Woodbridge Mercantile Company Records

Access and use

Location of collection:
West Virginia and Regional History Center
West Virginia & Regional History Center
West Virginia University
P.O. Box 6069
1549 University Avenue
Morgantown, WV 26506
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Lori Hostuttler
Phone: (304) 293-3536
Restrictions:

No special access restriction applies.

Terms of access:

Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.

Preferred citation:

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Woodbridge Mercantile Company Records, A&M 1455, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Summary

Extent:
11.10 Linear Feet Summary: 11 ft. 1 1/4 in. (21 document cases, 5 in. each); (3 document cases, 2 1/2 in. each); (4 small flat storage boxes, 3 1/2 in. each); (1 small flat storage box, 5 in.); (1 reel of microfilm, 1.75 in.)
Creator:
Woodbridge Mercantile Company
Abstract:
Letter and account books, clipping scrapbooks, and miscellaneous family papers of a pioneer, Ohio Valley, general merchandise firm founded by Dudley Woodbridge, Sr., at Marietta, Ohio, and operating under various names for a period of more than sixty years. The collection also includes the account books of Daniel, Richard, and John Greene, 1808-1844; account books of F.B. Loomis, 1842-1844; a medicinal formulary book; the estate records of John Brody; records of a pension and bounty land claims agency operated by George M. Woodbridge, 1861-1864; and justice of the peace accounts, 1832-1863. Subjects include the development of river markets, transportation, and the livestock industry in the early Ohio Valley; fur trade and commerce with England and Europe; the Marietta and Susquehanna Trading Company; Kanawha and Sciota salt works; Ohio Company lands; Woodbridge-Harman Blennerhassett partnership; ginseng trade; Wheeling Cotton Manufacturing Company; ropewalk and shipbuilding in Marietta; military land warrants; estate of George Morgan; career of William Woodbridge, United States senator and governor of Michigan; pioneer education; Meadville Seminary; Ohio University; Miami University; Marietta Collegiate Institute; Belpre, Ohio; American Catholic missions; early history of Marietta; the American Colonization Society; Washington County Colonization Society; churches; Washington County Tract Society; recruiting in Marietta during the Civil War; impact of the War of 1812 on westward migration and labor; and Woodbridge family affairs. Letters are addressed to merchants in London, France, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Charleston (West Virginia), Lexington and Louisville (Kentucky), Cincinnati, St. Louis, New Orleans, Washington, Detroit, and Baltimore. Correspondents include Lewis Cass, Philip Doddridge, and Benjamin Reeder.
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Woodbridge Mercantile Company Records, A&M 1455, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Background

Scope and content:

These are the records of the Woodbridge Mercantile Company and related businesses operated in Marietta, Ohio from the years 1743 to 1882. Woodbridge began the business, which included trade up and down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh and Philadelphia to Kentucky and points in between. George M. Woodbridge's business dealt in real estate, and so indicates the growth of the area west of Marietta. The growth of river trade and the types of goods traded are described extensively in the collection. Other topics include aspects of life in the early nineteenth century Ohio River Valley, real estate, and other business concerns. Prominent names in the collection include D. Woodbridge, George M. Woodbridge, and Harmon Blennerhasset.

Subjects found in collection:

Ships and shipbuilding – Volumes 1, 6, 8, 14, 31, 37, 53, 132

Transportation of goods, overland and by river (Ohio and Muskingum) – Volumes 1, 2, 4, 5, 9, 123, 124

Harmon Blennerhasset and Blennerhasset Island – Volumes 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25

Land values and transaction of land – Volumes 56, 79, 81, 89, 131

Bank of Marietta – Volumes 2, 6, 9, 98

This series includes volumes 1-10, which are letter books dating from 1801 to 1836. These books contain copies of correspondence mostly regarding business matters of Woodbridge Mercantile Company. Subjects discussed include goods traded, ship building, river traffic and overland transportation of goods, impact of the War of 1812, Blennerhasset Island, purchases of stock in local banks, and land sales.

