History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 55

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358


USA > Missouri > St Louis County > St Louis City > History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men > Part 55


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Among the most aggressive and enterprising of these was George P. Plant. Mr. Plant was born in Lancaster (now Clinton), Mass., March 23, 1814, the eldest son and the third in a family of six sons and six daughters. His boyhood was one of thrift and labor, and he was brought up in a practical atmosphere, his father being a cotton manufacturer, with an excel- lent library of mechanical and scientific works, which the boy, directed by a gifted sister, carefully studied. From these books he contracted a desire for the calling of a civil engineer. Opportunities for studying the science were in those days very meagre, and with little but self-instruction, he launched at once into the school of practice, and was employed as a subordinate under Maj. Whistler, who was engaged in building a railroad between Springfield and Worcester, Mass.


The West was then beginning to attract the atten- tion of the young and venturesomc, and the projected construction of railroads and canals in Illinois seemed to young Plant to offer a promising field for the exer-


cise of his talents. Consequently in 1835 he went West, and after visiting an uncle who was living in Kentucky, located at Jacksonville, Ill., where he was employed as chief engineer in building the first rail- road west of the Alleghenies.


This road was called the Northern Cross Railroad. The first rail was laid at Mcredosia, May 9, 1838, and the first locomotive arrived by steamboat Sept. 6, 1838. It was put upon the track Nov. 8, 1838, for a trial-trip over the eight miles of the road that were finished. George P. Plant, the chief engineer, was master of ceremonies, and in the party were Governor Duncan, of Illinois, Murray McConnell, the State commissioner, James Dunlap and Thomas T. January, contractors, Charles Collins and Myron Leslie, of St. Louis, and Alexander Strother. There were then less than two thousand miles of railroad in the United States ; but Mr. Plant, to whom belongs the unques- tioned honor of having first harnessed the iron horse in the Mississippi valley, lived to see nearly seventy- five thousand miles of railroad in the country, and the valley gridironed with railroads, distributing the pro- ducts of the Southwest through St. Louis in every direction, north, east, south, and west, with the city itself occupying a then undreamed-of prominence as the gateway to China and Japan.


At Jacksonville he met and married Matilda W. January, sister of D. A. and Thomas T. January, who soon removed to St. Louis and engaged in mercantile and other pursuits, in which they won an honorable name. In 1839, Mr. Plant followed them to St. Louis, and after a varied experience built the Franklin flour mills, on Franklin Avenue near Fifth Street, and founded the firm of George P. Plant & Co. Subse- quently his brother Samuel became a partner, and when he died in 1866, Mr. Plant admitted his son George J. to membership in the firm, and still later George H. Plant, the son of Samuel Plant.


In 1859 his wife died, leaving two sons, and in 1863 he married Miss Martha G. Douthitt, a daugh- ter of the late Robert H. Douthitt, of Pittsburgh, Pa., who still survives him.


While active and energetic in the prosecution of his own business, which he conducted with such suc- cess as to amass a large fortune, Mr. Plant was much interested in affairs about him, and among the many positions of trust which lie held were the following : President of the Merchants' Exchange, president of the Millers' National Convention, president of the American Central Insurance Company, president of St. Luke's Hospital, etc.


Mr. Plant was of delicate constitution, but his I strength of mind enabled him to do perhaps more


. 1 A full account of the organization of the Millers' Exchange is given in connection with the Merchants' Exchange, with which it was afterwards incorporated.


LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF LUINGIS.


TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.


work than many stronger men accomplished. In February, 1875, he was seized by a cold that rapidly developed into typhoid pneumonia, and on the morn- ing of February 24th he breathed his last.


His death and funeral were the occasion of such a display of respect and esteem as are accorded to no common man. All the bodies with which he had been connected adopted resolutions expressing their regret at the decease of Mr. Plant in words of the most tender and touching eulogy. The press, not only of St. Louis but of distant cities, joined in paying tribute to one whose name throughout the land was a syno- nym of business integrity, and who had come to be recognized as one of the representative men of the Southwest. "It was," wrote a friend soon after his death, " his long career in St. Louis as a strict and honorable business man, a successful manufacturer, the establishing of a name national in its reputation, his fidelity in places of trust and honor, his disinter- estedness as a citizen, his charity and benevolence, his ready ear to the misfortunes of others, his sound judgment and advice, ever ready for those who sought it, his known conservatism, yet progressiveness of thought and ideas, that gave him the eminence he attained in the community, made his loss so widely felt, and called forth from all sides such widespread testimonials of genuine regard and respeet."


