USA > Connecticut > The trade of Revolutionary Connecticut > Part 10
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the Cape Fear region, Charleston, or Savannah. 61 For example, the sloop Grampus, thirty tons from New Haven, entered the Port of Roanoke ca March 21, 1774 carrying a cargo of 150 pounds salt, 2000 pounds flax, 1
Rogers, p. 258.
Martin, p. 14. . ... . . 1 : ,
60c. C., October 27, 1772, .. E.
" Martin, po 14."
-
143.
1000 pounds of cheese, spinning wheel a, and chairs. 62
Nathaniel Shaw's ships, at rare intervals, touched at New Born. 63 In 1774 Titus Bommer of Wethersfield reported to Silas Deane that "the Brig is gone for 1 Carolina-for myself I got insured E200 on Vessel & Cargo, to & from, et. 4 per eout.964 The chances are that this ship transported down sono grain, older, apples, cheese and the like and brought back tobasso, = " rice, naval stores, cotton, and indigo. 65
" Connecticut was hard pressed to pay for much imports from the South, for the South needed very little of the goods which the offered." I": part, however, Connecticut liquidated her sonthorn and middle colony debts by providing the services of her coastal vessels.66
Upon rare occasions a Connecticut ship sailed for a Canadian port; as this advertisement indicates.': ...
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"FOR NOVA SCOTIA The Sloop Sally, Thomas Ratchford, Master, will sail with all convenient Speed, For Freight or Fassego apply to said Master, at Norwich Landing. Norwich April 7, 1774.967
At long intervals a Comectiout vessel put in at Newfoundland, also; and once in a while an enterprising trader took the overland route to Canada.
62 James Iredill, Sr., Port of Roanoke, 1771-1776.
6ªRogers, p. 6.
64"Correspondence of Silas Deane," C.H.S.C., II, 165.
Martin, p. 25; Bidwell, p. 143.
Bidwell, p. 143.
67 Paoket, April 21, 28, 1774.
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144.
Benedict Arnold, for example, is said to have gone up the Hudson and . into Canada with woolen goods.
The overall picture for the trade with the mainland colonies my bo summarized in these terms. Comecticut enjoyed tuo principal and two"* minor fields of trade. The former involved the fairly heavy traffic with Massachusetts and Rhode Island on one side, and with New York on the other. The areas of minor trading contact comprised the more distant colonies in both directions; mamely, Canada and the southern colonies.
It is impossible to find emmet data on the total value of imports and exports. In general, however, it appears likely that Connectiont experienced a somewhat unfavorable balance of trado is her dealings with the' other mainland colonies. This certainly was the case when she sont out her raw materials and received manufactured goods (of European origin umally) from her neighbors.
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,
Clark, pp. 116-117.
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BartMount Parts stand out : CHAPTER X
of the Host ! ... The West Indian Trade
the Fair !!
~. ~ From very early times Connecticut traders discovered that the most , profitable type of overseas trade available ms that with the West,.c'' Indias, either as a direct trade, or as one leg of a triangular route. .. The West Indian trade enlisted the efforts of nearly every important: Consotient merchant who engage in cameron outside the: Colony. :.: d
Again eno my turn to the answers of the Governer and Company to the Board of Trade as a point of departure for the study of the West :... Indian trade. The replies of 1762 and 1774 are the most pertinent to this inquiry; and that of 1762 is the more complete. !!. ++, and
The trade of the Colony consists chiefly in beef, pork, flour, brand, horses, soms cattle, chesp, mine and lumber, exported to the British islands in the West Indies, and in exchange for them aro received rum, sugar, molasses, salt and saze bills of exchange which are generally remitted to Englands and in boef, pork, wheat, rye, indien corn, flax, flax-esed end oats, exportod to the neighbouring soverments, principally to Boston and New York, thenos receiving (of and thro" the hands of merchants there) 1 British manufactures in exchange, which are consumed among us.
In 1774 it was stated that the "principal Trade of this Colony is to the West-India Islands-excepting now and then a Vessel to Ireland with flaxseed, and to England with Lamber and Fetashes, and a fewr to Gibraltar and Barbary.""
It is obvious therefore that the West Indian trade played a leading role in the entire overseas trade picture of the Colony. Several other
c. R. XI, 629.
