Wendell family business records

The Wendell family business records primarily consist of account books and papers of Jacob Wendell (1788-1865). Among the individuals and businesses included (with dates covered) are: Joshua Peirce, 1722-1734; Daniel Rindge, 1748-1750; Samuel Sloper, 1733-1802; Jedidiah Smith, 1786-1809; William Furnald estate, 1790-1802; Abner Newhall, 1801-1803; Meshach B.Trundy, 1818-1842; James Neal, 1832-1837; Abel Weaver, 1840-1874; I. Goodwin and S. E. Coues, 1831-1845; Eagle Insurance Company, 1834-1836; Piscataqua Insurance Company, 1840-1841; and William F. Parrott. There are family papers of the Wendell family as well as family papers of the Dorr and Barrett families, exercises in navigation kept by John Orn and Jacob Wendell, and a memoir of the Wendell family. The collection includes logbooks for several ships, and records of insurance companies.

The Wendell family papers include women's personal correspondence, essays and school papers, and John Dorr's diary and eulogy for his wife, Esther Goldthwait Dorr. The collection also contains letters written to Anne Rindge between 1742 and 1748 regarding her shipping interests, and the papers of Dorothy Wendell, who ran a cattle farm in the early part of the nineteenth century.

Many personal letters and other writings created by women during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries discuss family news (1799, 1855-1869), as well as books, studies, and other accomplishments (1843-1861). A folder of papers belonging to Sarah D. Barrett includes numerous school compositions and other writings. Titles include "On the Religion of Different Countries" (1839), "Sketch of the Life of Socrates" (1839), and "Try, Try, Try, Try Again" (1840).

A folder of John Dorr's papers contains his eulogy for his wife, Ester Goldthwait Dorr, d. July 28, 1840, as well as his 1841 diary with many entries about women in the family and visitors.

The Wendell family papers also contain a number of materials related to the business interests of two women: Ann Rindge and Dorothy Wendell.

Ann Rindge was the widow of the Portsmouth merchant, John Rindge. After his death, she took over some of his shipping interests. Letters from Jacob Wendell to Ann Rindge written between 1742 and 1748 discuss her interests in the Charming Molly and the Mercury.

Dorothy Wendell was the widow of John Wendell of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. After her husband's death, Dorothy ran a cattle farm and owned a great number of properties in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Nine folders comprise her economic interests: notes she held, taxes paid, sales of beef, tallow, hides, whiskey, and potatoes, and purchases of cattle. The papers also contain letters from her sons (Abraham was her attorney and agent), her will, deeds, and a court summons.

In her will, Dorothy left the bulk of her estate to her daughters-in-law rather than to her sons because they had been ruined a few years earlier by the failure of the Great Falls Manufacturing Company. By leaving the estate to their wives, she hoped to assure that their creditors could not seize the property.