Inventory:
1790 commerce - manifests - inward foreign
commerce - manifests - outward coastwise
miscellaneous
1791 business - letters
business - miscellaneous
vessels - miscellaneous
1792 business - letters
business - miscellaneous
commerce - manifests - inward coastwise
commerce - manifests - inward foreign
commerce - manifests - outward coastwise
1793 business - miscellaneous
commerce - manifests - inward coastwise
commerce - manifests - outward coastwise
vessels - licenses
vessels - miscellaneous
1794 business - letters
business - miscellaneous
commerce - manifests - inward coastwise
commerce - manifests - inward coastwise - Providence
commerce - manifests - inward foreign
commerce - manifests - outward coastwise
commerce - miscellaneous
vessels - licenses
1795 business - letters
commerce - manifests - inward foreign
commerce - manifests - outward coastwise
vessels - licenses
1796 business - letters
1797 business - letters
business - miscellaneous
commerce - manifests - inward coastwise
commerce - manifests - inward foreign
1798 business - miscellaneous
vessels - detained
1799 business - letters
commerce - manifests - inward foreign
commerce - manifests - outward coastwise
1800 business - miscellaneous
vessels - entries and clearances
1801 business - letters
business - miscellaneous
commerce - imports and exports
commerce - manifests - inward coastwise
commerce - manifests - inward foreign
commerce - manifests - inward foreign - Providence
commerce - manifests - outward coastwise
commerce - manifests - outward foreign
commerce - miscellaneous
seamen - protections
vessels - licenses
vessels - miscellaneous
1802 business - letters
business - miscellaneous
commerce - imports and exports
commerce - manifests - inward coastwise
commerce - manifests - inward coastwise - Providence
commerce - manifests - outward coastwise
commerce - manifests - outward foreign
commerce - miscellaneous
seamen - crew lists
vessels - entries and clearances
vessels - licenses
1803 business - letters
commerce - imports and exports
commerce - manifests - inward coastwise
commerce - manifests - inward foreign
commerce - manifests - inward foreign - Providence
commerce - manifests - outward coastwise
commerce - manifests - outward foreign
commerce - miscellaneous
seamen - crew lists
seamen - protections
vessels - entries and clearances
1801-1822 running accounts
Box 2 (1804-1805)
1804 business - misc.
commerce - imports and exports
commerce - manifests - inward coastwise
commerce - manifests - inward foreign
commerce - manifests - outward coastwise
commerce - manifests - outward foreign
commerce - misc. (2)
seamen - crew lists - departing
seamen - crew lists - returning (2)
seamen - protections
1805 business - letters
business - misc.
commerce - imports and exports
commerce - manifests - inward coastwise
commerce - manifests - inward foreign
commerce - manifests - outward coastwise
commerce - manifests - outward foreign
commerce - misc.
seamen - crew lists
seamen - protections
Box 3 - (1806-1807)
1806 business - letters
business - miscellaneous
commerce - manifests - inward coastwise
commerce - manifests - inward foreign
commerce - manifests - outward coastwise
commerce - manifests - outward foreign
commerce - miscellaneous
seamen - crew lists - departing
seamen - crew lists - returning
vessels - ownership
1807 business - letters
business - miscellaneous
commerce - imports and exports
commerce - manifests - inward coastwise
commerce - manifests - inward foreign
commerce - manifests - outward coastwise
commerce - manifests - outward foreign
commerce - miscellaneous
seamen - crew lists - returning
seamen - protections
vessels - ownership
Box 4 (1808-1810)
1808 business - letters
business - misc.
commerce - manifests - inward coastwise
commerce - manifests - inward foreign
commerce - manifests - outward coastwise
commerce - manifests - outward foreign
seamen - protections
vessels - entries and clearances
vessels - ownership
vessels - non-intercourse bonds
1809 business - letters
business - misc.
commerce - manifests - inward coastwise
commerce - manifests - inward foreign
commerce - manifests - outward coastwise
commerce - manifests - outward foreign
seamen - crew lists
seamen - protections
vessels - entries and clearances
vessels - licenses
vessels - non-intercourse bonds
1810 business - letters
business - misc.
commerce - manifests - inward coastwise
commerce - manifests - inward foreign
commerce - manifests - inward foreign
commerce - manifests - outward coastwise
commerce - manifests - outward foreign
commerce - misc.
seamen - crew lists - departing
seamen - crew lists - returning
seamen - protections
vessels - licenses
vessels - misc.
