Daland Family Papers, 1847-1856

Collection

Identifier: MSS 0.664

Staff Only
Not requestable

Scope and Contents

The Daland Family papers consist of correspondence to Henry Tucker Daland or his father, Tucker Daland, from business associates, in particular, Henry L. Williams, Henry Tucker’s brother-in-law. The Daland family were prosperous East India merchants and their correspondence primarily concerns aspects of buying, selling, and shipping goods through the Far East, European, and American trade. Merchandise included Manila hemp, sugar, hides, indigo, coffee, cloth, spices, cotton, and opium. The letters should be of particular interest to those researching Daland family interests or the East India trade.

Folder one contains sixteen letters to Henry Tucker Daland spanning the years from 1847, when he completed his clerkship, through 1848-49, when he sailed on his father’s vessel Propontis to China, Manila, and other ports in the Far East, then through 1849-54 when he represented Daland and Williams business interests in New York. His main correspondent was Henry L. Williams, his brother-in-law and partner in the company, who refers to both of them as Henry or sometimes as Harry. Letters contain information about cargoes purchased and sold, arrivals and departures of the firm’s vessels, and arrangements for these voyages.

Folder two contains five letters to Tucker Daland. One (1852) is from a business associate in New York, while the other four letters (1854-56) are from Henry L. Williams or the Williams and Daland firm. These were written to Tucker Daland while he was out of town on business or vacation. They provide updates on family and shipping news. One (1855) lists the cargo of Hindoostan in some detail. Also included is a notice to Tucker Daland from the Triton Insurance Company reporting heavy losses.

This collection of 21 letters and one notice is itemized in the appendix. The letters reveal details of the highly profitable East India trade during the years 1847-56, and should be reviewed together with other resources in the Phillip Library, including the Henry L. Williams “Clippings, etc., 1814-1910” and logbooks of vessels owned by the Daland or Williams families.

Dates

Creation: 1847-1856

Creator

Daland family (Family)

Language of Materials

These materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research use.

Biographical / Historical

John Tucker Daland, known as Tucker, was born in Salem, Massachusetts, on June 12, 1795, the son of Captain John and his second wife, Elizabeth (Tucker) Daland. He served an apprenticeship with Joseph Peabody and later became one of Salem’s most successful merchants in the East India trade. He had one child by his first marriage to Elizabeth Whitredge and eight children by his second marriage to Eliza (Howard) Silver. His house on Essex Street was purchased by the Essex Institute in 1885. John Tucker Daland died in Salem on May 31, 1858.

Henry Tucker Daland was born in Salem, Massachusetts, on April 19, 1826, the son of John Tucker Daland and Eliza (Howard) Silver. From 1843 to 1847 he served as a clerk with Hawes Gray and Company in Boston, Massachusetts, and then entered the Williams and Daland shipping business. He sailed to the Far East on the Propontis in 1848-49 and then represented the firm’s interests in New York through 1854, the period of this correspondence. In 1850 he married Helen Eliza Chamberlain. Henry Tucker Daland died on May 29, 1871.

Henry Laurens Williams was born in Salem on July 23, 1815, the son of Captain Israel Williams and Elizabeth Waite Williams. He was employed by the commercial house of Joseph Peabody, East India trade merchant, where he succeeded Tucker Daland as manager, and later was a partner with Tucker Daland and his son, Henry Tucker, in the merchant firm of Williams and Daland, with headquarters in Boston. He was also a brother-in-law of Henry Tucker, as he married Elizabeth Tucker Daland in 1845. Following the death of Tucker Daland in 1858, Williams retired from business and was elected a director of the Eastern Railroad. He served as mayor of Salem in 1875-76 and was president of the Salem Five Cents Savings Bank for fifteen years. He died on September 27, 1879.

Extent

2 folders

Additional Description

Abstract

Provenance

The material was purchased by the museum on November 12, 1997 (acc. #1997.052).

Bibliography and Related Collections

Belknap, Henry Wyckoff. Daland Family. [No imprint] (2 typewritten pages).

Cooke, Harriet Ruth (Waters), “The Daland Family” in The Driver Family: A Genealogical Memoir of the Descendants of Robert and Phebe Driver, of Lynn, Mass. (New York: John Wilson and Son, 1889), pp. 273-78.

Shreve, Mrs. Benjamin. Genealogical Notes and Correspondence of the Jenkins and Williams Families. [No imprint].

Tolles, Bryant F., Jr. The John Tucker Daland House, Essex Institute Historic Houses Booklet Series. Salem, Mass.: Essex Institute, 1978.

Williams, Henry L. Clippings, etc., 1814-1910. Unsorted collection of letters, notes, and clippings, including several letters to or from Tucker Daland, located in Family Mss.

See logbooks in Phillips Library collection for vessels owned by Williams or the Dalands between 1847 and 1856, including Delhi (1849), Delphi (1849), Dragon (1850), Hindoostan (1852), Hollander (1852), and Siam (1850, 1851).