HERSEY, STAPLES AND CO. (STILLWATER, MINN.):
An Inventory of Its Records at the Minnesota Historical Society
Manuscripts Collection
OVERVIEW
| Creator: | Hersey, Staples and Co. (Stillwater, Minn.), creator. | |
| Title: | Company Records. | |
| Dates: | 1829-1934. | |
| Language: | Materials in English. | |
| Abstract: | Correspondence, maps, deeds, land patents, financial records, and miscellany of a lumber company organized in 1854 by Samuel F. Hersey and Isaac Staples of Maine, and several Massachusetts partners. The records provide data on land acquisition, logging, lumber manufacture and marketing, sawmill machinery, labor recruitment, and other aspects of the firm's business, as well as on a general merchandise store and flour mill operated by the firm in Stillwater. | |
| Quantity: | 4.5 cubic feet (5 boxes). | |
| Location: | See Detailed Description for shelf locations. |
HISTORICAL NOTE
Hersey, Staples
and Co. was organized in 1854 in Stillwater, the leading lumber town in the
Minnesota Territory at that time. It was headed by Samuel Freeman Hersey, a native
of Maine who already had years of experience in the lumber industry when he started
Hersey, Staples and Co. Hersey had two partners in the company; Isaac Staples, also
from Maine, and Dudley C. Hall, from Medford, Massachusetts. In addition, dry goods
importers John Brooks Fenno and James A. Whitney of Boston held a one-fourth
interest together under the firm name Whitney, Fenno and Company. The company
changed its name and management many times from when it was first organized to when
it finally ceased operating in the late 1800s.
For greater information, see Lucile Kane, "Hersey, Staples and Company, 1854-1860: Eastern Managers and Capital in Frontier Business," Bulletin of the Business Historical Society 25 (December 1952): 199-213.
Chronology
| Date | Event |
| 1854 | Samuel F. Hersey organizes Hersey, Staples, and Co. |
| 1861 | Co-partnership, Hersey, Staples and Hall. |
| 1866 | Co-partnership, Hersey, Staples and Bean. |
| 1866 | Co-partnership, Hersey, Staples and Doe. |
| 1873 | Hersey, Bean and Brown. |
| 1874 | North Western Saw Mills. |
| 1874 | Hersey and Smith (Keithsburg, Illinois). |
| 1876 | Eastern Trust, composed of Charles D. Bryant, Franklin Wilson, Eugene M. Hersey, Edward F. Hersey, and Roscoe F. Hersey, to dispose of Samuel F. Hersey's Minnesota interests, as stated in his will. |
| 1877 | Hersey, Bronson, Doe and Folsom. |
| 1890 | Hersey and Bean. |
SCOPE AND CONTENTS
The records also include information on Hersey's business interests in Bangor, Maine; his land-holdings in Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania; his financing of the town of Smyrna, Maine (1859); his lumbering interests in Ottawa, Canada (1850s); and his services as paymaster for the Second Regiment, Maine Militia (1830s and 1860s). Present too is a portage book for the steamer Equator, in operation on the Saint Croix River in 1855-1856.
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
Availability:
The collection is open for research use.
Preferred Citation:
[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Hersey, Staples and Co. Records. Minnesota Historical Society.
See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.
Accession Information:
Accession number: 7015; 7532.
Processing Information:
Catalog ID number: 990017300560104294
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
| Box | |||||||||||
| 147.D.1.7B | 1 | Company records by date: | |||||||||
| undated and 1829-1860. 17 folders. | |||||||||||
| Box | |||||||||||
| 147.D.1.8F | 2 | 1861-1874. 16 folders. | |||||||||
| Box | |||||||||||
| 147.D.1.9B | 3 | 1875-1909, 1932-1934. 5 folders. | |||||||||
| Company records by subject: | |||||||||||
| Life insurance policies, 1848-1873. | |||||||||||
| Western records, 1849-1879. | |||||||||||
| Deeds and memorandum of deeds of Western property at Stillwater belonging to Samuel F. Hersey, 1856-1865. | |||||||||||
| Mortgages, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, 1854-1868. | |||||||||||
| Plans, deeds, policies, powers of attorney to Lee and Kinnard property, and list of lands (Iowa property), 1858-1868. | |||||||||||
| Various memoranda, Paulk lands, taxes and bills paid, Walter Brown papers, 1854-1874. | |||||||||||
| Deeds (Paulk lands), 1859-1861. | |||||||||||
| Mortgages and notes (Paulk lands), 1861-1862. | |||||||||||
