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US Salem MA 25 SEP 1845 to New York NY. 5c due (under 300 miles, early 1845 rate). Blue Salem SEP 25 Mass CDS, blue handstamp 5, wax seal. Stampless FL. Jonathan Whipple to S. Low & Co. Gum arabic garbled, Zanzibar gum, shipped by railroad, Salem trade.

Summary

• Date sent: 25 September 1845 (from the postmark, the same date as the letter)
• Country of origin: United States
• Sent from: Salem, Massachusetts (Essex County)
• Sent to: New York, New York
• Distance: about 200 miles in a straight line, roughly 230 miles by rail and steamboat
• Philatelic details:
  • Blue circular datestamp “SALEM SEP 25 Mass.”
  • Large blue handstamped “5”: the 5-cent rate for a single letter under 300 miles under the postal act of 1845. It was unpaid and collected from the recipient. This is an early use, less than three months after the new rates took effect on 1 July 1845.
  • Red wax seal remnant.
  • Recipient’s docket “Jon. Whipple Sep 25, 1845.”
  • Later pencil notes “P15-1970,” “I 1079,” and “1845.”
  • Ink stain at the left edge of the address leaf.
  • Stampless FL on blue paper.
• Sender: Jonathan Whipple of Salem, who garbled (sorted and cleaned) imported gum for merchants.
• Receiver: Messrs. S. Low & Co. of New York. This was very likely the firm of Seth Low (1782–1853), a Salem-born merchant who moved to New York and imported drugs and East India goods. He was the father of the China trade merchant Abiel Abbot Low and grandfather of Seth Low, later Mayor of New York and President of Columbia. The letter alone does not confirm this.
• Other people and ships named:
  • Messrs. Twombly & Lawson (reading tentative), apparently Salem merchants or agents
  • The schooner Fairfield
  • A bark whose name is not clear, and E. Wilder (reading tentative)
• Historical interest:
  • Gum arabic was used in medicine, confectionery, inks, and textile finishing. Salem ships brought it, and the harder gum copal, from Zanzibar and the Red Sea. By the 1840s Salem merchants were the main foreign traders at Zanzibar, and the American consul there was a Salem man.
  • “Garbling” was the skilled work of sorting a cargo into grades and removing dirt. Whipple sent 221 pounds gross of lightly garbled gum, and separated 22 pounds of black and woody pieces from the bale.
  • He had been about to ship the bag by the schooner Fairfield when the new orders came, and sent it by railroad instead. This shows the shift from coastal shipping to rail in the 1840s. He notes that he had not been told to send it by express, a service then only a few years old.
  • The remark about having garbled “the Cherokees” last winter may refer to an earlier cargo, perhaps from a ship named Cherokee. The reading is uncertain.
• Genealogical interest: The letter places Jonathan Whipple at Salem in September 1845 as a garbler of imported gum, working for the New York firm of S. Low & Co. The Whipple family was long established in Salem and nearby Ipswich and Hamilton.

Transcription

The letter is transcribed with the writer’s original spelling. Abbreviations are written out, and uncertain readings are marked.

Inside letter:

Salem Sept 25 1845

Messrs S. Low & Co
New York

Gents yours of the 23rd is duly received. I forward to New York this day by Rail Road a bag of Gum arabic weighing Gross 221 lb that has be garbled lightly as directed. I have of Black & wood 22 lb that has be garbled from the bale.
I have 5 cases of arabic garbled as I did the Cherokees (reading uncertain) last winter with all the fine except the very fine in the cases which I am directed to send you by first vessel. This bag has been ready for more than a week & I was about shipping it by Schooner Fairfield when I received yours. Messrs Twombly & Lawson (reading tentative) gave me no directions to send it by Express.
I will forward as fast as possible the Large Zanzibar Gum from Bark Orb (reading uncertain) & E. Wilder (reading tentative).

Yours Respectfully
Jonathan Whipple

Address panel:

5
Messrs S. Low & Co.
New York

Docketing (written by the recipient):

Jon. Whipple
Sep 25, 1845

Pencil (later notes):

P15-1970
I 1079
1845

Notes on terms:

• “Garbled” means sorted and cleaned. It did not then mean confused.
• “Gross” weight includes the bag.
• “Black & wood” means the dark, woody pieces picked out of the gum.
• “Express” was a private service carrying parcels quickly by rail.