William Earle & Co. Records

Providence ship chandlery and mercantile partnership

Records, 1815-1878

Size: 10 ft.

Catalog number: MSS 395

Processed by: Nathaniel N. Shipton, circa 1976

Finding aid by Rick Stattler, January 1999

Updated by Elizabeth Delmage, June 2006

©Rhode Island Historical Society

Manuscripts Division

William Read Bowers (1800-1841) was a sea captain and ship owner of Providence. He was the son of Asa Bowers and Candace Hoppin; his mother was a member of one of the leading merchant families of the city. By 1832, William was the owner of at least three ships: the Abeona (Samuel Read, master), Almira (Ephraim Eldredge, master) and the Phebe (William Davis, master). He was also principal partner in a ships' chandlery business at 114 South Water Street in Providence from the early 1830s onward. The firm failed in 1837, and Bowers apparently remained with the business for several years under the new partnership of his brother-in-law Lloyd Bowers and his former assistant William Earle. A hint of unpleasantness between the old owner and his new boss can be found in two letters from regular customer William T. Tilley. On July 11 1840, Tilley addressed a letter to William Earle, including a bill for money due from Earle, but began his letter "friend Bowers", and inquires "have you buried Earle - if so I hope you have done it handsomely". A similar August 10 1840 letter begins "Old Bust", and asks, "have you buried Earle - if not, he must smell strong." Bowers married, had several children, and died in Brooklyn in 1841.

William Earle (1808-1879) was the son of Oliver and Sally Earle of Providence. He was employed at William R. Bowers and Co. beginning in the early 1830s, and purchased the firm upon its bankruptcy in 1837, with partner Lloyd Bowers. He continued operating the chandlery as William Earle & Co. through about 1877, and died two years later. His wife was Mary A. Chandler.

Lloyd Bowers (1786-1864) became a partner in the chandlery and in ship ownership with William Earle in 1837, and remained active in the firm through his death. He also seems to have conducted a substantial amount of business on his own account. He was not a close blood relative of William R. Bowers, but his wife Ann H. (Bowers) Bowers was William's sister. Their son William Lloyd Bowers (1826-1897) served in the Civil War.

Earle, Pliny. The Earle Family: Ralph Earle and His Descendants (Worcester, Mass.: Published by the author, 1888), 77-78.

"The Commercial Papers of William Read Bowers, William Earle and Lloyd Bowers", author unknown [Nathaniel N. Shipton?], circa 1974?, found in the William Earle & Co. collection file in the R.I.H.S.L. manuscripts division.

The bulk of the material in this collection consists of business letters, bills and receipts for William Bowers and William Earle between the dates 1829 and 1873. A large portion of this material concerns ship management. Many of the records relate to towing fees, crew accounts and shipping arrangements. The most heavily represented vessels are the ship Lion (circa 1845-1857), the schooner D.W. Vaughn (circa 1860-1870), and the schooner Amos Falkenberg (circa 1865-1875). Others ships frequently mentioned are the brig Rising States (circa 1833), the brig Moscow (circa 1835), the brig Smyrna (circa 1835), the schooner William Irish (circa 1875), and the schooner H. Blackman (circa 1872). These ships dealt mainly in coastal trade. Frequent ports of call were New Orleans, Mobile, Charleston, Wilmington, Baltimore, Newark, Elizabeth, New York, New Bedford and Boston. Cargoes included coal, nails, rum, potatoes, cotton and oil.

There are also records from ships involved in foreign trade. The Smyrna visited Spanish, Dutch, French, English and Caribbean ports in 1836 and 1837. The Lion engaged in whaling and trading in the South Pacific between 1852 and 1857. There are several documents concerning port entry, ship collisions and wrecks.

There are also extensive records relating to ship chandlery sales of rope, anchors, charts and other supplies. Railroad freight is also a common topic. Finally, there are a few personal letters to all three of the firm's partners interspersed throughout the collection.

There is a nearly complete run of the firm's account books, including ledgers, petty ledgers, day books, journals, letter books and inventory books, spanning from 1838 to 1877.

Most prominent among the firms that did business with Earle and Bowers were: rope supplier William Tew Tilley of Newport, R.I.; canvas supplier Nathaniel Snow of Boston; ship chandlers Taber & Co. of New Bedford; duck suppliers MacKintire, Laurie & Co. of Boston; and shipping agents George P. Bowers of New Orleans.

The collection also includes a small number of papers from other members of the Earle and Bowers families. One 1815 letter is addressed to an earlier Lloyd Bowers (d.1827), a Providence ship captain who had been involved in the slave trade. Another 1823 document relates to Oliver and George Earle. Finally, there are several papers concerning William Lloyd Bowers during the Civil War. Bowers served as a captain and quartermaster in the 1st R.I. Volunteer Infantry. The collection includes a letter he wrote from Libby Prison in Richmond dated 7/25/1861, which describes the Battle of Bull Run where he was captured. It is alleged to be the first letter from Libby Prison that was received in Providence. The collection also includes three documents re his discharge in January 1862; and two other letters addressed to Bowers re efforts to get mail to him, 12/30/1861 and 10/9/1864.

A personal letter from cousin Henry Hoppin Jr., acknowledging the gift of a flag to the Kingston Guards militia unit, dated 7/5/1832

An undated letter from a seaman named James Wathen of the brig Forest. Wathen complained that his boat was "one man short, and the rest of the crew enervated by dissipation and intemperance." Wathen adds that "I trust most heartily you will have an opportunity of teaching Mr. Lefaye that the merchants of Providence are no longer to be imposed upon by the villainy and cupidity of sailor boarding house keepers. He has done me a very serious injury, and I feel confident you will not spare him." Edward P. Lafaye kept a sailor's boarding house at 97 South Main Street in 1832, near Bowers' chandlery shop at #114.

Apparently, the records of William Earle & Co. were broken up and widely dispersed at a very early point. Portions of the records have been arriving at R.I.H.S.L. in a slow but steady stream since at least 1956. The bulk of the account books are labeled in a way that indicates they were housed in the old R.I.H.S. Cabinet Building, and thus were probably donated before 1944. That major accession has not been identified. Here are a few of the accessions that have been:

#1962.37.2.1-16 Susie (Sherman) Scott estate William Earle papers (whaling, etc.)1834-1868

#1976.137.3.1- William Longo purchase 55 items: account books, receipts, ladings, etc., 1832-1876

#1977.93.2.1- Mrs. Thomas Johnston gift William Earle accounts with Mrs. E.G. Chandler, 1852-1877

#1997.17.1-31 Ruth Crosby purchase 31 letters dated 1831-1832 (inherited from Crosby's brother's estate circa 1984)

#1999.1.1.1-34 Charles Apfelbaum purchase 34 letters and receipts dated 1832-1840

This collection was processed by Nathaniel N. Shipton circa 1976, but no finding aid was written. In 1999, some additional material was integrated, and this finding aid was compiled. In 2006, this collection was rehoused into archival folders and boxes and the finding aid was updated.