2c. 2. XIV, 498.
148.
significant facts stand out in these reports. First of all, the profits of the West Indian trade (the bills of exchange) were: employed in part ... Tet! * to purchase goods from England. Likewise, the profits from the sale of Connectlout surpluses to the neighboring colonies, chiefly Massachusetts 1 2822 and Now Yer'; were also used in part to pay for English goods -. a: second 7.0312 540 complex trading pattern. It is important to note that the great bulk of 18113
81.885
Connecticut's foreign trade consisted of direct trading with the Best Indies. Triangular routes which were very popular with Rhode Island -
$ and other merchants were rarely undertaken by Connecticut shippers.
1 =
175. The following tables give a reliable picture of the relativo wolum of Comectieut's trade with (1) the mainland colonies, (2) the West Indies, (3) Southern Europe and Africa, and (4) Great Britain and
Ireland. To give a comparison, totals for the other three New England
colonies, and three other colonies of approximately equal population, New York, Maryland, and Forth Carolina, arv given.
Gross Registered Tonnage Entered and Cleared in 1769
^ I. Entered from
Colony
Amorioan Continent5
British and Southern Europe Great Britain Total
foreign
and Africa
. . and Iralead
Tonnage
West Indies
Commectiont
9971
7790
105
150
10016
New Hampshire
5551
.400
915 .
16446
Massachusetts
27618
17898
6695
14540
66451
Rhode Island
10257
6968
226
415
16636
New York
11714
6964
2730
5224
26633
Maryland
6574
4533
4005
16463
30386
North Carolina
9259
6702
700
6415
23076
3 .- -
€.
14
Martin, p. 23.
-
.
Johnson, p. 92.
Includes Bahamas.
.
147.
Bavi a, c.e'.II. Cleared to : Ar.,
rita br . ro mariom' British and
Southern Europe Great Britain Total
Continent
foroim West Indies
and Africa
and Ireland
Tonnage
The trad.
Connecticut: d.
.7985
9201
200
500
17,968
How Hampshire
3074
12878:
170 .*
.2022
19,744
Massachusetts
26988
17532
6102
14044
63,666
Rhode Island
10312
6060
863
540
17,775
New York ';
11440:
€470
26,859
Maryland
5293
5358
6224
16116
30,996
North Carolina
.:
6$45
1050 - +- 7805
23,118
The cargoes carried would run about fifty per cent greater th sa tho
ressel tonnages given above.º Hence, Connecticut's importe in 1769
- totalled approximately 27,024 tons; her exports, 26,960 tons.
It is of interest to noto the percentage breakdown of Connecticut's
imports and exports.
Tomaro Comparison
Ar
Entered from
Cleared for , ..
Imsriemn Continent
53.3%
44,1%
West Indies
43.2 %
51.2%
Southern Autrepo
1.1%
Great Britain and Ireland
8
3.2 %
7%
. :
In other words, exelusive of intra-colonial trade, about one-half of Connecticut's trade went to and from the West Indies, end nearly all the remainder was coastal. Trade with Europe and Africa ms virtually negligible.' 1'
Practically every sea and river port in the colony engaged actively in the West Indian trade. New London and Low Haven ranked at the top in volume among the Seund towns, while Forwich and Middletown stood highest among the river towns.
Johnson, P. 91.
148,,
David Wooster, customs officerat New Haven, ! provided the Governor 7
with a brief report on the port and its trade.r.r Intadet.
- The trade from this port of the Colony is entirely to the West India islands, and the exporta are horses, axen, pork, beef, tallow, and lumber, and the imports West India produco.
Wooster, in answer to another question, declared that they traded with no "foreign plantation". ezsopt the French West Indies in which trade; aar: virtually the same products were ezchanged, and to the amount of about E3000 ammally."-
Another source presents an impressive list of products traded with . the West Indies by How Haven merchants.' Among the experts wirs bogs,""!' shoop, cows, herses, "foules of all kind," tallow, boommz, myrtle wax, and luaber. In return, Ber Baven imported rum, sugar, molasses, coffee, cocoa, pimento, gold, and silver.19 A good one thousand horses and nearly as many czen were shipped yearly from the port. 11 However, 'storms and other hazards took a large toll of chips, as in 1761 when no less : then thirteen ships belonging to New Haven wero lost.12
Norwalk, Like the other eastern Sound ports, sent como ships .
