Stukely B. Wickes Records

Tailor shop, East Greenwich, R.I.

Records, 1851-1893

Size: .75 linear feet

Catalog number: MSS 987

Processed by: Rick Stattler, April 1996

©Rhode Island Historical Society

Manuscripts Division

William Bodfish (1815-1900) opened a shop as a merchant tailor and clothing retailer in East Greenwich in 1846. He opened a new business in Providence in 1857, and apparently sold the East Greenwich operation to Stukely B. Wickes (1830-1907). Wickes continued as a tailor there until 1893, when he sold his inventory to A.D. Miner. Wickes was buried in East Greenwich in 1907.

Bodfish later returned to East Greenwich and operated a dry goods store until his retirement in 1880. For more information on Bodfish, see History of Washington and Kent Counties, p. 1128.

This collection includes records dated 1851 through 1893, including account ledgers, cash books and a journal. Only part of the first ledger relates to Bodfish's involvement in the business.

The collection was difficult to identify. The best clues were several receipts tucked into the first ledger. Most relate to Bodfish, who did not have his own account with the shop, except for a cash account on p. 176. On page 343, a lengthy account with S.B. Wickes was settled with signatures of both parties, dated 3/1/1857; from that point on, Bodfish's name no longer appears. Wickes' name then appears on receipts, and his name also appears faintly on the cover of the second ledger. To confuse matters, "Isaac Peck, Anthony Village, R.I." appears on the inside cover of the first cash book, but the cash books seem to correlate with the other records. Peck may have been a previous owner of the volume.

This collection was a gift from the Connecticut River Museum in 1993; they had received it as a gift from Kurt Peterson. Three other account books were removed from this gift to form the Edward Stanhope records.

These account books were donated in poor condition; curator Rufus Lund found live mold and some cocoons in the backing strips of two volumes, which he disbound. Loose receipts were removed in 1996, and placed in a separate folder.