Samuel Rodman and William Logan Fisher correspondence

File — Box: Multi-collection box

Identifier: 003-02-29

Staff Only

Dates

1799 - 1829

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

PPL believes this collection is in the public domain. Users of this item are responsible for determining copyright restrictions.

Biographical / Historical

Samuel Rodman (1753-1835) was a merchant involved with whaling and textile industries. Rodman was born in Newport, Rhode Island as the oldest of seven children. As a young man, he worked in the counting house of Abraham Rodriguez Rivera and then moved with his mother to Leicester, Massachusetts. When he married Elizabeth Rotch (1757-1865), the couple moved to Nantucket and he began working with his father-in-law, William Rotch, in his whaling business. They moved to New Bedford in 1798. The family were members of Society of Friends and Rodman served as clerk to the New England Yearly Meeting. Samuel and Elizabeth had nine children. Their oldest daughter Mary married William Logan Fisher (1781-1862) of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

William Logan Fisher (1781-1862) was the son of Thomas and Sarah Fisher. He was a manufacturer of woolen goods and later involved in iron manufacturing.

Extent

.2 Linear Feet (1 manuscript box)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

Correspondence is organized chronologically.

Custodial History

Acquired as part of the Paul C. Nicholson Whaling Collection in 1956.

Accruals

Collection is comprised of over 100 letters from Samuel Rodman relating to the whaling industry including transactions in the sale of oil, investments in whaling voyages, spermaceti candle business, the War of 1812 and an embargo of whalebone and its seizure by officials in Nantucket. The bulk of the correspondence is from Rodman to his son-in-law William Logan Fisher of Philadelphia. A small number of letters are from Rodman to Monthly Meeting of Friends in New Bedford and Benjamin Rodman. Also included are several letters from Elizabeth (Rotch) Rodman to Mary (Rodman) Fisher. Includes Statement of account with Samuel Rodman by John Drinker (1821).

Related Materials

MSS 4, Rodman Family papers, New Bedford Whaling Museum.

Rodman-Rotch Family papers, Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College.

Processing Information

Previously part of general Nicholson Whaling Manuscript Collection, Subgroup 26. Processing by James E. Connor in 1993, Judith Lund in 2008 with additions made to the finding aid by Janaya Kizzie in 2014. The decision to reprocess the subgroups as individual collections was made by Jordan Goffin in 2018. The collection was reprocessed by Kate Wells in 2024.