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Rundlett, Samuel H.

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Samuel H. Rundlett Daybooks

1873-1879
3 vols. 0.2 linear feet
Call no.: MS 214 bd

A teamster from Newburyport, Mass., Samuel H. Rundlett operated a substantial business as a teamster and “truckman” from the 1830s through 1880s.

The three daybooks in this collection document Rundlett’s work for local businesses, including hauling bales of raw cotton and finished cloth, delivering coal, produce, fertilizer, and goods; as well as prices paid for freight handling and forms of payment (cash, credit at a store, and produce from a local farmer). Of note is Rundlett’s delivery of goods to the Newburyport branch of the Sovereigns of Industry, a workingmen’s cooperative association.

Background on Samuel H. Rundlett

Born in Epping, New Hampshire, on May 17, 1809, Samuel Huntoon Rundlett spent his adult life as a “truckman” or teamster in Newburyport, Mass. After marrying Clarissa Jane Davis in Concord, N.H., in 1833, Rundlett appears to have settled in the port city, and at their home on 16 Fair Street, he and his wife raised a family of at least five sons and two daughters. Running a subtanstial operation in an active city, he was sufficiently successful in his trade to afford a maid for his family. Rundlett died in Newburyport on July 12, 1887.

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Contents of Collection

Rundlett’s three daybooks document his work as teamster for various local businesses between 1873 and 1879, and the prices paid for freight handling. His most frequent customers included the Bartlett Steam Mills and the Peabody Mills — textile companies for which he hauled bales of raw cotton and finished cloth — and a large number of schooners docking at Newburyport’s wharves. Rundlett also delivered coal for the Charles W. Hale Co., produce and fertilizer for local farmers, and a variety of goods for local merchants and grocers. Many of the businesses listed in the County Atlas for 1872 appear in Rundlett’s accounts.

Although most of the transactions were on a strictly cash basis, Rundlett did accept other types of payment, including credit at a store or produce from a local farmer. Among the more interesting items are his accounts with the Newburyport branch of the Sovereigns of Industry, a workingmen’s cooperative association. Rundlett delivered flour, beans, oil, sugar, and molasses for the Sovereigns’ cooperative store in Newburyport.

The volume of work completed in the daybooks are indicative of the scale of Rundlett’s operations: he had several teams and wagons and employed a number of workers, and occasionally, he rented out horses or entire teams for the day. The accounts suggest that Rundlett prospered in the bustle of Newburyport economic activity. On the first page of the volume beginning in 1876 is a list of his four insurance policies, totaling $3,000 on his house and personal estate, noting that these did not include his horses.

Residue

Administrative information

Access

The collection is open for research.

Language:

English

Provenance

Acquired from Charles Apfelbaum, 1987

Processing Information

Processed by Ken Fones-Wolf, September 1988.

Acknowledgments

Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Copyright and Use (More informationConnect to publication information)

Cite as: Samuel H. Rundlett Daybooks (MS 214). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries.

Acquired from Charles Apfelbaum, 1987

Subjects

Newburyport (Mass.)--HistorySovereigns of IndustryTeamsters--Massachusetts--Newburyport

Types of material

Daybooks