THE OLD MERCHANTS OF NEW YORK CITY
        Second  Series

By  Walter Barrett, Clerk
     1863

     MERCHANT  DESCRIPTIONS

       CHAPTER  13




      Besides the large merchant who figures extensively in all sorts of
commercial transactions, either on his own account or doing business on
commission, there are other very large men who devote themselves to a
special
business___as, for instance, an iron merchant. There is the large dealer of
this class who sells iron in bars, bolts, pigs, etc., of all
sizes___wholesales it___and there is the "hardware" merchant.

IRONMONGERS

      In the early years of the city, there was a class of merchants called
" ironmongers ". They were not exactly "iron" merchants, but they were the
class of  traders now known as "hardware" merchants. They used to signify
their business with such signs as "tea kettles,"  "anvil and sledge,"  "a
vice," and other emblematic indications. The name "ironmonger" and the signs
were both derived from the old English custom, in the iron manufacturing
districts of Birmingham, Sheffield, and such towns. I am inclined to think
that the early iron merchant of the city also included the hardware business
of the present day. The regular iron trade was a limited one until within a
hundred years. In 1749, the city only contained 9,000 inhabitants. It was
nothing but a good large village, and a modern hardware store would have
supplied it with a stock that would have lasted ten years. It was well known
to the authorities that governed this province, that there were immense
quantities of iron ore in this region. A year later, in 1750, the Parliament
of England passed an act to encourage the exportation of pig and bar iron
from New York, and added heavy penalties for any one who endeavored to
manufacture it or to erect a mill for rolling iron, slitting it, or forge to
work with a hammer. But one such establishment was suppressed in New York.
Sam. Scraley, a blacksmith, owned a plating forge, then worked with a
tilt-hammer. Of course he had to give it up. Between that date, 1750, and
1756, Robert Livingston had the only iron works in the New York province.

WILLIAM  HAWKSHURST

      In 1771, William Hawkshurst procured a grant for the sole making of
anchors and anvils in this city and province, for the term of thirty years.
It expired May 21, 1801. I am not certain that he lived to enjoy it the full
term. He or his son went into business as late as 1795, under the firm of
Hawkshurst & Franklin, ironmongers, 309 Pearl street. They moved to Water
street, and did not dissolve until 1809. He left many descendants.

GOVERNOR  COSBY

      In 1767, there was a little foundry started to make iron pots, by a
few persons who had money. It lasted until the Revolution of 1776.

      Governor Cosby as early as 1732 informed the London board of trade,
that he understood Great Britain paid in ready money to Sweden for all the
iron used. He thought that as there was plenty of iron mines both of the
Bog, and of the mountain ore in New York, that in England would encourage
"iron work," immense quantities in "piggs and barrs," if free of duty would
be sent to London, that could be paid for in the manufactures of Great
Britain.

THE  BLACKWELL  FAMILY

      Iron in all shapes became a different kind of business after the
Revolution. One of the most prominent merchants in it was Joseph Blackwell,
who kept his store and resided in Hanover square in 1780. Old Joseph was a
son of Jacob Blackwell, Who was a grandson of Robert Blackwell, who was a
merchant and came out from England in 1661, two hundred years ago. He first
did business at Elizabethtown, New Jersey. He moved from there in 1776, and
came to New York being a widower with several children. He married a second
wife.

      She happened to be Miss Mary Manning, of "Manning's Island," East
River, where he took up his residence, and gave it his name____Blackwell's
Island. It originally was called "Verken," on Hog Island. It was granted to
a Dutch officer in 1651, named Fyn. In 1665, when the English conquered this
country, it was confiscated. In 1668, it was given to Captain John Manning,
whose sword was broken over his head for surrendering the city of New York
to the "Dutch" in 1673. After marrying the daughter and heiress of Manning,
Robert Blackwell became proprietor, and it remained in the family until
about thirty years ago, when it was sold to the Corporation. His youngest
son Jacob, succeeded to old Robert's property when he died, in 1717. In
size, Jacob was the greatest man in the country. He stood six feet two
inches high, and weighed 429 pounds. The door-jamb had to be removed to get
his coffin out of the house when he died, in December, 1744. His son Jacob
was born the very year old Robert died, 1717. He was a whig in the war,  and
fled when the British took New York; his estate was seized and confiscated
by the British. The losses he sustained hastened his death. He died in 1780,
aged sixty-three years. Col. Jacob was one of the deputies in the New York
Provincial Congress.

