J. Hall Pleasants papers

The J. Hall Pleasants Papers, MS. 194, consist of family and business documents which span the years 1773-1957

Series I contains the papers, 1897-1957, of Dr. J[acob] Hall Pleasants dealing with three publications on which he worked, Archives of Maryland, Maryland Silversmiths, 1715-1830, and possibly Maryland History Bibliography; his genealogical research; and the Pleasants File.

"The Archives of Maryland," a series of volumes composed of transcriptions of early Maryland records written prior to the acknowledgement of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, was printed by the Maryland Historical Society in compliance with Chapter 138, Laws of Maryland, January Session, 1882. This law required the Society to agree to print historically significant state documents in order for all pre-Revolutionary Maryland records to be transferred to their care. The printing of these documents, therefore, became an ongoing project and on 17 February 1909, Clayton C. Hall, chairman of the Committee on Publications of the Society, sent a circular letter to various libraries asking if their collections contained any original Maryland session laws passed before the American Revolution from which a transcription could be made. The responses from the libraries to Hall's inquiry and to the same question asked by Bernard C. Steiner, editor of the "Archives", in 1917; by J. Appleton Wilson, corresponding secretary of the Society, in 1924; and from 1921-1929 by J. Hall Pleasants, a later editor of the "Archives," comprise the correspondence relating to this voluminous series. An undated copy of one of the circular letters also appears in this section. In addition, there is a list of pre-Revolutionary Maryland laws and proceedings.

"Maryland Silversmiths," a joint venture with Howard Sill who died before the book's publication in 1930, compiles information on known silversmiths operating in early Maryland. Pleasants began his research for this successful volume by making a survey of Maryland silver and its crafters. A majority of the correspondence, 1920-1940, therefore, was either responses to letters of inquiry sent by Dr. Pleasants to persons in possession of Maryland silver or responses from persons who had information on early Maryland silversmiths (i.e. where in Maryland they worked, during what years, biographical information, and hallmarks). The three most prolific correspondents were Alfred C. Prime of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Francis Hill Bigelow of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Lawrence C. Wroth of the John Carter Brown Library, Providence, Rhode Island. In October 1930, silver enthusiasts began requesting copies of the volume. The remainder of the items concerning "Silversmiths" includes three folders of research notes, the copyright registration, magazine advertisements, reviews of the volume, a list of purchasers of the book, newspaper articles, and some photographs of Maryland silver. Later, 1952-1956, Pleasants received letters from persons seeking his help in identifying the maker of their silver.

Before his death on 24 August 1957, Dr. Pleasants might have been starting to gather information for a new publication as suggested by a small notebook entitled Maryland History Bibliography. A date of 15 September 1957, however, twenty-two days after Pleasants' death, also occurred in the notebook.

Another interest of Dr. Pleasants was genealogy. He kept three notebooks containing information on the Redgrave, Gittings, Owings, and Wilmont families, the first two compiled in 1897 and the latter circa 1915. Along with the volumes, Pleasants maintained additional genealogical notes on these families and those of Pleasants, Goldsmith, Collett, Utie, Wells, Garrettson, and Beedle. The correspondence, 1897-1899 and 1916-1957, discusses the genealogies of the aforementioned families as well as Thomas Cramphin (1740-1830) who lived in Montgomery County, Maryland, and the circa 1943 transcriptions of letters written by signers of the Declaration of Independence. These transcriptions are of letters held by various institutions and penned by Samuel Chase, Lyman Hall, Benjamin Franklin, William Ellery, Elias Woodruff, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Morris, and William Hooper. Miscellaneous genealogical items include a printed chart of the descendants of Walter de Curzon Poultney and a typescript of the memoir of John Carnan Tevis (1816-). A further group of notes and correspondence on various Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania families compiled by Dr. Pleasants was removed to the Reference Division and entitled, J. Hall Pleasants Collection, G. 5096.

The Pleasants File, a compilation of data on paintings existing in Maryland during the 1920s and 1930s as researched by Dr. Pleasants, includes photographs and relevant information on subjects and artists for portraits, landscapes, etc. found in Maryland homes, courthouses, churches, and public and private institutions. No longer part of this collection, it has been removed to the chief curator's office. Those persons wishing to use the file must apply in advance and in writing to the chief curator stating what information they seek and the purpose of their research.

