Roswell L. Colt papers

Table of Contents

Summary Information

Background note

Scope and content note

Administrative Information

Controlled Access Headings

Collection Inventory

Correspondence

Miscellaneous

Biddle, Taylor, and Webster letters

Summary Information

Repository

Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Creator

Colt, Roswell L. (Roswell Lyman), 1779-1856

Title

Roswell L. Colt papers

ID

1883

Date

1808-1854

Extent

3.2 Linear feet ; 10 boxes

Language

English

Abstract

This collection consists primarily of business, political, and social correspondence of Roswell L. Colt of Paterson, New Jersey. The material reflects Colt's penchant for speculation in lands in Oneida, New York; Pennsylvania; Maryland; as well as in coal, iron, canals, and railroads. His debts to the Bank of the United States and the estate of his father-in-law are also treated. There is evidence of Colt's position as financial advisor to his brother, John M. Colt, textile manufacturer, his cousin Samuel Colt, arms manufacturer, Nicholas Biddle, and Daniel Webster. American politics are frequent topics in the letters. Much of the later correspondence concerns his agricultural and horticultural interests, from Nicholas Biddle, Richard M. Blatchford, John W. Bloomfield, William A. Bradley, John M. Colt, Samuel Colt, Herman P. Cope, John Devereux, R. M. Gibbes, D. M. Perine, Daniel Webster, and various members of the Hone Club of New York. There are also some bills, receipts, and other miscellaneous papers.

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Background note

Roswell L. Colt was born at Wethersfield, Connecticut, on July 20, 1779. Sometime before 1796, the family moved to Paterson, New Jersey, where Colt's father, Peter, became involved in the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures. By 1811, Colt was connected with the firm of R. and J. Oliver, a commercial house in Baltimore, Maryland. He married Margaret Oliver, a daughter of Robert Oliver, one of the firm's partner's, in October 1811. In the same month, Nicholas Biddle married Jane Craig, Margaret's cousin. Biddle and Colt slowly formed a business alliance which was to last until Biddle's death in 1844. Colt spent most of his life in the bustling financial market as a land speculator, though he also invested in other ventures, such as coal and the railroads. For many years, he served as governor of the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures at Paterson, and he often used the society's stock in his investments. He was moderately active in politics; and he was friend and occassional business advisor of Daniel Webster, to whose political fund Colt at times contributed.

Colt and his wife separated in the early 1840s after a bitter feud with his in-laws, Charles and Thomas Oliver, over the probate of the Robert Oliver estate. During this same timeframe, he retired to his newly-built residence at Paterson. In his later years, he developed an enthusiasm for agriculture and horticulture, attended his local Presbyterian Church, and tended to minor philanthropic concerns. He died at his Paterson residence on November 22, 1856.

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Scope and content note

Consisting primarily of some 2,000 business, political and social letters received and sent by Roswell L. Colt between 1813 and 1854, this collection presents an intriguing, although far from complete picture of the varied life of a lesser known nineteenth-century businessman. The letters which Colt left are grouped, roughly, into three time periods -- 1813-1821, 1831-1844, and 1845-1854 -- with some overlap occurring in the latter two periods.

Two major topics fill the papers from 1813-1821: land speculation and stock speculation. The letters of John W. Bloomfield to Roswell Colt from 1813 to 1818 open the curtain upon Colt's life as a businessman. These letters from Colt's agent in Oneida County, New York detail some of Colt's activities as a land speculator. They report Bloomfield's land sales, his attempt to collect monies due, and foreclosures. They close with a statement of the profits which Colt had made in the venture. The letters would prove interesting to those interested in the local history of Oneida or to those interested in the westward push of New York's population. The second group of papers, 1819-1821, are concerned with the business affairs of Samuel Taylor of Baltimore, Maryland. Essentially, they revolve around Taylor's speculation in Bank of United States stock and his eventual bankruptcy.

