American Fur Company records, 1816-1947
Descriptive
Inventory for the Collection at Chicago History Museum, Research Center
By Robert D. Kozlow,
1962; rev.
Please
address questions to:
Chicago
History Museum, Research Center
1601
North Clark Street
Chicago,
IL 60614-6038
Web-site:
http://www.chicagohistory.org/Research
©
Copyright 2012, Chicago Historical Society, 1601 N. Clark Street, Chicago, IL
60614-6038
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: American Fur Company records, 1816-1947.
Main entry: American Fur Company.
Inclusive dates: 1816-1947.
Size:
ca.
1050 items.
1
microfilm reel : neg. ; 35 mm. (Camera negative of account book).
1
microfilm reel ; 35 mm. (Reader-use copy of account book).
Access: This collection is open for research use.
Provenance statement: The account book was given to Chicago
Historical Society by Benjamin B. Felix (M1921.0202). It had been given to his
mother Minnie Crittenden Felix, by her uncle Alexander Toll, at Mackinac on the
breaking up of the post of the American Fur Company about 1867. In 1881, Eliza
Meacham donated original items found at Mackinac in 1874. Gurdon Hubbard
donated through Fred Hunt the typed transcripts of AFC letterbooks; and photostats of AFC letterbooks were purchased
in 1919.
Terms governing use: Copyright may be retained by the creators
of items, or their descendents, as stipulated by United States copyright law,
unless otherwise noted.
Please cite this collection as: American Fur Company records (Chicago
History Museum) plus a detailed description, date, and box/folder number of a
specific item.
This descriptive inventory contains the
following sections:
Biographical/historical
note,
Summary
description of the collection,
Description
of some material related to the collection,
List
of online catalog headings about the collection,
Arrangement
of the collection,
Detailed
description of portions of the collection,
List
of contents of the collection.
Biographical/historical note:
The American Fur
Company was incorporated in 1808 by John Jacob Astor for the purchase of furs
within United States territories. It was conceived as a firm of major American
fur merchants. Astor controlled its membership while negotiating with Canadian
firms and developing trade in the Old Northwest, Pacific Northwest and Upper
Missouri territories. In 1816, Michilimackinac was the headquarters for the
company in the Old Northwest, and Ramsay Crooks and Robert Stuart were its
agents. Trading outfits were dispatched from Mackinac, and furs were shipped
via Buffalo and Albany to New York. Astor sold his interests in the American
Fur Company in 1834 to Ramsay Crooks and Pratte, Chouteau and Company.
--Information from Paul
C. Phillips, Fur Trade, 1961.
Ramsay Crooks,
1787-1859, was born in Scotland, emigrated to Montreal, and entered the fur
trade. He was in close association with John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company
after 1818, at which time Astor bought out the American interests of the
Northwest Company. Crooks became General Manager of the company in 1817, and it
was largely due to him that the Western Department in St. Louis was established
in 1822. When Astor sold out in 1834, Crooks became president of the American
Fur Company. His reputation was as a man of high character, law abiding and
just. Robert Stuart, 1785-1848, Crooks' associate and assistant at Mackinac,
had a similar early history, and upon Crooks' transfer to New York, succeeded
him as head of the American Fur Company for the Upper Lakes region.
--Information from: The Dictionary of American Biography.
Summary description of the collection:
Original letters
(about 40 items, 1818-1828) and other documents by John Jacob Astor, Ramsay
Crooks and Robert Stuart of the American Fur Company (AFC), Benjamin F. Clapp,
James Abbott, Joseph Bailly, David Stone and William Henson Wallace; photostats
of letterbooks (2 v.: 1816-1825, 1823-1827; about 1000 p.) by Crooks and Stuart
at Michilimackinac to traders, Indian agents, territorial governors, etc. about
the fur trade, condition of supplies, and government policies related to the
fur trade; typed transcripts of letters by Crooks and Stuart (1816-1820,
1823-1827), often to the AFC agents at Chicago; and an account book
(Michilimackinac, 1821-1823) detailing supplies and merchandise purchased by
trading outfits.
Topics include
conduct of the fur trade, primarily in the Old Northwest region and Upper
Canada, prices of supplies and merchandise, shipping arrangements, evaluations
of AFC agents, government policies, and American Indians and other traders and
suppliers. Recipients of letters and others listed in accounts include the AFC agents
at Chicago: John Craft, John Kinzie, Gurdon Hubbard, and Jean Baptiste
Beaubien.