Series II contains papers, 1810-1812, relating to the building of the Riddell House (a.k.a. the Carroll House) at 11 East Pleasants Street, Baltimore, Maryland, for Judith Carter (Armistead) Riddell. She, the recent widow of Robert Riddell, had her affairs managed by her brother-in-law, John Pemberton Pleasants, who retained all bills and receipts for the construction of the house, everything from the cost and size of the marble stairs to the barrel of beer per week for the workers, as well as a complete accounting of the construction materials. Mrs. Riddell designed the structure, but the person who drew the floor plans and made the notes in the margins remains unidentified. John Donaldson of Conowago Street worked as the carpenter and builder (known today as a contractor) of this Greek Revival row house. He estimated the cost in 1810 at $8,207.00, but the final cost in 1812 came to $14,877.94 mainly because Mrs. Riddell wanted the best items and materials of the day for her house. The C&P Telephone Company razed the structure circa 1930 in order to make way for the building of their offices, but the entrance and an interior hallway arch have been preserved at the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Series III, Pleasants Business Papers, 1787-1854, contains the records of seven Pleasants family businesses. These papers constitute the bulk of this collection and are divided into seven subseries: correspondence, checks and promissory notes, company accounts and papers, estate of John P. Pleasants, legal proceedings, land papers, and the Byrd family papers.

Their first business, Samuel Pleasants and Sons, a mercantile firm located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, operated from circa 1787 until 1804 when the partnership with sons John Pemberton and Israel was dissolved. Documents relating to this company span the years 1787-1805. Secondly, brothers John and Robert Pleasants managed the Baltimore, Maryland, mercantile firm of John and Robert Pleasants and Company, circa 1792-1799, while John was also a member of his father's Philadelphia concern. Papers relating to this partnership cover the years 1792-1799. Later, John established his own Baltimore mercantile house at 197 Baltimore Street, John P. Pleasants and Company, which operated circa 1797-1801. Documents relating to this business span the years 1797-1813. During this time, Israel also engaged in his own Philadelphia and Baltimore concern, Israel Pleasants and Company, circa 1798-1801. Records for this company cover the years 1798-1804.

In 1802, according to the Baltimore City Directory, Israel and John established the wholesale dry goods business of Israel and John P. Pleasants at 197 Baltimore Street. The two brothers were involved extensively in the tobacco and ginseng trade. Their business went bankrupt, however, in 1805 and was dissolved in 1806 because of poor management and lack of payments from their debtors. Papers relating to this company span the years 1798-1837. After the bankruptcy, Israel returned to Philadelphia, but John remained in Baltimore and became a commission merchant. In 1810, he established the John P. Pleasants Company at 10 South Charles Street which later relocated to 8 Light Street Wharf. Documents for this company cover the years 1811-1823.

By 1817, however, the name of the business had become John P. Pleasants and Sons when sons William A. and John Pemberton (a.k.a. Pemberton) joined the firm followed later by sons Jacob and Richard. William headed the company after his father's death in 1825 and Richard succeeded at William's death in 1849. John P. Pleasants and Sons was dissolved in 1905, the longest-running business in Baltimore at that time. Records for this firm span the years 1815-1839.

The correspondence, consisting of incoming and outgoing business letters and some general mail, 1789-1854, contains a wealth of information on the aforementioned Pleasants family companies. Business accounts often appear inside the letters which are sometimes in duplicate or triplicate. The practice of sending copies of a single letter on different ships to insure that at least one copy would reach its destination was widely used because of the unreliability of the mails.

Early incoming business letters deal with the Israel and John P. Pleasants Company whose creditors, including their father, Samuel, and brothers, Charles, Joseph, Robert, and James, request the money owed to them. By January, 1805, however, Israel and John realized that they could not pay their company's bills. Their brothers became angered at this announcement and worried if their reputations would be affected by the business failure of Israel and John. In fact, some letters sent to Baltimore by the brothers and the father were malicious and accused Israel and John of willful deception. Their father, who owned vast tracts of land in Virginia and Kentucky, however, offered them in his letter of 15 January 1805, 50,000 acres to use in payment to their other creditors if they assigned him $25,000 in good debts. Then the good debts would be payment for the money owed Samuel by the Israel Pleasants Company. Israel and John accepted this agreement. The creditors, however, especially the English ones, were not satisfied with this arrangement because tracts of land in the wilds of Kentucky and Virginia were useless to them and because they had carried the Pleasants's debts for a number of months. Later, all of the creditors agreed to the terms of exchanging land for money, etc., letter dated 1 March 1805, except for the Tunno and Loughnan Company and the Relph and Todhunters Company of England.