Box 5 (1811-1815)
1811 business - letters
business - misc.
commerce - manifests - inward foreign
commerce - manifests - inward foreign
commerce - manifests - outward coastwise
commerce - misc.
seamen - protections
1812 business - letters
business - misc.
commerce - manifests - inward foreign
commerce - manifests - outward coastwise
commerce - manifests - outward foreign
commerce - misc.
seamen - crew lists - departing
seamen - crew lists - returning
seamen - protections
1813 business - letters
business - misc.
commerce - manifests - inward coastwise
commerce - manifests - inward foreign
commerce - manifests - outward coastwise
commerce - manifests - outward foreign
commerce - misc.
seamen - protections
vessels - licenses
1814 business - letters
business - misc.
commerce - manifests - inward coastwise
commerce - manifests - inward foreign
commerce - manifests - outward coastwise
commerce - manifests - outward foreign
commerce - misc.
vessels - licenses
1815 business - letters
business - misc.
commerce - manifests - inward coastwise
commerce - manifests - inward foreign
commerce - misc.
seamen - crew lists
seamen - protections
vessels - licenses
vessels - ownership
Box 6 (1816-1819)
1816 business - letters
business - misc.
commerce - manifests - inward foreign
commerce - manifests - outward foreign
commerce - misc.
seamen - crew lists
vessels - licenses
1817 business - letters
business - misc.
commerce - manifests - inward coastwise
commerce - manifests - inward foreign
commerce - manifests - outward coastwise
commerce - manifests - outward foreign
commerce - misc.
seamen - crew lists
seamen - sick and injured
vessels - entries and clearances
1818 business - letters
business - misc.
commerce - manifests - inward coastwise
commerce - manifests - inward foreign
commerce - manifests - outward coastwise
commerce - manifests - outward foreign
commerce - misc.
seamen - crew lists
vessels - entries and clearances
1819 business - letters
business - misc.
commerce - imports and exports
commerce - manifests - inward coastwise
commerce - manifests - inward foreign
commerce - manifests - outward coastwise
commerce - manifests - outward foreign
Box 7 (1819-1820)
1819 commerce - misc.
seamen - crew lists - departures
seamen - crew lists - returns
seamen - protections
seamen - sick and injured
vessels - entries and clearances
1820 business - letters
business - misc.
commerce - manifests - inward coastwise
commerce - manifests - inward foreign (4)
commerce - manifests - outward coastwise
Box 8 (1820-1821)
1820 commerce - manifests - outward foreign
commerce - misc.
immigration - passenger lists
seamen - crew lists - departing (2)
seamen - crew lists - returning (2)
seamen - protections
vessels - entries and clearances
vessels - ownership
1821 business - letters
commerce - manifests - inward coastwise
commerce - manifests - inward foreign (2)
Box 9 (1821) (half-box)
1821 commerce - manifests - inward foreign (2)
commerce - manifests - outward coastwise
Box 10 (1821)
1821 commerce - manifests - outward coastwise (2)
commerce - manifests - outward foreign (3)
commerce - misc.
immigration - passenger lists
seamen - crew lists - departing (3)
seamen - crew lists - returning (3)
seamen - protections
vessels - entries and clearances
Box 11 (1822)
1822 business - letters
business - misc.
commerce - manifests - inward coastwise
commerce - manifests - inward foreign (7)
commerce - manifests - outward coastwise (3)
commerce - manifests - outward foreign (3)
Box 12 (1822) (half-box)
1822 commerce - misc.
immigration - passenger lists
seamen - crew lists - departures
seamen - crew lists - returns (2)
seamen - protections
vessels - entries and clearances
Box 13 (1823)
1823 business - letters
business - misc.
commerce - manifests - inward coastwise
commerce - manifests - inward foreign (6)
commerce - manifests - outward coastwise (3)
commerce - manifests - outward foreign
commerce - misc.
immigration - passenger lists
Box 14 (182