1.   Historical note

2.   Scope and content

3.   Provenance

4.   Processing note

5.   Inventory

6.   Subjects


    List of finding aids

    R.I.H.S. Library page

    R.I.H.S. home page

 Isaac P. Hazard Papers

 Manufacturer, of South Kingstown, R.I.

 Papers, 1813-1879. Bulk, 1813-1844

 Size: 6 linear feet

 Catalog number: MSS 483 sg 12

 Processed by: Rick Stattler, April 1998


©Rhode Island Historical Society

Manuscripts Division

 


Historical note:


            Isaac Peace Hazard (1794-1879) was the eldest of the nine children of textile manufacturer Rowland Hazard I and Mary Peace of South Kingstown, R.I. He attended the Friends School in Westtown, Pennsylvania through 1810 before returning to South Kingstown to help run the family textile mill. In 1819, his father retired from active business, and Isaac took control of the mill with his brother Rowland G. Hazard I (1801-1888). They did business as I.P. & R.G. Hazard until 1828, when they added a third brother, Joseph P. Hazard, and became R.G. Hazard & Co. From about 1820 to 1824, Isaac also had a side partnership with Aza Arnold, acting under the name Hazard & Arnold. He was also in a partnership with a distant cousin, Jonathan N. Hazard, until 1826.

            The Hazard businesses lost a great deal of money circa 1829. In a draft of a 12/31/1838 letter to Andrew McDowell, Isaac wrote: "excluded as I have been from Society the last ten years, and obliged to give almost all my time & attention to the sordid occupation of acquiring money, to repay what was so foolishly lost in 1828 & 29." He also speaks of paying off "debts from which I have been legally discharged & which the very receivers say I ought not to sacrifice half so much as I have already done to accomplish."

            Isaac served as president after the partnership with his brothers was incorporated as the Peace Dale Manufacturing Company in 1848 through his retirement in 1864. He also served intermittently as a representative in the state General Assembly from 1838 to 1843, and as a state senator in 1853. Among his other activities, he helped found Butler Hospital for the Insane, and also played a major role in founding the Charleston and Augusta Railway Company. Circa 1849, he moved from Peace Dale to Newport, where he lived with four other unmarried siblings: his brother Joseph and his three sisters Eliza, Mary and Anna. The 1870 census of Rhode Island lists him as a woolen manufacturer with a personal estate valued at $115,000. He was raised as a Quaker, but in 1841 purchased a pew in the Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Wakefield, R.I. He never married or had any children, and died in 1879.


Bibliography:

Cole, J.R. History of Washington and Kent Counties, 497. New York: Preston & Co., 1889.

Narragansett Times, April 4, 1879. Obituary.

Robinson, Caroline E. The Hazard Family of Rhode Island 1635-1894, 78. Boston: 1895.


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Scope and content:


            This collection consists mostly of Isaac P. Hazard's correspondence and business records relating to the Hazard family mill at Peace Dale, from 1813 to 1844. There is very little personal material in this collection, and very little material after 1844. The collection is mainly of interest for its documentation of the early Peace Dale mill and its trade with the southern states. Many of the letters from Hazard's southern textile customers provide indirect documentation of slave life. See the subject headings list for particularly interesting correspondence. Also, many of the early financial records list sales or wage payments to Afro-Americans circa 1815-1821. The collection is divided into three series: Series 1 (correspondence), Series 2 (financial), and Series 3 (miscellaneous).

            Some of Isaac's personal financial records can be found at Harvard University's Baker Library, as well as extensive records of his early textile partnerships. The University of South Carolina has a collection of thirty-three letters between Hazard and merchant William Ravenel, dated 1825 to 1843.


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Provenance:


            A large collection of early Hazard papers was originally donated by Caroline Hazard to the John Carter Brown Library in 1934 and 1937. This entire collection was then given to the R.I.H.S. in 1973. These records that were transferred from the John Carter Brown Library constitute the bulk of the RIHSL holdings on Isaac P. Hazard. A few folders of important correspondence and other papers had been retained by the family. These additional papers were deposited at the RIHSL by the Hazard family in 1983, and donated in 1985. Five letters, including those dated 8/4/1827, 1/11/1832, and 2/19/1844, were purchased from C.E.H. Whitlock in 1976. A single promissory note dated 1/5/1839 was purchased from John Lissandrello in 2001.


