The Winterthur Library

 The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, Winterthur, DE  19735

302-888-4600 or 800-448-3883

 

 

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

 

Creator:          Delaplaine family.                                 

Title:               Papers

Dates:             1720-1810

Call No.:         Col. 387

Acc. No.:         54.90.12; 71x149

Quantity:        11 items, 1 microfilm reel

Location:        34 K 3

 

 

 

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

 

Joshua Delaplaine, joiner and merchant from New York City, was the youngest of 16 children born to Nicholas Delaplaine.  He primarily worked from 1720-1771 making coffins and wooden handles for silversmiths, as well as mending furniture, performing some general carpentry, and working as a joiner on ships.  Delaplaine took on a number of apprentices who usually remained with him for seven years.

 

Sometime during the 1730s, Delaplaine began working as a merchant.  He married Mary Bustill, who gave him a large dowry.  The couple had six children, five of whom survived.  Three of his sons, William, Joshua, and Samuel later joined him in the merchant business.  The Delaplaines imported and exported not only furniture they made and from other craftspeople, but also imported indigo and sugar from the Caribbean and exported such foodstuffs as flour and butter to states along the eastern seaboard. Joshua also sold wood and hardware—possibly imported from Europe—to other craftsmen, particularly to his former apprentices.  Samuel, Joshua, Jr., and William appeared to have carried on the family business after the death of their father in 1771.

 

 

SCOPE AND CONTENT

 

This collection includes an indenture for one of Joshua Delaplaine's apprentices, two records of consignments for goods shipped, an order for hardware, a receipt for rosin used in coffin making, an advertisement for a runaway servant, a scrap from an almanac, a bill of currency exchange to Samuel Delaplaine, a safe conduct pass for Samuel and William Delaplaine, a bank note for Samuel Delaplaine, and an inventory of Samuel Delaplaine’s estate taken upon his death in 1810. Also included is a microfilm of Joshua Delaplaine’s account books and Delaplaine papers owned by the New York Historical Society (Mic. 666).

           

 

ORGANIZATION

 

The items are in accession number order.

 

 

LANGUAGE OF MATERIALS

 

The materials are in English.

 

 

RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS

 

Collection is open to the public.  Copyright restrictions may apply.

           

 

PROVENANCE

 

Accession 54x90.12 purchased from John S. Walton.

Accession 71x149 purchased from Timothy Trace.

 

 

ACCESS POINTS

 

People:

            Delaplaine, Joshua, 1690-1771.

            Delaplaine, Samuel, d. ca. 1810.

            Delaplaine, William.

 

Topics:

            Invoices.

            Inventories of decedents’ estates – New York (State) – New York.

            Joinery - New York (State) - 18th century.

            Cabinetwork - Equipment and supplies.

            Business records - New York (State) - 18th century.

            Shipping - New York (State) - 18th century.

            Merchant marine.

            Intercoastal shipping.

            Bills of exchange.

            Indentures.

            Shipping passes.

            Retail trade - New York (State) - 18th century.

            Cabinetmakers.

            Joiners.

            Merchants.

 

Additional authors:

            Delaplaine, Joshua, 1690-1771.

            Delaplaine, Samuel, d. ca. 1810.

            Delaplaine, William.

            Delaplaine, Joshua. Daybook and business papers, 1720-1778,

           

 

 

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

 

Location: 34 K  3

 

[accession numbers begin with 71x149, unless otherwise noted]

 

.1         indenture of apprenticeship for Nicholas Belanger, Little Egg Harbor, N. J., signed August 5(?), 1720.

Nicholas Belanger, son of the late Joe (or Ive) Belanger, late of Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey, with the consent of his mother, is indentured to Joshua Delaplaine, joiner, of New York City, to begin a 7 year term of service beginning May 2, 1721.  Witnessed by Arnold Cassell and Benjamin Lawrence.

 

.2         Internal shipment of goods. Joshua Delaplaine, New York, N. Y., to Samuel Holmes, Rhode Island, November 4, 1732.

Joshua Delaplaine shipped ten casks of flour to Samuel Holmes in Rhode Island, aboard the sloop Speedwell, Arnold Schermerhorn, master.

 

.3         order for goods. Tristram Dodge, Cownock(?), ordered hardware (nails, hinges, locks, etc.) from Joshua Delaplaine (spelled Dileplain), 3d month, 10, 1744.

            [The name on the back looks like Thos. Dodge, rather than Tristram.]

 

.4         Receipt, Jerh. Elfreth, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 7th mo., 22, 1744, received payment from Joshua Delaplaine for barrel of rosin for the use of Wm. Witesides [Whitesides].

 

.5         Newspaper advertisement, Richard Hallet, Newtown, Long Island, N. Y., November 26, 1753.

Hallet advertises that an English servant maid named Elizabeth Gayland has run away from him.  A reward for her return is offered.

 

.6         Receipt, John Townsend from Richd. North, London, England, 1765.  [MISSING]

 

.7         Export of goods.  Shipped by RD. Neave & Son, London, England, to Joshua Delaplaine, 1771.

            Neave & Son shipped 7 trunks and one box of merchandise (contents unknown) aboard the ship London, James Chambers, master, August 28, 1771.

 

.8         Extract from an Almanac, no publisher, no place, 1771.

The page shows “The Anatomy of Man’s Body, as govern’d by the Twelve Constellations.”  Text about trees on the reverse of page.

 

.9         Bill of Exchange, Samuel Delaplaine from Thos. Franklin, New York, N. Y., May 15, 1775.  Sent to Summers & Clibborn, merchants, Haverfordwest.

 

.10       Safe Conduct Pass issued to Samuel and William Delaplaine, by Christopher Marshall, chairman of Committee of City & Liberties, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, August 24, 1776.  The Delaplaines were to pass unmolested to Bethelem [i.e. Bethlehem?] and from thence to Shrewsbury.

 

.11       Bank note, pay to S.D. or bearer, signed Saml. Delaplaine, New York, N. Y., October 26, 1793.

 

54.90.12          An Inventory of the goods, chattels, and credits which were of Samuel Delaplaine of the city of New York, deceased, taken by Phila Delaplaine & John F. Delaplaine, executors, in the presence of John Murray, Jr., Samuel B. Delaplaine, Charlotte Delaplaine, Phila Delaplaine, Jr., and Elijah P. Delaplaine, February 2, 1810.

                        Lists certificates, notes, real estate, silver, furniture, curtains, carpets, pots and pans, bedding, sundry wearing apparel, etc.

 

 

Mic. 666          daybook and business papers of Joshua Delaplaine, circa 1720-1778.

 

                        Records the making of furniture and coffins, including accounts for hardware and raw materials. He also made wooden handles for silversmiths.

 

                        (Originals in the New-York Historical Society.)