Adams & Co. records: Finding Aid mssAM
Finding aid prepared by Huntington Staff; supplementary encoding by Diann Benti in August 2017.
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Note
Last updated by Brooke M. Black in February 2024.
Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Adams & Co. Records
Creator:
Adams & Co. (Firm : San Francisco).
Identifier/Call Number: mssAM
Physical Description:
5 Linear Feet
(4 boxes, 9 volumes, 3 oversize folders)
Date (inclusive): after 1851-approximately 1885
Date (bulk): 1855-1863
Abstract: This collection contains records chiefly related to the years following the failure of the California branch of the express
firm Adams & Co., in 1855, especially as it affected Alfred A. Cohen (1829-1887), the first receiver of the company. Other
subjects include Cohen's business and legal associations (1864-84) with the Central Pacific Railroad Company.
Language of Material: English.
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Preferred Citation
[Identification of item]. Adams & Co. records, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Provenance
Purchased from Edwin Grabhorn, April 1941 and January 1945.
Historical Note
The eastern express firm of Adams & Co. was founded by Alvin Adams of Boston, Massachusetts, in 1840. Nine years later, Daniel
Hale Haskell, one of Adams' trusted clerks, was taken into partnership and given authority to establish a branch of in San
Francisco. The California enterprise was so successful that by 1852 there were offices of Adams & Co. throughout the state,
carrying on an extensive banking business as well as the express service. In 1854 a reorganization of the eastern interests
essentially separated them from the western branch, leaving Haskell and Isaiah C. Woods at the head of the latter, with Adams
as a special partner.
The new Adams & Co. continued to prosper until the financial crisis of February 1855. On the evening of the twenty-second,
after the San Francisco office had experienced a mild run, the officers and counsel of the firm decided that a suspension
was inevitable. They further resolved, in order to tie up the assets, to commence a suit in the name of Adams against Haskell
and Woods for dissolution of partnership and to ask the courts for the appointment of a receiver. Alfred A. Cohen, a young
commission merchant and real estate dealer and a friend of Woods, was urged to take the receivership.
Cohen later stated that he had accepted the post reluctantly, and only after he had been assured that, since proper management
of the company's scattered assets would make them more than sufficient to meet obligations, his duties would be of brief duration.
In a few days, however, it became apparent that Adams & Co. could never resume business. Anxious creditors; disregarding Cohen's
receivership, attached property before it could be turned over to him . Other funds which had been, for speed's sake, transferred
to him without being counted, fell short of the expected amount. The settlement of affairs promised to be long and complicated.
Cohen soon asked to be discharged from the receivership . This request having been granted, in April he, Richard Roman, and
Edward Jones were elected by the creditors to serve as assignees. In October, Judge John H. Hager declared these proceedings
illegal and revoked Cohen's discharge as receiver, only to remove him and appoint Henry M. Naglee in his stead. Naglee then
began a suit against Cohen, charging him with embezzlement. Not only Cohen, but almost everyone who was connected with the
affairs of Adams & Co. was at some time or another accused of fraud. The scandals and the litigation dragged on into the 1860s.
Scope and Content
The collection includes letters and documents (including 8 scrapbooks and 2 volumes of transcripts) chiefly related to the
years following the failure of Adams & Co., especially as they affected Alfred A. Cohen, who was appointed first receiver
of the company. Other subjects covered in the collection include Cohen's business and legal associations (1864-84) with the
Central Pacific Railroad Company and the 1876 trial, Central Pacific Railroad Co. vs. Alfred A. Cohen. Significant persons
represented in the collection include: Alfred A. Cohen (16 items + 126 in letter book), Frederick Cohen (5 pieces), Augustus
G. Richardson (9 pieces), H. A. Whiting (6 pieces), and Isaiah Churchill Woods (15 pieces). There is also an affidavit by
James King of William and some materials related to the firm of Hoge & Wilson (5 pieces).
It seems likely that Cohen (or the Cohen family) was once the possessor of these letters and papers; a few of them relate
to his affairs before and after the period related to the Adams & Co. matters. Cohen's activities as broken for Adams & Co.,
as lessee of the North Point Dock Warehouses, and as receiver for the California Lumber Manufacturing Company are touched
on in the few letters which antedate 1855.
