Benjamin Adams and Thomas Adams collection, 1781-1807

Collection context

Summary

Creators:
Adams, Thomas, of Alnwick
Abstract:
A collection dealing with the Jamaican financial interests of Benjamin Adams and Thomas Adams; the collection consists of correspondence, statements of bills and accounts, estate dealings and promissory notes.
Extent:
65 items in one box
Language:
The records are in English .

Background

Scope and content:

The majority of the material in the collection concerns the financial interests of Benjamin Adams and Thomas Adams in Jamaica. Benjamin Adams was owed a significant sum by Jamaican landowner George Noble. Upon Noble's death (ca. 1790), Adams entered into proceedings via attorneys James Corne Pownall and David Duncomb to recover his debt. The process was severely complicated by the revelation that the cane plantation overseen by Noble, known as the Lottery Estate in Trelawney, Jamaica, was not actually owned by him. After Benjamin Adams' death in 1792, the affair was taken up by the executor of his will, his brother Thomas Adams. The collection consists of autograph letters and copies, statements of bills and accounts, estate dealings and promissory notes; included is correspondence with, among others, William Cruden, William Morton Pitt and David Ross.

Biographical / historical:

Benjamin Adams was an English businessman; he died in 1792. Thomas Adams was a solicitor, an agent for the Duke of Northumberland, and the owner of Eshott Hall (Alnwick, Northumberland).

Acquisition information:
Purchased from Jeff Weber Rare Books, April 2018.
Arrangement:

The collection is arranged chronologically.

Rules or conventions:
Finding Aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191