[Rarebooks] FS: Brownsville, Texas manuscripts, 1861

[Bob Petrilla]

Stillman, Charles. ARCHIVE OF SIX (6) HANDWRITTEN LETTERS (ALsS) FROM A NEW
YORK AGENT TO  CHARLES STILLMAN, THE FOUNDER OF BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS, ALL
DATED 1861. Original manuscripts. Six full letters (four at 2pp each, two
at 1.5pp each), penned in a neat hand on lined blue paper, quarto. These
six letters are lengthy descriptions of ships and cargo moving between
Brownsville and New York, written by an agent named John Donahue and
addressed to Charles Stillman, Esq. at Brownsville, Texas. All are
datelined New York: Feby 7th 1861; Feby 21st 1861; Feby 21st 1861 [sic];
March 7th 1861; March 26th 1861; May 16th 1861. Integral address leaves
with cancelled three-cent stamps. Housed in a three-ring binder. ~~ The
products being moved were cotton, cloth, animal hides, &c. Other matters
mentioned in the letters include: Pacific Mutual Insurance Co. declares a
20% dividend. Benjamin Kimball buys 5250 Tampico goat skins. The Schooner
"J.A. Woodhouse" is receiving very little freight, and the Brig "John
Jewett" is doing no better. "Capt. Woodhouse is sending the 'Palma' to
Cadiz with a load of stoves, from there to Rio Grande, & back here...."
Sold to Pusey & Scott of Wilmington, 3000 Tampico goat skins. One hundred
bales of cotton at 20c per pound are shipped to Liverpool on the Ship "John
Bright." Common wool is to come by the Schooner "Cactus." "You pay a great
deal too much for Copper. The outside price it would bring here now is 14
per pound....There is several lots of Mexican Copper here now...." "I note
your remarks on soap & will show the sample on board Schr. 'Cactus' to
Macy's Sons as soon as I get it...." "There's a little better feeling in
the Hide market, without change in prices...." "Wool is dull of sale. I
have not been able to make any further sales...." "We have not yet been
able to get a vessel for Brazos. Claussen is here, has looked through the
market, & has decided not to buy any dry goods, until he returns from
Manchester...." "Your letter of 25th ulto. came by Adams Express & was 4
days behind the mail from New Orleans. I fear that the letters I sent by
Adams Express will be much longer getting to N.O. than if I had sent them
by mail....The Brig. 'John Smith' arrived here all right, the afternoon of
10th inst. & has almost finished discharging. Almost every bale of wool
that was on deck (91 in all) were wet, a few very wet, but I do not think
they are damaged....These of course were not covered by the Policy of
Insurance, & I will have the amt taken off. The balance of the cargo came
out in first rate order except the dry salted hides, & almost every one of
them are more or less damp. Dumont[?] says they were quite damp when he
received them, from laying on the bank at the mouth of the river....There
were some worms in the hold of the Brig...." &c., &c. We read of more of
the travails that befall the Texan importer-exporter and his New York
agent.  Very Good.
Stillman (1810-1875) founded Brownsville, Texas and made a fortune moving
cotton and other products from Confederate Texas across the Rio Grande to
Mexico. Born in Connecticut, Stillman relocated to Mexico in the 1820s.
After the Mexican-American War, he purchased government-surplus river
boats. As the War Between the States took shape, Stillman took on a Mexican
business partner, and many of the river boats were registered in Mexico,
facilitating the smuggling of goods to and from Mexico. After the Civil
War, he moved to New York City, where his two daughters married into the
Rockefeller family. $450.00

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