Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-10-16
lRADE OF LONG AGO
SOME OLD-TIME MERCHANTS WHO
DID BUSINESS HERE.
MESSRS. BROWN, RlYES & co.
This House Was Very Prosperous,
and Employed Many Ships-Com-
merce With Spain and other For
eign Countries.
dor the Dispatch.)
eign Countries.

For the Dispatch)
Our Richmond merchants OF to-day
know little of an elder generation that
nourished a hundred years ago, more OF
less. In all the pride. pomp. and circdm-
stance of an extensive and lucrative COM
meree Among the noted merchants OF
the last quarter Of the eighteenth CEN
fury, and the first Of the nineteenth r'ay
be listed. in part. the following: Brown,
Rives & Co.; Donaldson & Co.; Darms-
DAFT, Satchell & Foster; Donald Bur
ton. Joseph Gallego, Joseph Marx &c Co..
Samuel Mordecai, Ellis Allan. John Al
len. Robert & Temple Gwathmey. Ralston
& Pleasants; Gordon, Trokes & Co.;
Charles Palmer Register Bohauaon,
George Fisher & Co., the Haxalls, joseph
q Co, Job Greene, Russell wallace,
Shepard & Lucke, George Greenhow. Ed
mund Anderson, Pollok IL Co., Dream ~
Toilet. George Watt, Lucke & Sizer. Will
liam Gait, D. !. Burr lie Seur Il Saun-
ders, Prosser e. Moncure, Workman &
McGruder Lancaster & Lakeland: Ots,
Dunlop e. Co.; Robinson, Moncure *
Peasants: Lewis Ludlam, William IL John
Gordon, Davenport 6 Allen, Norman Ste
wart. Caskie & Co., Lewis Webb. ana
Sterling r. Crump.
Some of these firms date back of 1900,
and none, IT Is believed, later than the
year 1925. Some omissions may occur in
the list, but those given are all repre-
sentatives Of the mercantile class.
NAMES NOT PERPETUATED.
The old English custom of transmitting
the firm-name to the successors OF It's
founder has not been observed in any in
stance that may be drawn from The above
list. / venture to assert that there is not
i'm existence to-day in>this city a single
irm-name whose origin can be traced as
far back as 1850. 1t would seem that de-
scendants of certain members Of the old
time firms have thought IL we'll to quit
the footsteps of their fathers. or other
relatives, for the less lucrative, II more
honorable, pursuit Of law, medicine, and
literature.
For the exemplary purpose OF this pa
per, / shall take the firm Of Brown, Riyes
& Co., whose transactions were OF such
magnitude as to give them high credit
rating in every capital OF the old and the
new world. They were middemen, who
exchanged the commodities Of Virginia
for those Of foreign States. Their trade
was as direct as that to-day of the great
firms of Philadelphia, New York, and Bos-
ton. 1t may be said, indeed, that Rich
mond in this particular became a formid-
able rival OF all the northern and south
ern trade centres. In post-Revolutionary
days there were no syndicates. trusts, or
combines. An active and honorable com
petition gave life TO and distinguished
every mercantile pursuit.
THE CREDIT SYSTEM.
The credit system was in vogue-long
credits, extending six. nine, and sometimes
twelve months. The percentage Of loss
on these was probably less than 1t is now.
Notwithstanding the presence in our midst
OF bureaus o. credit and mercantile agen-
cies. The books Of the old-time mer-
chants were kept and their accounts rem
dered in pounds. shillings, and pence.
Even as late as our day the reckoning of
the market huckster and of the retail
trader was made in like currency
One Of the last of the old firms to keep
accounts in the old style, was that OF the
late Lewis Webb, whose storebouse still
stands at the corner OF Main ana Locust
streets.
Merchants letters were not copied by
pressure as now, but by hand. A letter.
book Of Brown. Rives & Co. came under
my eye recently-the copies were all In
one clerkly hand. on coarse paper. with
1ut lines. The stoutly-bound book con-
tanned nearly thousand pages, and look
ID. outwardly like good-sized ledger.
BROWN. RIvEs & co.
The house OF Brown. Rives & Co. stool
formerly on the east side OF Twelfth
street, near the site Of the Gallego Mills
lanes Brown, the senior partner-knowT
Familiarity as Capitol Brown, from thu
circumstance of his having owned The
I'D Capitol building, on Fourteenth
street-was p Scotchman by birth. whC
settled in Richmond upon The closing d
he Revolutionary war. Robert Kives
he Junior, was the father Of the emlnen
statesman william c. Rives. The com
,any was. II j mistake not. one Burton
Who took care Of the firms interest.
broad. In order 20 form a correct esti
nate OF the vastness Of the operations
II the house. It may be stated as fact
veil attested By documents In the pos
iession of a grandson OF James Brown
hat al one time there lay In James rive
forty-nye vessels. all Of whose cargoo
we're consigned TO Brown. Rives Il Co.
Although the Bank of Virginia was thei
existence, under the presidency OF DR.
John Brockenbrough. little uso appears
o have been made OF IT. by the hrm. a
will appear presently.
HOW PRODUCTS WERE CONVEYED
Tho products OF the up-river plania
( ions were conveyed TO Richmond II
latteaux, by the old canal. and Its con
aecting river dams. whilst those OF IN
| .reat Valley came on four-wheels'
wagons. drawn by six-horse teams. Set
lcments with planters, or their agents
| we're made in cash by this nrm. who m
\ their vaults great tubs. or haif-hosi
aeads, filed with silver coins. IL wa
aid many years ago by an old merchant
| hat however great the draught mad
ipon the white metal. there appeared {
| 5e no sensible lessening OF its bulb
| spanish and South American coins wer
! chiefly In use as currency, and even u