USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Vol. I > Part 43
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"It is rare any Vessells come to trade with us but what come from Massachu- sets Colony or N. Yorke : but sundry of their -vessells doe come and transport ot provissions for o" merchants to Boston."
Among their own vessels enumerated were : "Middletown, 1 ship, 70 tunn : Hartford 1 ship. 90 tunn." 3 In answer to the query, " What obstructions do you find to the improvement of the trade and navigation of your corporation ?" it is replied: " The want of men of Estates to ven- ture abroad, and of money at home for the management of trade, and labor being so dear to us."
While business with the outside world was going on as best it might, we must not suppose that neighborly " dicker " was left entirely to take
1 The words included in brackets crossed out in the original document.
2 Crossed ont.
3 This was probably the " Hartford Merchant," a " Ketch," bought in Boston by Rich- ard Lord and John Blackleach, about 1676. (See Connecticut Archives, Private Controversies, vol. ii. docs. 34, 44.) The ship (or barque) " called ' The Tryall,'" Greenfield Larrabe, mas- ter, was at Wethersfield as early as 1649, and appears to have been owned there. Between 1660 and 1680, we find the names, as of Hartford, of the "Ship Entrance" (Sept. 1664); " Ship America," about 70 tons, bought by John Blackleach and Richard Lord, May, 1669, and then in Connecticut River ; and " Ketch Adventure," built at Wethersfield, sold by John Bidwell, about 1674.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
care of itself. The weekly market at Hartford was instituted in 1643, and a place central and convenient, probably upon the space southeast of our present post-office and city hall, appointed for every Wednesday " for all manner of Comodityes that shall be brought in, and for cattell, or any marchandise w soeuer." And two years after, " two Fayres to be kept yearely att Hartford, one vppon the second Wenesday in Maye, the other the 2ª Wensday in Septeber," were authorized by the General Court. These institutions, prized for the facilities afforded for exchange and traffic, precious, too, for the old-country associations preserved by them, long held their place; the latter in some form recurring among us until recent days.
The town of Lebanon in 1763 appointed an agent, whose memorial to the General Assembly bears the autograph of "Jona Trumble," and set forth -
" That Fairs and Markets are found Beneficial & Serviceable to facilitate the Transaction of Business among people in a manner both expeditious and advan- tageous, and the situation & circumstances of the said Town of Lebanon are such as render it convenient & fit in our apprehension for a Fair & market to be set up & kept there."
The town of Windham, a close neighbor and in close competition, urged before the same session, -
" That Fairs and Markets are set up and kept in many towns and places in Great Britain, and by long experience have been found to be of great & publick advantage, as it facilitates Trade, encouraging industry, and is an easy way of supplying each subject with what he wants to buy, and an expeditious method of vending of the produce of every kind that any one has to spare. And that it would be a gracious and fit thing to grant the liberty of a Fair and Market to Windham."
A similar petition came from the town of Salisbury (1785), "lying in the Northwest Corner of the state, adjoining the States of New York and Boston, and scituate to accomidate the trade in this state and bring in money from the others."
Local and petty trade was protected and favored by such legal pro- visions as seemed to be needed, and directly and indirectly rather care- fully restricted, too, it must be allowed, as occasion was urged. An order of 1640 prohibitory of "excesse in apparrelle," and prohibiting inordinate profits to sellers of commodities of common merchandise, declared power of the courts to censure such disorders. Retailers of tobacco would be embarrassed if now confronted by a publie sentiment like that which we may suppose sustained the enactment of 1647, -
"That noe p"son under the age of 20 years, nor any other that hath not alreddy accustomed himself to the vse thereof, shall take any Tobacco vntil he haue brought a Certificat vnder the hand of some who are approued for knowledg & skill in phisicke, that it is vsefull for him, and also that he hath receaued a lycence fro the Court for the same."
Other prohibitory language in this behalf was as formidable in ap- pearanee, as well as much that was aimed at "excesse in Wyne and strong waters ;" but, apparently, it was dangerously susceptible of such various constructions as to leave the traffic too nearly free.
The pedler, Gentile and Jew, was here certainly as soon as wanted,
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COMMERCE AND BANKING.
and engaged the watch and care of the authorities forthwith. As early as 1643 "many laborers and workmen complayne that they are forced to put offe their Corne ich they receaue for their worke to seuerall Chap- men, for comodityes, at a cheper rate than they take yt att;" a characteristic business, to be sure ; and the Court enjoined it without ceremony or many words.