Also included in the
collection are 20th century letters by Milo M. Quaife and others reporting on
the condition and location of the original records of the American Fur Company.
Written mostly in English
but some items in French.
Description of some material related to the
collection:
A list of items in
the collection: pt. 1, 1831-1840; pt. 2, 1841-1849, was published in the
American Historical Association annual report for the year 1944, vol. 2-3, p.
1-2 (pub. 1945).
Materials at Chicago
History Museum, Research Center, related to the fur trade include Jean Baptiste
Beaubien letters, Chouteau family letters, Gurdon S. Hubbard papers, Kaskaskia papers,
Kingsbury papers, Kinzie papers, Lawe papers, Thomas L. McKenney letters,
Menard and Valle records, and the Scharf map collection.
List of online catalog headings about the
collection:
American Fur Company--Archives.
Astor, John Jacob, 1763-1848.
Beaubien, Jean
Baptiste, 1787-1863.
Craft, John.
Crooks, Ramsay, 1787-1859.
Hubbard, Gurdon
Saltonstall, 1802-1886,
Kinzie, John, 1763-1828.
Stuart, Robert, 1785-1848.
Fur trade--Canada--19th
century.
Fur trade--United
States--19th century.
Fur trade--Michigan--19th
century.
Fur trade--Illinois--Chicago--19th
century.
Indians of North
America--19th century.
Fort Michilimackinac
(Mackinaw City, Mich.)
Mackinac Island
Region (Mich.)--Commerce--19th century.
Northwest, Old--Discovery
and exploration.
Canada--Commerce--19th
century.
United States--Commerce--19th
century.
Form/genre:
Account books.
Correspondence.
Letter books.
Photostats.
Added entries:
Astor, John Jacob, 1763-1848.
Abbott, James.
Bailly de Messein,
Joseph, 1774-1835.
Beaubien, Jean
Baptiste, 1787-1863, recipient.
Clapp, Benjamin F.
Craft, John, recipient.
Crooks, Ramsay, 1787-1859.
Hubbard, Gurdon
Saltonstall, 1802-1886, recipient.
Kinzie, John, 1763-1828,
recipient.
Stone, David.
Stuart, Robert, 1785-1848.
Quaife, Milo Milton,
1880-1959.
Wallace, W. H. (William
Henson), 1811-1879.
United States--Michigan.
United States-Illinois.
Canada.
Arrangement of the collection:
Most of the
collection is arranged chronologically.
Detailed description of portions of the
collection:
Original
items from several sources and copies from the letterbooks (photostatic or
typed transcripts) have been interfiled chronologically in the folders of the
collection.
Description of letterbooks:
Letterbooks,
1816-1827, photostatic and typed copies (875 p.) contain outgoing letters written
to more than 75 individuals and firms. Almost all of the letters were written
by the agents of the American Fur Company at Michilimackinac: Ramsay Crooks and
his assistant Robert Stuart. The majority of the earlier (photostat) ones were by
Crooks, and the later typed ones by Stuart. Many letters are written in French.
The letters discuss
matters of policy of the American Fur Company (AFC); the passage of the bill
excluding aliens from the trade except as employees of an American company; the
bill closing government trading posts, called factories, in 1822; the opening
of the AFC's Western Department at St. Louis and the subsequent seizure of some
American Fur Company property and resulting lawsuits; the tactics and policies
of competitors, especially the Hudson Bay Company; and AFC's absorption of the
Columbia Fur Company.
The letters provide
a large amount of detail about the business and the men who ran it, including:
Crooks' letters
reflect regard for the law in his refusal to permit the use of whiskey for
trade with the Indians, his appreciation and consideration for his
subordinates, his courage in speaking his mind when necessary. Stuart too
appears as an able and energetic administrator.
The photostat
letters are perhaps the more interesting of the two groups of letterbook items
except for the fact that the typed letters deal largely with Chicago. Most
letters were written to agents of the AFC or to firms from which the company made
purchases. Among them are many letters to John Jacob Astor, Lewis Cass, Thomas
E. Benton, John C. Calhoun. Those to Astor are especially detailed regarding
the shipment of furs and the status of accounts, for example, "890
packs" in the summer of 1820.