This report together with that of Jeremiah Miller, customs collector at How London, formed the basis for the Governor's answers to the Board of Trade in October, 1774. ...
Statistioks of New Haven," XII, 217 ..
9mid., p. 218.
10Mary G. Powell, "A Sootelman's Journey in New England in 1771," Io Ingland Marasino, XII (May, 1895), 362. 3
12stiles, Itinerarios, p.
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149.
the West Indies. ! About 1770, for example, the ship Polly mado regular trips under Captain Squire, generally to and from Barbados. Ca de voyage in 1775 the Felly brought back in its cargo, almost 2000 gallons of molasses and close to 4000 pounds of sugar. Antigua, also, soms to have gotten supplies from Norwalk in some quantity.1.
Now London's commerso with the West Indies stayed at a high level throughout the half-century preceding the Revolution except for the years
1 of the French and Indian War. Jeremiah Miller, customs officer at How London, indicated that the town's principal trade was with the West Indies, chiefly with the British islands, but also with the French and Dutch islands. 14 For London served as the distribution point for a large area, both up the river and over the countryside. It was not unusual for a hundred farmers' wagons to come into New London on a summer day with produce to be sold for shipment on boats to the West Indies. 15
Nathaniel Shaw undoubtedly carried en more West Indian trade than .. my of his New London neighbors. His ships traded at many islands and' ports including Hispaniola, Dominioa, Monte Cristi, Capo Faition, Lo Moule, St. Christopher, St. Pierre, Turks Island, St. Croix, Port an Prince, Cape Frangois, St. Fastatia, St. Johns, Pointe d' Petrie, and. Antigua, 16
In 1771 Bew London sent to the West Indies 1400 live cattle, 4180 hogs
13 A. F. Board, "Historical Address," Horwalk After 250 Years, p. 245.
. ٢
14-Statistieks of Now London," XII, 219-220.
"charles B. Todd, "An Old New England Sesport," Lippincott's Marasino, IXVII, 20.
16 Rogers, FP. 6-7 ..
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.
150.
and sheep, 5,150 horses, 12,000 poultry, and more than 100,000 ropes onicms.1; In 1775 John 8. Miller wrote to Silas Deane that about 2760 : horses and 1200 cattle were shipped froma New London. 18 trac Several other coastal towns east of the Commotiout River engaged wut 2 in the West Indian trade, including Lyme and Stonington." In the latter town; 'Bamard and John Denison, and Sammel and Mathan Stanton wero, astivo in shipping to and from the Caribbean in the 1750's and 1760'g.19 From this want ad in the Courant one obtains a suggestion of the : the mercantile interests in Lyme, 20 dastran for the . 24
"John MeCurdy with the Most it Is: ': Morobant in Lyne
pris: " : Wants immediately a Cargo of Dutch Mill. Horses that are fat, and fit for St. Door . . Kitts market, for which he will make present Pay, either in Rum or Cash. Lyme, 2d December, 1773@+ 1x ch4 .631 Tradiar 41939
Norwich, on the Thames River at the head of navigation, was rapidly .1 increasing its stake in the West Indian trade. More and more, ships
1 . -
loaded there rather than at New London, as there was a rich countryside ** +6
immediately around Norwich from which to draw produce.21
A : .
Middletown ranked first among the Commesticut River tams in the
17 Morison, p. 41. Sinoe Wethersfield raised most of the onions for export from Corectiout for example, one een conclude that these totals represent clearances through Few London from other places as well as New London's om contribution. Wethersfield, incidentally, provided en usual emmarple of crop specialisation in its onion culture.
18gilas Deane Correspondeno II. 139-140.
1Richard A. Wheeler, History of Stonington (New London, 1900), pp- 130-181. .... .. . 20c. C., December 7, 14, 1773.
21powell, p. 549.
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151.
