1833 Letter from J. B. Toulmin & Son Reporting the State of the Cotton Market
- Single one-page letter measuring 9 x 11 inches
- Mobile, Alabama , 1833
Mobile, Alabama, 1833. Single one-page letter measuring 9 x 11 inches. Folded with small tears at folds, large hole at seal intersecting with text; excellent.. J. B. Toulmin is likely John Butler Toulmin (1788–1860), a merchant in Mobile, Alabama, and the son of dissenting minister Rev. Joshua Toulmin of Taunton, England. Toulmin’s brother was Harry Toulmin, a Unitarian minister and Kentucky politician. Interestingly, J. B. Toulmin’s will freed his enslaved people and had them sent to “Jamaica, Libera, or California”.[1] He writes here to Philo Strong Shelton (1805–1877), a Boston merchant, concerning the cotton market.
He reports that the market is “Rather dull” though with “prices gradually hardning”; a decline reported by a steamer from Liverpool “had no effect here”. However, the port at Mobile took in 36,000 fewer bales of cotton than the previous week because of flooding that “prevented the hauling of cotton to the landings”. At the time, the cotton market was taking off—technological innovations including the cotton gin would solidify the American south’s slave economy.
[1] “Abstracts, Will Book 3, 1857–1870, Mobile County, Alabama”, USGenWeb Archives, September 1999, http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/mobile/wills/willbk3pt1.txt.
He reports that the market is “Rather dull” though with “prices gradually hardning”; a decline reported by a steamer from Liverpool “had no effect here”. However, the port at Mobile took in 36,000 fewer bales of cotton than the previous week because of flooding that “prevented the hauling of cotton to the landings”. At the time, the cotton market was taking off—technological innovations including the cotton gin would solidify the American south’s slave economy.
[1] “Abstracts, Will Book 3, 1857–1870, Mobile County, Alabama”, USGenWeb Archives, September 1999, http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/mobile/wills/willbk3pt1.txt.