From 1803-1813, Henry Garrett of Dunkirk, [Maryland,] served as an agent for the Israel and John P. Pleasants Company in recovering the money due them by Virginia debtors. In addition, Garrett oversaw the prosecution of lawsuits against these debotrs and reported the progression and final outcome of the cases to Israel and John Pleasants. Thomas C. Hoomes of King and Queen Courthouse, Virginia, acted as the attorney in these trials. The litigants included John Mandeville, Mr. Baytop, Mr. Throckmorton, and Benjamin Reeder, among others. A complete history of the Mandeville v. Gibson case is recounted in the letter from T[homas] B[.] Barton to John Pleasants dated 7 September 1820. Edmund J. Lee also helped with the 1813 suit against Mandeville.

In 1817, Archibald R. Taylor of Fredericksburg, Virginia, succeeded Mr. Garrett as the agent for this defunct company. He gathered information for legal cases, reported the progress and outcome of these litigations, collected debts, and also quoted prices for tobacco, wheat, and flour in his letters to John Pleasants. Mr. Taylor moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1822, but continued as their agent until 1825. A majority of the incoming correspondence written between the years 1817-1825 was penned by him and concerned the aforementioned topics.

The Pleasants and their agents continue to discuss Virginia and Kentucky court cases and their outcomes in the correspondence from 1820-23. More information on the Mandeville v. Gibson case is presented in the letters of 6 June and 21 July 1821. While in Virginia, William Pleasants wrote three letters in October, 1823, to his father concerning his effort to gather information for a court case.

The Pleasants' trade with English merchants had been interrupted by a series of federal commerce regulations which forbade trade with Great Britain and France: the Non-Importation Act of 1806, the Embargo Act of 1807, and the Non-Intercourse Act of 1809. On 1 May 1810, Macon Bill, No. 2, once again restored trade between the United States and the two combatants, Great Britain and France, but only if these two countries repealed their similar decrees against the United States. Napoleon, however, by failing to return sequestered American vessels, using the permit system, and imposing high tariffs, caused President Madison to act in accordance with the Macon Bill and proclaim on 2 November 1810 that non-intercourse with England and France would again take effect on 1 February 1811. In a letter dated 6 February 1811 to Wallis and Lloyd of Birmingham, England, G.F. and J. Lindberger of Baltimore expressed concern as to whether British goods could be shipped to America in the fall. Products traded with England included tobacco, ginseng, buttons, and umbrella furniture (parts).

American merchants were not in favor of non-intercourse because they already suffered financially from the ban on commerce with England. Congress, therefore, accepted John W. Eppes' amendment to the Foreign Relations Committee bill that would allow trade with England if they repealed their Orders in Council. Until that time, however, the 2 March 1811 Non-Importation Act against the British would be in effect. On 23 June 1812, Great Britain repealed their orders of November, 1807, and April, 1809, but the Congress had already declared war on England on 18 June because of their impressment of American sailors and seizure of American vessels. Therefore, the trade between America and England continued to be interrupted by a new disagreement, the War of 1812, which did not officially end until the U.S. Senate ratified the Treaty of Ghent on 17 February 1815.

Correspondence between the Pleasants and English firms began anew in 1814. In October, John P. Pleasants became an agent for Joseph Wallis and Company of Birmingham, England, when he took over the management of their American accounts from his brother, Charles Pleasants. Throughout 1815, John debated with Wallis the problem of who would bear the loss if goods shipped from England to the United States by Joseph Wallis and Company in the face of the non importation Law of the U.S. were confiscated. In addition, Wallis addressed Pleasants on 25 July 1815 about the probability of an increase in the prices of mercantile products because of Napoleon Bonaparte's defeat and capture by the British. Letters from Joseph Wallis span the years, 1814-1818.