In January and early February 1855, Cohen's brother Frederick Cohen was employed by Adams & Co. in making an inspection
of their country offices. Letters of instruction to him from I.C. Woods and other members of the firm are included in this
collection.
Most of the material falls within the years 1855-1863. There are letters to and from Cohen as receiver and assignee; legal
papers relating chiefly to the suit of Adams vs. Haskell and Woods and Cohen, receiver, and to the suit of Adams & Co., per
Naglee, receiver, vs. Cohen; and correspondence between Cohen and his lawyers.
The later papers (1864-1884) are few in number. They consist of family letters and of documents and scraps concerning Cohen's
business and legal associations with the Central Pacific Railroad Co. There are two volumes containing a typewritten copy
of the official reporter's transcript of the trial in the case of the Central Pacific Railroad Co. vs. Alfred A. Cohen (1876
July 18-31)
The collection includes eight scrapbooks, probably compiled by Cohen's son, William Gibbons Cohen, after 1876. The volumes
contain typewritten copies of articles from the Daily Herald and other San Francisco newspapers for the years 1853-1856, as
well as clippings, dating from 1876 through 1924. Though the articles cover a wide range of subjects, most of those for 1855-1856
deal with Adams & Co. Volume eight is limited to clippings, most relating to crime in San Francisco during the years 1876-1880.
Some notable items include:
- Adams & Co. Montezuma. Agents. Letter book containing letters signed by Gower & Conway, Newell & Co., Edward Conway, and Charles
E. Gliddon and addressed, for the most part, to Adams & Co. at Sonora (1853-1854)
- King, James of William. Affidavit concerning his part in the events of the night of February 22, 1855 (1855 March 8)
- Cohen, Alfred A. Affidavit concerning the circumstances of his appointment as receiver and his conversations with Trenor W.
Park (1855 June 30)
- Woods, Isaiah C. Letter written at sea to Alfred A. Cohen relating the details of Woods' departure and his plans for the future
(1855 August 28)
- California. Courts. District Court. 12th Judicial District.
Arrangement
Documents arranged in 4 boxes chronologically, followed by 7 scrapbook volumes, and 4 oversize items (2 folders, 1 envelope,
and 2 volumes)
General
Individual call numbers included in the collection: mssAM 1-212.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Banks and banking -- California -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
Express service -- California -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
California -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
Business records -- California -- 19th century
Letters (correspondence) -- California -- 19th century
Scrapbooks -- California -- 19th century
Cohen, Alfred A. (Alfred Andrew), 1829-1887
Cohen, Frederick.
King, James, 1822-1856
Richardson, Augustus G.
Whiting, H. A.
Woods, Isaiah Churchill, 1825-1880
Central Pacific Railroad Company
Hoge & Wilson.
Box 2
1855 February 23-1855 May
Volume 1
Scrapbook: 1893-1902; 1853 April-1902
Volume 3
Scrapbook: 1911 (Civil War Reminiscences); 1854 February-May
Volume 5
Scrapbook: 1855 March-November
Volume 6
Scrapbook: 1855 November-1856 June
Volume 7
Scrapbook: 1921-1924; 1855, 1856, 1861, 1871
Folder Oversize 1
California. Courts. District Court. 4th Judicial District. Alvin Adams vs. Isaiah C. Woods and Daniel Hale Haskell. AM 26
1855-1858
Folder Oversize 2
California. Courts. District Court. 4th Judicial District. Alvin Adams, Daniel Hale Haskell, and Isaiah C. Woods (Adams &
Co. by Henry Morris Nagree, Receiver, vs. Alfred A. Cohen.
AM 27
1856-1862
Folder Oversize 3
Cohen, Alfred A. and others. Letterbook containing letters from Cohen as receiver and from Cohen, Roman, and Jones as assignees
of Adams & Co.
AM 42
1855-1856
Item Volume mssAM 29 (1)
Central Pacific Railroad Company vs. Alfred A. Cohen. Reporter's Transcript [typescript transcript in volume 1 of 2] AM 29 (Volume 1)
1876
Item Volume mssAM 29 (2)
Central Pacific Railroad Company vs. Alfred A. Cohen. Reporter's Transcript [typescript transcript in volume 2 of 2] AM 29 (Volume 2)
1876