In addition to the twenty-four flour mills within the eity limits, several of the St. Louis mills have like es- tablishments in Illinois and other tributary points, and the aggregate capital invested in this interest is esti- mated at thirty-five million dollars. The daily manu- facturing capacity exceeds twelve thousand barrels. Only sinee.1871, however, has the home product ex-


ceeded the receipts from other marts. Flour made from the wheat grown in the Mississippi valley has the keeping or self-preservative quality to sueh an extent that it is much in request in Southern latitudes, and St. Louis millers export largely to Rio and the West Indies. George Bain, president of the Atlantic Mill- ing Company and of the National Millers' Associa- tion, was the pioneer in the export trade. Ten years ago he went to England with a consignment of flour in sacks equal to thirty thousand barrels, and found ready sale for the product. Since then St. Louis has become a distributing-point to the markets of the world, and St. Louis flour has won first premiums at the World's Expositions in Paris, Vienna, and Philadelphia. In 1879 there was exported to Eu- ropean nations and to South America an aggregate of six hundred and nineteen thousand one hundred and three barrels of flour of St. Louis manufacture.


The flour shipments on through bills of lading to foreign countries during 1881 makes this exhibit :


Barrels.


To England


178,879


Scotland


64,744


Ireland


18,893


Belgium


23,728


Wales


600


Germany


2,906


France.


4,087


Holland.


6,184


South America


8,416


West Indies


383


Other places


571


Total


309,391


The following table, compiled from the reports of millers to the Merchants' Exchange, exhibits the ag- gregate amount of flour handled by them during the last nine years :


1882.


1881.


1880.


1879.


1878.


1877.


1876.


1875.


1874.


Received ..


Manufactured ..


2,203,424 1,850,215


1,620,996 1,718,429


1,703,874 2,077,625


1,607,236 2,142,949


1,305,336 1,916,290


1,157,932 1,517,921


1,071,434 1,441,944


1,300,381 1,484,821


1,683,898 1,573,202


Sold and shipped direct from country mills .. ...


991,986


261,264


436,165


404,569


412,246


262,475


254,596


304,721


228,789


Total barrels.


4,845,625


3,600,689


4,217,664


4,154,757


3,633,872


2,938,328


2,767,974


3,089,923


3,485,889


" Previous to 1880," says Secretary George H. Morgan, of the Merchants' Exchange, in his valuable report on the trade and commerce of St. Louis for 1882, " St. Louis manufactured a greater number of barrels of flour than any other city, but owing to the fact that within the past three years several of our largest flouring-mills have been destroyed by fire, our enterprising Northwestern neighbor, Minneapolis, has outstripped us in the manufacture of flour. But with the new mills built in the past two years, and those


now building and planned, St. Louis will soon regain its old pre-eminence as the largest manufacturer of flour in this country. The first seetion of the Atlantic Roller-Mill, with a capacity of thirteen hundred bar- rels per day, was completed in December, and further additions will doubtless be made during the coming year. J. B. Kehlor & Co. have commenced the eree- tion of the Grand Pacific Mills, which, when fully completed, will have a daily capacity equal to, if not exceeding, that of any other mill in the world.


1234


HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.


Messrs. Teideman & Co. are perfecting plans for the rebuilding of the Iron Mountain Mills, burned in August last. These mills, when completed, will in- crease the capacity of St. Louis mills to 17,500 bar- rels per day,-over 5,000,000 barrels per annum. Notwithstanding the fact that our manufacturing capacity has decreased, St. Louis can justly claim to be the largest flour market in the United States. While New York shows receipts of 5,883,709 bar- rels, it must be borne in mind that in this amount is included all the flour shipped directly from interior cities to Europe and South America, and in which the New York merchant, whether receiver or exporter, has no interest whatever; and while some of our Western competitors show nominally very large receipts, a large proportion of such receipts pay no tribute to the city through which they pass on their way to the seaboard for export or to the New England States for consumption, while of the 4,845,625 barrels handied the past year by St. Louis millers and dealers, there . was not one per cent. that did not actually change hands here, being bought and sold in this market.