At the Hartford Session of the General Court, Nov. 9, 1650,-
" David the Jew, for his misdemeanour in going into houses when the heads of ye families wr absent, and tradeing p'vision from children, and for such like misdemean's, is fined 209 ."
Itinerants of various nationalities made their appearance in increas- ing numbers as the population increased. Their abundance and their offensive competition awakened the fears and the opposition of resident tradesmen in the colony, and finally, in 1727, moved numerous citizens of Stonington to offer an urgent and expressive memorial to the Assem- bly 1 in answer to which an act for the suppression of them was passed, and so rigorously prosecuted too as to evoke many fervent if ineffectual prayers for relief.2 Altogether, our industrious legislators recorded
1 " To the Honrd Gov., Deptt Gov., and House of Magistrates, And to the Worshipfull Speaker and House of Representatives together assembled & sitting in Generall Court or As- sembly at Hartford, within and for His Majesties Colony of Connecticut, this 11th Day of May, A. D. 1727 : The Humble Petition, Request, and Prayer of us the Subscribers, yr Hours most humb1 suppliants, Freeholders In said Colony, most humbly sheweth : That whereas we, your hons most Hum! Suppliants, Do count it a great unhappiness To this Colony In General to be Infessted and oppressed with such Multitudes of foreign or Perigrine Pedlers who flock into this colony & travail up & Down in it With Packs of Goods to sell; Gratly to the Preju- dice of Such in Particular (yor Hon's Dutifull luhabitants), Who not only make it their whole Imploy, But prhaps many of them are in no other way to maintain and support their famelys. Men Through much paines and fatigue Do keep by them all Sourtes of nessessarys to supply their neighbours with on reasonable terms, and are taxed yearly for their sd Privelidge and faculty, which they not only readily But Gladly Pay, While those Strangers and foreigners Carry off ye profitt : If yo! hond Please to look in the proseedings in Great Britain in such af- fairs, we humly believe yo! hon will find no presedent for the tolleration of such practice there as Pedlers traveling about among private houses with Packs of Goods to sell : as per Stat. 39 Eliz., but are punishable as vagrants, s. Jar. 7. See also 2 Roll. rep. 1720. Jenkins, 316, Plo. 16, etc. Neither Do we suppose there is any Countenance of such practice in the neigh- bouring Governments. We also Emagine them in sd Practice to be greatly prejudicial to the Inhabitants in Generall, But Especially to the poorer sort of People; and as they Seem very Corrupt in many respects to the Health & Constitution of this Colony, We are not without reasons to fear That in time they may be a means not only to Corrupt, but also to Eclips us of some of our valuable Privilidges, Which we no happily Injoy under yor hons good Conduct and Government. And it will be well if through their means Loyal Duty of true Leigancy be not in time amog some Impaired, Sines We know not the reason of their Leaving their Native Land. Beside all which many rageing and Contageous Deseases May by them be Brought in and Spread amongst us, By Their buying packs of Goods Imported from Deseasd parts, for which reason They (no Doubt) may purchass them the Cheaper, Which they may carry amongst us and sell ; for all which reasons, and many others too tedious here to Insert, We, yo! Hon's Most Dutifull Suppliants most humbly Pray That yo! hon's In yor Great Wisdom would take into Consideration the Premises, and take such measures which may Efectually prevent for the future all Such Pedlers from Carrying their packs of Goods about to private houses in this Colony to sell, as their practice now is. And yo! Hon's most humble Petition- ers, as in Duty Bound, shall Ever Pray for the Continuall prosperity of this Hon. Assembly, And express our Thankfullness and Gratitude by our Constant endeavour to promote the well faire of this Colony.
WILLIAM STANTON, JOSEPH PALMER, SAXTON PALMER, EBENE SEARLE, ELNATHAN MINOR, JOSEPH GALUP,"
GEORGE DENISON, JAMES CHESEBROUGH, JOHN LAMBERT,
JNO. MINER,
ELISHA CHESEBROUGH,
JOB DENISON, JONATHAN COPP, NATH'L CHESEBROUGH, and ten others.
