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Part III- Major Butler & Savannah GA


The third and last installment of the Wetherill billhead deals with who bought the barrel of fish oil and where it went.

The purchaser on the billhead is listed as “Major Butler.” Unfortunately, Major Pierce Butler died in 1822, so maybe this is just from his estate and children. The item bought was a barrel of fish oil. Then the following notation:

Shipped on the ship Globe, J.L. Hamilton master, commissioned to John McNish, Savannah, by order to Hugh Colhoun. Payment received signed by S.P. Wetherill.”

Hugh Colhoun became representative of Major Pierce Butlers estate. Colhoun came to by in charge after Major Pierce Butler's son, Thomas, decided to relinquish control over the estate. Colhoun had dealings with Stephen Girard in Philadelphia.

Major Pierce Butler (July 11, 1744 - February 15, 1822) was a soldier, planter, and statesman, recognized as one of United States' Founding Fathers. He represented South Carolina in the Continental Congress and the U.S. Senate. Although an aristocrat to the manor born, Butler became a leading spokesman for the frontiersmen and impoverished western settlers. Finally, this Patriot, always a forceful and eloquent advocate of the rights of the common man during the debate over the Constitution, was a large planter and among the political and social elite of the Southern colonies. In 1793 he held 500 enslaved African-Americans, who worked on his plantation at Butler Island and cotton plantation at St. Simons Island. One of his grandsons, also named Pierce Butler, married well-known English actress Frances ("Fanny") Kemble in 1834. One of his great grandsons, Owen Wister, Jr., was a popular American novelist and the author of the 1902 western novel, The Virginian.

John McNish ran one of Butler's plantations in Savannah, Georgia.

As for the ship Globe, it was part of th New Line, whose agent was Samuel Spackman. The company was founded in 1822 and ships sailed regularly between Philadelphia and Liverpool. The course was altered to Philadelphia to Savannah to Liverpool then back to Philadelphia. In 1823, the ships were as follows: Julius Caesar captained by Francis M. French 346 lbs; Globe captained by James Hamilton 500 lbs., Colossus captained by Robert Marshall 399 lbs; Courier captained by George H. Walker 388 lbs; and Delaware captained by John Hamilton 412 lbs. The ships sailed from Philadelphia on the 20th day of the month. In 1825, the ship Minerva captained by John Mayol 380 lbs was added to the line and the new ship Bolivar captained by Josiah Wilson took the place of the Globe in the later part of 1825.

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