Part 2
“Mr. Spofford met us and we went with him to the Waverly House on Broadway. After breakfast Cousin Sarah and I walked up Broadway with Mr. Spofford, and went to a jeweller’s to get a new eye-glass. I was near-sighted, and had carried a single glass, but had broken it, and wanted another. I got a handsome double glass with gold frame. The price was eleven dollars, but the Jeweller took my old gold frame and gave me the new one and a silver pencil for ten dollars, which we considered a very good bargain, though in those days it seemed rather extravagant in me to buy such an expensive article, but it did good service for many years, and is still about as good as ever.
“We left New York at 10 a.m. in the steamboat Swan for Amboy. On our way to the boat we went down through Castle Garden and saw the famous old Battery. At Amboy we took cars for Bordentown. As we came into the town the fine residence of Joseph Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon, was pointed out to us.
“From Bordentown, we went by boat to Philadelphia, where we arrived about dark Wednesday evening, and to the Marshall House on Chestnut Street and spent the night. The next morning (Thursday, October 18), we left in the cars for Harrisburg, 107 miles west of Philadelphia. Reached there before dark and went directly to a Canal Boat and started on the Pennsylvania Canal for Pittsburg.
“It is interesting to know that the idea of this canal was conceived by George Washington in 1774. It was not completed until 1820. Travelling in a canal boat is a very quiet way of getting along, and we went very smoothly all that night and the next day until Friday night (October 19) at 12 o’clock when we were told there was a ‘break’ in the canal and we could not go any farther in the boat. We were then at Huntingdon. Stage coaches were provided and we got in and rode to Hollidaysburg, a distance of twenty-eight miles, being nine hours on the way. There we had to change again and go over the Allegheny Mountains by a succession of five inclined planes, and intervening levels up the mountain on one side, then by a long level to the five inclined planes and levels which terminated below at Johnstown. There was a stationary engine at the head of each incline, and the cars were drawn up by means of a rope. I think the station at the summit was called Altoona. At Johnstown we went again to a canal boat. This was Saturday night, October 20, and we had been nearly twenty-four hours going sixty-five miles. We were in the canal boat all day Sunday and at twelve o’clock Sunday night arrived at Pittsburg. Monday morning we left the boat and went to the Exchange Hotel to breakfast, then walked about the town, which seemed to us very smoky and dirty.
“We soon learned that a steamboat would start that afternoon for Cincinnati, and passage was engaged for us, though we could get only one berth for Cousin Sarah and myself. The boat was a small one, which had been used for a coal boat, but was fitted up to carry passengers, because it only drew eighteen inches of water, and so could run when the Ohio River was at a very low stage, as it was at that time.
“Our Captain did not dare to run at night for fear we should get on a sand-bar, so he would tie up to the shore every night, generally at some town, and some of the passengers would go on shore to sleep, and we were glad to have them, as it left more room for those who remained on board.
“When the water was high, boats were usually three days in going from Pittsburg to Cincinnati, but we were eight days, and it was a very tedious trip. There were over fifty passengers, and some days our provisions would get pretty low, and our beds and pillows were not very comfortable for they were stuffed with straw, yet in spite of all these drawbacks we managed to get along without grumbling. Sometimes when we came to a _very_ shallow place in the river, our Captain would ask us to get off on to a Keel-boat (a small flat boat used for carrying coal), so as to lighten the steamboat as much as possible, and we were always pleased to go, for it gave a little variety to our life. One day we thought we were going to have a tragedy on board, for just as we were sitting down to dinner, two hot-headed Southern gentlemen (?) got into a quarrel about a seat, and one of them threw a tumbler across the table at the other. It went right over my head and struck the side of the berth behind me and was shivered to atoms, but no harm came of it and the quarrel ended without further violence.
“The autumn scenery was very lovely. I remember especially Blennerhassett Island, as very beautiful and was much interested in what was told me of Blennerhassett as a victim of Aaron Burr’s Conspiracy.
“We arrived in Cincinnati on Tuesday, October 30, went to the Pearl Street House and spent the night. That evening we went, with some of the company who had come from Pittsburg with us, to the Museum and to the ‘Infernal Regions.’ At the latter place we saw an old man representing his Satanic Majesty, standing before a big open topped furnace, stirring up the fire with a great pitch-fork, and down in front of him a large snake came wriggling out from it, and came toward us with his mouth wide open. It was a horrid sight, but did not frighten us, as it would if we had been taught to believe in that kind of a hell.
“Wednesday morning we left Cincinnati in the mail boat Brownsville for Louisville. Arrived there Thursday morning at ten o’clock, and went to the Galt House. Uncle Moses went out at once to engage seats for us in the stage to Nashville, and found they were all engaged for Friday and we would have to wait until the next day. So at five o’clock Saturday morning, we started and after riding three days and two nights, arrived in Nashville Monday evening about seven o’clock, just three weeks (except one night), from the time we left Andover, 1497 miles.
“We left Mr. Moody Spofford in Cincinnati, and Uncle Joe Peters and his son, Joseph, in Louisville, whence the two went to Paris, Henry County, West Tennessee, where they passed the remainder of their lives.
“I spent a pleasant year in Nashville. Uncle Moses was a very fine man, always a perfect gentleman. He was very anxious I should see everything, and I went to balls and parties and made many pleasant acquaintances. One day he took me out two or three miles to a Camp meeting, and I saw many persons under excitement, screaming and falling in fits. Another day he took me out to the Penitentiary. In going over the building we came to the blacksmith’s room and a famous Negro stealer named Murrell was pointed out to me. Within a few years I have seen, in some paper, a long account of that very man and of his manner of operating.