On 7 October 1818, John received a letter from Wallis's brother, William, explaining Joseph's mismanagement of the company money and the resulting June dissolution of Joseph Wallis and Company. Then, in early 1819, G[eorge] W[ashington] Wallis of New York, son of William, along with Edward J. Canning obtained the power of attorney for this defunct company in order to recoup any losses and pay off outstanding debts. George wrote a large body of correspondence during 1819 concerning the business to Pleasants, the company's former agent, who also owed Joseph Wallis and Company $3,567.12.

From 1824-1825, Charles Pleasants, living in Philadelphia, wrote frequently to his older brother, John, concerning John's speculation in Pennsylvania coal lands with Joseph Lyon of Lehighton, Pennsylvania. Lyon, a man whom Charles considered untrustworthy because of his past business failures, conducted his communications with John through Charles. Dr. Horace H. Hayden, a Baltimore dentist and the first person to publish a book in America on geology, was also involved in this speculation as an investor and reputed geologist. As Charles had suspected, however, Lyon's negotiations failed to secure the tract of land the men wanted. Lyon then proposed various options for the recovery of the two gentlemen's investment, but finally decided to buy a coal field on Short Mountain in Pennsylvania from which profits would be used to repay Pleasants and Hayden. This venture, however, also failed and a settlement was made by Charles Pleasants for his brother with Charles Bird, Lyon's business partner. Lyon released Dr. Hayden and John Pleasants from any agreements with him on 5 May 1825, a copy of which is in the papers.

Incoming business correspondence for the years 1826-1828 came addressed to John P. Pleasants and Sons and later after John's death to his son, William, as the head of the firm. The correspondence for the years 1829-1836 is not contained within this collection. A letter written to William Pleasants from W[illia]m F. Peterson on 29 November 1837 acknowledging the receipt of documents concerning lands in Cabell County, Virginia, owned by Israel and John Pleasants, et.al. represents the last incoming correspondence during William's tenure.

The outgoing business correspondence, 1802-1808, comprised of letters written by John and Israel Pleasants, concerns rectifying accounts, getting money from debtors, obtaining counsel for a suit brought against them by John Tunno of London in 1804, and the terms of paying off their debts. The actual terms of payment to their creditors and a description of the lands to be used are in a letter dated 31 March 1805. In two drafts of a letter to Andrew Ellicott (in oversize), Israel and John explain what caused their business to fail. The petition to the Maryland Assembly mentioned in this letter is housed with the company accounts and papers. Correspondence for the years 1809-1819 does not reside in this collection.

From 1820-1837, the outgoing letters contain information about the Joseph Wallis and Company accounts and the opinion of John Purviance, a Baltimore attorney, as to whether a partnership ever existed between Joseph and his brother, William Wallis. (A copy of this 1820 opinion is in the company accounts and papers section). Other topics include the collection of debts owed the estate of the N. Norris and Brooke Company, Joseph Lyon, and other John P. Pleasants and Sons business. The final letter dated 20 December 1837 is William Pleasants's response to William Peterson.

General correspondence contains a letter dated 1792 from G.S. to John Lagart concerning a disreputable Balitmore woman; two letters dated 1799 from Tench to R. H. Moale about land deeds; and an 1804 letter discussing family news from Mary (Armistead) Byrd to her brother-in-law, John P. Pleasants. The last letter, dated 4 September 1854, was written by an acting midshipman from Queen Anne's County, Maryland, William van Wyck (1824-1854), while he served as a caterer on board the U.S. brig Porpoise anchored at Hong Kong. This ship along with the U.S. sloop of war Vincennes, U.S. storeship John P. Kennedy, U.S. steam propeller John Hancock, and the U.S. tender Fenimore Cooper comprised the U.S. Surveying Expedition to the North Pacific Ocean commanded by Commodore Cadwalader Ringgold. In his letter, van Wyck commented on fellow officers, other vessels in the expedition, and his trip to Canton, China, where Chinese rebels were holding forts after the first Opium War with the British, 1839-1842. In addition, he described his visit to a duck factory in Fah-Ty, a Buddhist temple and monastery at Honam, the Chinese practice of burning the dead, opium smoking, the inhumane execution of criminals, and the failure of Commodore Matthew C. Perry to negotiate a treaty with Japan. The Porpoise was last seen on 21 September 1854 between Formosa (now Taiwan) and China and assumed lost in a typhoon.