      I presume that it was owing to pecuniary embarrassments of this
sufferer in the war, that led his sons, Joseph, Josiah and Jacob, all to
embark in trade again, as the former of the house, old Robert had done in
1670. Joseph started after the war, as I have said, in Hanover square, and
here I must mention, in order to avoid confusion, that his son Joseph was
also in commercial business in this city, and of the firm of Blackwell &
Ayres. Old Joseph married Miss Mary Hazard, a daughter of N. Hazard; and
besides Joseph, there was a son  named William Drayton, and a daughter named
Harriet. Joseph married William Bayard's daughter, Justina. He was the firm
of Le Roy, Bayard & Co., and gave his son-in-law $20,000. In after years,
when Le Roy, Bayard & Co. where embarrassed, Mr. William Bayard asked his
son-in-law to indorse for him. He declined. Said he never indorsed, but
would give him back the $20,000 that he had received with his daughter.
Never was there such a kind-hearted, loving father to his children, as Mr.
Blackwell.

      In 1792, one Joseph kept at 45 Great Dock, and the young one corner
Coenties slip and Little Dock street  (Water.)  The next year it was kept at
8 Coenties slip and corner Water street, for many years after. Josiah,
another brother, kept his iron store at 31 South street. In 1796, Joseph
made a partnership with Henry McFarlane, under the firm of "Blackwell &
McFarlane."  Mr. McFarlane had been in the iron  business for some time, and
I think was connected with John McFarlane, who had charge of the
"air furnace" out on the Greenwich road, at the close of the last century.

      In 1801, there were two Blackwells in the concern, and it was
Blackwells & McFarlane. I think the other Blackwell was his nephew Jacob,
who succeeded afterwards to the business of Josiah. Josiah never married.
Josiah, the brother of Joseph, was in the iron business at 31 South street,
as late as 1805, when I think he died.  He was succeeded by Jacob, who kept
up the firm until  1810, when he moved round into Cherry street, and went
into business afterwards under the firm of Blackwell & Smith. He was a son
of Samuel Blackwell, who was son of Col. Jacob Blackwell and father of
Joseph. He had a brother named Samuel; one named Robert M., another Henry
F., another John. There were several daughters.

      Jacob, above alluded to, married a daughter of Thomas Lawrence, of the
firm of Thomas & John F. Lawrence. Thomas was a son-in-law of George
Ireland, who is still living in this city.

      Jacob was a boy in the counting room of his uncle  Josiah. When he
died in 1805, Jacob succeeded him.  He was only eighteen years old when he
married. His fate was singular. Many will remember a large fire  that
occurred a few years ago, at the corner of Burlingslip and Front street, in
the day time. Jacob was in the store. He walked to the front window of the
second floor, and put out one leg. He was told by hundreds to jump. He
deliberately pulled off his spectacles, wiped them, and turned to descend
the stairs. He was never seen alive, but his bones were found at the foot of
the stairs. His  brother Robert M., is of the firm of R.M. Blackwell & Co.
Mr. Zophar Mills, Jr., so well known in the fire department, is the partner.
They still do a large commission and naval store business, and keep up the
old merchant stock.

    Joseph continued in business under the same firm of Blackwell &
McFarlane until he died, 1827. The firm was kept up as B. & McF., until
1830, when it changed to McFarlanes & Ayers, Mr. Henry McFarlane senior,
having formed a partnership with Daniel Ayers, and his son Henry McFarlane,
Junior.

      Joseph Blackwell left several children____one son and several
daughters. The son was named Drayton. Josephine married Alfred Livingston,
of Trenton. She died. He afterwards married her sister Eliza. One daughter
married a Mr. Bleecker. Another married Mr. Forbes.

      The widow of Joseph lived in the old house, No. 16 State Street, as
late as 1836, when the family moved up town. Joseph lived in State street
many years, having gone there before the war of 1812. He was always a First
Warder, living many years at 55 Broadway.

BLACKWELL &  McFARLANE

      For over thirty years Blackwell & McFarlane was one of the heaviest
houses in the iron trade. They did an immense business. They bought out
entire cargoes of iron without hesitating. When such houses as Boorman &
Johnston received a cargo of Swedish iron, James Boorman would walk into the
store of B.& M. and say,  "Well, I have just got my invoice for a cargo of
iron. I give you, as usual, the first chance. Do you wish to buy it, Mr.
McFarlane?"
      "What do you ask?"
      Mr. Boorman would name his prices.
      "Very well: we will look around, see what we can do, and let you know
by Saturday."

