History of Norfolk County, Virginia : and representative citizens, 1637-1900, Part 51

Author: Stewart, William H. (William Henry), 1838-1912
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1054

USA > Virginia > City of Norfolk > City of Norfolk > History of Norfolk County, Virginia : and representative citizens, 1637-1900 > Part 51

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The Norfolk Post Office stands among the important post offices of the South and is the distributing point for an immense total of mail matter of all kinds. The system prevailing in the Norfolk Post Office is excellent and thor- oughly up-to-date. The postmaster is Col. John R. Waddy, and his assistant is S. B. Carney.

The Post Office force includes 15 railway postal clerks, 21 post office clerks, 25 letter carriers, three substitute letter carriers and two substitute post office clerks, one janitor and one special laborer,-a total of 68 men.

The outfit of the office includes stamping machines of the latest device for printing the date and hour of arrival and departure of each piece of first-class mail handled.

The report of registered matter handled during the year ending December 31, 1899, gives figures as follows :

Letters and packages registered at Norfolk 13,492

Registered package envelopes made up and dispatched . 12,079

Through registered pouches and sacks up and dispatched. 2,325

U,'S. COURT HOUSE AND POST OFFICE, NORFOLK, VA.

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Through registered pouches received Registered package envelopes received Registered package envelopes received in transit 63.971

2,031 21.388

Letters and packages received for de- livery 23,780

Total number registered articles han- dled 139.066

There were 43 mails received and dis- patched daily, and about 25,000 letters orig- inated and were received at this office daily. The gross receipts of the office are about $110,000 per annum.

For many years the Norfolk Post Office has been maintained in its present location, the stately old government building on Main street. This building is also used for the United States Court room and as the Custom House for this port. The growth of Norfolk and consequently its postal business has been so great that new and enlarged quarters for the postoffice became imperative.

To meet this demand the United States government is now completing, at a cost of about $350.000, a thoroughly modern, finely equipped Post Office building on Plume street. This will be completed in the near future. The Post Office will then be removed to it and other branches of "Uncle Sam's" service will then monopolize the present public building.

No better index to the growth of the city can be found than the postal receipts. The following is a comparative statement of the past 10 years :

Year ending Jan. 30. 1887. $47,055.71

Year ending Jan. 30, 1888. 50.023.86

Year ending June 30, 1889

Year ending Jan. 30, 1890 56.476.60

Year ending Jan. 30, 1891 68.419.82 Year ending Jan. 30. 1892 74.360.20 Year ending June 30, 1893

Year ending Dec. 31, 1894. 83.309.48

Year ending Dec. 31, 1895 84,892.42

Year ending Dec. 31, 1896. 90,027.74

Year ending Dec. 31, 1897

98,626.34

Year ending Dec. 31. 1898 99,406.25

Year ending Dec. 31, 1899. 106,964.29

In addition to the above comparative state- ment the following facts showing the volume of money order business transacted in this of- fice will be interesting :

Cash on hand January 1, 1899. . $ 7,083.32 16,088 domestic orders issued. . 137,222.15

Fees and war tax on same .. 1,354.42 882 international orders issued. 19,607.85

Fees on same.

221.40

3,844 deposits received .

490,490.22

Errors

.03

Total $655,979.39

17.473 domestic orders paid. . $198.371.87

120 domestic orders repaid .. 1,146.50

253 international orders paid. 4.360.71

3 international orders repaid ..

. .

Deposited account Treasurer U. S. 446,700.00

90.36

Errors

1.12

Cash on hand December 30, 1899 ...

5.308.83

Total $655.979.39

NORFOLK WAREHOUSE ASSOCIATION.

An accurate history of the city of Nor- folk would contain as one of its essential ele- ments a somewhat abridged yet perfectly co- herent and comprehensive history of the cot- ton export trade and even possibly of the in- ter-State and manufacturing history of the staple. It is not intended in this brief article to attempt a review. even in brief, of Norfolk's share in the fortunes of King Cotton, but rather to contrast the beginning and ending of the past decade from 1890 to 1900. In the record of the past the wise man reads the promise of the future, and when the resident of Norfolk for the last 10 years casts his eyes over the details of cotton trade handling as he has seen it develop at this port during that period, the rainbow of promise of future suc-

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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY

cess wears exceedingly bright and distinct hues.