The next section of the business papers contains the checks and promissory notes for the various Pleasants firms, 1797-1829. Some checks were drawn on the Office of Discount and Deposit or the Mechanics' Bank of Baltimore for the businesses while others were personal or paid by John P. Pleasants for other persons.

All seven Pleasants companies are represented in the company accounts and papers subseries, 1787-1839, with the bulk of the information falling under the Israel and John P. Pleasants Company and John P. Pleasants. The records include the bankruptcy of Israel and John, the Joseph Wallis accounts, and Joseph Lyon's coal speculation, etc. with several accounts overlapping as one Pleasants company succeeds another. Some financial statements are penned inside of letters and therefore reside with the business correspondence while others are housed in the oversize section. The remaining items include unidentified company accounts and the accounts and receipts of miscellaneous persons not related to the companies, 1795-1903.

Further accounts relate to the estate of John P. Pleasants, 1824-1848, who died intestate on 6 August 1825. William, his son, was made the administrator on 1 September 1826 and in this capacity saved the vouchers, tax receipts, Orphans' Court orders, administrative accountings, a judgement, and the inventory of his father's estate. The Orphans' Court orders and administrative accountings contain references to the sale of an enslaved person named Peggy.

The Pleasants participated in approximately twenty legal proceedings, usually to recover debts, in Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, and Louisiana, from 1795-1828. Mandeville v. Gibson and Pleasants v. Baytop and Throckmorton were the largest cases. At that time, chancery courts heard and decided on litigation, a slow and arduous process. Testimony for these and other cases appears in the legal proceedings section with many references found in the business correspondence.

Members of the Pleasants family held tracts of land in Virginia (mostly on the Mud River), Ohio, Pennsylvania, Delaware, South Carolina, and Kentucky with deeds dating from 1787-1850. Samuel Pleasants might have been a major land speculator as it was his vast tracts of land used to pay off the debts of Israel and John when their company went bankrupt in 1805. John held many properties in Baltimore City and County including lots on Primrose Alley, Market Street, Howard Street, Jones's Falls, and an area known as Betts Prosperity, 1794-1810. Other items in the land papers include a contemporary copy of the title dispute hearings in the case of Dr. William Hammond v. Charles Ridgely regarding Ridgely's Addition, 9 May 1787, and a deed for Lot 847 in Howard's Late Addition, 1835.

The papers of the Byrd family constitute the final section of the Pleasants business papers. Capt. Thomas T. Byrd's vouchers reflected his recurrent business with Richard Benson, a Baltimore tailor, 1806-1809. His son's, John Carter Byrd, vouchers covered payment for clothing, boots, boarding with James Kendall, and subscriptions to the Federal Register newspaper, 1806-1815. The two [Francis] Otway Byrd vouchers were for two pair of pantaloons and a full dress uniform coat of the United States Artillery, 1811-1812.

Also included in the collection are the William and Eleanor Ellen Bowles McMechen papers, 1810-1853, comprised of correspondence; receipts for legal fees, pew rents at St. Peter's, ground rents, house repairs, privy emptying, and five gallons of whiskey, 1821-1853; an account with William A. Moale, 1835; and Ellen's 1833 bill of sale from Hannah Kilty Chase (Mrs. Samuel Chase) for an enslaved person named William Drane. The remainder of the papers are their deeds to Baltimore City properties, 1820-1850. The McMechens apparently allowed many of their lots to fall into disrepair which caused the city to proclaim the properties a public nuisance. Therefore, the McMechens would then rent out these properties to people for a few years with the condition that the renters would make repairs to the structure. One letter penned by William McMechen resides in the Pleasants incoming correspondence, 1827.

Series IV concerns the business papers of the Poultney family, 1807-1869. Their first mercantile concern, Poultney and Thomas Company, founded by Thomas Poultney, appeared in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1807, at 162 West Baltimore Street. Documents for this firm span the years, 1807-1827. The mercantile business then became Thomas Poultney and Sons (originally Thomas Poultney and Son), a hardware trading company, when sons Evan, Samuel, and Philip joined with their father. Their business lasted from 1815 until its dissolution on 1 January 1829. Items relating to this company cover the years, 1815-1830. Samuel, however, continued to operate as a hardware and cutlery importer at 164 West Baltimore Street for four years after the dissolution. Documents relating to this firm consist of promissory notes, 1831.