West Indian:trade. As already mentioned, "it was customary for up-rifer and nearby communities to depend upon Middletown and Hartford for their West Indian : goods .: A.large group of Middletown merchants: engaged in the trade including Richard Alsop, Elijah and Echoiah Hubbard, Colonel Lenol Storrs, George and Thompson Phillips, and General Confor's Sage. Alsop had the greatest muocess. 22 Jonathan Trumbull and his associates;wat Willimas and Pitkin, often sent ships fron Middletown, East Kedden, or punt Wethersfield. They also traded through Forwich. 23 Their vessel, the Dove, frequently sailed from Middletowa for the West Indies. 24 .
In Hartford a considerable group of merchants concerned themselves with the West Indies trade. Some well-known names involved in this trade prior to the Revolution were Bance, Chenovard, Caldwell, Bigelow, Forbes, Goodwin, Olcott,25 and Wadsworth. 22 19
Other towns on the River which participated in the West Indian trade to an important extent included Saybrook, Essex, East Haddam, Rocky Hill, Wethersfield, and Windsor.' Windsor (including East Windsor) probably was the most active of these towas in the trade as it then vied with .
Hartford in amount of motivity.27 One of the merchant leaders of the area was Captain Ebenezer Grant, foremost among those in East Windsor.
2
22 Chafoo, pp. 20-21.
25 Griswold, p. 467; Early Lebanon, Appendix 90.
24 Griswold, p. 467.
25 Charles W. Burpes, History of Hartford County, I, 225.
2"M. Louise Groene, "Old Saybrook Sketches," New England Magasin XXVIII, 88 ;. Hicka,. p3 225; Griswold, p. 467.
27 Stoughton, p. 28.
152
Ho dealt chiefly with Samuel Olcott, and Samel,and Jonathan Welch of Antigua .... French and Notch West Indies, At already Sr ... There is every evidence from his accounts. that he handled large monats of goods and prospered. . ! Que specifie transactions of his in 1774 involved the purchase of six hogeheads (652 gallons) of Jamaica, run received through Captain Samuel, Guilford from Kingston. The shipment was valued at [130 Sch, for which a bill was randorod,29 t's . account in an earlier transaction, in 1771, was credited for. itoms old byry of Jonathan Wadsworth at. Barbados as follows, 50
By Sorril horse
Sold
22
10
O
By Black D' .. . "
O":
By Gray Mair
24
O
By Borril Borse '
24 فيـ
By Bay Do
22
By Sertil Den Hoorn
16
O
O
By 119 1/2 1b. Choose Bold
. .
.
In February. 1773 Grant's agent in the West Indies, Georgo Butler,
credited him with the sale of these items: 31
5 1b. pork
26
5
16 half 1bs. of pork"
40
14
810 wt. of cheese
20
4
2 enska tobacco
13
.
-
N
1 bbl, tobacco
2
13
4 horses : ..
14 omaks & 5 bbs. of tobacco
₡ 300
Stiles, p. 483.
2 Grant Papers, Doo. 203.
. >18.
Ibid., Doo. 29.
82 IMd., Des. 202.
3
-
18
10
$2). Dutoh 5n.s.
---
By Iron gray
.
(
153.
Reference has already been made to th feet that much trading went on with the French and Dutch West Indies.' As already stated, Bathaniele:at. Shaw specialized in trade with Maiti, Dominick, Guadeloupe; Martinique, and St, Eustatius, as well as with loss important islands. $2 : The:+ British Government frowned upon this trade, but it booked as' serverrt . before in the decade preceding the Revolution." favorite stritarem
One can say safely that the merchants of Counsetient sought the boat market in the West Indian area, regardless of the mother country of the partiemiar island". . .... eles checked open the white in
The same pattern of trade prevailed for the French and Dutch islands as for the British. They had the same type of economy, the same products', chiefly sugar and molasses, and the same needs in the way of food,Fri livestock, lumber, etc. David Wooster stated that New Haven shipped'to the French West Indies "horses, oman, and lisbor, and receive[d] in return, sugar and molasses to the amount of about E3000 sterling anrally, 83 :: :..
Caly St. Pastatius, the small rocky Dutch island, varied from the'' pettera, It bad practically no surplus products of its oim,' but" it served as a point of transshipment and exchange in the various triangular trading routes. Later, during the Evolution, St. Eustatius, because it was a strategic neutral port, quickly attained an enormous importance to the American colonies ..
p. 6 ftn.
tisticks of New Haven," los. cit., p. 218.