" The amount of flour manufactured during 1882 was 1,850,215 barrels, an increase over 1881 of 131,786 barrels. The receipts reached 2,003,424 barrels, the largest in the history of the trade. The shipments aggregated 3,305,765 barrels, a greater amount than ever before, of which the equivalent of 623,211 barrels was shipped in sacks direct to foreign ports, 970,462 barrels went to Eastern consumers, and 1,661,481 barrels were taken by the Southern States. In addition to the amount exported from St. Louis, 344,984 barrels were reported by St. Louis dealers from points other than St. Louis, being shipped direct from the country mills to save expense, but all of which was sold in this market."


FLOUR MANUFACTURED during 1882 by mills outside of the city of St. Louis, but owned by citizens of St. Louis, members of the Merchants' Exchange.


OWNER.


Name of Mill.


Location.


Manufactured.


E. O. Stanard & Co ...


Alton City ..


Alton, Ill.


122,277


F. Tiedeman & Co.


Cape Conuty ..


Jackson, Mo.


36,412


Fath, Ewald & Co ..


St. Marys ...


St. Marys, Mo ..


37,600


John W. Kanfhnan.


President 1.


Bethalto, 111


30,605


D. L. Wing & Co ......


l'lanet .....


Litchfield, Il1 ..


195,210


Kelilor Bros.


Edwardsville ..... Crowu.


Belleville, 111.


59,000


Western railroads


585,176


451,106


Missouri River.


4,095


14,660


Southern railroads


645,650


486,505


Lower river boats.


39,933


34,851


Northern railroads.


131,918


157,071


Upper river boats


79,828


52,137


From local points


32,585


56,303


1 Burned August, 1882.


The product for 1881 of those mills making a specialty of corn meal, rye flour, grits, hominy, and corn flour should be added to obtain a complete exhibit of the milling interest of St. Louis. It is as follows :


MILLERS.


Name of Mill.


Corn Meal Man-


ufactured, 1881.


Hominy and


Grits Manufac-


Rye Flour Man-


ufactured, 1881.


These figures show a steady increase in this par- ticular, averaging over forty per cent. a year. The exports of corn meal in 1881 aggregated 599,016 bar- rels, and 1228 car-loads of bran and ship stuffs in bulk were shipped, and 560,115 sacks of the same. The growth of the flour trade of St. Louis will be seen in the following table of the receipts and manu- facture of flour for thirty-two years and the exports for eighteen years:


Year


Receipts.


Manf.


Exports.


Year


Receipts


Manf.


Exports.


Bbls.


Bbls.


Bbls.


Bbls.


Bbls.


Bbls.


1851


184.715


408,099


1867


944,075


765,298


1,450,475


1852


132,050


383,184


1868


805,836


895,154


1,499,337


1853


201,487


455,076


1869


1,210,555


1,064,592


2,172,761


1854


192,945


503.157


1870


1,491,626


1,351,773


1,790,739


1855


226,450


603,353


1871 | 1,428,408


1,507,915


2,676,525


1856


3233,446


678,496


1872 | 1,259,933


1,494,798


2,247,040


1857


573,664


662,548


1873


1,296,457


1,420,287


2,506,215


1×58


687,451


825,651


1874


1,683,>98


1,573,202


2,981,760


1859


4×4,715


663,446


1875


1,300,381


1,484,821


2,480,877


1860


443,196


839,165


1876


1,471,434


1,441,944


2,217,578


1861


484,000


694,110


1877


1,157,932


1,517,921


2,295,657


1862


647.419


906,860


1878


1,305,336


1,91 6,290


2,670,740


1863


689,242


758,422


1879


1,607,236


2,142,949


3,045,035


1864


815,144


782,560


1880


1,703,874


2,077,625


3,292,803


1865


1,161,038


743,281


1.521,465


1881


1,620,996


1,718,429


2,696,245


1866


1,208,726


818,300


1,700,740


1882


2,003,424


1,850,215


3,305,765


The sources of supply and the direction of ship- ments of flour during 1881 and 1882 will be scen from the following table :


RECEIPTS.


1882.


1881.


By Eastern railroads


Bbls.


Bbls.


457,034


359,153


Illinois River


7,205


9,210


Aviston ....


Aviston, 111.


55,595


Cone


Ste. Genevieve, Mo ..