Evan became a private banker and opened Evan Poultney and Company, 1829-1832, at 162 West Baltimore Street, with financial help from Thomas Ellicott, then president of the Union Bank of Maryland. About 1832, Evan became president of the Bank of Maryland and ended his private banking career. His brother, Samuel, and brother-in-law, William Miller Ellicott, reorganized his old company into a new banking house, Poultney, Ellicott and Company, and added Philip as a member. Documents for Poultney, Ellicott, and Company cover the years, 1833-1835. In 1832, Evan also established a partnership in the stocks and profits of the Bank of Maryland with Reverdy Johnson, John Glenn, David M. Perrine, Hugh McElderry and Evan T. Ellicott. Poultney served as president of the bank while Johnson, Glenn, and Ellicott acted as directors.

Then Evan wanted to increase the note circulation of the Bank of Maryland, but the scheme required more specie. He, therefore, devised a plan of paying five-percent interest on deposits as a way to attract more money into the bank. In order to further increase circulation, Evan and the other speculators developed a chain of agencies over the United States through which the notes were moved. Evan Poultney and Company, and later Poultney, Ellicott and Company coordinated these agencies, a profitable arrangement for the banking houses and Evan Poultney. Disaster struck in the winter of 1833, however, when the Union Bank of Maryland stock that the speculators had purchased with money from the Bank of Maryland could not be sold at a profit. The speculators then decided to disband. On 22 March 1834, the Bank of Maryland closed, bringing about the Baltimore panic of 1834. Actually, the origins of the panic lay in the mismanagement and even fraudulent management and overextended condition of the Bank of Maryland. The paper expansion of this bank without adequate specie reserves was accomplished by its introduction of a banking novelty in Baltimore during the winter of 1831-1832: paying interest on deposits.

Samuel, Evan, and Philip Poultney as well as William M. Ellicott were tried for their mismanagement in several cases from 1836-37 at the Harford County Court in Bel Air, Maryland. At the August, 1837, term of that court in the case of The President and Directors of the Bank of Maryland v. Samuel Poultney and William M. Ellicott and Company, Poultney and Ellicott were found guilty by default and ordered to pay the bank $348,522.48.

A majority of the business papers relate to the Poultney's demise after the Bank of Maryland closing in 1834: Samuel and Ellin (Curson) Poultney's papers re the Bank of Maryland, [circa 1828-1834]; Samuel's insolvency application and final discharge, 1834-44; list of Poultney, Ellicott and Company creditors, 1835; manuscript copy of the Poultney, Ellicott and Company dissolution, 30 March 1835; vouchers for court fees, 1836; and Samuel's bill of sale for his one-eighth interest in a ship called India, 19 July 1838. Other related items, Samuel Poultney's deed of chattels to Samuel Hoffman and a list of items he owned prior to his marriage to Ellin Moale Curson, 1828-1834, are in the oversize section. Remaining business documents include Arnaud Rambie's power of attorney to Samuel Poultney, 1 June 1827; rental agreements and bills, 1842-1854; a stock certificate for the Canton Company of Baltimore, 1829; and a certificate of deposit for Poultney, Ellicott and Company.

The correspondence contains a letter from R.W. Gill to Poultney, Ellicott and Company (4 October 1834), a letter from Samuel Hoffman to Samuel Poultney (3 January 1835), and drafts of letters to John B. Stunberger and R.W. Gill, all concerning the banking scandal, as well as an undated letter from Philip Poultney to James W. Williams in Annapolis, Maryland. Included also in this series, are the Alexandria Boarding School tuition bill for Thomas Poultney and a grade report for Richard Poultney, 1850.

Papers relating to the Curson family, 1773-1830, comprise Series V. These documents cover their businesses, personal correspondence, receipts, and the inheritance of the Curson estates in England by Elizabeth Rebecca Becker Curson and her younger sister, Ellin Moale Curson.

The Cursons began their mercantile career in America when Richard Curson, Sr., established the Curson and Seton Company of New York and St. Eustatius (an island in the Dutch West Indies) with either his son-in-law, William Seton, or William's uncle, Andrew Seton. His eldest son, Samuel, was also a member of this firm which flourished from circa 1773-1776. Documents relating to this concern span the aforementioned years and include an account and a bill of exchange.

