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The Jenny at Warehouse Landing
John Glassford was one of the three Tobacco Lords of Glasgow, Scotland who dominated the Scottish tobacco trade in the two decades before the American Revolution. Glassford operated fifteen stores in three Southern Maryland counties: Prince Georges, Charles, and St Mary’s and one in Baltimore. We do not know when the Port Tobacco store opened, but we have ledgers and letter books for 1760-64, and 1767 and a scattered ship’s invoices. The vessel shown here unloading her cargo at Warehouse Point is the Jenny. She carried goods and supplies from Glasgow and would soon return filled with tobacco. The Jenny was a smaller two masted, square-rigged vessel known as a snow. Snows and their near lookalikes, brigs, typically displaced between 100-200 tons. They were the backbone of Glassford’s 25 ship fleet. Jenny was 150 tons, and on this voyage in the spring of 1772 carried a variety of everyday goods for sale in the Port Tobacco store valued at £1171.
Before Scottish merchants entered the tobacco trade, it was dominated by the large Virginia planters and their generally London-based factors. These planters shipped their tobacco to factors at the planters’ expense. Once sold, factors used the proceeds to purchase, and ship requested merchandise and supplies back to planters. The whole process took considerable time and required access to credit to smooth fluctuations in the volatile tobacco market and to finance planter investments. Scottish merchants, in contrast focused on smaller planters and farmers, opened stores close to their customers where anyone could sell their tobacco, purchase the commodities they needed on the spot, and find readily available credit. Glasgow enjoyed significant economies in the tobacco trade over their English competitors. Among these advantages were Glasgow’s northwestern location which allowed a much faster and safer passage to Maryland and Virginia, more efficient turnaround times, lower overhead, and the Scottish kinship networks operating on both sides of the Atlantic. While numerous Scottish merchants traded in Maryland and Virginia, the John Glassford Company was by far the largest. In its peak years, the Glassford Company imported 10% of all tobacco received in Great Britian. The value of Glassford’s imports during this time was estimated to be more than £ 500,000 per year. The Revolution seriously disrupted the flourishing Scottish tobacco trade, and Glassford died in 1783 deeply in debt. Robert Fergusson and Alexander Hamilton, then factors at the Georgetown and Piscataway stores respectively, were active in settling the numerous accounts involved. Both men were of Scottish ancestry and owned property in Port Tobacco. It is unclear when the company passed out of the hands of the surviving Glassford partners. From 1800-1816 the American firm of Vincent and Fergusson carried out the bulk of the business of the old Glassford Company; and from 1816-1834 the firm was called Thompson, Edelen and Company.
Oil and Ink on Canvas 24X36 inches
Before Scottish merchants entered the tobacco trade, it was dominated by the large Virginia planters and their generally London-based factors. These planters shipped their tobacco to factors at the planters’ expense. Once sold, factors used the proceeds to purchase, and ship requested merchandise and supplies back to planters. The whole process took considerable time and required access to credit to smooth fluctuations in the volatile tobacco market and to finance planter investments. Scottish merchants, in contrast focused on smaller planters and farmers, opened stores close to their customers where anyone could sell their tobacco, purchase the commodities they needed on the spot, and find readily available credit. Glasgow enjoyed significant economies in the tobacco trade over their English competitors. Among these advantages were Glasgow’s northwestern location which allowed a much faster and safer passage to Maryland and Virginia, more efficient turnaround times, lower overhead, and the Scottish kinship networks operating on both sides of the Atlantic. While numerous Scottish merchants traded in Maryland and Virginia, the John Glassford Company was by far the largest. In its peak years, the Glassford Company imported 10% of all tobacco received in Great Britian. The value of Glassford’s imports during this time was estimated to be more than £ 500,000 per year. The Revolution seriously disrupted the flourishing Scottish tobacco trade, and Glassford died in 1783 deeply in debt. Robert Fergusson and Alexander Hamilton, then factors at the Georgetown and Piscataway stores respectively, were active in settling the numerous accounts involved. Both men were of Scottish ancestry and owned property in Port Tobacco. It is unclear when the company passed out of the hands of the surviving Glassford partners. From 1800-1816 the American firm of Vincent and Fergusson carried out the bulk of the business of the old Glassford Company; and from 1816-1834 the firm was called Thompson, Edelen and Company.
Oil and Ink on Canvas 24X36 inches