1684-1831; bulk: 1750-1797
Guide to the Collection
Abstract
This collection consists of correspondence, bills & receipts, and accounts of Boston merchant Caleb Davis and papers of family members.
Biographical Sketch
Caleb Davis was born in 1738 in Woodstock, Conn., the son of Joshua Davis (1706-1755) (who later moved to Brookline, Mass.) and Sarah (Pierpont) Davis (1714-1795), originally of Roxbury, Mass. Caleb was one of seven children, among whom were Amasa (1744-1825), Robert (b. 1747), Nathaniel (b. 1750), and Joseph (b. 1752). Caleb (known as "the Honorable") married three times: first to Hannah Ruggles in 1760, second to Mary Ann Lewis (1743-1787), and third to Eleanor Cheever (1750-1825). Eleanor was the daughter of William Downes Cheever (1720-1788) and Elizabeth (Edwards) Cheever.
Caleb Davis began his career as a merchant in the grocery business and would eventually prosper in the shipping trade, doing extensive business with the firm of Cravath and Dugan of Baltimore, Md. in fish, rum, flour, iron, and staves. He was also a public official, politician, and shipowner, and after 1787 was active in the management of the Cheever Sugar Refinery. He was a member of the Sons of Liberty, the Committee of Correspondence, and the Massachusetts General Court (1776-1788), and in 1780 served as speaker of the first House of Representatives of Massachusetts. In 1788, he was a representative to the state convention that ratified the U.S. Constitution and, in 1789, one of the electors of George Washington for president.
Caleb Davis had six children, four with his first wife and two with his third wife: Elizabeth (b. 1764), Matilda (baptized 1768), Caleb (baptized 1772, died 1792), Hannah Pierpont (baptized 1773, died 1795), Eliza Cheever (1790-1828), and John Derby (baptized 1792, died 1809). John Derby Davis attended Harvard but died before graduating.
Collection Description
The Caleb Davis papers, spanning from 1684-1831, include correspondence, bills and receipts, and accounts of Boston merchant Caleb Davis and papers of family members. Starting in the grocery business in the late 1750s, Davis expanded into the shipping trade, doing extensive business with the firm of Cravath and Dugan of Baltimore in fish, rum, flour, iron, and staves. After the Revolutionary War, he continued trade with several firms in Europe and the West Indies. During the Revolution, he corresponded with Gen. William Heath and Dr. Barnabas Biddle, mostly about equipment and supplies. Davis became speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and was a representative to the state convention that ratified the U.S. Constitution. His correspondence includes letters from Rufus King, Nathaniel Gorham, and Theodore Sedgwick concerning the U.S. Constitution.
Also included are two letters from J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur (1782), one from George Washington (Aug. 1781), one from Paul Revere (Feb. 1779), and several from Samuel Adams (1778-1781), as well as letters from his brothers Amasa, Joshua, and Nathaniel Davis. Volumes in the collection include an early arithmetic notebook of William D. Cheever (1736); millinery business accounts, probably of Dorothy Murray Forbes; account books of Caleb Davis, the estate of William D. Cheever, and Eleanor Cheever Davis; housebuilding accounts of John Derby; letterbooks of William D. Cheever, William Cheever, and Caleb Davis; a cargo daybook for the brigantine William, brig Juno, and schooner Dighton; invoices of prizes captured by the Massachusetts Navy frigate Protector (1781), commanded by John Foster Williams; diaries of William D. Cheever and Eliza Cheever Davis; a diary and records kept by Benjamin Shattuck while surveying lands for the Cherokee reservation (1823); and a record of preachers at the West Church (1825-1831).
Acquisition Information
Gift of George B. and Frederick C. Shattuck, June 1917.
Other Formats
Digital facsimiles of the William Downes Cheever travel diary and the log of the schooner Matilda are available on Life at Sea, a digital publication of Adam Matthew Digital, Inc. This digital resource is available at subscribing libraries; speak to your local librarian to determine if your library has access. The MHS makes this resource available onsite; see a reference librarian for more information.
Detailed Description of the Collection
I. Loose papers, 1684-1826
Arranged chronologically.
This series contains correspondence, bills, and receipts pertaining to Caleb Davis's merchant trade and involvement in the American Revolution. Notable correspondents include Gen. William Heath, Dr. Barnabas Biddle, Rufus King, Nathaniel Gorham, Theodore Sedgewick, and Samuel Adams. Included are two letters from Hector St. John de Crevecoeur (1782), one from George Washington (Aug. 1781), and one from Paul Revere (Feb. 1779). The series also contains family correspondence and John D. Davis's school essays.
Digital facsimiles of the log of the schooner Matilda (in Box 5) are available on Life at Sea, a digital publication of Adam Matthew Digital, Inc. This digital resource is available at subscribing libraries; speak to your local librarian to determine if your library has access. The MHS makes this resource available onsite; see a reference librarian for more information.
II. Volumes, 1736-1831
Arranged chronologically
Kept in a volume identified as belonging to John Forbes.
Digital facsimiles of the William Downes Cheever travel diary are available on Life at Sea, a digital publication of Adam Matthew Digital, Inc. This digital resource is available at subscribing libraries; speak to your local librarian to determine if your library has access. The MHS makes this resource available onsite; see a reference librarian for more information.
Titled: "Commencement of the meanders of White River on the [illegible]."
On the Cherokee reservation. Titled: "Meanders of White River continued on the 12th of Oct. 1823."
On the Cherokee reservation. Titled: "Meanders of Arkansas from Point Remove up."
On the Cherokee reservation. Titled: "Notes of the western boundary line of the Cherokees."
III. Card files, [20th century]
This series consists of index cards and research notes on the Caleb Davis papers.
IV. Oversize material, 1759-1826
Arranged chronologically.
Preferred Citation
Caleb Davis papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.
Access Terms
This collection is indexed under the following headings in ABIGAIL, the online catalog of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related persons, organizations, or subjects should search the catalog using these headings.