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Processing note:


            This collection is part of the Hazard Family Papers, which were processed with support from the Rhode Island Committee for the Humanities, the Beinecke Foundation, and the extended Hazard Family.



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Inventory:


Series 1. Correspondence

Box 1, folder 1. 1811-1812, 1817-1818

Box 1, folder 2. 1819

Box 1, folder 3. 1820

Box 1, folder 4. 1821

Box 1, folder 5. 1822, January - July

Box 1, folder 6. 1822, August - September

Box 1, folder 7. 1822, October - December

Box 1, folder 8. 1823, January - March

Box 1, folder 9. 1823, April - September

Box 1, folder 10. 1823, October - December

Box 1, folder 11. 1824, January - May

Box 1, folder 12. 1824, June - December

Box 1, folder 13. 1825, January - June

Box 1, folder 14. 1825, June - September

Box 1, folder 15. 1825, October - December

Box 1, folder 16. 1826, January - March

Box 1, folder 17. 1826, April - June

Box 1, folder 18. 1826, July - August

Box 1, folder 19. 1826, September

Box 1, folder 20. 1826, October

Box 1, folder 21. 1826, November

Box 1, folder 22. 1826, December

Box 1, folder 23. 1827, January - April

Box 1, folder 24. 1827, May - December

Box 1, folder 25. 1828

Box 1, folder 26. 1829

Box 1, folder 27. 1830

Box 1, folder 28. 1831

Box 1, folder 29. 1832

Box 1, folder 30. 1833, January - March

Box 1, folder 31. 1833, April - June

Box 1, folder 32. 1833, June - September

Box 1, folder 33. 1833, October - December

Box 1, folder 34. 1834, January - March

Box 1, folder 35. 1834, April - June

Box 1, folder 36. 1834, July - September

Box 1, folder 37. 1834, October - December

Box 2, folder 1.  1835, January - February:  Includes fabric samples for "Negro Cloth" in 2/15/1835 RGH letter.

Box 2, folder 2. 1835, March - April

Box 2, folder 3. 1835, May - June

Box 2, folder 4. 1835, July - August

Box 2, folder 5. 1835, September - October

Box 2, folder 6. 1835, November - December

Box 2, folder 7. 1836, January - February

Box 2, folder 8. 1836, March - April

Box 2, folder 9. 1836, May - August

Box 2, folder 10. 1836, September - October

Box 2, folder 11. 1836, November - December

Box 2, folder 12. 1837, January - February

Box 2, folder 13. 1837, March - April

Box 2, folder 14. 1837, May - June

Box 2, folder 15. 1837, July - August

Box 2, folder 16. 1837, September - October

Box 2, folder 17. 1837, November - December

Box 2, folder 18. 1838, January - February

Box 2, folder 19. 1838, March - April

Box 2, folder 20. 1838, May - June

Box 2, folder 21. 1838, July - August

Box 2, folder 22. 1838, September - October

Box 2, folder 23. 1838, November - December

Box 2, folder 24. 1839, January - February

Box 2, folder 25. 1839, March - April

Box 2, folder 26. 1839, May - June

Box 2, folder 27. 1839, July - August

Box 2, folder 28. 1839, September - October

Box 2, folder 29. 1840, November - December

Box 2, folder 30. 1840, January

Box 2, folder 31. 1840, February

Box 2, folder 32. 1840, March

Box 2, folder 33. 1840, April

Box 2, folder 34. 1840, May - June

Box 2, folder 35. 1840, July - August

Box 2, folder 36. 1840, September - October

Box 2, folder 37. 1840, November

Box 2, folder 38. 1840, December

Box 3, folder 1. 1841, January

Box 3, folder 2. 1841, February

Box 3, folder 3. 1841, March

Box 3, folder 4. 1841, April

Box 3, folder 5. 1841, May - December

Box 3, folder 6. 1842

Box 3, folder 7. 1843

Box 3, folder 8. 1844

Box 3, folder 9. 1845-1849

Box 3, folder 10. 1852, 1855-1859

Box 3, folder 11. 1860-1866

Box 3, folder 12. Undated



Series 2: Financial


Series 2, subseries 1: Account books

Many of these volumes are fragmentary pocket-sized account books dating from the period when Isaac was working in partnership with his father Rowland Hazard I between 1813 and 1817. Their placement here rather than with the father's papers is somewhat arbitrary. Notations include: sales of oil and cake from a flax mill, milling at and rental of a grist mill, payment of notes, payment for gin and food products, payment for labor, payment for carding, accounts of spinning and putting out.

