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SERIES Identifier: Mss:761 1754-1819 A122

Series I. Financial records, 1754-1819

Scope and Contents

This series contains journals, waste books, cashbooks, ledgers, and other account books, in addition to loose invoices, bills, receipts, and accounts current generated by the business of Samuel Abbot and Abbot & Co. There are also records related to his investments in Continental Loan Office Certificates and other securities, and legal papers and deeds related to people enslaved by Abbot and his family.

Included are foreign invoices and accounts from Abbot's agents, primarily in England. There are invoices of dry goods, earthenware, penknives, ink pots, spectacle cases, and glass shipped by Trecothick, Apthorp & Thomlinson of London, as well as invoices of merchandise the company bought from tradesmen and manufacturers on commission for Abbot; and invoices from Hayley & Hopkins, Harrison & Ansley, and William Reeve Son & Hill for shipments of window glass, casks of shot, gunpowder, bar lead, and dry goods. There are also their accounts current settled by Abbot, and bills of exchange purchased by Abbot and sent to London merchants.

The series additionally contains orders for general store merchandise, like dry goods, indigo, molasses, spices, chocolate, and hardware, from retail customers and other merchants, located in towns across Massachusetts including Braintree, Billerica, Wrentham, Andover, Ipswich, Newbury, and Salem, and other states in New England, as well as accounts settled with Abbot. There are also accounts and bills for weaving, spinning, and other services and goods from merchants and self-employed women including Anna Emerson of Reading, Mehetable Stevens of Andover, Elizabeth Elkins of Salem, Mehitable Torrey of Plymouth, and Mrs. Robbards (or Roberds), “my chocolat grinder.”

There are accounts and receipts for services and commodities that supported construction and management of Abbot’s Andover estate, which included a farm, store, gardens, and family residence. Materials purchased were boards, shingles, bricks, and hardware; there are accounts for clapboards, timber, and joists from William Lovejoy of Andover, and bar iron and copper rods from Charles Miller & Son and Austin & Crocker of Boston. Other accounts are with laborers and tradesmen like carpenters, painters, masons, iron workers, coopers, farm hands, and blacksmiths, some of whom were distant relatives or in-laws, including William Hill, farm manager Moses Dane, John Lovejoy Abbot (1735-1818), William Foster, Abijah Fuller, Abijah Faulkner, Joseph Pearson, Abner Abbot, Zebediah Holt, Daniel Bartlett and his son, James Bartlett, Thomas Osgood, and African American laborers like Pomp Blackman, Joel Saunders, and True Butler.

Some receipts from female employees who worked in his home were filed separately from similar records by Abbot; he was billed for service from Lydia Holt, Zilpah Lewis, Mary Stevens, Sarah Weld, Sally Rimes, Anna Frye, and others. Abbot family accounts and bills are for tailoring, shoes, clothing, travel expenses, wigs, and glass and housewares; the Abbots frequently made purchases from the store of Samuel Phillips, Jr. Abbot also received bills and receipts for advertising his goods and the sale of people he enslaved in several Boston newspapers, and for state, local, and federal taxes, and assessments on his shares in the Andover Bridge.

There are also Abbot’s accounts as Overseer of the Poor in Boston’s Ward No. 2 before the Revolutionary War, and as town treasurer and a Justice of the Peace in Andover, in addition to accounts related to his financial support of the South Parish Meeting House. Other records related to the Revolutionary War are receipts to Abbot from John Abbot, Jr., of Andover, who was a captain in the Continental Army, for money used to hire soldiers; and cashbook entries for the salary of Peter Lovejoy, an enslaved soldier.

Further included are estate papers and other records related to debts owed to Samuel Abbot by family members, such as his brother George Abbot, Jr. (1724-1775), who went bankrupt and was forced to surrender all his personal and business effects, and the estate of his brother-in-law Benjamin Abbot (1723-1770) of Hollis, New Hampshire.

Dates

  • Creation: 1754-1819

Language of Materials

Materials entirely in English.

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research. Materials stored onsite. Please contact specialcollectionsref@hbs.edu for more information.

This collection has been digitized in its entirety; users can access all digital materials using Harvard Library delivery services.

Extent

16 linear feet (44 volumes, 38 boxes )

Physical Location

MANU

Creator

Repository Details

Part of the Baker Library Special Collections and Archives, Harvard Business School Repository

Baker Library Special Collections and Archives holds unique resources that focus on the evolution of business and industry, as well as the records of the Harvard Business School, documenting the institution's development over the last century. These rich and varied collections support research in a diverse range of fields such as business, economic, social and cultural history as well as the history of science and technology.

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