In 1890, and so late even as 1896, the cot- ton interests of Norfolk were divided, factional and self-destructive, each of its great firms running at great expense its private ware- houses which for nearly one-half the year stood empty, which warehouses, situated on either side of the Elizabeth, were not orig- inally intended for such uses, and were as a natural result ill-fitted for such usage, often low, damp and of deteriorating effect on the cotton stored in them, subject to danger from high tides, from fire and other dangers. The compresses were not convenient to the ware- houses, were equally scattered, their rivalry ruinous and their idleness often ate up their profits. The firms also, like the warehouses and compresses situated in the business cen- ter, were scattered, and at a disadvantageous distance from the Exchange and fighting for individual supremacy instead of the common interests of the members of the exchange and those of the port, while for half the year a scene of inactivity, living on the season and lack of growth confronted them. Yet, and in spite of those great and damaging drawbacks, the cotton trade at Norfolk flourished and the port rose steadily to nearly the front rank in cotton exporting.

When the case was most desperate and the qustion of Norfolk's further availability as a leading port in the cotton trade was at a crisis, arose the Norfolk Warehouse Association, the result of the combined thought of the pres- ent officers of the association, who are as fol- lows: President, John N. Vaughan; vice- president, J. W. Perry; secretary, John S. Jenkins ; treasurer, Fergus Reid.

These gentlemen conceived the idea that great economy could be effected in the handling of the trade if it were all concentrated at one point. To decide with them was to act, and at once they proceeded to acquire a tract of land on the river front in Atlantic City Ward, comprising about eight acres, having a front- age on the river of about one-eighth of a mile,

and to erect on this property a plant suitable to meet every emergency. They were cotton men and knew what the cotton traded needed, and the results are full proof of their wisdom. Most of this property is now covered by brick warehouses, completely fireproof and weather and tide protected and having all necessary ad- juncts, compress and superb wharfage, etc., making perhaps the most complete and com- pact system of cotton warehouses in the United States. The results have been many, and even such as to perhaps surprise the orig- inators of the idea. A new Cotton Exchange faces the warehouses across Front street. Every cotton house of importance is now lo- cated either in the Exchange building or with- in stone's throw of it. It is a cotton city of itself. One result has been a very considerable saving to the trade in charges for handling the cotton business; in fact the trade is now handled at less expense than at any other point in the United States. It is found by those in- terested that property used during the cotton season for the care of the cotton business, which formerly lay idle during the spring and summer, can now to great advantage be made to turn an honest penny and pay a profit where it before sustained a loss, and with this idea in view there has been added to the original plant a complete equipment for the manufac- ture of ice, with a capacity of from 60 to 70 tons per diem. This is operated from May 15th to September 15th, and furnishes about one-third of the total consumption of the city during that period. Another plant which has been added to the original design is an equip- ment for the manufacture of ground gypsum, otherwise known as land-plaster, which is used largely in Eastern North Carolina as a fer- tilizer for peanuts. This plant has a capacity of from 7,000 to 10,000 tons during its sea- son, which lasts from about May Ist to Au- gust Ist.

The total value of the Norfolk Warehouse Association plant is perhaps between $300,- 000 and $400,000, and in addition to its be- ing of great benefit to the trade of Norfolk,

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which it has been the means of increasing. to some extent, it has proved a financial success for its originators and stockholders, and prom- ises in the future to do even more as its scope of usefulness enlarges, which, with the growth of the port in commerce and manufacture, most naturally follow.

The success attending the consolidation of interests in this great warehouse plant has in- spired other industries to a like consolidation and building on economic basis, and the ben- efits accruing to the business industry of the port have been and are enormous. As an- other result of this institution. Norfolk is coming to be looked upon as perhaps the safest place at which to store cotton for export in the United States and the great saving in condition of cotton, safety from deterioration and damage, and its advantageous position geographically and in relation to trans-At- lantic shipping courses will, it is confidently expected, make it eventually the leading port of cotton export of the country.

To a very large share of this condition of affairs the Norfolk Warehouse Association lay claim.

Virginian Pilot.

PATRIOTISM AND PATRIOTS OF NORFOLK.