Box 4, folder 1. Account book, 11/1814 - 4/1817

Box 4, folder 2. Account book pages, loose, 1814-1817

Box 4, folder 3. Carding mill accounts, 1814-1815

Box 4, folder 4. Carding account ledgers, 1814, 1815, 1816

Box 4, folder 5. Carding account ledgers, 1817, 1818

Box 4, folder 6. Carding account ledgers, 1819, 1820

Box 4, folder 7. Daily spinner and weaver accounts, 12/1812 - 1/1814; 1812-1815

Box 4, folder 8. Daily yarn returned from spinners, 2/1813 - 7/1815;

                                    wool carding book,  1813

Box 4, folder 9. Daily accounts, 10/1813 - 11/1813; 11/1814 - 2/1815

Box 4, folder 10. Daily accounts, 2/1814 - 6/1814; 3/1814 - 1/1815

Box 4, folder 11. Day book, 1822-1826

Box 4, folder 12. Hopkinton Manufacturing Company and Tefft Factory blotter, 1829

Box 4, folder 13. Invoice and memoranda book, 1856-1857, with Rowland G. Hazard memoranda, 1864-1866

Box 4, folder 14. Ledger, 1815-1820

Box 4, folder 15. Memorandum books 1 to 4, 1822-1823

Box 4, folder 16. Memorandum books 5 to 8, 1823-1828

Box 4, folder 17. Memorandum books, 1832, 1835-1836, 1837-1840

Box 4, folder 18. Memorandum book, 1857-1864, with Rowland G. Hazard guest list, 1883

Box 4, folder 19. Memoranda re water rights, 1817-1823

Box 4, folder 20. Memoranda re Block Island, 1820

Box 4, folder 21. Wool accounts, Block Island, 1817


Series 2, subseries 2: Loose accounts

This series includes receipts, bills, running accounts, bills of lading, bonds, memoranda and other loose financial papers. They have not been sorted carefully; some may be filed in the incorrect year, or even under the wrong name. Some relate to Isaac P. Hazard's personal ventures, but most relate to his textile activities in partnership with his father, his brothers, or Aza Arnold.

Box 5, folder 1. 1814

Box 5, folder 2. 1815

Box 5, folder 3. 1816

Box 5, folder 4. 1817

Box 5, folder 5. 1818

Box 5, folder 6. 1819

Box 5, folder 7. 1820

Box 5, folder 8. 1820-1827 - Hazard & Arnold accounts

Box 5, folder 9. 1821

Box 5, folder 10. 1822

Box 5, folder 11. 1822

Box 5, folder 12. 1823

Box 5, folder 13. 1823

Box 5, folder 14. 1824

Box 5, folder 15. 1824

Box 5, folder 16. 1825

Box 5, folder 17. 1825

Box 5, folder 18. 1826

Box 5, folder 19. 1826

Box 5, folder 20. 1827

Box 5, folder 21. 1827 - receipts for labor, including many for children.

Box 6, folder 1. 1828

Box 6, folder 2. 1829

Box 6, folder 3. 1830

Box 6, folder 4. 1831

Box 6, folder 5. 1832

Box 6, folder 6. 1833

Box 6, folder 7. 1834

Box 6, folder 8. 1834

Box 6, folder 9. 1835

Box 6, folder 10. 1835

Box 6, folder 11. 1836

Box 6, folder 12. 1836

Box 6, folder 13. 1837

Box 6, folder 14. 1837

Box 6, folder 15. 1838

Box 6, folder 16. 1838

Box 6, folder 17. 1838

Box 7, folder 1. 1839

Box 7, folder 2. 1839

Box 7, folder 3. 1840

Box 7, folder 4. 1840

Box 7, folder 5. 1841

Box 7, folder 6. 1842-1843

Box 7, folder 7. 1844

Box 7, folder 8. 1845-1859

Box 7, folder 9. Undated



Series 3: Miscellaneous

Box 8, folder 1. Agreement to buy cotton equipment from Narragansett Cotton Manufacturing Company, 8/26/1819

