{"value"=>"<p>Many of the companies in this series pre-date or post-date Taylor and his firm. It is not known how the records of these merchants came to be in the collection. The bulk of the records in this series are those of Levi Coit, Coit & Smith, and William Coit, from 1796 through 1844. These merchants may have been associates of Taylor's father. In view of their names, however, it is more likely that they were related to Henry Augustus Coit, Taylor's former agent in the Cuban sugar trade, who may have inherited their records and stored them in his space in Taylor's South Street office. Some of the firms may have been Taylor's tenants.</p>"}