Letters signed D. Woodbridge, Jr. and D. Woodbridge and Co. Includes 52 letters to Harman Blennerhassett re. company business, goods ordered, and ship building, launching, and voyages. Cargo mentioned includes skins, hemp, ginseng, and pork taken in trade and purchased for sale in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Also, letters to James Converse, Joseph F. Munro, Mrs. Mary Jourdan (Philadelphia agent for Woodbridge & Co.), James Backus, William Woodbridge, Joseph Clarke, Jacob Burnet, John Daman, Andrew and John Oliphant, R. Caldwell, and Capt. William Latimer. Subjects include purchasing and selling various goods, shipbuilding, ropewalk business in Marietta, river traffic, instructions to agents, and Sciota Salt Works.

Subjects include dissolution of D. Woodbridge & Co. partnership, purchase and sale of goods, transportation by wagon and riverboats, salt received on commission from Donnally and Steele (Kanawha Salt Works), transactions on Ohio Company lands, ropewalk in Marietta, purchase of shares in Pittsburgh manufaturing company, settlement of Col. George Morgan estate, transactions involving sugar and cotton in New Orleans and Kentucky, riverboat accidents and loss of cargo, effects of war on emigration to Ohio, the shortage of labor, Ohio banks, purchase of stock in a Canal company, and barge building in Marietta. Correspondents include: Moses Dillon, Jeffry Price, Sen. John Lambert, John Tilford, James Mountain, Harmon Blennerhassett, George Morgan, Philip Doddridge, Capt. Daniel Greene, Jonathan Buitteau, Benjamin Morgan, and Thomas Butler. Locations include: Philadelphia, Nashville, Cincinnati, Charleston, Lexington, Zanesville, and New Orleans.

Subjects include fur trade with London and French merchants, purcahse and sale of ginseng and other products, and re. conduct of storage and commission business. Names include: Thomas Morgan, Samuel Murdock, Thomas L. Pierce, Sevil Scovil and Co., John Barr, and L. Barber. Places named include: Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Lexington, New York, St. Louis, and London.

Subjects include currency exchange, shipping conditions, marketing information, rental of Blennerhassett Island, and mercantile business. Names and firms: Moses Dillon, James W. Biddle & Co., Steele, Donnally & Steele, Thomas Baker, S.&G. Trotter & Co., and Gelman and Ammidon. Places named include: Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Kentucky.

Subjects include routine business letters, the Lucy Backus Woodbridge estate, family correspondence, resignation of William Woodbridge from Congress, rental of Blennerhassett Island. Business firms mentioned: Benjamin J. Gilman, W. Wilson & Co., Robert Fulton, R. J. Meigs, Clarissa Backus, J. W. Biddle & Co., and John Sproule. Places of business include: Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Frankfort, Lexington, Washington D.C., Zanesville, Chillicothe, Detroit, Clarksburg, and Parkersburg.

Subjects include purchase of bank stock, estate of Lucy Backus Woodbridge, currency exchange, steamboat building, and family and business affairs. Correspondents include: Jesse B. Thomas, Benjamin Reeder, E. Buckingham Jr. & Co., Elihu Chauncey, Henry Strong, Daniel Converse, Joseph Willard, Sam A. Wescott, and Henry Northrup. Places addressed: Washington D.C., Norwich, Lexington, Philadelphia, Pitssburgh, Wheeling, Clarksburg, Frankfort, St. Clairsville, Steubenville, Zanesville, and Cincinnati.

Unsigned letters, mainly from Pt. Harman, ordering goods for the D. Woodbridge Store. Also some letters concerning tobacco, ginseng, dried fruit, skins, beeswax, rags, feathers, and other products shipped to eastern markets for sale.

Subjects: principally rountine business correspondence, but also includes letters to Wheeling seeking wool. Names of steamboats and captains are mentioned in various letters. Names of persons and companies addressed: J.J. Jackson, Luther Edgerton, Jones, Tyson & Co., W. Palmer, and D.T. Chambers. Letters addressed to: Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Parkersburg, Sistersville, Wheeling, Louisville, Pt. Harman, Salem Ripley, and McConnelsville.