Box 8, folder 2. Agreements with Aza Arnold, 1821, 1824, 1829

Box 8, folder 3. Agreement to dissolve partnership with Jonathan N. Hazard, 1826

Box 8, folder 4. Agreements, miscellaneous, 1821-1854

Box 8, folder 5. Arbitration vs. James Robinson, 1821-1824, re mill dam dispute, arbitrated by the South Kingstown Quaker meeting

Box 8, folder 6. Cyphering book, 1809 (identification uncertain)

Box 8, folder 7. Deeds, 1821-1863

Box 8, folder 8. Dye recipes, undated (ca. 1810-1830?)

Box 8, folder 9. Fabric samples, ca. 1820

Box 8, folder 10. Fabric sample, possibly sent by Rowland G. Hazard, 1/28/1835

Box 8, folder 11. Genealogical notes on Peace family, 1863

Box 8, folder 12. Gravestone inscription, 1879 (notes)

Box 8, folder 13. Insurance policies, 1832-1838

Box 8, folder 14. Lawsuit vs. Thomas Durant, 1875

Box 8, folder 15. Letter book, 11/1826 - 3/1827, with shipping book, 11/1826 - 2/1827

Box 8, folder 16. Memorandum re house repairs, ca. 1820s

Box 8, folder 17. Powers of attorney, to Rowland, 1826; from parents, 1826 and Rowland,                                     1837

Box 8, folder 18. Receipt for pew at Wakefield Episcopal Church, 2/15/1841

Box 8, folder 19. Rhode Island Senate roster, 1853

Box 8, folder 20. South Carolina and Nullification Crisis pamphlets, undated

Box 8, folder 21. Warrants, summonses, etc., 1824, 1842-1843

Box 8, folder 22. Will, 1867 (1890 copy), with undated draft


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Subjects:


This listing may appear to be a complete index to the correspondence, but it is not. While the collection was being organized, groups of letters from many correspondents were noticed. Rather than lose this important information, the following notes were compiled. Many more important letters can be found by browsing through the files chronologically. This listing will provide an impression of the types of letters in the collection, and perhaps save some time for those interested in specific individuals.


Afro-Americans - Rhode Island - South Kingstown. Many of the early financial records list sales or wage payments to Afro-Americans. See entries for Cesar Potter and Brister in the 1814-1817 account book (box 4, folder 1); "Ann Brown (Negress)," "Mary Trim (Negress)" and Sharper Boss in 1812-1815 spinner account book (box 4, folder 7); and "Cesar Potter's Daughter Betty," "Hetty Stanton (negress)," "Judith Hazard (negress)," "Joseph Potter negro (Exeter)" in 1815-1820 ledger (box 4, folder 14, pages 30, 34, 38); loose pay slip to "Joseph Potter (Negro)," for carding 18 pounds, October 1821 (box 5, folder 9).


Allen, Zachariah (1795-1882). Manufacturer, Providence, R.I. Letter, 1/23/1841, as agent of Phenix Co., in full: "Above you have a small bill of a case of nankeens bought last May. Your attention to this when convenient will oblige us."


Almy, Samson (1795-1876). Textile manufacturer, of Providence. Several business letters, 1830s, including 4/10/1837, 11/19/1841.


Anthony, Charles (1815-1888). Of Carolina, R.I. Several letters re Carolina Mills, 1841-1845.


Arnold, Aza (1788-1865). Of South Kingstown, R.I. Business partner of IPH circa 1823, as Hazard & Arnold. See Hazard & Arnold.


Burr, R. Of Killingly, Conn. Letter, 8/30/1834: "We are building at this place some of the most beautiful spinning frames that ever came out of a machine shop...& I invite you to come and see them..."


Butler Asylum (Providence, R.I.) Printed fund-raising appeal, 9/21/1844, with attached letter from Thomas R. Hazard.


Carolina Mills (Richmond, R.I.). See Charles Anthony.


Congdon, Arnold (1788-1847). Of Providence. Long letter, 5/6/1820, recommending that IPH have his illness treated by Dr. Phelps of Boston, who uses "a preparation of alkali & fixed air & applied externally & producing gentle & uniform perspiration or locally according to the extent of the application."


