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Oliver Wolcott letterbook, 1803-1808

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Creator

Wolcott, Oliver, 1760-1833.

Location

Manuscripts and Archives Division

Extent

  • 1 v.

Access Restrictions

Restricted access; Manuscripts and Archives Division; Permit must be requested at the division indicated.

Microfilm must be used in lieu of original volume.

Scope/Contents Note

Letterbook of Oliver Wolcott & Company, 1803-1805, and of Oliver Wolcott, 1805-1808, contains copies of outgoing letters, some in the hand of Oliver Wolcott, documenting mercantile, real property, and other domestic and foreign commercial transactions. Letters concern the trade in furand tea with Canton, China; importation of coffee and sugar from Batavia, Java; importation of pepper, salt petre and other commodities from Calcutta, India; exportation of tobacco to Holland and France; trade with Portugal and Barbados; prices and methods of doing business; voyages of the ships Triton and Trident; and theimpact of the Napoleonic wars and the Embargo Act on American shipping and commerce. Recipients include, among others, Theodore Dwight, William P. Cleveland, Asa and Daniel Hopkins, David Humphreys, Baring Brothers & Company,and Canton hong merchants Cheonqua and Houqua.

Biographical/Historical Note

Oliver Wolcott (1760-1833), was U.S. Secretary of the Treasury from 1795 to 1800; U.S. Circuit Court judge, Second Circuit, from 1800-1802; and governor of Connecticut from 1817 to 1827. Wolcott also served as comptroller of the state and presided over the 1818 constitutional convention which formulated the constitution for Connecticut. He was deeply involved in mercantile and banking affairs in New York City during hishiatus from public service. In 1803 Wolcott established the firm of Oliver Wolcott & Company, commission merchants,in partnership with James Watson, Moses Rogers, Archibald Gracie, and William W. Woolsey, in New York City. The firmdissolved in 1805, and Wolcott continued as an independentmerchant, primarily in the China trade.

Controlled Access Terms

  • Wolcott, Oliver, 1760-1833.
  • Commission merchants -- New York (State) -- New York.
  • Dry-goods.
  • Fur trade.
  • Embargo, 1807-1809.
  • Shipping -- United States.
  • Tea trade.
  • China -- Commerce -- United States.
  • New York (N.Y.) -- Commerce.
  • United States -- Commerce -- China.
  • Letterbooks.
  • Merchants.

Additional Creator Name

  • Oliver Wolcott & Company.

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