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Title Relating to David Cobb's business affairs and accounts
Archival Reference Ms. N-1000
Sub-collection David Cobb Papers  
Author Cobb, David  Godfrey, David  Reed, Samuel  Bingham, William  
Date 7-28 May 1798
Document Type Correspondence; Business and financial document
Contents Includes:
Account of David Cobb with the schooner Betsy and Polly for items shipped by David Godfrey from Boston to Gouldsboro, Me., [May 1798]
Bill from David Godfrey for supplies for the schooner Betsy and Polly, [May 1798]
Receipt from Edward Edes (Boston) for $100.00 from David Cobb for Nathan Jones, 7 May 1798
Letter from William Bingham (Philadelphia) to David Cobb about their gloomy business prospects, 8 May 1798
Account of David Cobb for supplies, 10 May-31 Dec. 1798
Letter from Samuel Reed (Warwick, Me.) to David Cobb introducing David Mayo and Josiah Pomeroy, agents of a land company proposing to buy Maine lands, [14 May 1798]
Letter from William Bingham (Philadelphia) to David Cobb concerning the distressed state of Bingham's business affairs and returning a draft that Bingham is unable to meet, 14 May 1798
Letter from David Cobb (Gouldsboro, Me.) to William Bingham enclosing a copy of Cobb's loan account with Bingham and informing Bingham of operations on his Maine lands, 18 May 1798
Account of David Cobb with William Bingham "in new concern" for 1797-1798, 18 May 1798
Loan account of David Cobb with William Bingham, 18 May 1798
Receipt from Joseph Harris (Machias, Me.) to Jacob Townsley for payment of a debt to the estate of John Fairbanks, 25 May 1798
Letter from Joseph Patten (Columbia, Me.) to David Cobb reporting on logging operations, 28 May 1798
Sub-collection Information This collection consists of the papers of David Cobb primarily documenting his position as land agent for William Bingham in Maine, including papers related to the settlement of Maine, logging and the lumber trade, roads, and other subjects. Also included are papers related to his service during the American Revolution and his career as a politician and judge.

David Cobb was a Revolutionary War soldier and aide-de-camp to General George Washington, speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and president of the Senate, physician, judge, member of Congress, lieutenant governor of Massachusetts, and a founder of the Society of the Cincinnati and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

The collection contains letters to Charles W. Hare, Bingham's Philadelphia agent, and Alexander Baring, the future Lord Ashburton and representative of London's House of Baring. Also included are legal actions, financial accounts, maps, and inventories related to land development, fishing, lumbering, census reports, lotteries, the laying out of streets, and the construction of wharves, warehouses, and sawmills in Gouldsboro, Maine, which Cobb tried to develop as a major commercial port.

The collection also contains eight fragmentary diaries kept by Cobb, 1781-1818; a manuscript notebook with sketches; lists of British ships of the line; instructions for naval officers; letters to various members of the Cobb family; and letters from William Eustis, Henry Knox, Timothy Pickering, and Israel Thorndike concerning foreign relations, state politics, and miscellaneous financial matters related to the firm of Cobb and Richards, in which Cobb was partner.
Region American East  
Subjects Banking and Finance  Land Transaction and Property  Forestry and Logging  Stores and Supplies  Commerce and Trade  Steamboats  Travel and Transportation  Towns and Cities  
Places Boston; Gouldsboro; Massachusetts; Maine; Warwick; Philadelphia; Pennsylvania
People Cobb, David (1748-1830)  Bingham, William (1752-1804)  Edes, Edward (fl. 1798)  Reed, Samuel (fl. 1798)  
Themes Business, Trade & Commerce
Library Massachusetts Historical Society  
Copyright Massachusetts Historical Society