J. Franklin Jemesca, "St. Eastating in the American Revolution," Amerlemn Historical Review, VIII (July, 1903), 603-708, gives an. p. 178. acteslient account of St. Eustatius', important role.
.
154.
Even during the Seven Years (French and Indian) War the commeroo
: the'r with the French West Indies continued on a large sosle, an set of deliberate disloyalty to the Mother Com stry ... To Commestiout and other New England merchants, the French in the West Indies t were zot mneies, but rather, valuablercomercial friends. Farions shifts,and; devices voro aployed to eutwit the British goverment. Tho favorite stratagem 1 perhaps was to trade through the neutral ports-of Curacao (Dutch), St. -Er.tr
Enstatins (Dutch), Monte Cristi (Spanish), and Santo Domingo (Spanish). Upon ene cocasion in 1769 a British aloop checked upon the ships in 1 Monte Cristi and found no less than twenty-sight from English mainland colonies, including four from Connectiont. Eventually, in 1762, General Amherst, eragad by the clandestine traffie, elexped an embargo upon the trade of the How England and middle colonies. The war ended soon thereafter so that the effects were not serious.
Eatheniel Shaw had extensive dealings with many French firms, such as the Constants at Pointe & Pitrie, Guadeloupe, and the Gaignards at Lo Cep, Haiti. 86 A letter to William Packwood, Shaw's agent at St. Pierre, Martinique reveals sansthing of the main problems inherent in the commerce. 57
"Sir I Received yours of the 2 of March last which gave mo great Joy to hear of the Arivall of the Imerstia since that I have not Rood any of your Favours -- your Brother Joseph is not Arived which gives me much Concern as I have not Reed any socott of
G. L. Beer, British Colonial Policy (New York, 1907), p. 98 fta.
Rogers, p. 7.
thaniel Shaw to William Packwood, May 6, 1766, in Rogers, p. 176.
155
him Since he left Martinooo -- I have Prooured the Insurance you wrote for in New York att three & half p Ct .-- Sugars are now moh faln in Price by the great Quantity Ariving from St Croix end if you have more Casks then will Purchase a Load of Molasses you had best Furchase Cotten as that Article is in great Domd. ,I bogg you'l write by every Opportmity. In case Your Brother Arives I will fitt him out with a Cargoe Ineditly ... ... . The speculative nature of the trade and its extreme sensitiveness to the state of international polities find reflection in the nows sent by Simeon Deane from a French port in the West Indies to his good friend, Joseph Webb, late in the spring of 1775. 88
."Ead the news of the late disturbance in America arriv'd two days sommer, it would have made difference of £100 or upwards in my flour onlys other articles, except pork and beef, are much the some, tho' the latter do not riss as flour, which is here about 82 pr C. and rising, for the comson, and higher for superfine."
On June 2, 1775 Deane wrote: "There are now mamy Americe vessels loaded at the French ports with molasses, but dare not sail till further intelligence from America .. 59
In summing up the West Indian trade of colonial Comesticut it is useful to list the chief articles of expert and import."
88 C.H.S.C., II, 249-250.
59 C.B.S.C., II, 251.
No pretense at completeness is made. - Starred items are considered especially important. -
156.
I. Exporta
Food and Drink
Wood Products
- Apples Cider
Cider Brandy
Clift boards, L'o a ferry
Butter
Hoopa
.: ... . Choose
: Hoadings*
Staves+
Floural Bread
Onions!
Rune
:, Beota
Pork+
Live Stock
Horses+
Cows
Kales+
Hogs
She op
Poultry
. :
Importo
Molasses+
Sugars
Hi des
Fruit (limes, etc.).
Coffee
Cocoa
Pimento
-
-
Mostly picked up in Middle Colonies.
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:
Miscellaneous
Tebaoso Bricks
a " Taller .'
.
