WILLIAM EARLE & CO. PAPERS & RECORDS - SHIPPING & MERCANTILE - PROVIDENCE 1830's

Description

WILLIAM EARLE & CO. PAPERS & RECORDS - SHIPPING & MERCANTILE - PROVIDENCE 1830's
William Read Bowers (1800-1841) was a sea captain and ship owner of Providence. He was the son of Asa Bowers and Candace Hoppin; his mother was a member of one of the leading merchant families of the city. By 1832, William was the owner of at least three ships: the
Abeona
(Samuel Read, master),
Almira
(Ephraim Eldredge, master) and the
Phebe
(William Davis, master). He was also principal partner in a ships' chandlery business at 114 South Water Street in Providence from the early 1830s onward. The firm failed in 1837, and Bowers apparently remained with the business for several years under the new partnership of his brother-in-law Lloyd Bowers and his former assistant William Earle. Bower
s married, had several children, and died in Brooklyn in 1841.
William Earle (1808-1879) was the son of Oliver and Sally Earle of Providence. He was employed at William R. Bowers and Co. beginning in the early 1830s, and purchased the firm upon its bankruptcy in 1837, with partner Lloyd Bowers. He continued operating the chandlery as William Earle & Co. through about 1877, and died two years later. His wife was Mary A. Chandler.
Lloyd Bowers (1786-1864) became a partner in the chandlery and in ship ownership with William Earle in 1837, and remained active in the firm through his death. He also seems to have conducted a substantial amount of business on his own account.
He was not a close blood relative of William R. Bowers, but his wife Ann H. (Bowers) Bowers was William's sister. Their son William Lloyd Bowers (1826-1897) served in the Civil War.
This lot of more than 100 papers includes invoices, manifests, letters, receipts and other documents. Most of the paper dates from the 1830's, however, there is some from the 1840's and a few estate related papers from the 1870's. Included is a "List of Articles on Bourd Bark Floyd." The bark Floyd sailed from Providence for California in 1849 taking dozens of passengers from Rhode Island. This is a large lot of paper too much to list and photograph. As with all my items I am starting this auction at .99 with NO RESERVE!