2 "To the Hon! the Govr, Councell, & Representatives In Gen'l Court Assembled, In Harr- ford the Third day of July, Anno Domini, 1728 : The humble petition of James Robinson, of Middletown, sheweth that your humble supplyant hath been A pedler for this two years last
VOL. I .- 21.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
numerous measures for the relief or the encouragement, or at any rate for the regulation of trade, domestic and foreign, which had their trials during the century preceding the Revolutionary period. Sometimes there were embargoes upon exports ; duties upon imports if from neigh- boring governments; premiums upon imports if from the motherland ; prohibitions here, bounteous privileges there ; grants upon petition ; repeals upon remonstrance with divers and changeful results, illustrat- ing after all but moderate gains for a new community.
The auctioneer's calling was from early times patronized. Mr. David Henshaw, of Middletown (then in Hartford County), notified the public by advertisement in the " Connecticut Courant " that in De- cember, 1764, he was "to set up a public vendue at his chamber over his store, to begin at dusk." Among the conditions upon which his sales were to be conducted, it was provided that no underbidders were to be employed by any person having goods there for sale upon penalty of the forfeiture of such goods to the company then present; "and," says the notice, "as no underbidder will be countenanced or allowed as mean and dishonorable, so it will be look'd upon as mean and base for the company to get together and agree not to bid on one another in order to get the goods at too great an undervalue."
The occasional replies to inquiries from the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, succeeding that in 1680, which has been already quoted, recorded a threefold increase in the number and esti- mated tonnage of the shipping of the entire colony at the end of seventy- five years, and at the time of the latest return of this kind, made in 1774, the increase since 1680 had been about tenfold ; a fair proportion of which we may suppose was owned and sailed from our county. The following quotations from this report of 1774 are interesting for com- parison with those of the first date, and not less when we remember that events near at hand finally closed the issue of colonial reports to the British Government from Connecticut.
" The principal Trade of this Colony is to the West India Islands, excepting now and then a Vessell to Ireland with Flaxseed, and to England with Lumber and Potashes, and a few to Gibralter and Barbadoes.
"The number of Shipping is one hundred and eighty, their Tonnage 10,317. Seafaring men, 1,162, besides upwards of twenty sail of Coasting Vessells that em- ploy about ninety Seamen. . .. Those vessels that go from hence to the French and Dutch Plantations carry Horses, Cattle, Sheep, Hogs, Provisions, and Lum- ber ; Those for Gibralter and Barbary carry Flour, Lumber, New England Rum, and Stores for muling ; they receive Molasses, Cocoa, Cotton, and some Sugar ; from the Dutch Plantations Bills of Exchange, and from Barbary, Mules sold in the West Indies for Bills of Exchange. The annual Amount is about £55,000 at an Average.
past when the law of this Government did Allow of it, and did make many Debts In most of the Counties in this Colony, supposing the Liberty would have been Continued ; but I under- stand The Assembly the Last may was pleased to Disalow said Pratis, and Inacted that no such practis should be Alowed In this Government for the future, without Any restriction ; which Is Like to prove very prejudicial to your petitioner, because the Travailing About to get in his Debts without having Liberty to sell som goods to bare his charges will eat out all his profitt and good part of the Principle. Your petitioner therefore humbly prays this Hon- orable Assembly that they would pleas To give him Liberty till the Last day of Octob. next to sell as formerly such Goods as he shall have ocation to vend In his going about to get In his Afoirsaid Contracted Debts, & your humble petitioner as In Duty bound shall Ever Pray.
JAMES ROBINSON."
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COMMERCE AND BANKING.
" Its natural Produce is Timber of all kinds, Wheat, Rye, Indian Corn, Beans, Barley, Oats, and Flax. The staple Commodities are the above Produce, Pork, Beef, and Pot and Pearl Ashes. The Manufactures are Course Linens and Woollens, done in the Family way for the Use of the poorer Sort, Laborers and Servants ; also Iron mongery, but export none.
" The value of our Export Produce and Commodities may be annually £200,000. Copper Mines in Divers Parts, yet after considerable Expense and Labor to open them, have proved unprofitable, and now are much neglected. Iron mines in great Plenty in Many Places, manufactured to some Advantage, but hitherto not a supply for our Inhabitants.
"The Quantity of British Manufactures the Inhabitants do annually import hither from Great Britain are few, but, including those taken from the Merchants of Boston and New York upon a Medium from the best Observation, is £200,000 Sterling per Annum. The Sorts are almost all that are useful or ornamental in common Life. The Goods and Commodities exported from hence to Great Brit- ain are Pot and Pearl Ashes, Lumber, and some salted Provisions ; the Annual Amount at an Average may be £10,000 Sterling."