Fleeing the British because of his revolutionary sentiment, Richard left New York on 20 June 1776 and later removed to Baltimore, Maryland, where he set up Richard Curson and Company, 1777-1803, at 51 Water Street. By 1785, he had been joined by his second son, Richard, Jr. As an importer of goods and wines from Italy and Spain, Richard, Sr., used his ships as privateers to run the British blockade and attack their vessels during the American Revolution. Between 1779 and 1781, eight of Richard Curson and Company's ships were issued letters of marque and reprisal by the Continental Congress. Correspondence relating to this company discusses the slave trade (17 September 1791), business in St. Eustatius, and trade in wine and silks. Papers for this firm cover the years, 1777-1792.

Samuel Curson, like his father, wished to avoid the British in New York and therefore by March, 1776, had taken up residence on St. Eustatius. By 1777, he had established the Curson and Gouveneur Company with Isaac Gouveneur, Jr., which operated out of St. Eustatius and New York. The two men dissolved the company on 31 May 1785 either because of their mutual bad health or because of a difference between them. Miscellaneous accounts for Samuel Curson cover the years 1774-86 and contain of bill of exchange with Effingham Lawrence. Some bills of exchange, promissory notes, and accounts, 1779-1785, from the Curson and Gouveneur Company survive, but the business correspondence, 1785-1786, contains the majority of the information about this firm and its successor, Samuel Curson Company of New York.

Founded in July, 1785, Samuel Curson Company established Curson in his own firm while allowing him to also pay off the debts still owed by the Curson and Gouveneur Company. The letters are representative of other mercantile correspondence of the time and discuss the flour and Indian corn trade between American and English companies; prices of corn, wheat, Indian corn, wines, flour, enslaved persons, gunpowder, tobacco, rice, and fish; the umbrella trade; ships used to transport goods; and Samuel's trade in fine china. A 10 May 1785 letter mentions the problem of selling enslaved persons for cash on the island of Fayal (in the Azores) when the island already has too many enslaved people. Furthermore, the correspondence from September, 1785, through April, 1786, contains references to the problems between Spain and Algeria and the specter of Algerian privateers and Moorish cruisers.

Other references to business and personal matters occur in a block of correspondence written to Samuel Curson by his father, Richard, Sr., between 1785-1786. The elder Curson discusses prices of commodities; the illness of Isaac Gouveneur, Jr.; various ships and captains; the 1785 maiden voyage of the Calcutta-built ship, Pallas India Man; collection of monies owed to him; the August, 1785, construction by Thomas Peters of a brewery in Baltimore; the new tobacco inspection law; a letter of introduction to Samuel concerning Light-Horse Harry Lee; and Samuel's application to the U.S. Congress for the position of U.S. Consul in London. In a letter dated 20 August 1785, Richard refers to Thomas Jefferson as a warm Friend of mine and mentions Gen. Horatio Gates as a person from whom he will obtain a letter of introduction for Samuel in his bid for consul. These letters also provide veiled glimpses into the issue which ultimately led to Samuel's death.

Apparently, Curson was accused of fathering the illegitimate son of Betsey [Burling] who later married Richard John Whittell of England, a first cousin of Samuel. Her brother, [Walter] Burling of Baltimore, Maryland, sought satisfaction from Samuel in the form of money and therefore pursued Curson from the West Indies to London and finally to America. In New York on 21 April 1786, Burling challenged Curson to a duel in which Samuel received a wound to the groin. Three days later Curson succumbed and was interred at the Trinity Church in New York. The complete truth of the matter is unknown, but some family members conjecture that Samuel actually duelled with Whittell (a.k.a. Walter Burling).

Eight letters mention the illegitimate child issue (22 July 1785, 1 August 1785, 6 September 1785, 27 September 1785, 25 October 1785, 7 December 1785, 2 March 1786, and 26 April 1786) with the 25 October letter and John Curson's 7 December correspondence giving the most information. The letters also hint that Richard Whittell may have tried to blackmail the Cursons. Other letters include three written by Thomas Whittell, father of Richard. For further information on this affair, read J. Hall Pleasants's The Curzon Family of New York and Baltimore.

