Offered here is an original handwritten Pennsylvania tradesman’s account dated July 16, 1804, recording the sale of spikes and repairs to wagon ironwork by William Hoskins for a customer identified as “Mr. Tomson.”
The bill was paid in full the following day and personally signed by Hoskins:
“Recd July 17 1804 Payment in full”
The document is written on handmade laid paper bearing a large and clearly visible AMIES & CO. papermaker’s watermark, connecting it to the important early paper-manufacturing industry of southeastern Pennsylvania.
This is an appealing early American artifact combining Revolutionary War-era biography, agricultural and wagon history, blacksmithing, regional papermaking, and a possible connection to one of the most important civil servants of the American Revolution.
Mr Tomson Dr in a/c with Wm Hoskins
To 16 of Spikes at 1/3 — £1-0-0
To hung out 36 at 1/3 — £2-5-0
To Repairing Wagon Irons — £0-2-6£3-7-6
July 16 1804
Recd July 17 1804 Payment in full
Wm Hoskins
The wording of the second entry is difficult to interpret and may refer to an additional type or quantity of ironwork. It has been transcribed as closely as possible from the original.
The arithmetic is clear:
The signer is most plausibly identified as William Hoskins, 1745–1812, of Middletown Township in present-day Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
Hoskins belonged to the Revolutionary generation and is identified in genealogical records as having performed military service during the American Revolutionary War. His life therefore spanned the transformation of Pennsylvania from a British colony into part of the independent United States.
By July 1804, Hoskins would have been approximately 59 years old. The confident receipt signature at the bottom of the account may therefore represent the autograph of a Revolutionary War veteran who had returned to ordinary civilian and commercial life in the young republic.
The contents of the account suggest that Hoskins was involved in one or more practical mechanical trades, possibly as a:
The sale of spikes and the repair of “wagon irons” would have been essential work in rural Pennsylvania. Wagons and carts were indispensable for moving grain, hay, timber, manure, firewood, livestock feed, household supplies, and commercial goods.
Hoskins reportedly married Martha Smith and remained associated with Middletown Township until his death in 1812.
Although the date, name, age, regional paper, and apparent occupation make this identification persuasive, the document itself does not state Hoskins’s residence, military unit, or rank. The attribution should therefore be considered historically plausible rather than absolutely proven.
The customer is identified only as “Mr. Tomson.”
An intriguing possibility is that the customer was Charles Thomson, 1729–1824, the celebrated Secretary of the Continental Congress and later resident of Harriton House in Lower Merion Township, near the Delaware County and Montgomery County border.
The spelling “Tomson” does not eliminate this possibility. Early tradesmen frequently spelled surnames phonetically or inconsistently, and “Tomson” could readily have been used for “Thomson.”
Born in Ireland in 1729, Charles Thomson emigrated to America as a boy. His father died while the family’s ship was entering Delaware Bay, leaving Thomson and his brothers orphaned shortly after their arrival.
Thomson became a respected Philadelphia educator, merchant, scholar, and political organizer. During negotiations with the Lenape or Delaware people in the 1750s, his careful recordkeeping and perceived honesty earned him unusual trust among Native leaders. He became closely associated with treaty negotiations and was sometimes described as a trusted secretary or interpreter of the proceedings.
In 1774, Thomson was selected as Secretary of the First Continental Congress. He remained secretary throughout the Revolutionary War and under the Confederation government, serving continuously until 1789.
In that role, Thomson stood at the administrative center of the American Revolution. He recorded congressional proceedings, maintained official records, handled correspondence, authenticated documents, and served as an essential institutional link between successive sessions of Congress.
After retiring from public life, Thomson lived at Harriton, the estate of his wife, Hannah Harrison Thomson. There he devoted himself to agriculture, biblical scholarship, and his pioneering English translation of the Greek Septuagint.
An order for spikes and wagon repairs would have been entirely appropriate for Charles Thomson’s working estate.
Harriton required wagons and carts for transporting:
The bill was substantial enough to suggest meaningful farm or wagon work, but it was not unusually large for a prosperous agricultural estate. It may represent the repair or partial refitting of one wagon, or work performed on several pieces of estate equipment.
The possible Charles Thomson attribution remains unconfirmed because the account gives no first name, residence, title, or reference to Harriton. It is presented as a historically plausible possibility rather than a certainty.
The sheet bears a large AMIES & CO. watermark, visible when held to light.
The Amies papermaking enterprise was associated with the early paper industry of the Philadelphia and Lower Merion region. Handmade paper was produced one sheet at a time using a wire mould. The raised wire lettering created a thinner area in the paper, producing the watermark visible under transmitted light.
The sheet also displays the characteristic laid and chain lines of traditional handmade paper.
The watermark is especially interesting because it places the physical manufacture of the paper within the same southeastern Pennsylvania commercial region associated with:
The watermark does not prove the identity of the customer, since paper circulated throughout the region, but it supports a Pennsylvania origin and adds significant papermaking and material-history interest.
The total of £3 7s. 6d. was a meaningful sum in 1804.
This was more than a minor household repair. Most of the cost was for 52 units or measured quantities of spikes and related ironwork, while the actual charge for repairing the wagon irons was comparatively small.
The account most likely represents:
For a prosperous estate such as Harriton, the order would have been practical and entirely believable. For an ordinary laborer or small household, it would have represented a significant expense.
This document brings together several important themes in early American history:
It is a tangible record of the everyday economic world inhabited by the generation that fought the Revolution and then built the new nation.
The document is more than 220 years old and shows expected signs of age and use, including:
The manuscript remains readable, the William Hoskins signature is visible, and the Amies & Co. watermark can be seen when the paper is held to light.
Please review all photographs carefully, as they form an important part of the condition description.
The identification of the signer as William Hoskins, 1745–1812, Revolutionary War soldier of Middletown Township, is based on the matching name, date, age, and regional context.
The possible identification of “Mr. Tomson” as Charles Thomson of Harriton House is an intriguing historical theory but has not been conclusively documented. No guarantee of either attribution is made beyond the information visible on the document and the accompanying historical research.
A desirable original manuscript for collectors of Revolutionary War history, Pennsylvania documents, Charles Thomson, early blacksmithing, wagon history, watermarked paper, agricultural history, and early American autographs.