Comstock, Benjamin W. (1808-1850). Of Providence. Letters, 9/10/1836, 9/20/1838.


Cooke & Grant. Loom-makers, of Woonsocket Falls, R.I. Letters re order for Kersey looms, 2/1/1837, 3/16/1837, 3/25/1837.


Dayton, Charles. Tailor, of Providence. Letter, 3/23/1837, seeking employment as foreman of tailors, addressed to "Mr. Hazard, Merchant Tailor, engaged in southern trade, South Kingstown". Presently employed by J.F. Jolls in Providence.


Duncan, Stephen. Of Natchez, Miss. Letter, 7/11/1835: "I find the 'Double Kerseys' of excellent quality - but to be candid - do not think them equal to an article made in Kentuckey called 'Jeans'..."


DeWolf, William H. (1802-1853). Of Bristol, R.I. Letter, 3/27/1840: "I am not at present in want of Negro cloth."


Emigration and immigration. Draft letter, 12/14/1826, by IPH offering advice to unknown immigrant, recommending the western part of New York state as a place to settle. "Do not remain in or about the large cities as many of your countrymen do... Go to a new healthy country where lands are cheap and diligence, industry and temperance will soon make you an independent farmer."


Gaspee. Letter to a Mr. Potter, 7/3/1835, reads in part: "The taking of the Gaspie... if within your jurisdiction you will ascertain. Cap Page who formerly lived five miles on the Island on the west road was one of the party, ascertain whether the privates landed on the Pier near P[oint] J[udith] Beach."


Greene, Rowland (1770-1859). Of East Greenwich, R.I. Short note, appended to Quaker circular dated 6/12/1844.


Habersham, R.W. Of Manchester, S.C. Many business letters, 1830s-1840s. Letter, 12/10/1865, describing conditions in south after war. In part: "hoped to add to your gratification by telling you of our restoration to our homes, and our recovery of our lands, but the conduct of the government has been most vacillating, and what decisions it has made in our favor have been thwarted by the obstructions thrown in our way by the Freedman's Bureau. The officials of this concern are treacherous & faithless - making profit of both sides, and leading the negro by the nose in all manner of devious ways... I do not know how things will turn out. The negros will not work, and as for starving, we see how that will be, for thousands of bushels of peas are rotting in the ground & whole fields of potatoes remain undug... [The negroes] say openly that we beat the Yankees, till they got their aid, and that now we are subjugated & kept down only by the aid of negro troops, and that they will take land in spite of the government & all the yankees in creation. We are preparing for a war of the races, which in the spirit of old John Brown be one of destruction to the women & children of the south & the extermination of the negro... [Most northerners believe that the negro's] characteristics are the result of slavery & not of nature. Before this hallucination is removed, there must be, I fear, oceans of blood & flame sweep the fair south, followed by a frightful vengeance at the hands of ruined southern men on the persons of leading northern propagandists... The idle negroes roll about the country living on the weak planter & by picking and stealing, while educated men who have led senates & armies are hewing wood & drawing water, and their wives & daughters cooking - washing & minding their own infants..."


Hazard, Jonathan N. (b.1795) Of Hopkinton, R.I. Business partner and distant cousin. Letter, 5/25/1829. Partnership dissolution, 1826, in series 3.


Hazard, Joseph P. (1807-1892). Brother. Letter, 1/8/1829, describing improvements made to factory, pursuit of father's French claims, and desire to enter hardware business in Philadelphia. Letters, 10/19/1835, 9/28/1836, 2/14/1837, 7/25/1837, 5/1838, 7/12/1840, 9/26/1840, 11/19/1840, 11/29/1840, 11/30/1840, 12/3/1842. 12 letters, 1/11/1841 - 3/16/1841, recording business trip up the Mississippi.


Hazard, Rowland (1763-1835). Father. Collection includes several account books apparently kept in partnership by IPH and his father ca. 1814-1819. Letter, 11/16/1833.


