Scope and Content Note
The papers of John Richardson Latimer (1793-1855) span the years 1679-1906, with the bulk from 1824 to 1833. The collection includes personal and family letters, but consists mainly of business correspondence, account books, orders, bills of lading, ledgers, daybooks, cashbooks, invoices, bills, receipts, and other records from when Latimer resided in Canton, China, and traded in opium and other products. The business records evidence a complex and active trade between merchants of the United States, England, India, and the Pacific area, with the focal point Canton, dealing in tea, silk, ginseng, specie, spices, tobacco, general merchandise, and other commodities. Of primary interest are files relating to the opium trade between India and China as conducted by foreign merchants in Canton during the decades immediately preceding the First Opium War of 1840. The collection is organized into two parts. Part I is arranged in eight series: Correspondence , Account Books , Business Instruments , Insurance Records , Statistics , Special Files , Miscellany , and Oversize . Part II is arranged in a General File and Oversize .
A native of Wilmington, Delaware, Latimer left home to enter a business apprenticeship in Philadelphia about the time his brother James, with whom he was also associated in business, entered Princeton University. Possibly as early as 1815, John went to China and by 1822 he spoke of five voyages to Canton, each passage requiring eight months. He may have been in Philadelphia in the summer of 1823, but he was certainly back in Canton in 1824. Practically all of the papers of this collection are concerned with his business activities in Canton between 1824 and his final return home in 1833, although a few date earlier and others later than this period. He anticipated his return to the United States for some time before business arrangements permitted his departure, and he repeatedly in letters home expressed his resolution to end his mercantile pursuits. Latimer’s business in China was highly profitable; his cousin [?] James estimated that he must have accumulated $100,000. In one year Latimer was said to have made a profit of $25,000 on opium alone. He advised members of his family on financial matters, at one time pointing out to his sister the wisdom of investing in real estate as well as in stocks. Apparently Latimer enjoyed a long period of retirement in leisure and wealth. He served as president of the Pennsylvania State Cincinnati Society and was chairman of the Executive Committee of the National Board of Commissioners on the Gettysburg Cemetery. He died in Wilmington and was interred in Philadelphia. An obituary was published in theDelaware State Journal and Statesman, Wilmington, January 20, 1865.
While in Canton, Latimer acted as a general merchant and commission agent receiving goods and filling orders from major American ports such as New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Wilmington; from London and Liverpool in England; Bombay and Calcutta in India; Sydney, Manila, Macao, Singapore, and Oahu in the Pacific area; and from Mexico. In addition to the importation of opium into China from India, a matter which is documented in the collection, other major items of trade included tea, silk, Indian cotton, ginseng, furs (fox and otter), tobacco, specie (Spanish dollars), spices, cochineal, wine, bamboo, iron, quicksilver, hardware, general merchandise (books, clothing, paper, shoes, plate, combs, jewelry, etc.), and Chinaware. Besides being a merchant, Latimer also acted as a maritime insurance agent and as an attorney.
James Latimer of Philadelphia, thought to be John Latimer’s cousin and about twenty years his senior, acted as one of Latimer’s agents in the United States throughout the period 1824-1833. John’s brother, also named James, was less prominent in the business affairs. More closely associated than James in partnerships or other dealings were Benjamin C. Wilcocks of Philadelphia and New York, Mathew C. Ralston of Philadelphia, and Smith & Nicoll of New York. Other persons or firms prominently mentioned are Russell & Sturgis (Manila), F. Stanton (Boston), Elisha Tibbets (New York), Solomon Townsend (New York), Hormuzjee Dorabjee (Bombay), Hugh Matheson (Calcutta), Nathan Dunn, John P. Cushing, and William Thomas De Silva.
Among the ships mentioned frequently as engaged in trade are the following Ajax, Water Witch, China, Panama, Superior, Falcon, Cornwallis, Sun, Arethusa, Ephemina, Caledonia, Citizen, Asia, Lady East, Rebecca Sims, New Jersey, Pacific, Delight, Hannah, Jane, Aurelia, Linten, Globe, Pearl, Carron, India, Isabella, Sumatra, Julia, Dorothea, Lady of the Lake, Pioneer, and Franklin.