Found 16 collections related to Merchants

The Straus family of New York City were the descendants of Lazarus Straus (1809-1898) and Sara Straus (1823-1876) who emigrated from Otterberg, Germany in the early 1850s with their four children: Isidor (1845-1912), Hermine (1846-1922), Nathan (1848-1931), and Oscar (1850-1926). They settled in Talbotton, Georgia where Lazarus opened a dry goods store. In 1865 the Strauses relocated to New York City and Isidor and Nathan joined their father in establishing L. Straus and Sons, a glass and chinaware store. They became partners with R.H. Macy's & Company in 1888 and by 1892 were also partners in the Brooklyn N.Y. retail company Abraham & Straus. Isidor Straus represented New York City's fifteenth district in the U.S. Congress, 1893-1894; and was founder and president of the Educational Alliance, an organization for immigrants living in New York. He and his wife were among the passengers who lost their lives in the sinking of the Titanic. Oscar Straus served as U.S. ambassador to Turkey from 1887 to 1900 and 1909, Secretary of Commerce and Labor from 1906 to 1908, and advisor to Woodrow Wilson during the first World War. Collection contains correspondence, speeches, photographs, scrapbooks, and other items concerning Lazarus, Oscar and Isidor Straus, and Isidor's sons and grandsons. Family papers include genealogical charts and family history. Oscar and Isidor Straus papers consist of one box of materials concerning Oscar Straus's 1912 campaign for governor of New York and other political and family matters; the remaining eleven boxes are papers of Isidor Straus and include family and business correspondence, speeches and writings, notebooks, scrapbooks, materials related to his political career and to his death on the Titanic, and biographical information. Papers of Isidor Straus's sons consist of personal and business papers with correspondence, speeches, scrapbooks, and clippings. L. Straus & Sons records concern the operations of the partnership. Also, photographs of Jack Straus (son of Jesse Straus) and members of his family, framed documents and other materials that belonged to Jack Straus. less

Adam W. Spies (1800-1891), the son of Mary Bergh and John Spies, was a hardware and military goods merchant in New York City. He was employed by the firm of C. & J. D. Wolfe, and was their agent in England in the 1820s. In 1834 he established A. W. Spies & Company, later Spies, Kissam & Company, retiring in 1866. He acquired extensive landholdings in New York City, upstate New York, and numerous other states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, and Wisconsin, among others. In 1832 he married Sarah Ann Morrison (d. 1883), daughter of John C. Morrison of Monmouth County, New Jersey. Spies was a founding member of the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor.The Adam W. Spies real estate and genealogy scrapbook is primarily a record of his real estate transactions, containing numerous manuscript plat maps, many in watercolor with extensive annotations; a few printed maps; listings of properties, taxes and assessments; and legal notes. Holdings in Manhattan and Williamsburg, Brooklyn are especially well documented. Genealogical materials include charts and notes concerning the Spies, Morrison, and Bergh families, and autobiographical accounts, with advice to grandchildren, recalling his career, his service as a volunteer fireman, and life in Manhattan prior to the building of the Erie Canal and Croton Aqueduct. The volume also contains pasted clippings, certificates and receipts, cut silhouettes of Spies, and a few sketches, notably a watercolor street view by Spies of his father’s place of business in Manhattan as depicted in 1808. There are some miscellaneous letters and notes relating to family and real estate matters, some loose, including a genealogical inquiry to his son-in-law John W. Cochrane dated 1907. A few of Spies’s genealogical entries are updated to 1930. The scrapbook has multiple and duplicate paginations, with gaps: Index, p. 1-48, 50-58, [3 p.]; property maps with index, p. 0-100; and additional genealogical and autobiographical material, p. 133-143; 137-138, 139 (2 leaves), 142-155. Text and maps are separately indexed. less

Reverend Henry Miller Cox (1854-1916) was a minister of the Reformed Church of America and a genealogist. He held pastorates in New York and New Jersey, and was the author of The Cox Family in America, published in 1912. The Henry Miller Cox papers includes his personal and professional correspondence as a clergyman, 1904-1915, and papers pertaining to his genealogical research on the Cox family in America. Research materials include correspondence with Cox family members and others, and notes and family trees he compiled. Nineteenth-century Cox family documents consist of business papers, 1818-1871, of his father James B. Cox of New Brunswick, N.J. and New York City, and his associates, including the New Brunswick firm of Bray & Cox in partnership with John W. Bray. These include correspondence, legal and financial documents, and receipts and orders for sugar, cloth, brandy, wood, and other dry goods. less

James Waterbury Eaton was a New York City businessman who resided in Babylon (Long Island), New York. These papers include correspondence (1917-1922) relating to his activities as agent for Parker Plate & Machinery Co., personal affairs at his home in Babylon, and Suffolk County school affairs. A letterbook (1898-1906) contains correspondence relating to the manufacture of boat engines; investments managed for A. A. Low and other members of the Low family; real estate interests of the Low family in Newport News, Virginia; church affairs in Suffolk County; and other matters. An account book (1899-1917) was used to record sales and exchanges of adding machines and accessories less

Everett Frazar (1834-1901), American diplomat and merchant, was appointed consul-general for Korea at New York in 1883. His firm, Frazar and Company, did business in China, Japan and Korea. He served as president of the American Asiatic Association. Collection consists of correspondence, official documents, business papers, newsclippings, and other papers of Frazar and his son, Everett W. Frazar (b. 1867). Materials relate chiefly to Frazar's activities as consul-general, 1883-1900; to the business of the mercantile firm of Frazar and Company, 1884-1923; and to the American Asiatic Association, 1898-1948. less