      Blackwell & McFarlane would then write to their correspondents at
Albany____Erastus Corning, Isaac & John Townsend___and state the facts. They
would also see J.G. Pierson, and other leading iron houses in this city, and
then divided up among them one or ten cargoes of iron. Sometimes, they would
tell old Boorman "We can't take your cargo." He would reply; "Well, I must
sell it;  if you will not buy it, gentlemen, I will start an iron store
myself." He did carry out his threat in after years, much to the annoyance
of the great  iron dealers. He took in a Mr. Clark, whose father had been in
the iron business largely in New York, but failed. Another house that used
to cooperate with Blackwell & McFarlane in buying cargoes of iron, Was Davd
Watkinson & Co., of Hartford Conn. He died a short time ago, worth a million
of dollars. He left a large portion to public charities.

      Blackwell & McFarlane brought up many young men as clerks, during the
thirty-five years that old strong iron house existed. Among the number was
Daniel A. Gallaway.  After leaving his old employers, he went with William
Scott, who was a great iron manufacturer up at Parville, New Jersey, and who
was a brother of Colonel John Scott, so long the president of the Dover
bank. Scott & Gallaway occupied the store, corner of Water and Coenties
slip, occupied by Blackwell & McFarlane from 1800, and that had been
occupied by McFarlane & Ayres, when they dissolved in 1833.

McFARLANES  &  AYRES

      After the death of Mr. Blackwell, McFarlanes, & Ayres went into
manufacturing. They actually bought the land and started the town of Dover,
New jersey. They started a bank, forge, founderies and everything else.
Dover is a beautiful place, about ten miles from Morristown, and you reach
it by the Morris and Essex railroad, in about an hour's ride from New York
City. It is up among the iron mountains of New Jersey, and mines are as
thick in the region as tombstones in Trinity churchyard.

      The Morris canal company owed McFarlanes & Ayres $80,000 to $90,000.
Young McFarlane had been sick. He went into the office of the canal company,
although the firm continued on the same. That was the time when the Morris
company built inclined planes, and other improvements. McFarlanes & Ayres
imported iron for their use____drums, chains for pulling up the boats, and
accumulated an enormous debt, which the Morris canal could not, and did not
pay. There was no written contract, and I think about this time old Henry
McFarlane died. At any rate, the house disolved about this time. He had been
very much esteemed in this city. When he first commenced business he resided
at No. 20 Garden street. In 1806 he moved to Vesey street, No. 4, where the
Astor House now is. In 1816 he moved to No. 12, same street, and lived there
until 1833, when the Astor House was being built and the neighboring houses
were all torn down. Henry McFarlane was a vestryman of Trinity church from
1815 to 1831. The fact shows what kind of a man he was.

      He must have been a prince of a man. He married a Miss Carmer. So did
Robert Lennox. So did Robert Maitland. So did one or more of our first men,
who thus became his brothers-in-law. In those days, of course business was
mixed. Nicholas Carmer was a vestryman of Trinity church from 1787 to 1805.
Immediately after the war___1782___he had a cabinetmaker's store at 34
Maiden Lane. A few years after he added to it "ironmonger;" that is, he sold
hardware as well as wooden chairs, bureaus, &c., in the same old store.  He
had a son, of whom I have written, Nicholas G. Carmer. He was an
"ironmonger" at 230 Queen (Pearl) in 1792; afterwards got into the hat
business with his brother; but I do not think that things went well with the
Carmer males, although the girls had married well. How many admirers among
the youths they must have had seventy years ago;  How many youths attended
devoutly every Sunday at Trinity to see the Miss Carmers? Old Nicholas gave
up business, and became an inspector of lumber, and was so until 1808, when
he died. His son, Nicholas G., also seems not to have succeeded in trade,
for he became a weighmaster at the Phoenix Coffee House; and died, I think
in 1806.

      All the sons-in-law were rich, of course.

      After the dissolution of McFarlanes & Ayres, Daniel Ayres went with
James Boorman in 1834. The previous year he had separated his business and
carried out his plan of starting an iron yard. He took the store No. 119
Greenwich street and its large yard. In 1835, when Mr. Ayres joined him, he
carried on the business of Boorman, Johnston, Ayres & Co. at this place, and
the regular business of Boorman, Johnston, & Co., was down at the old place,
No. 57 South street. Boorman, Johnston, Ayres & Co. continued in existence
until 1844, when Mr. Ayres retired from it. He is still alive and very
wealthy. I should think he was not far from 70 years of age.