Hazard, Rowland G. (1801-1888). Brother, of Peace Dale, R.I. Letter, 12/21/1828. "How would it do to let Joseph take an interest in the manufacturing business at Peace Dale... & attend exclusively to the business there - I think he has improved in business habits & if he had a direct interest might do well... It is time he was doing something for himself." Letter, 1/13/1836: "R C Nicholas...was much pleased with the goods. His negroes he says are delighted with it & call it the iron cloth & say it will never wear out." Letter, 8/17/1836, re acquiring servant: "Simon Niles at Thos. Factory told me he has a daughter at 14 yrs old at home & had talk to her mother abt her coming to live with us. By seeing him I think it probable she could be got immediately." Other letters dated 5/31/1812, 4/11/1817, 6/7/1822, 6/1/1823, 1/23/1825, 11/24/1825, 1/12/1826, 9/16/1826, 10/24/1826, 11/3/1826, usually several monthly from 12/1826 to 1842 (especially in winter), 4/1/1843, 4/14/1843, 8/18/1843, 5/30/1844, 7/26/1857, several from 1859. Also a guest list from 1883 and a memorandum book from 1864, both added in the back of IPH account books in series 2-1.


Hazard, Thomas R. (1797-1886). Brother. Letters, 8/18/1811, 1/27/1833, 3/28/1833, 12/14/1833, 2/12/1834, 4/14/1835, 10/17/1835, 3/19/1837, 4/14/1837, 10/10/1838, 8/23/1839, 2/4/1840, 2/13/1840, 2/27/1840, 1/15/1841, 9/21/1844 (re Butler Asylum), 12/15/1844.


Hazard, William R. (1803-a.1883) Brother. Letters, 4/23/1833, 2/18/1838, from Pleasant Valley, N.Y.


Hazard & Arnold. Business partnership of Isaac P. Hazard and Aza Arnold formed circa 1820. See letter from Aza Arnold, 12/24/1822, 4/20/1823. The partnership was dissolved on November 5, 1824, when Hazard agreed to buy out Arnold for ten annual payments of $150 each.


Hopkinton Manufacturing Company. Blotter book, 1829, in series 2-1.


Hutchins, Shubael (1796-1867). Textile manufacturer of Providence. Many letters, 1830s. Letter, 4/14/1837: "The failure of Crocker & Richmond & Crawford Allen have created something of a panic... these are times when it is necessary to be fortified with strong paper."


King, Dan (1791-1864?). Of Charlestown, S.C.? Letter, 12/31/1835, recommending widow Mary Crandall for unspecified position: "She is a person of undoubted fidelity and uncommonly neat and precise in all she does and as she in low circumstances as to property and not very able nor willing perhaps to perform servant drudgery I think the situation you offer would delight her."


King, R.& W. Of Savannah, Ga. Several letters re sale of Hazard goods, including 2/27/1833: "we have not been able to sell as many of your goods this season as we had expected - our planters complain of your goods being inferior for two or three years past and have given the preference to British goods and the [?] domestics... Much complaints are made against your goods of this season, as being light and containing but little wool... Some has been returned from the country & Major wood complains sadly of his."


Knowles, John W. Of Point Judith, R.I. Two letters re land boundary dispute, 7/16/1823 and 8/5/1823. Second letter threatens to bring dispute before Quaker meeting: "if I rceve no writeing from you shortly I think I shall expose at the next monthly meeting full statements such as I do not wish to do... I am fully perswaided our actions in this affair is in the open view of the all-wise GOD."


Marchant, Henry (1799-1867). Of Pawtucket, R.I. Letter, 3/29/1826, re account at bank.


Matteson, Royal. Yarn spinner, West Greenwich R.I. Several letters, 1830s. Letter, 3/5/1837, apologizes at great length for poor quality of yarn he had sent: "My stock is now good & am making as good yarn as I ever made, the nex beams you have will be as good as I can make... I have known yarn in cold weather not weave quit as well as in warm. I have known looms run so quick that when the lath come up quick & suden the yarn would break especially if a little tender... Various ways & means might be the case if the yarn does not wear well, it is without doubt as disagreeable to me as you. I shall do my best to make it good & in future shall not work any stock except such as I consider suitable to make good yarn."


McCarter, James J. (1799-1872?) Of Charleston, S.C. Several personal letters re South Carolina life and politics, 1825-1833, 1837-1839.


Mining. Undated letter from S.G. Barker describing the tour he had arranged for Hazard of mines in the North Carolina back country.


New Shoreham, R.I. - Commerce. Two account books re wool trade on Block Island, 1817 and 1820, in series 2-1.