No statistics are to be found which determine with any accuracy what precise share of this varied commerce belonged at these dates to our own locality. However, such indications as may be gathered from private or public accounts current suggest at least that our resident merchants were enterprising and alert, that they prosecuted their ven- tures with creditable energy as well as with versatile tact. It is true, as one reads the entertaining advertisements that were brought out upon the early pages of our ancient newspaper, with their almost in- numerable details and now curious terminology, signs of overtrading and unprofitable competition are to be discovered. It would seem that the old fashions of business were already prevalent among a people who in those times asked for luxuries too often beyond their ability to have ; and the indulgence was sought at the hands of those who were then, as are some of their successors now, eager to assume too many risks in hopes of remunerative profits. Such courses brought disappointment and losses both in the importing and distributing trade.
Sometimes there was an inconvenient need of available funds with which to replace the silver withdrawn when obtainable for liquidation of foreign accounts. Bills of exchange were drawn between merchants of the colonies in adjustment of their accounts ; reference has already been made to one of the very earliest of these between Mr. Pynchon and Mr. Winthrop in 1636. Repeated orders are upon our Colonial Records, which were issued by the Assembly, directing the disposal of foreign exchange in convenient amounts to merchants or others who desired it for remittance abroad, which exchange had been received from His Majesty's Government, and which, so far as it went, afforded timely supplies. "Out of the money allowed to this Government for the expenses in the expedition to Cape Breton, and for the expense in the expedition designed against Canada," it was resolved (October, 1749) 1 that upon the humble request of Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Talcott, he should have four hundred pounds sterling money of Great Britain upon his bond, with a sufficient surety for repayment of the "like money at or before the first day of October, 1751, with lawful interest thereof, or to pay equivalent thereto at the time of payment (viz.), the one half in
1 Colonial Records, vol. ix. p. 492.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
bills of credit on this colony, and the other half in good silver money, in specie; "1 and the Governor was authorized to draw a bill of ex- change on the colony's agent in Great Britain for the same.
There was also a constant and embarrassing need of circulating money. At the beginning of the century, say the public records, it was almost impracticable to pay the public debts, and "especially in the in- tended expedition to Canada." For remedy thereof, in accordance with an act of the Assembly in 1709, the first bills of eredit of our Commonwealth were printed and issued under as careful and appropriate reg- CONNECTICUT ulations as were available. The expedient seemed like THIS INDENTED BIENCEFIVE SHILLINGS Due from the Colony of Connecticut in New England to the Popsepson the equal a public necessity. It was one that could not there- after soon be dispensed with, and various emissions to Money; And shat COT ingly accepted by the Treasures & Rau bond nate to him and followed as succeeding emergencies crowded them forward, until relief of the for any stock alany same sort was asked for the July & twelfth Mano Delzog By Orderofy Generall Court community at large as well as for the convenience of the Government, and peti- John Eliot tions were urged before our law-makers from time to John Hayneg Com teen time for the granting of large amounts to be loaned to citizens of the State as Joseph Talcot they should be applied for, at a low rate of interest. Enactments covering ap- FAC-SIMILE (REDUCED }}) OF ONE OF THE FIRST BILLS OF CREDIT OF CONNECTICUT. (From an original belonging to Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull.) propriations of this sort, amounting nominally to fifty thousand pounds more or less, "to retrieve some persons from the difficulties they had fallen under," are recorded in the course of the year 1733, which seemed for the most part to answer until the year 1740, when war having been declared against Spain, and the ex- penses of the Government likely to be very great and heavy by reason
1 With regard to payment "in good silver money, in specie," it may not be uninteresting to recall here the record of the Court of October, 1682: "That justice and righteousness may have free passage amongst us, it is ordered by this Court that all debts shall be payd in specia according to contract." Especially interesting is the note added thereto by Dr. J. H. Trum- bull : "Here, as elsewhere in the records, we have the word specia or specie used in its primary sense ; payment in specie was payment in specified commodities of the kind or specics agreed upon by the parties ; or, when 'no specia is engaged,' i. e. no special agreement was made, in such articles as were received in payment of rates at prices regulated by the Court. Specie payment might be made in wheat, rye, or peas, as well as in coin or bullion ; and the term was not restricted to gold and silver until those had been made the only legal tender in pay- ment of debts. (Secretary Allyn writes 'specia,' and sometimes 'specia,' for 'species' in the plural.)" - Colonial Records, vol. iii. p. 109. [In 1676, the Governor and Council recom- mended that "where men cannot discharge the country levy in the specia ordered by the Gen" Court " (wheat, pease, Indian corn, etc. ), an appraisal of such other estate as was taken for discharge of rates should be made by indifferent persons, etc. - Id., vol. ii. p. 251.]