The people of Norfolk were among the first of the colonists to express their condemna- tion of the oppressive laws of Parliament and resist the tyranny of the British Crown. On the 31st day of March, 1766. a public meet- ing was held at the Cottrt House and "The Sons of Liberty" organized to oppose by all suitable means the detestable Stamp Act and to propose a union with other colonists to pre- vent the operation of a measure so manifestly unconstitutional and oppressive. The meet- ing was presided over by the Episcopal clergy- man, Rev. Thomas Davis, and the secretaries were William Roscoe Carle and James Holt. The preamble and resolutions adopted and signed were as follows :

Having taken into Consideration the evident ten- dency of that oppressive and unconstitutional Act of Parliament, commonly called the Stamp Act, and being desirous that our sentiments should be known to pos- terity : and recollecting that we are a part of that Col- ony who first in General Assembly openly expressed their detestation to the said Act ( which is pregnant with ruin, and productive of the most pernicious conse- quences ), and unwilling to rivet the Shackles of slavery and oppression on ourselves and millions yet unborn, have unanimously come to the following Resolutions : I. Resolved, That we acknowledge our Lord and Sovereign, King George the Third, to the utmost of our power and ability, support and defend his most sacred person, crown and dignity; and shall be always ready, when constitutionally called upon, to assist His Majesty, with out lives and fortunes ; and to defend all his just rights and prerogatives.

2. Resolved, That we will by all lawful ways and means which Divine Providence has put into our hands, defend ourselves in the full enjoyment of, and preserve inviolate to posterity, those inestimable privileges of all free-born British subjects of being taxed only by repre- sentatives of their own choosing; and of being tried by none but a jury of their peers. And that if we quietly submit to the execution of the said Stamp Act, all our claims to civil liberty will be lost, and we and our posterity hecome absolute slaves. For. by that Act. British subjects in America are deprived of the invaluable privileges aforementioned.

3. Resolved, That a committee be appointed, who shall in such manner as they think most proper, go upon necessary business and make public the above resolu- tions, and that they correspond as they shall see oc- casion with the Associated Sons of, and Friends to, Liberty, in the other British Colonies in America.

(Signed) Thomas Davis, Ja. Holt. Henry Tucker, Maxln. Calvert. Robert Tucker, Edward Voss. Jas. Par- ker, Fras. Peast, Robert Tucker, Jun., Samuel Calvert, Jno. Hutchings. Ja. Gibson, Lewis Hansford, Nicholas Winterton, Jno. Hutchings, Jun., Griffin Peart, Paul Loyall, Jno. Wilson, Will. Roscoe Carle. Wm. Skinker, Anthy. Lawson, Thos. Butt, Jos. Hutchings. Wm. Gray, Thos. Newton. Sen .. Hudson Brown, Jno. Phripp. Jun., John Taylor, John Ramsey, Alexander Moseley, John Gilchrist. Jno. Taylor, Jr .. Mathew Godfrey. William Calvert. Mathew Phripp, Willm. Aitchenson, Tho. New- ton. Jr., Saml. Boush. Edward Hack Moseley, Jr., Wm. Hancock, Richd. Knight, Robt. Brett. James Campbell, Stephen Tankard, John Lawrence, Thos. Willoughby, Joshua Nicholson. James Dunn. Nicholas Wonycott, John Cramond. Mathew Rothery, Alexr. Kincaid, Jacob Ellegood. George Muter, Cornelius Calvert, Chrisr. Cal- vert and Edward Archer.

The Stamp Act was passed in 1765 and in the same year of the Norfolk resolutions Parliament repealed it; but in 1767 the Chan- cellor of the Exchequer carried through Parliament a new Act for taxing the Amer- icans, putting a duty upon tea, glass, paper,

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and other articles upon entering our ports. One June 3, 1775, the ship "Molly," Captain Mitchenson, arrived from Whitehaven, Eng- land, with dry goods, etc., consigned to Eil- beck, Ross & Company, but the Committee of Safety refused to allow her to land and or- dered her to return to England, and in Octo- ber of that year Dunmore seized James Holt's printing office, which greatly aroused the in- dignation of the people and then came the stir- ring events which eventuated in the destruc- tion of the borough on January 1, 1776.

SUPPRESSION OF THE SLAVE TRADE.

The following address explains how the Norfolk Committee of Safety suppressed the slave trade.