The papers of 1831 to 1844 are much richer, much more varied, and reveal Colt at the prime of his financial career. In these papers, one finds Colt involved in a broad spectrum of activities. He served (1831-1836) as a financial agent and advisor of his brother John M. Colt, who had a textile plant at Paterson, New Jersey and who was constantly seeking government contracts for his cotton manufactures (75 letters). There is another group of 14 letters (1834) from his cousin Samuel Colt, who was attempting to get his Patent Arms Manufacturing Company off the ground. Colt was serving as his agent and advisor, too. A large bulk of correspondence from R. M. Gibbes and P. M. Perine concerns Roswell Colt's feud with Charles and Thomas Oliver over a sum of $200,000 which Colt supposedly owed the Robert Oliver estate. Another group of 33 letters from Herman P. Cope (1840-1842) deals with Colt's efforts to pay a debt of $100,000 which he owed to the Bank United States. Other letters deal with Colt's speculations is such things as canals, railroads, coal lands in Pennsylvania, Maryland and New York, iron manufacturing in the Pittsburgh region, and western lands.

Approximately 75 letters (1834-1844) are from Nicholas Biddle. These letters deal with the financial affairs which Colt handled for the banker. They relate Biddle's difficulties at the Bank United States in the Jacksonian era, as well as Biddle's periodic comments about the financial conditions of the country. Throughout the series, there is a constant exchange of information as to what type of financial investments might be wise. They discuss such things as investments in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad or the Delaware and Hudson Canal, as well as Biddle's investments in western lands or the New Orleans Gas Bank. Persons interested in filling out out details of Biddle's career might find this series of letters useful.

It is during this period, too, that a series of 19 letters from Daniel Webster begins. Most of these are social notes, but some confirm the difficulties which Webster was having with his finances. A letter of November 10, 1840 requested Colt's advice about the Tariff Issue. In relation to the Webster letters, there is a group of letters from Richard M. Blatchford, a New York lawyer and Whig politician who was active in the Webster political circle. Again, though these are largely social notes, they constantly are filled with the subject of Daniel Webster. (It should be noted that Blatchford, Webster, and Colt were all members of the prominent Hone Club of New York.)

Probably the most significant group of letters in the Colt Collection are those from William A. Bradley (85 letters, 1838-1840). These letters also focus on Daniel Webster. From the letters, it appears that Bradley was a professional at lobbying in the nation's capital. Like Colt, Bradley seems to have had a case of speculative fever. His letters are filled with discussions of schemes by which he hoped substantially to better his financial condition. He had an interest in everything: The Erie Railroad, land at Corning, New York, coal in Pennsylvania and Maryland, copper and lead in Missouri, and land in the west. At the same time that he was attempting to use Albert G. Harrison from Missouri (in the House) and Daniel Webster (in the Senate) to have a favorable land bill passed, he was proposing to Roswell Colt that a $100,000 fund ought to be established to ease Webster's financial difficulties. For some reason, Bradley's letters stopped coming in October, 1840: perhaps Colt had grown weary of too many unfulfilled promises.

Although some of the correspondents from the 1831-1834 period continued to write during the last period, the letters take on a different tone. Webster, for instance, turned from discussing politics and finances to discussing cattle breeding and the cultivating of trees. In fact, a large part of the letters of the 1845-1854 period deal with Colt's agricultural and horticultural interests. There are letters from his son Morgan Gibbes, who had travelled to Scotland and Paris, and from his son John. Finally, there is a group of 35 letters from John Devereux, a distant relative living in London. These letters are filled with business and social news, but they also contain some caustic and pithy comments concerning the state of American politics. Devereux was quite opposed to the war against Mexico, and he wasted no words in saying so. There are continued references to leading political figures such as Polk, Clay, Webster, Tyler, and Calhoun.

Although one justly cannot use the term "primary" to denote the importance of this collection, it does contain items of significance which are worth further scrutiny. Economic historians would find the collection fascinating because of the financial activities which fill letter after letter. Certainly the collection is further confirmation that the Jacksonian era was an age of economic speculation. Those interested in Nicholas Biddle will find the collection of use, especially when use in conjunction with the wealth of other Biddle manuscript material available. Those interested in Daniel Webster should not fail to read the Bradley letters. For social historians interested in the Hone Club, the collection might also be helpful, for Colt was a charter member of that group and received letters from a number of its other members.

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Administrative Information

Publication Information

 Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Revision Description

 Finding aid transcribed into Archivists' Toolkit by Phil Foglia. ; 2024.

Provenance

Gift of Mrs. E. Perot Walker and Mrs. A. Reid Johnson, 1963.

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Controlled Access Headings

Personal Name(s)

• Biddle, Nicholas, 1786-1844.
• Taylor, S. Staats.
• Webster, Daniel, 1782-1852.

Subject(s)

• Canals and railroads--19th century.
• Investments and Speculation--19th century.

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Collection Inventory