26.715


F. A. Renss & Co ......


Belleville, 111 ...


44,600


F. A. Reuss & Co ..


Belleville Star .. Georgetown ......


Georgetown, Ill


24,900


Total


754,598


Southern


214,709


25,923


Wood Maude Milling Company ..


Pearl Homlny ..


245,495


36,098


Hezel Milling Com-


pany ....


East St. Louis ..


3.500


Humpert & Co.


Lowell.


7,000


2,691


Flanagans & Richard-


son ....


Mississippi Valley ...


430,000


60,000


J. L. l'rice & Co .....


Tuscan ....


3,000


Camp


Spring


Mill


Company ....


Camp Spring .....


7,500


W. S. Taylor & Co.


Globe ...


1,200


Total.


905,704


122,021


12,001


Saxony Mill Company. Lallement Bros.


Saxony ..


Carondelet ...


2,000


tured, 1881.


Total


2,003,423


1,620,996


Edwardsville, 111 ...


121,684


Crown Mills Company .. Manntel, Borgess & Co. Mauntel, Borgess & Co.


Barrels Flour


Engelke & Feiner.


1235


TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.


SHIPMENTS.


Direction.


1882. Bbls.


1881.


Year.


Corn Meal.


Bran and Ship in Sacks.


Stuffs in Bulk.


To Eastern points by rail ...


961,094


329,896


1872.


51,207


103,385


.....


Southern


rail ...


934,968


871,386


1870 ..


38,225


102,906


.....


1869


11,113


85,317


.....


Western points ..


17,663


312,312


Northern points


32,948


366,366


Exports.


Total


3,305,765


2,696,545


Year.


Corn Meal.


Bran and Ship in Sacks.


in Bulk.


1881


599,016


560,115


1228


1880


632,343


602,103


1936


1879


393,710


539,443


1185


1878,


281,712


499,481


1058


1877.


395,908


680,565


......


1881


12,057


143,753


644


1880


37,435


123,374


447


1879.


10.475


118,605


463


1874.


402,871


558,696


......


1878


2,046


148,844


336


1873 ..


358,736


471,447


......


1877 ..


13,075


220,564


.....


1872.


234,938


386,321


......


1876.


17,768


179,990


.....


1870


171,203


444,450


......


1874


34,595


194,345


.....


1869


106,667


313,585


......


FLOUR MANUFACTURED IN ST. LOUIS FOR THREE YEARS.


MILLERS.


Name of Mill.


Capacity in 24 Hours.


Manufactured 1882.


Manufactured 1881.


Manufactured 1880.


Atlantic Milling Company


Atlantic 1


.....


.....


194,425


286,882


E. O. Stanard & Co.


Eagle


900


158,263


159,196


171,243


Kehlor Brothers.


Laclede.


600


133,000


128,000


120,672


Union Steam Mills Company.


Union Steam


600


134,786


123,150


105,640


Camp Spring Mill Company ..


Camp Spring.


600


118,900


104,259


92,300


John W. Kauffman


Park


800


150,525


97,951


74,192


Empire Mill Company


Empire


600


80,439


91,442


130,131


Sessinghaus Brothers


Jefferson.


400


91,100


90,000


88,116


George P. Plant & Co ..


Franklin


450


84,980


86,845


90,490


Saxony Mill Company ..


Saxony.


350


73,717


82,606


81,040


Ilezel Milling Company.


East St. Louis.


400


84,000


78,000


89,000


George P. Plant & Co ...


Pearl.


325


63,890


67,030


60,750


Anchor Mill Company.


Anchor.


800


196,350


65,000


.....


E. Goddard & Sons Company


United States.


600


70,235


56,140


80,685


F. L. Johnston & Co.


Cherry Street.


350


50,900


51,800


78,600


Atlantic Milling Company


Phoenix ..


500


142,300


46,750


90,542


F. Tiedeman & Co.


Iron Mountain 2


500


31,420


45,675


.........


Henry Kalbfleisch & Co.


St. George


200


31,250


34,385


24,150


Victoria Mill Company.


Victoria


500


120,155


33,575


W. S. Taylor & Co.


Globe


150


5,000


20,000


16,980


Lallement Brothers.


Carondelet


150


17,800


18,000


18,000


J. L. Price & Co


Tuscan


125


3,000


600


3,000


Kehlor Milling Company.


