Amos Mower's Shoe Manufacturing Company 1830-1839, Lynn, Massachusetts

The 1830s Shoe Business of Amos Mower, Outline of an American Manufacturing Microcosm, Lynn, Massachusetts

Collected correspondence, suppliers and wholesale customers will be added below in chronological order, with significant dates in Lynn and US History gradually interspersed for an introductory context. This being the first pass to get these online so that they may be shared, many name spelling interpretations are approximations still in need of closer examinations.

High resolution images of these letters may be viewed here:  https://americanapapers.com/products/1830-1840-amos-mower-shoe-factory-collection

During the American Revolution, Lynn emerged as a key American city in the production of shoes.  Production boomed to meet American footwear demand due to the lack of footwear that previously had come from Great Britain

1790: Lynn census: population 2,291, 300 homes, 7.65 persons per house

1800: Lynn census, population 2,837.

1801: March 16, birth of Amos Mower in Lynn, Massachusetts (Vital Records of Lynn, Massachusetts to the year 1849, Volume I-Births, published by the Essex Institute, Salem, Mass., 1905, page 269.). Genealogical research shows cordwainer and tannery businesses in his family background, as well as his wife’s.

1810: Population of Lynn 4,087.

1814: Usher – Mechanics Bank Block is built on City Hall Square. (see Amos Mower bank drafts list)

1820: Census, population of Lynn is 4,515. The 1820 census lists economic occupation with “986 persons in manufacturing, likely shoe craft industries, 157 in agriculture and 57 in commerce, with 10 foreign born and 3 free colored persons.” (MHC 1985, 7)

1824: August 31, General Marquis de Lafayette visits Lynn during his tour of the United States.

1824: December 2, Amos Mower and Lydia Chase Phillips are married in Lynn

1828: December 2, Democrats Andrew Jackson and John C. Calhoun defeat National Republicans John Quincy Adams and Richard Rush in US Presidential election

1830: Census, population of Lynn is 6,138.

1830: Amos Mower house at 71 Broad Street is built (Historic Building detail report, LYN.598)

1830-1840: Amos Mower Shoe Factory at 75 Broad Street built (Register of Lynn Historical Society, Volumes 8-12, page 77. “Amos Mower, the son of Enoch Mower (234), who had lived at Washington Square, lived next west, at No. 71 Broad street and his shoe factory, now the house No. 75 Broad street, built between 1830 and 1840, was in his yard.)

1831: Nat Turner's slave rebellion, August 21–23, Southampton County, Virginia

1832: July, President Andrew Jackson vetoes the bill to recharter the Second Bank of the United States, the nation's acting central bank and fiscal agent. Over the next 4 years, state-charted banks relax lending standards and reduce their loan backing reserves.

1832, December 5, Democrat Andrew Jackson with running mate Martin Van Buren defeat National Republican Henry Clay, Nullifier John Floyd and Anti-Masonic William Wirt in US Presidential election

January 16, 1833 Mower association letter from Asheel Weston, Baltimore, Maryland to James Phillips, Lynn, Mass (see September 28, 1835, letter from Tiffany Duvall Co., Baltimore, Maryland where James Phillips is addressed in letter sent to Amos Mower)

June 3, 1833, letter from George Bartlett signed by A. Brown, Baltimore, Maryland to Amos Mower, Lynn (Red high ‘e’ Balte cds)

December 5, 1833, letter from John W. Reule & Son, Baltimore, Maryland to A Mower & Co., Lynn -
(Red high e and high d cds)

March 8, 1834, letter from A.M. Hatch & Co, New York City to Amos Mower, Lynn -(Red New-York cds)

April 7, 1834, letter from Lewis Allen, Danvers, Massachusetts to Mr. Amos Mower & Co., Lynn - (request for late order of slippers to be sent by stage to be dropped off at Hotell(?) in Danvers and he will take them when he returns from Boston), (Red Danvers MASS CDS 6)

1834, Summer, New York Anti-Abolitionist Riots

September 29, 1834, letter from Tiffany Duvall Co, Baltimore, Maryland to Amos Mower Co Lynn - , “thick sole tan slippers...the season is fast passing by & if we do not get them soon we shall not want them at all… have daily calls for them” (Red Baltimore cds)

April 27, 1835, letter from A.P. Holden, Cincinnati, Ohio to Amos Mower & Co, Shoe Merchants, Lynn - (Black Cincinnati .O. CDS Paid 25).