The majority of the
typed letters are to the AFC's agents at Chicago and Green Bay. There are
several to John Craft, agent at Chicago, and many more to Craft's successor,
John Kinzie, Sr., and to Jean Baptiste Beaubien. These are filled with material
not only regarding the fur trade, but concerning the character and disposition
of Beaubien and Kinzie as well as of Kinzie's sons John and James. James Kinzie
is frequently discussed also in the photostat letters.
There also are 6
pages of accounts, 1817-1827, with the typed letters that list traders' wages
and supplies in 1817; give a "sketch of outfits made at Mackinac Sumer
1823," including gains and losses; and a listing of the personal accounts
at the AFC store in Mackinac in 1827 of the following agents and traders:
Gurdon S. Hubbard
Joseph Godfroy
John Kinzie, Sr.
James Kinzie
"Chicago Outfit"
1827
Francois Chevalier
Jean Bts. Beaubien.
The geographic area
covered by these letters ranges from Lake Superior and Lake Huron to the Wabash
River country; from Montreal, New York and Buffalo, to Detroit, Green Bay and
St. Louis.
Some typed transcripts
from a letterbook of the American Fur Company, 60 p., March 1817-August 1819 (incomplete
for that time period) are duplicates of photostats in the collection and are
inscribed "courtesy of Gurdon S. Hubbard for these letters and data,"
and signed "Hunt," possibly the Fred Hunt, who collected material for
Andreas's History of Chicago.
Description of the account book
(Michilimackinac, 1821-1823):
Provides details about
supplies and merchandise purchased by trading outfits as listed by invoices
covering shipments made to the following placenames: La Pointe, Lake Superior,
Lac du Flambeau, Lac Courtoreille, Folleavoine, Ance Quirvivan, Lower
Mississippi, Upper Mississippi, Lake Michigan, Illinois River, Lower Wabash,
St. Joseph's [of Lake Michigan], Upper Wabash, Iriquois River [Iroquois],
Milliwaki [Milwaukee], Chicago, Green Bay, Grand River, Musquigon, Lake Huron,
Prairie du Chien.
Prairie du Chien
(Wis.) received goods from New York via Pittsburgh and St. Louis. All other
sites apparently were served from Michilimackinac, which in turn seems to have
obtained its stocks from Montreal and New York. Traders are named; weights of
merchandise given; and prices listed.
Description of some original letters and
other documents in the collection:
Original documents
in the collection include items written by:
Abbott, James 1824 July 9, 1827 Dec.
14
American Fur Company 1821-1823; 1836 May 2, June 10
Astor, John Jacob 1828 June 5
Bailly, Joseph 1826 Aug. 4
Clapp, Benjamin F. 1827 Sept. 5
Crooks, Ramsay 1824 Jan 20, Jan 29; 1841
May 4; 1842 Nov 24
Green, David 1820 Oct 12
Jones, John 1820 Sept 9
Stone, David 1825 June 30; 1825
July 12; undated
Wallace, William H. 1818 Dec 7
This material includes:
A receipt for
freight delivered in good order, signed by Samuel Abbott at Mackinac, June 10,
1836. Shipped by William Brewster from Detroit, May 17 1836, on board the
schooner Eliza Ward.
A letter from Ramsay
Crooks in New York, May 4, 1841, to Gurdon S. Hubbard, care of Samuel Abbott at
Mackinac, giving Crooks' promise to look for a suitable opening for Hubbard in
business.
A letter from Ramsay
Crooks in Milwaukee, November 24 1842, to Gurdon S. Hubbard at Chicago, regarding
the possible purchase by Hubbard and others of the American Fur Company's
building at Mackinac. Abbott has informed Crooks of Hubbard's interest. Terms
will be cash on short term only.
The original
material in the collection listed above includes the Meacham donation described
below.
Description of original material donated by
Eliza Meacham in 1881:
The donation
included letters and manuscripts (24 items, 1805-1827) relating to the American
Fur Company and its agents; some written in French but most in English. This
material was found at Mackinac in 1874 in the building known as the John Jacob
Astor Hotel and given to Chicago Historical Society (CHS) by Eliza Meacham. For
a while after the donation, this material was bound in a set at CHS known as
the Autograph letterbooks (vol. 31, p. 161-226) until that volume was disbound
and the items filed into the general collection of American Fur Company
materials.
