Description:

Boston Tea Party
Dartmouth, MA, October 29, 1771
Boston Tea Party Connection! Rotch & Sons Bill of Exchange
Partially printed DS
[BOSTON TEA PARTY.] Joseph Rotch & Sons, Partially Printed Document Signed, Bill of Exchange to Amory's & Taylor, October 29, 1771, Dartmouth (New Bedford), Massachusetts. Transferred by Amory's & Taylor to Joseph Warminshaw. 1 p., 8.25" x 4.75". Expected folds; very good.

This bill of exchange by Nantucket and New Bedford whale oil merchants Joseph Rotch & Sons instructs the London merchant firm of Buxton & Enderby to pay £150 Sterling to the firm of Amory's & Taylor of Boston.

The partnership of Charles Buxton and his son-in-law Samuel Enderby (1719-1797) specialized in the growing market for whale oil. The firm conducted business under the name of Buxton & Enderby from 1767 to 1775 and included other partners before and after this period. Amory's & Taylor, consisting of brothers Jonathan Amory (1725/26-1797) and John Amory (1728-1803), was formed in Boston in the 1750s; they brought Joseph Taylor (1746-1816) into the partnership around 1769 or 1770.

In 1773, two of the Rotch family ships, Dartmouth and Beaver sailed for London to sell cargoes of whale oil. They returned with consignments of British East India Company tea, arriving in Boston on November 28 and December 15 respectively. The Sons of Liberty in Boston met and demanded that the ships should be sent back to London with the tax unpaid. They refused to allow the ships to unload their controversial cargo. In turn, Massachusetts Royal Governor Thomas Hutchinson refused to allow the ships to leave without paying the tea tax due to the Crown. Francis Rotch, one of Joseph Rotch's sons, pleaded with both sides to compromise. On the evening of December 16, disguised men boarded the ships and dumped the tea into Boston Harbor, without damaging the ships. Francis Rotch spent years seeking restitution from Parliament for the lost tea.

William Rotch sometimes accepted guns as payment, but as a Quaker and a pacifist, he always removed the bayonets before reselling them. He insisted that the bayonets were "purposefully made and used for the destruction of mankind," and he had a large number stored in his Nantucket warehouse. Desperate for supplies, the provisional government of Massachusetts attempted to commandeer them. When Rotch refused and sunk them in the sea, he was brought before the Committee of Safety. He explained that he destroyed the bayonets "from principle," and the committee was forced to release him since he acted from religious principles.

Like other residents of Nantucket, the Rotch family attempted to remain neutral during the Revolutionary War. Their Quaker faith also forbids their taking up arms. This position cost them greatly as both British and American vessels targeted Rotch ships. In February 1783, however, the Rotch ship Bedford was the first to sail up the Thames River flying the stars-and-stripes of the United States. Although a provisional treaty had been signed in November 1782 and made public late in January, Great Britain had not yet recognized the sovereignty of the United States. British customs officials frantically consulted the Lords of Council and eventually received the Rotch ship and unloaded its 487 butts of whale oil. A butt was a measure of liquid volume equal to two hogsheads or approximately 130 U.S. gallons.

Complete Transcript
Exchange for £150 Bedford in Dartmouth Octr 29, 1771
At Thirty Days after Sight of this our Third ? Excha First and Second unpaid, please to pay to Amorys & Taylor or order One hundred & fifty pounds Sterling for Value receiv'd of them & charge the same without further advice to Account of Your assured Friends
Jos Rotch & sons
To Buxton & Enderby / Merchts In London

[Endorsement on verso:] Please to pay the Contents to Mr Joseph Warminshaw or Order / Amory's & Taylor


Joseph Rotch (ca. 1704-1784) claimed to be from Salisbury, England, but historians believe he was born in Salem, Massachusetts. He was initially a cordwainer (shoemaker) and migrated to Nantucket from Salem around 1725. He married Love Coffin Macy and joined her father's trading firm and her Quaker Society. He left his father-in-law's business in the 1730s, and his sons Francis (1750-1822) and William (1734-1828) joined him in the firm of Joseph Rotch & Sons, which prospered due to the expansion of deep-sea whaling from Nantucket. By the 1760s, Joseph Rotch & Sons was the largest seller of spermaceti oil in New England, due to unethical business practices, according to their competitors. They even emerged victorious in an attempt by John Hancock in the mid-1760s to unseat them in the whale oil business. After the decline of the island's economy during the Revolutionary War, the Rotches relocated to New Bedford. Ultimately, the Rotch family was among the wealthiest and most powerful families in nineteenth-century America.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 8.25" x 4.75"
  • Medium: Partially printed DS

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