Rotch, Joseph

Scope and Contents: Two account books of merchant and shipowner Humphrey Howland (1759-1812), of New Bedford, Massachusetts, containing records of a general store, trade of whale oil and fish and Howland's commissions on sales, operation of a spermaceti works and a wharf, and coastwise shipping and West Indies voyages. Volume one is a daybook with entries related to shipping, shipfitting, wharfage, dockage, and storage of commodities, sales of general merchandise, and wages paid to employees of the spermaceti...

Scope and Contents:

Account book listing poll, real estate, and personal taxes paid by residents of New Bedford to the Province of Massachusetts Bay for the year 1771. Surnames in the volume include Bennett, Delano, Eldredge, Hathaway, Jenne, Nye, Pope, Spooner, Taber, and Tobey. Also contains entries for mariner Joseph Rotch, and widows Hannah West and Elizabeth White. Several payments of real estate tax were made by men on behalf of widowed or single women.

Scope and Contents: The collection includes correspondence, bills, receipts for payment, a petty cash book, and other business records of members of the Rotch family, dating between 1808 and 1836. The bulk of the materials concern the business interests of William R. Rotch and Company of New Bedford, Massachusetts. Notable materials include reports from William R. Rotch's commercial agents and ship captains updating him on the current state of foreign markets such as Lisbon, Rio de Janeiro, Bilboa, and Madeira;...