Salt
Y
Bills of Exchange»
Boards Clapboards
. :: Shingles >
Msh (shad, herring)
155.
alehere Jackeon. Co. V. CHAPTER Met at Union In 17 7, wrote jomthen ** imprese: direct trade
Direct Trade With Europe
-, 4 At first glance it would seem that Connecticut should have a fairly substantial direst trade with England, but such was not the case. The " basio canse already has been oited,-Connecticut's lack of staple products which England meded and wanted. Commecticut in her produce was too much like England. Connecticut's agricultural staples, if anything, were beef and pork; but these could not compete in European markets. sxsept in ., periods of great scarcity there. 1
$ :
Efforts had been made to develop an important direct trade as leaders both in London end in Connecticut realised the mutual benefits which would ensue. In 1747 the general assembly passed an act to encourage direct trade with the British isles. A bounty of five pounds on the hundred ca goods imported directly from England was authorized, and an equal duty on importa from neighboring colonies. An addition to this act in 2 October, 1748 noted that "divers persons" had imported goods under the encouragement of the earlier ast, and they should be paid the import bounty promptly.3 In practice, the acts proved to be almost complete failures, and trade contimed to flow in its old channels, that is, mostly to neighboring colonies. Few merchants were found who would risk direet, !.. .; trips to the British Isles."
1 Bidwell, p. 133.
2c. R. IX, pp. 283-285.
SC. R. IX, PP. 394-895 ..
Hooker, Pp. 32-33.
158.
Richard Jackson, Connectiont's agent at London in 1767, wrote Jonathan Trumbull about the problems and possibilities of increased direct trade with England, Trumbull had suggested masts, iron, and hemp as ites which should be produced in large quantities by Connecticut for the Mother , Camtry. Jackson was pessimistic about prospects in these items, but sau hope in corn, wheat, barley, potash, and timber."." ¿ A .... :
The official returns of 1774 to the Board of Trade were unimpressive." Exports to England were described as "Pot and Pearl Ashes, Lumber, and <. somo salted Provisions; the annual Amount at an average may be £10,000 Sterling.". While the valuation may be an underestimate, it is certain that the direct trade with Britain smounted only to a trickle compared with the coastal and West Indian trade. In the same report, an ammiual". inflow of British goods to the value of [200,000 was admitted. This camy mostly by way of Boston and New York, so that the overwhelming proportion of British goods reached Connecticut by indiroot routes. Now Haven. reported a direct importation of only £4000 annually on an average for the early 1770's.7 In a half-apologetio tone the Connecticut reports to the Board of Trade for 1748, 1756, 1762, and 1774 all explain with reference to the mallness of the direct trade that measures had been" undertaken to encourage more direct trade with the British Isles ...... One of the fer Connecticut merchants who traded directly with England was Jonathan Trumbull. From the 1750's on, in association with partners. - first as "Williams, Trumbull and Pitkin" (1750-64), later as "Trumbull,
6 C.K.S.C., XIX, The Papers," 99-103.
"c. R. XIV, 498. ʻ
"Statistisks of New Envea," loc. cit., p. 217.
..
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159.
Fitch and Trumbull" (1764-1767), he carried on a brisk trade, not only with the West. Indies, but also with Ragland, Holland, and Banturg.º berg.8 The fs ships stopped chiefly at Liverpool, Bristol, and London," Trumbull's chief mercantile correspondents in England and Ireland were Samuel Sparrow, Iane and Booth, Hayley. and Champion, all in London;' . Campbell and Hayo, in Liverpool; Stephen Apthorp in Bristol; Robert and Alexander Joffray !. in Dublin; Frances Goold and Company in Cork. In the 1760's' reverses" set in as ships were lost, investments depreciated, and the firm failed. Trumbull, however, continued his English trading on a acaller coalo until the Revolution. 9
Nathaniel Shaw occasionally sent a ship directly to England. In May, 1772 be dispatched the sloop Dove with a cargo of molaszes, coffee ;. brown sugar, and a bag of cotton wool which he had found to be surplus from a West Indian venture .*: 10
In another transaction with a London finn he asked to be sent nails, sheathing, Russian duok, hemp; a large scale; silver watch, spy-glass, two-dosen white hose, four yards of scarlet cloth, and a piece of kersey, which is fairly typical of Connecticut imports from Ragland,11 Household furnishings, especially of the finer sort such as furniture, chinaware, East India goods (spices), glass, ribbons, crepes, laces, snuff, and woolen 1 12
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