July 16, 1835, letter from --- Osgood and V.W. Osgood, New York City to Amos Mower, Lynn - (red New-York cds)

July 20, 1835, letter from G.(?) Jones, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to A. Mower & Co, Shoe Dealers, Lynn - (Red CDS New-York, PAID curved stamp 18), (part of content sounds like he left his coat at Mower’s business and took someone else’s back to NYC)

1835: August 6-9, Baltimore Bank Riot

September 25, 1835 letter from Spear(?) Patten (sp) New York, to Amos Mower & Co, Lynn - (Red New-York CDS 18)

1835: August 11, Snow Riots in Washington, D.C.

September 28, 1835, letter from Tiffany Duvall Co., Baltimore, Maryland, to Amos Mower & Co, Merchants, Lynn - (red Baltimore CDS all caps) There are actually two communications here, one re order and other on personal issue, bone surgery, etc signed by “C. Tiffany” (This letter may answer the placement of the letter dated January 16, 1833 addressed to James Phillips of Lynn)

December 11, 1835 letter from Timothy Abbot, Boston to Amos Mower, Lynn - (Red Boston MS CDS)

1836: Lynn stage travel reaches its heyday in 1836 with 23 stages (of the Salem and Eastern lines) running daily between the Lynn Hotel and Boston. (see 1834 letter to Amos Mower requesting stage delivery)

1836: February 3, Whig Party holds its first convention in Albany, NY

1836: March 6, Battle of the Alamo

1836: April 21-22, Battle of San Jacinto, Texas General Sam Houston captures Mexican general Santa Anna.

1836: April and May, Cincinnati Anti-Abolitionist Riots

May 24, 1836 – awaiting letter showing Captain Henry Eldredge’s shipping manifest for 820 pounds of leather

1836:  July 11, President Andrew Jackson issues the Specie Circular executive order, mandating that western lands could be purchased only with gold and silver. This leads to the collapse of the land speculator economy, ultimately leading to the greater financial Panic of 1837.

1836: August 1 Abolition Riot of 1836 in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (Boston): Two fugitive slave women are freed from the courtroom by spectators. They had arrived as passengers from Baltimore, Maryland on the Brigg Chickasaw, commanded by Captain Henry Eldredge (see two shipping manifest letters regarding leather deliveries by the Brigg Chickasaw this same year).

September 10, 1836, letter from Tiffany Duvall Co to A. Mower & Co, Merchants, Lynn (red Baltimore, high ‘d’’ Md CDS)

October 24, 1836 letter from Shaw Patterson H., Pr. I.N. Fiske. Boston, Massachusetts, to Amos Mower & Co. Lynn - (Red Boston MS CDS, PAID)

November 12, 1836, letter from Crawford & Reed, New York to Amos Mower & Co, Lynn, (Red New-York cds)

November 23, 1836 letter from George Bartlett & Co., Baltimore, Maryland and shipping manifest for 1616 pounds of leather, signed by Zephaniah Eldredge of the Brigg Chickasaw to be delivered to the port of Boston for A. Mower & Company, Merchants, Lynn - (Red Baltimore CDS 20) – note: the freight charge is ¼ cent per pound, or $4.04. The total bill was $423.06.

1836: December 7, Democrat Martin Van Buren defeats Whig William Henry Harrison in Presidential election.

1837: Throughout the year, a general economic depression hits the US, severely curtailing the shoe manufacturing business in Lynn, Massachusetts. Out of 80 shoe manufacturing firms operating in Lynn in 1836, only 6 survive the 1837 depression (MHC, 1985).

