Download WILLIAM R. GRAY - Peabody Essex Museum

WILLIAM R. GRAY (1750-1825)
PAPERS, 1781-1840
MSS 115
Processed by:
Processed by:
Prudence Backman
March 1984
Catherine Robertson
January 2015
Volume:
1 box, 1 volume
.75 linear feet
Provenance:
The William Gray Papers are an integration of miscellaneous manuscript folders
the bulk of which are from an unknown source. However, the Aurelia and
Concord account book was a 1916 gift of Mrs. C.A. Cooper and the William
Rufus Gray letterbook was a 1954 gift of Hope Gray. Three receipts and 1 power
of attorney for William Shepard Gray were removed to the William Shepard Gray
papers.
Conservation:
The material was placed in acid-free folders.
Copyright:
Requests for permission to publish material from the collection must be submitted
in writing to the Manuscript Librarian in the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex
Museum.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
William Rufus Gray was a Massachusetts merchant and politician. Born on June 27, 1750
to Abraham and Lydia (Calley) Gray of Lynn, Massachusetts, he managed to build his own business
and rise through the state's political ranks, becoming the richest man in New England.
When he was a ten years old, Gray’s father, a shoemaker, moved to Salem, where Gray was
apprenticed to Samuel Gardner, Later he entered the counting house of Richard Derby and at the age
of 28, started business for himself. In 1775, as a member of the Salem militia, he made a forced
march with his company to Lexington, arriving too late for the battle. On June 6, 1776 he was
commissioned second lieutenant of the First Essex Regiment, but there is no record that he had any
further Revolutionary service.
His business ventures proved to be highly profitable and he was the owner of a number of
privateers during the Revolution. He was one of the first New England merchants to enter into trade
©2015, Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum
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MSS 115: William Gray Papers
with Russia, India, and China. When he moved to Boston in 1809, he was the owner of 15 ships, 7
barks, 13 brigs, and one schooner, and his estate was estimated at $3 million. In 1792 the Essex
Bank was organized by Salem merchants with William Gray as its first president. In 1803 Gray
bought a wharf in Charlestown and sent his eldest son William Rufus to Boston as his agent.
In 1807 Gray was chosen as a Federalist senator from Essex County and was reelected in the
following year. In 1810 he ran for lieutenant governor on the Republican ticket with Elbridge Gerry
and was elected. He was reelected in 1811 but because of ill health declined a nomination 1812.
He married Elizabeth Chipman (1756-1823) of Marblehead in 1782. Elizabeth was a pioneer
in philanthropy, volunteering a significant portion of her time to helping the poorest citizens of
Boston. They had ten children, of whom six survived their parents.
In Boston he lived on Summer Street, in the mansion previously occupied by Governor
Sullivan. He died on November 4, 1825 in Boston.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
The William R. Gray papers contain one box of correspondence, legal, financial, and
shipping papers for the Salem, Massachusetts, and Boston merchant. The collection is only
representative of Gray's prosperous career. Unfortunately the bulk of his papers were destroyed in
the Boston fire of 1872. The collection which ranges from 1781 to 1840 does, however, touch on
almost all the major activities of Gray's life, reflecting his prosperous mercantile business and his
presidencies of the Essex Bank and the Essex Fire & Marine Insurance Company, both in Salem, and
the Bank of the United States, Boston Branch.
The letters in the letterbook (1818-1830) are written to Gray’s agents and various mercantile
houses located on the east coast of the United States and in foreign ports all over the world. Major
addresses of the correspondence include: Thomas Wright & Company of St. Petersburg; Goodhue &
Company of new York; Captain David Starbuck of Nantucket; William (1779-1833) and Nathaniel
(1773-1850) Silsbee of Salem; Thomas Dickason & Company of London; Captain George Barker of
Marblehead, Massachusetts; Jacob B. Winchester of Salem; I. L. Mertens Mosselman & Company
of Antwerp; Hope & Company of Amsterdam; and George W. Prescott of Charleston, South
Carolina. These letters consist mainly of instructions from Gray for carrying out his business and
inquiries by him about prices and trading opportunities at the various ports. Gray traded in a wide
variety of goods including whale oil, duck cloth, sail cloth, fish oil, candle tallow, coffee, cotton,
brandy, molasses, animal skins, and leather. A letter to Captain John Winn of Salem and a poem are
inserted into the letterbook.
Included with William Gray's papers is correspondence for his children: William Rufus
(1783-1831), John Chipman (1793-1881), and Horace Gray (1800-1873), and legal papers for his
nephew and nieces: Samuel Calley, Mary Gray, and Catherine Gray.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Fairburn, William Armstrong. “William Gray, of Massachusetts, America’s Greatest ShipownerMerchant of His Day.” Merchant Sail. Maine: Fairburn Marine Educational Foundation,
1945. p. 549.
Johnson, Allen et al., Dictionary of American Biography. Vol VII. Ed. New York: Scribner’s Sons,
1931. p. 523.
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MSS 115: William Gray Papers
Conneau, Theophile. A Slaver’s Logbook: or 20 Year’s Residence in Africa: the Original
Manuscript. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1976. p. 1-7.
WILLIAM GRAY (1750-1825) PAPERS, 1781-1840
CONTENTS LIST
Box
Folder
Contents
Date
1
1
2
3
4
Correspondence
Bills and receipts
Ships’ papers: American Hero-William [See Appendix I]
Shipping account book: Aurelia (Bark)
and Concord (Brig)
Shipping account book: Tryall
Essex Bank balance sheet
Essex Bank discount blotter
Essex Bank discount book
Essex Bank cash blotter
Essex Bank cash book
1790-1821
1781-1816
1794-1806, undated
1821-1825
1819-1820
1818
1793
1792-1793
1796-1800
1792
1792
Volume 1
William Rufus Gray letterbook
1818-1834
1
Family papers
Relative papers
1824-1834
1816, 1840
1
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
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MSS 115: William Gray Papers
Appendix I
Vessels in Ships’ Papers
Ship
Date
Master
American Hero (Ship)
1805
J. Lindsay
Antelope
1800
Betsy
1798
Sargent
Commerce (Ship)
1790-1791
J. Osgood
Commerce (Brig)
1805
Eliza (Brigantine)
1796-1797
Enterprize [sic]
1794
Fox (Brig)
1806
F. Thorndike
Laurel (Ship)
1801, 1806
D. Sage
Mentor (Brigantine)
1801
Minerva
1806
N. Kinsman
Polly (Schooner)
1806
F. Woodberry
Salem (Brigantine)
1804
O. Obear
Trent (Ship)
1802
N. Kinsman
Ulysses (Ship)
1800
W. Mugford
Vengeance (Brig)
1804
A. Rea
William (Ship)
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W. Mugford
W. Mugford
©2015, Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum