C.S. Toppan Account Book
A wealthy merchant from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Includes details of his ventures in ship owning and his investments in manufacturing companies and real estate. Also contains total assets of his “property in possession” as of January 1845, and lists of debtors, including men, women, businesses, religious groups, and political groups.
The account book of C.S. Toppan, a wealthy merchant in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, contains 298 hand-written pages detailing his ventures in ship owning and his investments in manufacturing companies and real estate. He began the book with total assets as of January 1845 of his “property in possession…the same being valued as is earmarked for capital in trade.” Among his debtors were various men, women, businesses (Merrimack Manufacturing Co., Lowell, Massachusetts), religious groups (Baptist Society), and political groups (Whig Committee). The last pages were written by his will executors, describing his estate at his death.
The collection is open for research.
Cite as: C.S. Toppan Account Book (MS 84). Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Acquired from Cedric L. Robinson, October 25, 1964
Processed by Ruth Owen Jones, October 1985.