Newbold, John L. Of Philadelphia. Several letters, with responses, 2/1842 - 3/1842.


Noyes, Robert S. Of South Kingstown, R.I. Long letter re damage to Noyes' crops from IPH's cattle, 6/1/1834.


Peace Dale Manufacturing Company. Woolen mill, South Kingstown, R.I. This collection includes extensive correspondence and business accounts for the early partnerships that preceded the company from 1810 to 1844, but very little after that date.


Peace Dale Sabbath School. Receipt for school books purchased for school, 5/23/1827.


Potter, Elisha R. (1811-1882). Of Kingston, R.I. Letter, ---/1840, 1/10/1841. Letter, 2/27/1841: "My brother James has concluded to take the mill at Mumford's Mills himself and go into business there with William D. Davis."


Ravenel, William (1806-1888). Merchant, Charleston, S.C. Many letters, 1830s, 1840s. Letter dated 7/10/1849 discusses services at the recently reopened French Protestant (Huguenot) Church of Charleston.


Rhode Island - Folklore. Letter to Mr. [Elisha R.?] Potter, 7/3/1835, recounting legends of pirate days and burning of the Gaspee.


Robinson, James (1756-1841). Of South Kingstown, R.I. Extensive arbitration case re mill dam, 1821-1824, in series 3.


Rotch, William B. (1802-1826). Of New Bedford, Mass. Letters, 12/25/1822, 10/3/1823.


Skipwith, Peyton H. Of Mount Pleasant, Tenn. Letter, 1/20/1829. Exultation in Tennessee that Gen. Jackson is president.


Slaves - Southern States - Social conditions. Extensive correspondence re sales of "Negro Cloth" for use by southern slaves. See "Southern States - History".


Society of Friends - Rhode Island. Circular, 6/12/1844, re Gurneyite / Wilburite split, with short note signed by Rowland Greene. Arbitration of 1821 mill dam case done by South Kingstown Monthly Meeting in series 3.


South Kingstown, R.I. - Commerce. See Peace Dale Manufacturing Company.


South Kingstown, R.I. - Militia. Summons letter for militia training at Willard Hazard's house, 4/3/1837.


Southern States - History - 1775-1865. IPH spent much of his youth in South Carolina and maintained business and social contacts in the South for his entire life. His business sold "Negro cloth" to a primarily Southern market. The collection includes very frequent correspondence from Southern plantation owners negotiating purchases. See entries for James J. McCarter, Peyton Skipwith, Stephen Duncan, R.W. Habersham, R.&W. King and William Ravenel. Undated pamphlets from South Carolina re Nullification Crisis in series 3.


Stillman, Ephraim (1806-1888). Of Hopkinton, R.I. Letter, 1/14/1834, seeking employment. "I have it in anticipation to through up the business that I am now in, and go out to work by the day or month... Let me know whether you should like to employ me... I want employment for a year as I have a family, and should want a small teniment, please write soon."


Tefft Factory. Blotter book, 1829, in series 2-1.


Textile fabrics - Sample books. Includes a small sample book from circa 1820, a wool sample from 1835, and a few undated dye recipes, all in series 3.


Textile industry - Rhode Island. Frequent correspondence and financial records re mills owned by IPH in Peace Dale and Carolina, especially from 1810 to 1844, producing "Negro cloth" for southern market. See also entries of R. Burr, Charles Dayton, Royal Matteson, and Ephraim Stillman for extracts of particularly interesting letters. Letters from southern customers are frequent, and sometimes negative; see Stephen Duncan and R. & W. King.


Tillinghast, Joseph L. (1791-1844). U.S. Senator, Rhode Island. Letters, 12/28/1835, 4/8/1840, 11/23/1840. Draft letter from IPH, 4/16/1840.


Updike, Wilkins (1784-1867). Letter, 2/23/1841, re need for new post office. "Shippen at the Depot receives a regular daily from NY & Boston, & here we are with nothing but an old mail traveling with old news."


Wilcox, G.P.S. Of Richmond, R.I. Series of letters, 1/1837 - 3/1837, describing difficulties encountered in building mill dam in Richmond.


Wilkinson, David (1771-1852). Of Pawtucket. Letter, 12/25/1826, quoting price for making Kersey looms.


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RIHS1822