| William M. Stedman, Jr. papers, 1858. | |||||||||||
| James P. Whitney and others, Amidown to Smith, Samuel F. Hersey deeds, 1854-1871. | |||||||||||
| Abstracts of title, Whitney and Fenno (Amidown lands), 1857-1860. | |||||||||||
| Miscellaneous deeds, 1849-1858. | |||||||||||
| Miscellaneous deeds, 1857-1869. | |||||||||||
| Old company deeds from Isaac Staples, Samuel F. Hersey, and Dudley C. Hall, 1854-1875. | |||||||||||
| Hersey, Hall and Staples: Deeds, 1855-1870. | |||||||||||
| Hersey, Bean and Staples: Deeds, 1856-1874. | |||||||||||
| Hersey, Staples and Bean: Miscellaneous deeds, 1857-1873. | |||||||||||
| Hersey, Staples and Bean: Miscellaneous deeds, 1858-1870. | |||||||||||
| Deeds from Dudley C. Hall to Samuel F. Hersey, 1860-1866. | |||||||||||
| Hersey, Staples and Hall: Deeds, 1860-1871. | |||||||||||
| Deeds from Dudley C. Hall to Isaac Staples, 1866. | |||||||||||
| Hersey, Staples and Hall: Bonds for deeds cancelled, 1867-1897. | |||||||||||
| Box | |||||||||||
| 147.D.1.10F | 4 | Hersey, Staples and Bean: Deeds from Samuel F. Hersey, Isaac Staples, and Charles and Jacob Bean, 1867-1873. | |||||||||
| Deeds from Charles and Jacob Bean to Samuel F. Hersey, September 1874. | |||||||||||
| Advances made by Dudley C. Hall for Hersey, Staples and Hall, 1861. | |||||||||||
| Settlement, Dudley C. Hall with Hersey, Staples and Co., March 1861. | |||||||||||
| Recapitulation of inst. account of Hersey, Staples and Co., 1862-1865. | |||||||||||
| Apple River Log Driving Company deeds, 1863-1882. | |||||||||||
| Account books of Samuel F. Hersey and Co., 1845-1848. | |||||||||||
| Contains two account books dated February 17, 1845-February 17, 1848 and September 28, 1846-February 23, 1848. | |||||||||||
| Letterpress book, Hersey, Staples and Co., 1854-1856. 1 volume and 2 folders. | |||||||||||
| The folders contain a typed transcript of the letterpress book. | |||||||||||
| Newspaper articles from Kanabec County Times, 1934. | |||||||||||
| Gives history of logging operations, with special mention of Hersey, Staples and Co. | |||||||||||
| Record of lands owned, circa 1850-1860. 1 volume. | |||||||||||
| Details lands owned by Samuel F Hersey; Hersey, Staples and Fenno; Hersey, Pottle and Fenno; Hersey, Staples and Hall; and Hersey, Staples and Bean. | |||||||||||
| [0.5 cubic feet empty, legal sized] | |||||||||||
| Box | |||||||||||
| 123.J.4.7B-2 | 5 | Land patents: | |||||||||
| Wisconsin: Burnett County, Chippewa County, Douglas County, 1854-1865. | |||||||||||
| Wisconsin: Polk County, 1854-1879. 2 folders. | |||||||||||
| Wisconsin: St. Croix County, 1854-1857. | |||||||||||
| Minnesota: Chisago County, Kanabec County, Pine County, and Washington County, 1849-1872. | |||||||||||
| Portage book of the steamer Equator, 1855-1856. 1 volume. | |||||||||||
| Lists the names of the crew, their occupation, date of employment and wages. | |||||||||||
CATALOG HEADINGS
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.
- Topics:
- Flour industry -- Minnesota.
- Lumber trade -- Illinois.
- Lumber trade -- Iowa.
- Lumber trade -- Michigan.
- Lumber trade -- Minnesota.
- Lumbering -- Michigan.
- Lumbering -- Minnesota.
- Lumbering -- Wisconsin.
- Real property -- Iowa.
- Real property -- Michigan.
- Real property -- Minnesota.
- Real property -- Pennsylvania.
- Real property -- Wisconsin.
- Steam-navigation.
- Taxation -- Illinois.
- Taxation -- Iowa.
- Taxation -- Minnesota.
- Taxation -- Wisconsin.
- Persons:
- Bean, Charles, 1827-
- Bean, Jacob, 1837-
- Bradford, Charles.
- Doe, Alpheus King, 1838-1907.
- Dow, Neal, 1804-1897.
- Fenno, John Brooks.
- Hall, Dudley C.
- Hersey, Samuel Freeman, 1812-1875.
- Smith, William D.
- Staples, Isaac.
- Whitney, James A.
- Organizations:
- Apple River Dam Company.
- Eastern Trust.
- Equator (Steamship).
- Hersey and Bean.
- Hersey and Smith (Keithsburg, Ill.).
- Hersey, Bean and Brown.
- Hersey, Bronson, Doe and Folsom.
- Hersey, Staples and Bean.
- Hersey, Staples and Doe.
- Hersey, Staples and Hall.
- North Western Saw Mills.
- St. Paul, Stillwater, and Taylor's Falls Railroad Company.
- Places:
- Bangor (Me.)
- Kanabec County (Minn.)
- Keithsburg (Ill.)
- Polk County (Wis.)
- Saint Croix County (Wis.)
- Smyrna (Me. : Town)
- Stillwater (Minn.)
- United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Economic aspects.
- Document Types:
- Deeds.
- Plats -- Iowa.
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