January 3, 1837, letter from T.H.(?) Crittenden, Cleveland, Ohio to A. Mower & Co., (Black Cleveland O. cds 22?)

1837: February-March, Cotton prices fall 25% after the Bank of England and American banks raise interest rates and cut back on lending

March 22, 1837, letter from Spear & Patten, signed by B.H. Veach (sp?), New York City to Mr. Amos Mower, Shoe Manufacturer, Lynn

March 29, 1837, letter from M. Tilistow Co (sp), New York City, to A. Mower & Co, Lynn - (red New York cds)

1837:  Spring Panic of 1837 “officially” underway with bank runs in many American cities

April 3, 1837 letter from John Adams, Bristol, Rhode Island, to Mr. Mower, Lynn - (Red Bristol RI CDS, 30)

1837:  May 10, Banks in New York City run out of gold and silver 

1838: The Eastern Railroad opens between Salem and Boston, through central Lynn, in 1838, and stage travel is rapidly rendered obsolete.

Bank drafts signed by Amos Mower (most in years following this selection of correspondence):

Lynn Mechanics Bank, undated, note, $396.61
Lynn Mechanics Bank, May 23, 183-, cash & note, $440.14
Lynn Mechanics Bank, April 8, 1834, cash, $50.00
Lynn Mechanics Bank, January 29, 1835, Cash & Note, $500.00
Lynn Mechanics Bank, March 2, 1838, cash, $75.00
Lynn Mechanics Bank, April 10, 1838, note & cash, $275.00
Lynn Mechanics Bank, June 9, 1838, cash, $130.00
Lynn Mechanics Bank, July 28, 1838, Hives(sp) Interest account, $6.00
Lynn Mechanics Bank, November 6, 1838, cash, $50.00
Lynn Mechanics Bank, November 4, 1838, George Lane ---, $142.07
Lynn Mechanics Bank, December 8, 1838, cash, $50.00
Lynn Mechanics Bank, December 13, 1838, Mudge & Gaslights (sp) note & cash, $130.13
Lynn Mechanics Bank, January 23, 1839, cash, $50.00
Lynn Mechanics Bank, February 1, 1839, cash, $150.00
Lynn Mechanics Bank, March 29, 1839, note & cash, $374.29
Lynn Mechanics Bank, April 8, 1839, note, $254.75
Lynn Mechanics Bank, March 28, 1839, cash, $75.00
Lynn Mechanics Bank, April 17, 1839, cash, $50.00
Lynn Mechanics Bank, April 20, 1839, cash $50.00

1840: Census, population of Lynn is 9,367.
1841: Frederick Douglass moves to Lynn, MA.
1841: September 28, Frederick Douglass is thrown off the Eastern Railroad at Lynn Central Square Station for refusing to sit in the segregated coach.
1847: July 5, President James K. Polk visits Lynn, MA.
1850: Lynn incorporated as a city, Population 14,257

1850: March 19, Death of Amos Mower.

Preliminary research suggests Amos Mower’s sons Alfred and Charles Mower also were engaged in the shoe manufacturing business. In spite of the ruin of most of Lynn's shoe makers following the Panic of 1837, by the mid-1840s Lynn’s shoes manufacturing economy once again boomed, and even more strongly than ever. Research still needs to be done to trace the time from Amos Mower’s company to that of his two sons. There also exists conflicting information regarding the “Great Lynn Fire of 1889.” More about that fire here: http://www.celebrateboston.com/disasters/great-lynn-fire-1889.htm

Wikipedia has an entry for “Mower’s Block,” but there are questions about the accuracy of this entry (text of that entry below).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mowers%27_Block

“The Mowers' Block is a historic commercial block at Seven Willow St. and 67-83 Blake Street in downtown Lynn, Massachusetts. It was built in 1891 for the Mower & Brother shoemaking firm. The brick and granite building was built on the site of the Mower's old factory, in which the Great Lynn Fire of 1889 started, destroying not just their factory but a large swath of downtown Lynn as well. When completed, it was the largest building in the burned area. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, and was included in the Central Square Historic District in 1985.”