The remaining Curson company accounts and papers constitute a 1785 power of attorney from Richard Curson to Samuel Curson; a 1791 power of attorney from Richard Curson, Sr., to Richard Curson, Jr.; and the correspondence of Richard Curson, Jr., 1786-96. Topics discussed in the letters included business with his father and R.H. Moale, and the 1791 hurricane in New Bern, North Carolina.

Curson family receipted bills span the years, 1797-1822, and are mostly for clothing and accessories. Family members represented in the receipts include Elizabeth (Moale) Curson, Richard Curson, Jr., Ellin (North) Moale, Elizabeth R.B. Curson, and Ellin Moale Curson. Ellin (North) Moale (1740-1825) was the first white child born in Baltimore, Maryland.

The final group of Curson papers concerns the inheritance of English estates by Elizabeth R.B. and Ellin Moale Curson, ca. 1822. Spanning the years 1783-1830, the estate documents include abstracts from the wills of Richard Curson of Richmond and John Curson of Ipswich and surveys of the freehold estates of Richard Curson, Sr., ca. 1783-1799; papers and correspondence, 1793-1825 and undated; and oversize accounts with a copy of the Lawrence mortgage, 1809-1830.

In the early correspondence, 1793-1815, topics discussed included the death of John Curson of Ipswich; the contents of his will; the property left to Mrs. Wood by Richard Curson of Richmond (inherited later by the Curson women); the incapability of Richard Curson, Jr., and the necessity of having him declared insane, 1806-1808; building of the Vauxhall Bridge across the Thames River on the Curson property, 1809, 1815; and the suspension of trade and the probability of war between England and America, 1807-1808. The correspondence resumes in 1820 with Edward B. Lawrence's letter to Elizabeth (Moale) Curson telling her that an agent must be appointed to finally settle the Curson estates now that Elizabeth R.B. and Ellin are of age. She asked Richard Carroll to become their agent who in turn contacted Thomas Walford of Foulkes, Langford, and Walford in London. Carroll's goal was to settle the estate, pay the Lawrence mortgage, and sell the other properties. Letters between Carroll and Walford, 1820-1822, reveal their problem with the law firm of Holmes and Turner who would not give up the Curson estate documents in their possession. Walford finally obtained the papers in late 1821 or early 1822. In his letters, Walford also wrote about the disposal of the Lawrence mortgage, the other properties to be sold, and money earned from the Vauxhall Bridge Company and the sale of the Curson lots in and around London (4 June 1822). The women received about $20,000 after paying the mortgage and the surveyor.

The George-Ellicott-Tyson correspondence is dated 1823-1873. The George-Ellicott letters discussed family news and were written by Eliza George (later Mrs. John D. Early) to her maternal aunts, Leatitia H. Ellicott (later Mrs. Thomas R. Fisher) and Mary Ann Ellicott, 1823-1829, 1839; Mary Ann Ellicott to her sister, Mrs. L.E. Fisher, 1837; and Anne George to her aunt, Mrs. Thomas Fisher, 1841. Other items include a wedding invitation to Mrs. Eliza Early, 1873; a letter from Isabella Belle Tyson to Harvey, Fanny, and Polly, 1872; and a name card of Mrs. Ross Winans, n.d. One letter written by Eliza George is in the oversize file.

Dr. Stedman R. Tilghman's scrapbook, 1838-1845, containing newspaper clippings on mountain and prairie life, autographs, correspondence, a piece of beaver tail, engravings, and twenty-five pencil, pen, and watercolor sketches, nineteen of which were done by Richard Caton Woodville (1825-1855). The Woodville sketches consist of professors and fellow students at the University of Maryland, 1842-43, doctors and persons at the Baltimore Alms House, 1845, and a sketch of Woodville himself. The young Baltimore artist originally began a medical career and studied at the University of Maryland during the 1842-43 session. During that time, he would have met his old friend from St. Mary's College, Stedman R. Tilghman (1822-1848), who graduated from the medical school in 1843. Tilghman left that year to accompany Sir William Drummond Stewart on his last expedition to the Rocky Mountains. Sketches from that expedition are in the scrapbook. This volume is restricted.

The A[ndrew] J.H. Way scrapbook, 1864-88, is the last item of the Pleasants Papers. Way (1826-1888) was a Baltimore artist noted for painting fruit. His scrapbook contains newspaper clippings on art sales, exhibits, artists, and the Maryland Academy of Art as well as death notices for various persons.