“The institution of slavery was then in existence and at first it seemed very strange, but as I saw nothing of the cruelty, I soon became accustomed to it.
“In October, 1839, my brother Henry came to Nashville for me. In returning we came by stage from Nashville to Louisville, from Louisville to Cincinnati by boat, from Cincinnati to Wheeling by stage through Columbus, Zanesville, etc., crossing the Ohio River at Wheeling, where we spent the night, and came by stage from there to Harpers Ferry. There we took cars and came on the Baltimore and Ohio R. R. for Baltimore, and from there on to Philadelphia, New York, and Boston and home.”
In the early years, the employees in the mill traded at the store and a cash settlement was made only at infrequent periods.
When Captain Stevens began manufacturing, he used fifty pounds of wool a day. In 1849, he testified as follows in the famous suit of Hale vs. Hale: “I have been engaged in the manufacture of woolen goods for upwards of thirty years. I began with working not more than fifty pounds of wool a day, and have extended it to between four and five hundred pounds a day.”
Much of the early correspondence of which we have any record was in connection with the purchase of wool. The wool used by the mill was grown in New England. In 1835, there were 2,896,919 sheep in New England.
Maine had 622,619 New Hampshire 465,179 Vermont 1,099,011 Massachusetts 373,322 Rhode Island 81,619 Connecticut 255,169 ---------- Total 2,896,919
In 1923, New England had only 178,000 sheep. In 1835, Essex County alone had 3,343 sheep.
Before the introduction of railroads, wool was hauled long distances over the road. Teams came from Bradford, Vermont; Andover, New Hampshire; and other places at a distance laden with wool which Captain Stevens had purchased through a local agent or had traveled through the country with his own carriage and purchased. Captain Stevens traveled through Maine and was well acquainted with wool dealers as far east as Ellsworth. He drove all of the way with his own conveyance from Andover.
All of the records of his letters were made by having some one of the family copy them into a book, as it was before the days of letter-copy books. I have at various times examined his books in order to determine if possible whether at any time in his business career he was unable to meet his obligations. The only instance where he seemed to be troubled about his finances was during the panic of 1837, when he wrote as follows:
“I trust I shall not trouble you so much about my payments for the future and hope you will be disposed to sell me your wool.”
In another letter he writes:
“I hope that for the future I shall be able to meet my engagements promptly.”
I cannot find an instance where he did not meet his obligations promptly except in the trying times of 1837 and 1838.
There are instances where money cost at the rate of 9% per annum. In the daily transaction of business, nearly all payments were made by 30, 60, or 90-day drafts. The use of checks was very limited. More open accounts were carried and annual settlements made. The only cases where actual cash was paid, was to the farmers for wool.
Captain Stevens desired to have each of his children benefit by a good education. All of them attended Franklin Academy. Moses Tyler was graduated from Franklin Academy, Phillips Andover Academy, and entered Dartmouth College, but remained there only a short time. Upon leaving college, he went to work in the mill. Horace Nathaniel attended Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard College. One or two of the daughters attended Bradford Academy.
For some years after starting in the factory business, the store was continued, and the factory and store accounts seem to have been kept on the same books. The day book was absolutely the daily record of every transaction, sales of groceries, Priest cloth, liquors, cash advanced, cloth shipped, cow purchased, calf sold, credit to some one for hauling goods from Boston, etc. Following I give you a few entries:
JOHN FRYE, DR.
3 1/2 lbs. sugar .70 2 qts. gin .63 1/2 lb. coffee .14 2 oz. tea .23 1/2 dozen bread .08
JOHNSON & SEWALL
6 bales flannel
CAPTAIN GEORGE HODGES
7 bags of wool
One entry is $1.50 for one dog.
The method of keeping the books by single entry and using the day book for all daily debits and credits continued until 1852, when with the assistance of his sons, a complete new set of double entry books was started. I mention this fact because the books of account were so well planned that they have stood the test of time. The certified public accountants can only enlarge on the system, they cannot suggest any better system than the one which was carried by Captain Stevens during the last thirteen years of his life. After seventy-three years of more or less constant use, one of the books is still good and has capacity for some years to come.
The woolen business founded by Mr. Stevens prospered after it became well established, and as I have said, passed the financial panic of 1837, and continued to grow by the addition of a mill purchased in Haverhill in 1855. In 1857, another panic threatened business, but Captain Stevens’ industry stood the test.
Captain Stevens had now relinquished the active work of the business to his sons, Moses Tyler, George, and Horace Nathaniel. He died March 5, 1865, and his wife, Harriet, passed away in 1881.
No account of the woolen industry during the last century would be complete without including the name of Nathaniel Stevens. As I have said, the early years of the industry were most trying, but it had as an asset in Captain Stevens, a man of indomitable will, incessant industry, shrewd business sagacity and square dealing, a man who could be depended upon at all times, a strong advocate of what he believed to be right, with no patience for anything that did not seem to him to be fundamentally sound.
He lived to see his children grow to manhood and womanhood, and during his last years, was surrounded by many grandchildren.
He was reared and lived in the religious atmosphere of the old North Church, where he was a constant attendant and an ardent believer in the Unitarian faith. Rev. William Symmes, D.D., Rev. Bailey Loring, and Rev. Francis C. Williams, were pastors of the North Church in his life.
In the passing of Captain Stevens, the Town of North Andover lost a prominent citizen, a most hospitable host, and one who loved to associate with his fellow men.
THE ANDOVER PRESS ANDOVER, MASS.
Transcriber’s Notes
Perceived typographical errors have been silently corrected.