Kehlor +


800


8,205


Mills out of existence now


.....


.......


336,792


Total, 24 Mills.


24 Mills.


10,700


1,850,215


1,718,429


2,077,625


1 Burned Aug. 12, 1881; rebuilt December, 1882.


2 Burned Aug. 24, 1882.


8 Burned February, 1882.


4 Completed November, 1882.


Barrels.


Cars.


Direct to Europe ..


623,211


....


1873.


39,278


82,773


.....


river ..


9,368


817,156


1871


38,003


120,183


.....


66


river.


726,513


631,038


RECEIPTS AND SHIPMENTS OF CORN MEAL, BRAN AND SHIP STUFFS FOR THIRTEEN YEARS.


Receipts.


Year.


Corn Meal.


Bran and Ship in Sacks.


Stuffs in Bulk.


Barrels.


Cars.


1876


383,242


661,458


......


1875.


420,399


578,062


......


1871


191,910


457,908


......


1875.


31,706


207,219


.....


Bread, Crackers, etc .- " At the time of the transfer of the province of Louisiana to the United States," says Edwards ("Great West," p. 288), " there was but one baker in the town, by the name of Le Clerc, who baked for the garrison, and who lived on Main Street, between what is now known as Elm and Walnut." Dec. 5, 1812, Toussaint Benoit had a baker-shop on North Church Street, in Block 64. On the 11th of November, 1815, Christian Smith informed


" the citizens of St. Louis, and those who attend the St. Louis market, that he has opened a bake-shop in Decatur Strcet, oppo- site Edward Hempstead's office, where household breads, cakes, biscuits, crackers, etc., will always be ready for customers. To- morrow evening the first batch will be drawn, and the citizens are invited to send and make trial. For the accommodation of his friends of the north end of St. Louis, he will keep bread for sale at the house of Mr. Wallace, the place lately occupied by Mr. Jourdan Labrose."


April 20, 1816, the Missouri Gazette published the following ordinance :


43,000


38,420


Kchlor Brothers ..


Venices


.....


Barrels.


Cars.


Stuffs


Bbls.


1236


HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.


" AN ORDINANCE to establish the tariff and regulate the inspection of bread for the town of St. Louis.


" Be it ordained by the board of trustees of the aforesaid town, that hereafter no loaf of bread shall be vended in said town at a price greater than twelve and one-half eents, and in order to fix the weight of said loaf of bread, the bakers of bread shall hereafter be regulated by the following tariff :


Price of the 100 cwt.


Weight of the Loaf, of Flour. No. of Ounces.


Price of the 100 cwt.


Weight of the Loaf, of Flour. No. of Ounces.


$2.00


76


$5.50


28


2.50


61


6.00.


25


3.00


51


6.50


24


3.50


41


7.00


23


4.00


36


7.50


22


4.50


34


8.05


21


5.00


30


" Provided, however, That if the prices of flour should be different from the prices fixed in the above tariff, the weight of the loaf shall be regulated accordingly."


June 20, 1816, Abijah Hull & Co., bakers, were located on South Main Street, in block No. 6.


According to the census of 1880, the number of firms engaged in the bread and cracker business was 195, but in 1881 the number was estimated at 215, with a total business of $2,000,000 ; hands employed, 500; wages paid, $350,000.


One of the largest houses in the cracker trade is the Dozier-Weyl Cracker Company, of which the founder was Capt. James Dozier. Capt. Dozier was born in Nash County, N. C., Jan. 7, 1806, the son of Thomas Dozier, and descended from an old and well-known Virginia family. Of Capt. Dozier's boy- hood little is recorded, but that he was of a stirring and adventurous spirit may be inferred from the fact that when but eighteen years old he migrated to the West, his only attendant being Peter, a negro boy, whom his father had given him. The journey, which was undertaken by land, was a toilsome one, there being no railroads then, and only a few primitive steamboats. He settled near Paris, Tenn., where, after a short season spent in farming, he commenced the mercantile business in a small way, and followed this pursuit several years with excellent success, hav- ing gained the confidence of all with whom he came in contact.