The Meacham donation
included:
a. Paper belonging
to Samuel Abbott, relating to fur sales in London in 1844 by the Hudson Bay Co.
and Mr. Lampson and discussing their relation to their own market.
b. Four
"engagements" or contracts with men as day laborers or winterers for
the period of one or two years and amount to be paid (in French, 1806-1826).
c. Joseph Bailley
letter from Michilimackinac to Robert Stuart, New York, requesting the purchase
of spectacles for him (in French, 1826).
d. David Stone's
account of furs purchased from Samuel Abbott, 1890; also three letters from
Stone in Detroit, 1816-1818, to Robert Stuart, at Mackinac. These discuss fur company
business, the possibility of selling whiskey to the Indians, the cost of
produce, the state of the fur market, various traders.
e. Several letters
from merchants to Astor and Crooks, regarding the purchase or possible purchase
of tobacco and guns and pistols (1820).
f. Several orders to
debtors to appear before justices of the peace at Mackinac (1811); also a
promissory note in Wayne County, Indiana Territory, 1808.
g. Letter by William
Wallace at Fort Harrison, Dec. 1818, to Crooks and Stuart in New York, regarding
his problems in the fur trade; discusses traders Burnett and Reame. [The context
seems to pertain to the photostat letters in the collection.]
h. Letter by John
Law at Green Bay, 1823, to Stuart at Mackinac, regarding trade and traders in
his vicinity.
i. Several letters
by Ramsay Crooks in New York, 1824, to Robert Stuart at Mackinac, regarding fur
company business. Stone, Matthews, Abbott, and Astor are mentioned. Statements
of "Old Concern" are discussed.
j. Letter by B.
Clapp in New York, 1827, to R. Stuart at Mackinac, discusses business but is
quite personal in tone. Crooks, Bostwick, Chouteau, Matthews are mentioned and
the unpleasantness with Currie.
k. Credit slip to
"the Chicago outfit" and James Kinzie, 1826.
l. Letter by J.
Abbott in Detroit, Dec. 14 1827, to R. Stuart at Mackinac, about fur company
business; states full data about three outfits: to Fort Wayne, to St. Joseph,
to Laguina (?); lists cost, trader in charge, and salary. Mr. Kinzie is
mentioned.
Another letter added
to the American Fur Company collection from CHS's old Autograph letterbooks
came from vol. 34, p. 283: letter from James Abbott in Detroit, July 9, 1824,
to R. Stuart at Mackinac, about arranging for Gov. Cass to honor Col. Boyd's
drafts.
List of contents of the collection:
Call# = Mss Alpha1
American Fur Company
folder 1 Information about the collection
folder 2 Letterbook 1 and index: Dec. 1816-June 1, 1817
folder 3 Mss
folder 4 1817-1820, transcriptions of items by Ramsay Crooks
folder 5 1817-May 1826, transcriptions of items by Robert Stuart
folder 6 June 1826-Aug. 1827 transcriptions of items by Robert Stuart
folder 7 June 8-Dec. 18, 1817
folder 8 Jan. 10-May 29, 1818
folder 9 June 19-Dec. 30, 1818
folder 10 Jan. 1-May 1, 1919
folder 11 May 28-Aug. 11, 1919
folder 12 Aug. 12-Sept. 28, 1919
folder 13 Oct. 1, 1819-Jan. 25, 1820
folder 14 Jan. 27-Feb. 21, 1820
folder 15 June 18-Aug. 14, 1821 (R. Stuart 1819)
folder 16 Letterbook 2 and index: June 1820
folder 17 June 21-Aug. 21, 1820
folder 18 Aug. 21, 1820-Jan. 30, 1821
folder 19 Jan. 30-July 1, 1821
folder 20 July
7-Aug. 24, 1821
folder 21 Aug. 24-Sept. 27, 1821
folder 22 Sept. 20-Nov. 24, 1821
folder 23 Nov. 28, 1821-Jan. 3, 1822
folder 24 Jan. 4-Mar. 24, 1822
folder 25 Mar. 20-Apr. 18, 1822
folder 26 Apr. 20-May 10, 1822
folder 27 June 10-29, 1822
folder 28 July 5-Aug. 17, 1822
folder 29 Aug. 22-Oct. 9, 1822
folder 30 Oct.
14, 1822-Jan. 9, 1823
folder 31 Jan. 16-Aug. 31, 1823
folder 32 Aug. 31, 1823-Sept. 22, 1824
folder 33 Account
book information
Account book, 1821-1823 (1 volume)