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COMMERCE AND BANKING.
o
CONNECTICUT 5
THIS INDENTED BILL . TUO SHILLINGS &SIX PENCE Die from the Power of Com routing New England to y Bfsefforts value equal to Money And the dinghy accepted by the
(im ) & form
any stock at on
Hart ford July
the trodith Anno Dom 1700, By Order of y General Court.
Caleb Stanly.C
John. Christer Comte.
John glaynes
FAC-SIMILE (REDUCED 13) OF ONE OF THE FIRST BILLS OF CREDIT OF CONNECTICUT.I (From an original belonging to Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull. )
of the intended expedition directed by His Majesty against the Spanish West Indies, " and also by reason of a great scarcity of a medium of exchange, the same bearing a very small proportion to the extent of the demand therefor, in order to the carrying on the business and affairs in this Colony," an issue of colonial notes was ordered of £30,000 of the value in silver at eight shillings per ounce, and known popu- larly as of the " new tenor." Of this series £22,000 were to be "loaned out to par- ticular persons, freeholders and inhabitants in this Colony," and Nathaniel Stanley, Esq., and Captain John Marsh were appointed for the County of Hartford a committee to have the
management of loaning the said bills and taking security therefor in said county ; the amount here to be distributed to be in some proportion to the gen- eral list of the county, the loans in no case to be less than twenty-five or more than one hundred pounds, to be secured by double land security or bonds for silver money, double the sum bor- rowed, with two sufficient sureties, payable half four years and half eight years from date, in the same bills " or silver at aforesaid rate, or gold equivalent, or any bills of credit of this or the neighbouring Colonies pass- ing current in this Colony, according to their current value in silver at the rate aforesaid at the time of
CONNECTICUT 263
THIS INDENTED BILL OF TEN SHILLINGS
Due from the Colony of Connecticut in New England to & Possessor thereof shall be in value equal to MoneysA d shall be accordingly accepted by the Treasurer & Receivers subordinate to him; & for any stock at any time in y Treasury Hartford July the twelfth Anno Dominiog By Order of & General Court
Jofoph Taliett
Caleb Stanly
tee- Com -
John Eliot
FAC-SIMILE (REDUCED }3) OF ONE OF THE FIRST BILLS OF CREDIT OF CONNECTICUT. (From an original belonging to Dr. J. Hannond Trumbull.)
1 Figures omitted from upper right-hand corner, as they have been altered in the original to 20s.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
payment, or in good water-rotted hemp and well-wrought canvas or duck raised and manufactured according to the directions of the law entitled An Act for the encouragement of raising hemp," etc.1 It thus appears that in the general provision an appropriate share was offered to borrowers in our own locality.
The Right Honorable the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plan- tations invited the Governor and Company to give to them some account of the currency of the colony outstanding in 1740 ; in response to which representations were offered which implied an opinion on the part of the Connecticut Executive that the medium was an acceptable one to the public, and that it should be regarded as a safe and conservative currency with reasonable and effectual provisions then assured for its retirement and discharge. The legal tender clause in the act author- izing the series of this year was, in accordance with the Commissioners' suggestion, promptly repealed, although "truly made with an honest and real intent to prevent the said bills from depreciating." " And on the whole, we conclude," says their letter, "your Lordships will be of the opinion that we have not granted large and frequent emissions of paper currency, and if compared with what some other colonies have done, will appear to be a small proportion." 2
Following the maturity of these loans the condition of monetary affairs in this community was not yet comfortable. Active operations in the field of war with Spain and France made larger issues of notes than ever necessary, and from the middle of the decade such frequent and considerable amounts were put into circulation as to effect a most damaging depreciation and a discouraging embarrassment throughout the colony, and among the tradesmen of this immediate vicinity espe- cially, from whom the following expressive appeal was made public in due time :
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