George W. Pepper Company Records, 1842-1991, undated

Collection

Identifier: MSS 1940

Staff Only
Not requestable

Scope and Contents

The George W. Pepper Company records consist of business records and some personal papers of the Pepper family. This includes ledgers with client names; capital stock share records; a recipe book that contains recipes for candies, gum, ink, cologne and wedding cake; photographs of the Pepper family; and articles that were published about the company and its products. There is no original order to these manuscripts. The collection has been divided into two series.

Series I. Business Records of George W. Pepper Company include ledgers documenting various customers of the company, a trademark record of G. W. Pepper Cough Drops, a paper candy box from Ye Olde Pepper Company, and George W. Pepper’s handwritten recipe book. This recipe book includes recipes for cologne, printing ink, peppermints, lozenges and remedies for ailments such as rheumatism. This series also includes photographs of the George W. Pepper Candy Factory on Elm Street and images of company staff.

Series II. Pepper Family Papers includes a ticket from one of Wilhelmina Pepper’s recitals, the marriage certificate of George and Lillie Pepper, and a metal grave plaque for Elizabeth Ann Rutherford (1834-1848). It also contains portraits of George, Lillie and Wilhelmina Pepper, Lillie’s mother, Caroline Amelia Tittle (Rutherford) (1838-1912), and a picture of the family’s home in Beverly, Massachusetts. Two of the photographs are spirit photographs.

Dates

Creation: 1842-1991, undated

Creator

George W. Pepper Company (Peabody, Mass.) (Organization)
Pepper, George W., 1831-1902 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research use.

Biographical / Historical

The George W. Pepper Company began making and selling candy in 1830, after the company was bought by GeorgeW. Pepper’s father, John W. Pepper (1799-1835) from Thomas Spencer (died 1876). Thomas inherited the company from his late mother, Mrs. Mary Spencer (1759-1835). After his father passed away, George took over the company with his second wife Lillian.

On her way to immigrate from England, Mary Spencer was aboard the Ship Jupiter, which was shipwrecked near Salem, Massachusetts before reaching its intended destination. To make a living for herself, she borrowed some sugar from the local townswomen and began making candy. These candies, known as Salem Gibraltars, became very popular and earned Mary the title of America’s first commercial candy maker. When John W. Pepper bought the company, he continued to make the signature Gibraltars based on the original recipe, and created the company’s second most popular candy: the Blackjacks.

George W. Pepper sold the company in 1897 to Snow Rich (1835-1904). Once Pepper died in 1902, his family wanted to get back into the candy business and attempted to reopen under the name George W. Pepper Company. However, because the Pepper name was already in use, they rebranded as the Peabody Candy Company in 1904. Around 1910, George H. Burkinshaw (1889-1953) and his wife Alice M. Burkinshaw (Tracey) (1888-1980) bought the company, including the original recipes for Blackjacks and Gibraltars. The Burkinshaw family has owned the company for four generations and currently operates the Ye Olde Pepper Candy Companie on Derby Street in Salem, Massachusetts.

George W. Pepper was born in Massachusetts in August, 1831, and died there in November, 1902. His marriage to his first wife, Mehitable Pepper (Ingalls) (1833-1894) lasted from 1851 until her passing in 1894. They had no children. He was married to Lillian (Lillie) May Pepper (Tittle) (1865-1953) in 1898, and their only child, Wilhelmina MacDonald (Pepper), was born in 1899. Wilhelmina passed away in Massachusetts in 1984. The Peppers spent many years operating the George W. Pepper Company on 4 Elm Street in Peabody, Massachusetts, where they lived and worked. After George’s death, Lillian and Wilhemina moved to Beverly, Massachusetts for the remainder of their lives.

Extent

2 Linear Feet (3 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Series List

Series I. Business Records of George W. Pepper Company

Series II. Pepper Family Papers

Physical Location

Phillips Library Stacks

Provenance

Collection donated by Daniel R. Fuller February 19, 1991 (Acc 90083).

Bibliography and Related Collections

Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.

Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, U.S., Death Records, 1841-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1635-1991 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

Ancestry.com. U.S., Find a Grave® Index, 1600s-Current [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

Bigelow, Nora. “Candy Made in Peabody - ‘Ye Olde Pepper Candy Companie’ - Peabody Historical Society.” Peabody Historical Society, July 27, 2021. Accessed April 4, 2023. https://peabodyhistorical.org/2021/07/candy-made-in-peabody-ye-olde-pepper-candy-companie/.

HathiTrust. “Essex Institute Historical Collections. v.14 1877.”. Accessed April 4, 2023. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x000383323&view=1up&seq=307.

Yeoldepeppercandy. “Our Story: Yeoldepeppercandy”. Accessed April 4, 2023. https://www.oldepeppercandy.com/our-story.