To the Freemen of Virginia. -

COMMITTEE CHAMBER, NORFOLK. March 6, 1775. Trusting to your sure resentment against the ene- mies of your Country, we the committee, elected by ballot for the Borough of Norfolk, hold up for your just indignation Mr. John Brown, Merchant of this place. We are fully sensible of the great caution with which public censure should be inflicted; and at all times, are heartily disposed to accomplish the great design of the Association by the gentle methods of reason and persuasion. But an unhappy proneness to unmanly equivocation, which has so much distinguished Mr. Brown, and for which he has, in more than one instance, been censured by the voice of the people, added to the present manifest discovery of his secret and most direct attempt to defeat the measures of the Congress, in the case now before us, and of some very unjustifiable steps taken to conceal his disingenuous con- duet, hath precluded us from the milder methods we would wish to adopt, and compelled us to give the public the following narration: On Thursday, the 2nd of March, this committee were informed of the arrival of the brig "Fanny," Captain Watson. with a number of slaves for Mr. Brown; and. upon inquiry, it ap- peared that they were shipped from Jamaica as his prop- erty, and on his account ; that he had taken great pains to conceal the arrival from the knowledge of the con- mittee ; and that the shipper of the slaves, Mr. Brown's correspondents, and the captain of the vessel, were fully apprized of the Continental prohibition against that article. These circumstances induced a suspicion that Mr. Brown had given orders for the Slaves him- self, which he positively denied, asserting that he had expressly forbidden his correspondents to send any, as being contrary to the Association, for the truth of which he appealed to his own letter-book. The Sec- retary heing desired, at the request of Mr. Brown, to attend him to inspect the orders said to have been

given, reported that he had had some slight and hasty glances at letters written between the middle of De- cember and beginning of January, and was sorry to say he had seen one directed to Mr. Henderson, and an- other to Mr. Livingston, both of the date of Decem- ber, and a third to Messrs. Campbells, of the first of January, all containing positive and particular orders for remittances to be made him in Slaves; at the same time hinting the necessity of secrecy. as it is an article, he writes, he could not avowedly deal in. The Secretary also reported that he had seen a postscript, written a few days after the determination of this committee, directing the return of a Slave imported from Antigua, in which postscript Mr. Brown writes his correspondent to send him no more than two negro lads, as it would be dangerous to sell them here. But his orders to his other correspondents appear to have been so positive that they were complied with, notwithstanding his friend writes him that good Slaves would sell to more ad- vanstage in Jamaica than in Virginia. From the whole of this transaction. therefore, we, the committee for Norfolk Borough, do give it as our unanimous opinion that the said John Brown has willfully and perversely violated the Continental Association, to which he had with his own hand subscribed obedience; and that agree- able to the Eleventh Article we are bound "forthwith to publish the truth of the case, to the end that all such foes to the rights of British America may be pub- lickly known, and universally contemned, as the enemies of American Liberty, and that every person may hence- forth break off all dealings with him."

Mathew Phripp, Chairman.

James Taylor, John Boush, James Holt,

John Hutchings,

John Lawrence, Niel Jamieson,

Joseph Hutchings, Robert Taylor,

Thomas Newton. Jr., Thomas Claiborne.

Thomas Ritson,

Samuel Ingles.

Extract from the minutes. William Davies, Secretary .:

A letter dated Thursday, July 20, 1775, expressing alarm at a report of desertion from the glorious cause, was despatched to Norfolk from the several volunteer companies in Will- iamsburg.

On Saturday the answer from the commit- tee was returned :

To the officers of the Volunteer companies in IVill- iamsburg:

Gentlemen: We are happy in every expression of your attachment to the common interest of your coun- try. and are glad we can intorm you there is not the least foundation for the fears you have declared for our safety, upon an ill-grounded report that any among us are deserting the cause of their country, and enlisting against it. It is a report we can assure you that is totally devoid of truth. You may depend, we would not sit still as indifferent spectators of such hostile

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measures. The time may come when we may stand in need of your assistance, surrounded as we are by armed vessels and some suspected inhabitants ; we trust we shall then receive it ; and should the Convention hereafter think it necessary to quarter any of you among us, you may rest assured we shall welcome you with willing hearts and open arms.

We are, gentlemen, your humble servants, By order of the Committee. WILLIAM DAVIES, Secretary,

These other actions of the Committee of Safety for Norfolk show that no truer, braver and more patriotic body of men has existed any- where in all the time which has intervened. It is a glorious record of courage and devotion which should be cherished as a sacred herit- age.

NOTABLE HISTORICAL INCIDENTS.

On June 30, 1784. the court ordered that a town Hall. 40 by 32 feet, be built on the public land adjoining Dr. Taylor's lot.

On April 2, 1819. the corner-stone of the new Custom House, Water and Church streets, was laid. President Monroe, Mr. Calhoun, Commodores Decatur. Cassin, Sinclair, War- rington, Elliott and Henley were present, and the Portsmouth Riflemen. Captain Kay, Nor- folk Juniors, Captain Gibbons, and Captain Cooper's Cavalry gave a military air to the ceremonies. A big dinner followed. The building was burned down in 1861, during the Confederate war.