      Young H. McFarlane kept the Dover works all going. He has had a
concern in New York since 1834. His private residence, when he first started
house-keeping, in 1828, was at No. 79 Dey street. A long time he lived at
No. 54 Varick street, but of late years, twenty-three or more, he has
resided at Dover, where he has a superb establishment. When he comes into
town he stops at the St. Nicholas. His house was at one time McFarlane &
Cotheal, up at No. 385 Water street, in 1838.

WILLIAM  DRAYTON  BLACKWELL

      I mentioned William Drayton Blackwell, who was a brother of Joseph. He
has been dead many years. He was rich and eccentric. He prided himself on
being indifferent as to dress. He certainly was extremely slovenly in his
habits. He speculated in stocks heavily, and his brokers were Dykers &
Alstyne. A sister of the above brother, Harriet, married William Howell. I
think he was a captain in the navy. After his death she resided at No. 365
Broadway, corner of Franklin street. She lived there as late as 1838, when
Charles A. Davis, of the firm of Davis & Brooks, took it. Mr. Davis married
the only daughter of Mrs. Howell. Those who frequent Taylor's immense
establishment, if they sit on the south side, occupy the same ground as Mrs.
Howell did in her days of glory. They all moved in the highest strata of
society, as any lady has a right to do, whose history is recorded in the Old
Merchants for 200 years back.

SCOTT  &  WILSON

      Next door to Mr. Scott was D.M. Wilson, who had been a grocer under
the firm of Wilson & Chamberlain; but seeing how money was coined in the
iron trade, determined to embark in it. The concern No. 41 Water street was
a large double store, and Wilson joined Scott, under the firm of Scott &
Wilson. The fire of 1835 burned them out, and the concern dissolved. The
firm of D.M. Wilson was then formed, and William Bruen, a brother-in-law of
D.M. Wilson, and a clerk named George T. Cobb, were taken into the firm. Mr.
Cobb is now vice president of the Importers Bank.

GAY  &  GALLAWAY

      Mr. Gallaway left them and formed a partnership with Frederick A. Gay,
under the firm of Gay & Gallaway. They kept at 73 Water, corner of Old slip.
They kept hollow hardware, iron kettles, and all sorts of iron. They had a
curious italic lettered sign on a green ground. That store, No. 73, was
owned by Jacob Southard, a rich coal dealer in the Fifth Ward.

SCOTT  &  GALLAWAY

After a few years, Mr. Gallaway sold out to Gay, and they dissolved, and he
went with William Scott again, under the firm of Scott & Gallaway. They kept
a large iron store on the corner of Dey and Washington streets. After a few
months, one hot day Mr. Scott fell dead in front of the store. He owned an
immense quantity of property at Powersville, near Dover. He owns the
Hibernia, Boonton, durham, Parnill and other forges, besides a vast quantity
of real estate. Every year he burned hundreds of charcoal pits.

GALLAWAY  &  McFARLANE

      After the death of Mr. Scott, Francis McFarlane, a son of old Henry,
of Blackwell & McFarlane, was taken into the firm, and it was Gallaway &
McFarlane. Finally the latter sold out, and Gallaway went back to his old
store, 73 Water street, corner of Old slip, and those monster iron kettles
graced the front of his store up to within a few months. No worthier or more
enterprising mortal  ever lived than that same Mr. Gallaway. As he did an
enormous Southern business, I suppose the rebellion finished him, for I do
not recollect seeing a kettle in the vicinity of his Old slip store for a
year past.

TID - BITS

      D.M. Wilson, who kept the old Coenties slip stand, was bought out by
T.B. Coddington, who had previously been in the tin, copper and sheet iron
business. Thos. B. was a nephew of old Sam. Coddington, who kept a drinking
place in Coenties slip near Water. T. B.C. was a clerk of John A. Moore, of
whom I wrote much a year ago in one of the first chapters. I believe Mr.
Coddington is still in business.

      John A. Moore was brought up by Harman Hendricks.


Source:  The Old Merchants of New York City
Author:  Walter Barrett, Clerk           Second series
Publisher:  Carleton, Publisher, 413 Broadway
Entered according to the Act of Congress 1863
             _____________________________________

    Researched, Prepared and Contributed by Miriam Medina
                  For the Brooklyn Information Page

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