Subjects: family affairs, religion, William Woodbridge's office as U.S. Judge in Michigan, Wheeling Cotton Manufacturing Co., stock in Bank of the U.S. and other banks, the Morganza Tract in Pennsylvania, churches, missionary societies,Collegiate Institute, property in Marietta, and business opportunities. Correspondents include: Lewis Cass, Thomas McKennan, Waterman Palmer, Thomas Morgan, Rev. R.H. Bishop, William Holyoke, Rev. Artemus Ballard, Joseph Gales, and Rev. James Laurie.

A few letters dated at Pittsburgh to merchants and business houses in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Louisville. Also includes a cash book spanning Jan. 1834 to Oct. 1836.

This series includes volumes 11-89. These are all daybooks (blotters) from 1788-1862. Subjects included concern river boats, Harmon Blennerhasset, transactions with various firms, goods traded, land warrants, and land sales.

This series contains record books other than daybooks, including volumes 90-128, 137, 138, and 141-145. Volumes 90-128 are records of the Woodbridge Company; volumes 137-138 are the records of the Greene Company; and volumes 142-145 are the records of the F.B. Loomis Company. Many of these contain the same sort of information as the day books, in a similar format. Years covered are 1743-1854. Types of books include invoice books, ledgers, cash books, inventory, warehouse books, memorandum books, sale books, receipt books, account books, and alphabetical indexes (volume 141).

This series contains only volumes 139-140. These are pension claim books of George M. Woodbridge during the Civil War. Dates are 1861-1864 and 1863 respectively.

This series consists of volumes 129-136, which are miscellaneous collections of George M. Woodbridge. Dates run from 1779 to 1882, but most items concern the later time period. Items included are blank notes from G.M. Woodbridge's General Agency and Land Office; Justice of the Peace Accounts, listing notes, cash payments, unsettled notes, etc.; Woodbridge Autobiographical memo, including a sampling of materials found elsewhere in the collection; a prescription book; a newspaper scrapbook compiled in the 1870s; another scrapbook, containing mostly religious material; a U.S. Internal Revenue List of the Several Collection Districts (1870); and an old manuscript book containing copies of anecdotes, stories, diary excerpts, and poems written by George M. Woodbridge. This last includes such titles as "Marietta in 1804 or 1805," "The Blennerhassets," "Ships and Steamboats," and "Steamboats Built at Marietta." There are 34 such writings in the manuscript book.

Physical location:
West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:
American ginseng
Account books
Livestock
Churches -- Roman Catholic, American missions
Churches -- Roman Catholic
Church buildings
Drugs and druggists.
Education
Education. SEE ALSO Schools.
Fur trade
General stores
Justices of the peace
Labor organization. SEE ALSO Coal mining - labor
Medicine. SEE ALSO Folk medicine.
Missionaries
Frontier and pioneer life
Politics and government.
Rivers and river valleys.
Salt industry and trade
Schools. SEE ALSO Academies
Slaves and slavery.
Transportation
Unions.
Universities and colleges
Names:
American Colonization Society
Marietta and Susquehanna Trading Company
Marietta Collegiate Institute and Western Teachers' Seminary
Meadville Seminary
Miami University (Oxford, Ohio)
Ohio Company.
Ohio University
United States. Congress. Senate
Washington County Colonization Society
Washington County Tract Society
Wheeling Cotton Manufacturing Company
Woodbridge Mercantile Company
Woodbridge-Blennerhassett.
Brody, John.
Cass, Lewis.
Doddridge, Philip, 1773-1832
Greene, Daniel.
Greene, John.
Greene, Richard.
Loomis, F.B.
Morgan, George
Reeder, Benjamin.
Woodbridge, Dudley, Sr.
Woodbridge, George M.
Woodbridge, William.
Places:
Baltimore (Md.)
Charleston.
Cincinnati (Ohio)
Detroit (Mich.)
England
Europe
France
Kanawha.
Lexington (Ky.)
London (England)
Louisville (Ky.)
Marietta (Ohio)
Michigan
New Orleans (La.)
New York (State)
Ohio River Valley
Philadelphia (Pa.)
Pittsburgh (Pa.)
Saint Louis (Mo.)
Scioto River (Ohio)
Washington (D.C.)
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
United States -- History -- War of 1812