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Company correspondence, 1855.
MANUSCRIPT SMCII Box 18 Folder 14
Collection Overview

Title:

Company correspondence, 1855
Crosby & Dibblee company correspondence, 1855

Creator/Contributor:

Crosby & Dibblee, creator

Abstract:

Two business letters from the firm of Crosby & Dibblee, dated May 15, 1855 and June 16, 1855, sent from San Francisco.
The May 15th correspondence is a one-page letter addressed to F.W. Clarke & Co. in Sydney, N.S.W. [Australia]. It is a letter of introduction for Wiley W. Hatcher: "Mr. Hatcher visits your port with a venture of grain, in disposing of which we presume he will be glad to avail himself of your assistance."
The second of letter of two and a half pages is addressed to Wiley W. Hatcher in Sydney, N.S.W. It begins with a report on the status of the market since Hatcher's departure: "Since you sailed, matters have remained without much change up to last week, when quite an advance took place in goods, occasioning considerable speculative feeling which still continues. Present appearances indicate that we are about over the hard times."
The remainder of the letter discusses commodities that Hatcher might import for the San Francisco market. Detailed instructions on shipment are included: "Balt. Oysters in good order & clean (every box must be opened and gone through & swelled tins thrown out) laid down at say $6.50 p. doz. will do well -- at present $7.50 & $9." And: "Codfish we see quoted very low. This is a delicate article, but if you find it perfect and dry, with no appearance of moisture whatever, fish white & good, free from strong smell & could ship by a dry vessel in a dry place, it would probably come good and command 6.2 - 7.2 cts. on arrival."

Date:

1855 (issued)

Subject:

n-us-ca
Crosby & Dibblee -- Records and correspondence
Merchants -- California -- San Francisco -- Correspondence
Shipping -- California -- San Francisco -- History
San Francisco (Calif.) -- Commerce -- History

Note:

The firm of Crosby & Dibblee was a commercial mercantile house operating in San Francisco from ca. 1852 to 1862; early San Francisco city directories show it occupying a building at 111 Battery. There the partners in the firm served as importers of goods, participating in the boom years for the establishment of trade in the expanding port city.
Charles W. Crosby and Albert Dibblee both arrived in San Francisco in 1850. Crosby was from Roxburg, Massachusetts, and had worked as a dry-goods clerk in Boston. After accumulating a fortune during his San Francisco shipping years, he relocated to New York City in the 1860s and became a prominent member of the New York Cotton Exchange.
Albert Dibblee was born in upstate New York and worked for the State Bank of New York before emigrating to California in 1850. After establishing himself in the commercial shipping business in San Francisco, he ranched and was president of the Giant Powder Company until his death in 1895. Dibblee was active in civic affairs beginning with his participation in the Vigilance Committee of 1856. He was influential in the People's Reform Party and held various offices in the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce over the years.
Crosby & Dibblee company correspondence, 1855
Unrestricted. Please credit California State Library.

Physical Description:

print
2 items

Language:

English

Identifier:

MANUSCRIPT SMCII Box 18 Folder 14

Origin:

California

Copyright Note:

Unrestricted. Please credit California State Library.