On October 22, 1824, La Fayette arrived in Norfolk : Mayor James E. Holt at the head of a grand procession received him. The school children strewed his pathway with flowers.

On April 24, 1844, Henry Clay visited Norfolk and was the guest of Col. Myer Myers.

On August 25, 1860, Stephen A. Douglass made a speech in Norfolk from the balcony of the National Hotel, corner of Main and Church streets.

On August 5. 1860. the "Great Eastern" arrived in Hampton Roads.

The Day Book was an able and persistent

advocate of the Union and peace until March 4. 1861, when the inaugural address incited its indignation expressed editorially : "Lincoln. the wild, political despot of the West, whose head has been crazed by the doctrines and isms of Horace Greeley, has proclaimed to those who had patience to hope better things of him that they must hope no longer. His inaugural has gone forth to the world, carrying with it the declaration of coercion fully and explicitly announced. It has told the millions of inhabi- tants of this country, who hoped for peace from his lips, that they shall have no peace. He proclaims to the South war! war! war !!! He has exposed his eloven foot plainly and openly to the gaze of all, that they may be no longer deceived ; and we must say that henceforth we can have but little patience with any South- ern man who would pretend that there is yet hope." This inaugural address united both po- litical parties for the State and the South. Alexander Hamilton said : "There are certain social principles in human nature, from which we may draw the most solid conclusions, with respect to the conduct of individuals. We love our families more than our neighbors : We love our neighbors more than our coun- trymen in general. The human affections, like the solar heat, lose their intensity as they de- part from the center. and become languid in proportion to the expansion of the circle on which they act. On these principles the at- tachment of the individual will be first and forever secured by the State governments : they will be a mutual protection and support." On these principles Whig and Democrat, Unionist and secessionist rallied to resist the invasion of Virginia and maintain her consti- tutional rights.

At a meeting of the Common Council of Norfolk City on November 5, 1861, John B. Whitehead, Esq., president, the following preamble and resolutions introduced by Mr. Bluford were unanimously adopted :

Whereas, it is the duty of every loyal citizen of the Confederate States to assist the constituted author- ities thereof, and

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Whereas, arms and parts thereof are much needed by the said authorities, be it therefore,

Resolved, That the Mayor be and he is hereby au- thorized and requested to appoint four citizens from each ward whose duty it shall be to visit the house of every white person to obtain contributions of arms or parts thereof, that will be of service to the said Con- federate authorities, and that he be requested to give notice officially of the intended visit of said committee, so that the citizens may be prepared to give freely of such unserviceable arms or parts thereof as may be in their possession.

Resolved, That His Honor be further requested to appoint William E. Foster, superintendent for the Confederate Army, chairman of said committee, and that the whole collection ot arms and parts thereof with a schedule be tendered by His Honor to the Sec- retary of War, as the gift of the City of Norfolk.

NORFOLK, VA., Dec. 12, 1861.

CAPT. JAMES CORNICK :

Dear Sir: Some of our citizens have called on me and expressed a wish to have additional obstructions put in our harbor. I have addressed a letter to Com- mander Forrest on the subiect, but I know not whether a letter from me will induce him to use the materials in the Navy Yard for that purpose. It has been sug- gested that the Councils ought to take some action in the matter. I submit to you the necessity of calling a meeting of hoth bodies, the president of the Common Council being absent from the city, and the vice-presi- dent, as I have been informed, being confined to his house by sickness.

Yours very respectfully, WILLIAM W. LAMB, Mayor.

The Councils appointed a committee to confer with a committee from the Council of the city of Portsmouth and the military authorities on the subject suggested by the mayor.

Military necessities compelled the evacua- tion of Norfolk, and the civil authorities were notified by the following communication :

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF NORFOLK, May 10, 1862. WILLIAM W. LAMB, EsQ.,

Mayor of Norfolk.

Sir: The troops which formerly defended this neighborhood having been removed elsewhere by order of the government, I have not the means to defend the city and have ordered all the forces off and turn over the charge of the city to yourself and its civil officers. Very Respectfully,

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History of Norfolk County, Virginia : and representative citizens, 1637-1900, Part 51

Author: Stewart, William H. (William Henry), 1838-1912 Publication date: 1902 Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1054

Author: Stewart, William H. (William Henry), 1838-1912
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1054