The Fergusons were an English family that settled in New York City beginning around 1802. The patriarch, Samuel Ferguson, was a prosperous merchant who established familial and commercial relationships with other wealthy and socially prominent New York families, including the Walton, Morewood, Day, Ogden, Lyde, and Fisher families. The Ferguson family papers, 1727-1943, consist of 18th and 19th century correspondence, business records, financial and legal documents, diaries, and family miscellany of the Ferguson and allied families. Genealogical notes, charts, and clippings dating from the early- to mid-20th century reflect the research of Samuel Ferguson's great-granddaughter, Helen Ferguson on the family's history. less

Fogg Brothers Company was a mercantile firm in Boston, Massachusetts. Collection consists of bills of lading, bills of exchange and other accounts relating to trade with China, particularly in cotton cloth. Also, cuts of trademarks used on American-made cotton cloth in the China trade, and cotton cloth showing trademarks. less

John Thallon & Co., Inc. was a wholesale firm in New York City that handled meats, poultry, dairy products, and pickles. Collection consists of journals, ledgers, cash books, contract books, and other business records, as well as some personal financial accounting records of the Thallon family. Also included are samples of telephone code books and World War II ration books. less

The Burgess family papers document three generations of an English family involved in overseas commerce. Charles Henry Burgess (1806-1854) was the first British subject to export good directly from England to Persia. The papers contain correspondence, diaries, financial records, art work and other materials documenting the personal life and commercial activities of the family members. The papers provide abundant information on a rich variety of British, Anglo-Persian and Anglo-American topics. less

The Colles family papers contain extensive correspondence, diaries, financial records, photographs, and personal miscellany of three generations of the Colles family, 1801-1957. Over half of the collection is devoted to the papers of prominent New York City and New Orleans merchant James Colles (1788-1883), and his granddaughter, the artist Gertrude Colles (1869-1957) of New York City and Morristown, New Jersey. less

Charles Ranlett Flint (1850-1934) was a financial capitalist, merchant and industrial consolidator. He entered the shipping business and worked for commission merchants in New York City. Popularly known as the "Father of Trusts", he was responsible for many industrial consolidations and mergers. Collection consists of correspondence, agreements, memoranda, minutes, commercial codes, financial statements, securities accounts, and patent and shipping papers which reflect Flint's multifarious and far-flung business activities in America, South America, Russia, and China. Included are papers relating to industrial mergers; rubber goods manufacturing on Long Island (N.Y.); the financing of the United States Rubber Company; the purchase and re-organization of the New York Times Company; the paving of the streets of Manaus, Brazil; a new submarine engine; proposals for railways between Guayaquil and Quito in Ecuador and between Alaska and Siberia; the supplying of munitions and cartridge belts to the Russian army; and the provision of loans to Russia and to China for railway development and to the Sultan of Turkey for the purchase of naval vessels. Also, correspondence of Flint as chairman of the American Committee for the Encouragement of Democratic Government in Russia. Personal miscellaneous papers include his receipts while travelling abroad, personal press clippings, photographs, and printed matter. less

Collection contains correspondence, legal and financial documents, estate papers, inventories, notes, maps, photographs, and printed materials that document Field's business activities and estate. General correpondence, 1846-1892 (mostly incoming letters), concerns business matters. Business papers, 1858-1891, consist of correspondence and legal and financial documents relating to Field's involvement with various telegraph, railroad and newspaper companies. Land papers, 1831-1895, pertain to properties in New York State (with information about the Croton Aqueduct), New York City and Massachusetts. Field's estate papers, 1851-1905, include wills, insurance policies, stock, correspondence, legal papers, and claims against Field's estate. Financial papers, 1843-1892, contain account books, accounts, receipts, and cancelled checks. Also, inventories of Field's estate, notes on the Field family, papers regarding Major John André monument and James Garfield memorial, maps, photographs, printed matter, and miscellaneous papers. less

Abner Lord Ely (1805-1871) was a New York City merchant and real estate manager. He founded the real estate management firm Horace S. Ely & Company in New York City. Collection consists of general and family correspondence, legal and financial papers, and other materials relating mainly to Ely's activities as a dry goods merchant, commission agent, and manager of real estate in New York City. Correspondence, 1832-1871, received from John B. Lesieur, a socially prominent American residing in Paris, France, concerns political events in France and Europe and properties in New York which were managed by Ely. Included is correspondence with members of the Mead family and with Ely's brother John, a lawyer, regarding cases involving mercantile law being tried before the United States Supreme Court. Also, miscellaneous legal and financial papers of other members of the Ely family and a history, 1955, of the firm founded by Ely written by his lineal descendant Richard Ely Nevius. less

Isaiah Townsend (1777-1838) and John Townsend (1783-1854) were merchants in Albany, N.Y. The brothers and their heirs, Franklin, Theodore and Rufus, were active in business and political developments of the day. Their business interests began and were concentrated in the iron trade but also included salt production, railroads, steamboats, real estate in New York and other states, banking, and insurance. Collection consists of correspondence, business, legal and land papers, and other materials that document the business activities of the Townsend family. Correspondence, 1799-1897, mainly concerns business interests but also contains references to political issues and family and personal matters. Business correspondence relates to orders for manufacture of parts, accounts, and purchase and sale of iron primarily in New York. Accounts, 1801-1896, are included for the various companies set up by the Townsend family and other companies in which they had shares and/or interests. These records consist of items such as bills, receipts, orders, notes and drafts, invoices, money and labor lists, weigher's returns, statements, and cancelled checks. Legal papers, 1805-1845, contain papers relating to debts, estate matters, land disputes, and receipts for family expenditures. Also, land papers, 1799-1854; insurance papers, 1821-1880; and miscellaneous papers, 1802-1902, which include a variety of business-related documents; a diary, 1840-1841, of Isaiah Townsend; lectures, 1860-1865, given by Howard Townsend; and mechanical drawings. less