In 1826, Mr. Dozier married Miss Mary A. Dud- geon, the daughter of John Dudgeon, originally of Virginia, but later of near Lexington, Ky., where most of his family were born. In 1828, accompanied by his father-in-law and family and two other families of that neighborhood, he emigrated to Missouri, set- tling in the upper part of St. Louis County, near the Virginia settlement of the Tylers and Colemans, familics whose descendants are among the leading people of that locality. Here Capt. Dozier and Mr. Dudgeon, his father-in-law, leased the old McAllister


tan-yard, and operated it with success for some years, when Capt. Dozier retired and resumed the mercan- tile business. He continued in this employment for a few years, and finally removed to the north side of the Missouri River, into St. Charles County, where he lived for many years. Here he laid the founda- tion of his subsequent fortune, conducting a flourish- ing business as a merchant and farmer, and became one of the leading men of that region. By frugality and industry he accumulated a large estate, consisting of lands, stock, etc., and in doing so was greatly aided by the most estimable of wives, of whom it was justly said that "she was a bee that brought a great deal of honey to that hive."


In 1844, Mr. Dozier engaged in the steamboat busi- ness, and owned and operated successively the " War- saw," "Lake of the Woods," "St. Louis Oak," " Cora," " Mary Blane," and "Elvira" (a boat of much reputation in her day, and named for his second daughter). Later he or his sons owned the " Row- ena," "Thomas E. Tutt," " Mollie Dozier," etc. There are doubtless many old steamboatmen yet living in whom the mention of the names of these vessels will awaken the most interesting recollections. Those were the palmy days of steamboating on the Missouri River, and the vessels owned by Capt. Dozier made his name widely known along that stream and its tributaries, and everywhere respected as the synonym of all that was honest and straightforward. He was a contemporary and acquaintance of Capts. Roe, Throckmorton, La Barge, Eaton, Kaiser, and others, most of whom he survived.


In 1854, Capt. Dozier retired from the river to his country home, where he built a fine residence near the river-bank. A more beautiful place or a better improved farm, or rather set of farms, could, perhaps, not have been found on the Missouri River than that of Capt. Dozier, at " Dozier's Landing." His house was ever open to his friends and neighbors, and for the twenty years he lived in St. Charles County was seldom without some visitors. His charities to the poor and orphans were of the most generous character, and his house at times was the home of many unfor- tunates. In his numerous benefactions he was wholly free from ostentation, and the world never knew of most of his decds of benevolence. Capt. Dozier was an owner of slaves, but a kind and thoughtful master.


Immediately after the war he removed to St. Louis, and in 1867 formed a partnership with the long-estab- lished and well-known baker, Joseph Garneau, in the bakery business. In 1872 this firm was dissolved, and Capt. Dozier then founded the present large baking establishment of the Dozier-Weyl Cracker Company,


Fax. (Dozier


LIBRARY OF THE UNIVER TV THE " INOIS.


1237


TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.


than which perhaps no manufacturing establishment in America is better known, it being probably the largest cracker-factory in the world.


Capt. Dozier died July 15, 1878, after but a few hours' illness. For more than twenty years he had been a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and enjoyed the confidence and respect of the members of that communion, by whom his counsels were prized and his example is held in affec- tionate remembrance. As a citizen, he stood very high, yet his real worth was appreciated only by those who knew him intimately, for his nature was reserved, and while his friends embraced all with whom he was ever brought into business or social relations, comparatively few were privileged to thoroughly know and comprchend his character. As a business mån, though reticent, he was quick to de- cide and equally quick to act, and his judgment was clear and seldom at fault. Consequently he left to his family a good heritage, the accumulation of a lifetime of economy and upright dealing, but he bequeathed also what they prize far more, the life record of a good citizen, a loving husband, and a wise and tender father.


Groceries .- In early times the grocery trade was included under the general designation of " dry- goods," but as far back as May 2, 1812, we find J. F. Laveille advertising a new store, his stock con- sisting of groceries, queensware, and other goods. In 1853 the importations of groceries embraced 50,774 hogsheads, 13,993 barrels, and 40,257 boxes and bags of sugar, 53,554 barrels and hogsheads of mo- lasses, 868 barrels of syrup, and 104,467 bags of cof- fee. This was largely in advance of the previous year's imports, given as follows: Sugars, 35,283 hogsheads, 27,672 barrels and boxes, 31,745 bags; coffee, 96,240 sacks ; molasses, 54,933 barrels and hogsheads.




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