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An Origin of The New South: The South Carolina Homespun Company, 1808-1815*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2012

Richard W. Griffin
Richard W. Griffin
Affiliation:
Editor, Cotton History Review
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Abstract

The effort to establish a cotton factory in South Carolina in 1808 was aborted by inexperience, lack of capital, and unfavorable economic circumstance, but the episode provides a few more bits of evidence to add to the fragmentary history of early textile manufacturing in America.

Type
Research Article
Information
Business History Review , Volume 35 , Issue 3 , Autumn 1961 , pp. 402 - 414
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 1961

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References

1 Legislative Papers — Public Improvements — Manufactures, MSS. Petition of Hugh Templeton, Feb. 28, 1789, South Carolina Archives, Columbia, S.C. Cited hereinafter as L.P., S.C.A.

2 The (Annapolis) Maryland Gazette, July 22, 1790.

3 L. P., S.C.A., MSS., Dec. 1, 1792, Dec. 2, 1794, Nov. 20, 1795, and Dec. 7, 1801.

4 Taylor, James H., “Manufactures in South Carolina,” DeBow's Review, vol. VIII (June, 1850), p. 24Google Scholar.

5 The City Gazette and Daily Advertiser (Charleston, S.C.), June 1, 1808Google Scholar, citing the National Intelligencer (Washington, D.C.), May 20, 1808Google Scholar.

6 Tuches, “Spirit of the Times,” Charleston City Gazette, July 8, 1808; The Republican; And Savannah [Ga.] Evening, Ledger, July 12, 1808.

7 Penelope, “To The Fair Daughters of Carolina,” Charleston City Gazette, July 22, 1808.

8 Ibid.

9 The Republican; And Savannah Evening Ledger, July 26, 1808.

10 Ibid., Aug. 6, 1808; City Gazette, Aug. 2, 1808. The commissioners were John Drayton, Robert Howard, William Lee, John Stony, Daniel Stevens, John Blake, and John Ward.

11 City Gazette, Aug. 9, 1808.

12 The Republican (Savannah, Ga.), Aug. 27, 1808Google Scholar.

13 City Gazette, Sept. 3, 1808.

14 Ibid., Sept. 9, 1808.

15 Ibid., Sept. 14, 1808.

16 Ibid., Oct. 13, 1808.

17 National Intelligencer (Washington, D.C.), Nov. 8, 1808Google Scholar. For the complete text of this address see THE COTTON HISTORY REVIEW, vol. I (July, 1960), pp. 138–142Google Scholar.

18 David Ramsey to Dr. Lettsom, founder of the London Medical Society, Oct. 29, 1808, MSS., South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia.

19 Request for an Act of Incorporation, 1808, MSS. Legislative Papers, Public Improvements, Manufactures, South Carolina Archives, Columbia.

20 Acts of South Carolina, 1808, pp. 56-58; the directors named in the act were J. L. E. W. Shecut, Charles B. Cochran, John Johnson, Jr., Joseph Kirkland, Isaac Neufville, John Horlbeck, Jr., Robert Howard, Jonathan Lucus, Jr., and Thomas Bennett, Jr.

21 Charleston (S.C.) Courier, March 11, 1809.

22 Ibid., Sept. 25, 1809; City Gazette, Aug. 18, 1810.

23 National Intelligencer (Washington, D.C.), April 10, 1809Google Scholar.

24 Charleston (S.C.) Courier, Sept. 25, 1809; the directors were J. L. E. W. Shecut, 216 King Street in mornings, at the factory in afternoons; C. B. Cochran, State Treasury; Robert Howard, General Tax Office; Dr. J. Kirkland, Charleston Dispensary; Jonathan Lucus, Jr., Cannonsborough; John Johnson, Jr., Wragsborough and at the factory; Thomas Bennett, Jr., John Horlbeck, Moore Street; Isaac Neufville, National Bank.

25 The Strength of the People (Charleston, S.C.), Oct. 31, 1809Google Scholar.

26 Ibid., Dec. 7, 1809.

27 Memorials and Petitions — Legislative Papers — Public Improvements — Manufactures, Petition of John Johnson, Jr., MSS., South Carolina Archives, Columbia.

28 Wallace, D. D., The History of South Carolina (New York, 1934), vol. II, p. 408Google Scholar.

29 The Strength of the People, May 17, 1810.

30 City Gazette, March 7, 29, 1810.

31 Wallace, , History of South Carolina, vol. II, p. 408Google Scholar.

32 Tuches, “To the Stockholders of the South Carolina Homespun Company,” City Gazette, Aug. 12, 1810.

33 Ibid., Aug. 21, 1810.

34 Ibid., Aug. 25, 1810.

35 Ibid., Sept. 6, 1810.

36 Ibid., May 21, 1810; March 7, 1810.

37 Ibid., Sept. 8, 1810.

38 Ibid., Sept 6, 1810.

39 Petition for a lottery by J. L. E. W. Shecut, Nov. 28, 1810, Legislative Papers – Public Improvements – Manufactures, MSS., South Carolina Archives, Columbia. The other petitioners were John Spring, Benjamin A. Markley, Joseph Otis, Jr., and Henry Rose.

40 Laws of South Carolina, 1810, pp. 36-37.

41 Ibid., 1812, pp. 30, 81-82.

42 E. M. Lander, Jr., “The South Carolina Textile Industry Before 1845,” The Proceedings of the South Carolina Historical Association, 1951, pp. 20-21, citing Shecut, J. L. E. W., Medical and Philosophical Essays (Charleston, 1819), pp. 12, 26Google Scholar.