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Roberts & Davis, merchants.

[Lot of six manuscript account books of Chester County, Pennsylvania merchants Roberts & Davis.]

New Holland and Philadelphia, PA., 1820s. Six 16mo volumes (6.25” x 3.85”), self-wrappers. 28; 28; 23; 32; 40; 24. pp. (175 pp. in total) in ink and pencil. 48 pp. crossed out (in pen or pencil) across two of the six volumes (evidently indicating an item has been sold), but many of the pages are still legible, especially those crossed out in pencil. Check marks for many of the listed items indicate that they have sold. Only a few dates appear in these pages, from the 1820s. Two of the six account books have titles on the wrappers: “Memorandum Book. Roberts & Davis, Red Lion Hotel. No. 200 Market Street, Philadelphia.” “Roberts & Davis Care of L. Wells. Market St. Phila.” One of the account books bears the company name “W. Lenegan & Roberts” on its lower wrapper, suggesting the daybook records the business activities of another partnership Roberts maintained during the 1820s. CONDITION: Very good, upper wrapper detached from one volume, light wear to the contents of the volumes, no losses to the text.

An interesting lot of six account books recording the business activities of Roberts & Davis, merchants, a partnership formed by Col. Gabriel Davis and the prominent Pennsylvania politician and abolitionist Anthony Ellmaker Roberts.

These account books were kept in both New Holland and Philadelphia during the 1820s. Inscriptions on two locate the store in Philadelphia (just one notes a street address, 200 Market St.), while a third identifies the store’s location as New Holland (but does not give a precise address). While some sections of these volumes are organized by client, they are primarily organized by the following headings: Foreign Goods, Dry Goods, China Ware, Glass, German Goods (reflecting the presence of German-Americans in Pennsylvania), Books & Stationery (the merchants both lent and sold books), Combs, Silks (Italian, Canton, etc.), Linens (Irish, etc.), Leghorns, Flannels, Cotton Goods, Drugs, Clock & Watch Works, Saddlery, Ironmongery, Paints, Groceries, Fancy Goods, Shoes & Buckskins, and Domestic Goods. Among the individual goods listed are epsom salts, Bengal indigo, guns, Madras and German handkerchiefs, Russian linen, Indian rubber, Buffalo skin, New Orleans sugar, Spanish sole leather, work tools, Britannia spoons, tobacco products, Japanese items, rat traps, sperm oil, saffron, Waterloo shawls, flags, and mourning bonnets. Books they sold include Bibles, music books, almanacs, and German spelling books. Banks are occasionally mentioned, such as Northern Liberties Bank and Bank of North America. A few price lists appear, including one recording prices of dye. 

Born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, Anthony Ellmaker Roberts (1803–1885) was a politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives, abolitionist, and close associate of Thaddeus Stevens. At the age of thirteen, Roberts began working for his uncle as a clerk in his country store in New Holland. At twenty, Roberts received a share in the ownership of the store and continued in the business until 1839, when he was elected on the Democratic Anti-Masonic ticket as Sheriff of Lancaster County. He then moved to Lancaster City, where he served as sheriff from 1839 to 1842. Roberts owned much real estate in and near New Holland and used his holdings to promote education and the general public welfare. In 1850, Roberts was appointed by President Zachary Taylor as the U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, a position he held until 1853. In 1850, a few months after Roberts was appointed Marshal, Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law. This put Roberts in a difficult position as a Marshal who was also an abolitionist, as he was expected to enforce laws promoting the return of runaway slaves to the South or risk a fine of $1000 per incident. In the 1854 congressional election, Thaddeus Stevens supported Roberts as the Know-Nothing candidate for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, which Roberts won. In 1855 and 1856, he was among the leaders who established the Republican Party in Pennsylvania. When his first term in Congress ended he was re-elected as a Republican, serving until 1859 as the first Republican to represent Lancaster County in Congress.

Born in New Holland, Col. Gabriel Davis (1803–1880) was politically a Whig and Antimason and appears to have served as an officer in the War of 1812. He died in Sterling, Illinois.

A humorous mention of Roberts’s and Davis’s merchandise house and Col. Davis’s military activities is featured in a scrapbook covering the history of New Holland: 

Company and regimental military drill was a relic of the war of 1812 and the Revolutionary War. The echo came about once a year in what was known as muster day and a week later battalion day. These were days of terror and despair for many mothers and daughters, whose husbands and fathers had kept the fires of combativeness slumbering in their bosoms and military drill would arouse all the passions of hatred against the red coats…You can imagine the consternation of the women and children when these whisky inspired maniacs arrived at their homes. The devil was rampant for a full week…In 1838 Gabriel Davis was colonel of the regiment subject to drill at New Holland…The battalion had returned from the field of training and was in line in front of Roberts’ and Davis’ merchandise house. The populace congregated compactly in close proximity to the regiment. Ladies and children filled the sidewalk and available windows all on the qui vive to witness the evolutionary movements of military discipline. The colonel was mounted on a powerful large black horse his mind intent on successful display of discipline. He gave command to some evolution that required him to change position and with mind preoccupied simultaneous with the command gave the spur to his steed to ride into position. The black horse took the bit in his teeth, wheeled about, shot through the crowd upsetting a number of men and ran two miles before the colonel could get control and turn him against a fence every horsemen followed at breakneck speed. The battalion was literally a confusion of tongues, women screaming and questioning how? what? etc. The colonel’s family was in dismay as to the result [and] lent confusion for half hour or more, that was both painful and bewildering. Conjecture for the time being was worse than silence [but] suspense gave way to rejoicing when the fugitives returned safe. The regiment was brought into rank and dismissed.

REFERENCES: “Local Reminiscences: Early Days of the Century in New Holland Vicinity” at [Pennsylvania county histories] online; “Gabriel Davis” at Fold3 online.

Item #8749

Price: $950.00

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