Merchant
John Stevenson, "a native of Londonderry, in the Kingdom of Ireland, and of a very respectable Family", was born c. 1718. He had "lived upwards of forty years" in Baltimore at his death in 1785 "and was formerly one of its most eminent Merchants." "He was the first Exporter of Wheat and Flour from this Port, and consequently laid the Foundation of its present commercial Consequence."
Stevenson began by shipping flour to Ireland which turned Baltimore from a sleepy city trading in tobacco to a trading powerhouse rivaling New York, Philadelphia and Boston. Baltimore being a port nestled alongside a vast wheat growing countryside and much closer than these other cities. Baltimore restructured the city’s economy based on flour. Trails were transformed into roads, and flour mills were built along the Jones Falls, Gwynns Falls, and Patapsco River. Warehouses were built on the 1,000-foot-long (300 m) wharves that extended into the harbor. The roads from Baltimore soon extended all the way to Pennsylvania, and Baltimore ships sailed not only to Ireland, but to ports in Europe, the Caribbean, and South America.
Sometime in these early years Stevenson would meet his lifelong friend and business partner Jonathan Plowman Jr.. Stevenson and Jonathan Plowman Jr. are known to this day for their partnership trading in indentured servants particularly during the 1750s and 1760s according to the National Park Service. The fact that Jonathan Plowman Jr.'s father was brought over as an indentured servant at age 12 may only testify to the goodwill of the two. Most likely encouraged by Jonathan Plowman Sr. to help bring the poor and oppressed out of England and to a new life and a new chance for success in America much as he and his son had had.
Read more about this topic: John Stevenson (doctor)
Famous quotes containing the word merchant:
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