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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 February 2011
David Parish is remembered today by readers of historical fiction as a colorful character in Hervey Allen's picaresque novel, Anthony Adverse, and students of American history know him as an underwriter of one of the loans that enabled the United States to wage the War of 1812. His career was far more important than his present-day reputation would suggest; for he was an international financial adventurer of the type that flourished during the Napoleonic era, when the spirit of nationalism had only begun to shackle men's thoughts and actions.
1 The David Parish Letter Books, numbering about 2,450 pages, are in the possession of the New York Historical Society, New York City. Vol. 1 covers the period from November 2, 1802, to March 24, 1806; Vol. 2, October 24, 1806, to April 25, 1807; Vol. 3, July 24, 1811, to June 15, 1812; Vol. 4, June 15, 1812, to October 26, 1813; Vol. 5, October 26, 1813, to October 19, 1814; Vol. 6; June 26, 1815, to June 27, 1816. They are cited hereafter as Parish LB. Also useful in the preparation of this study were the Stephen Girard Papers and Girard Letter Books at Girard College, Philadelphia; the James Monroe Papers, Library of Congress, Washington; and the John Jacob Astor Letter Books in the library of the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. The Girard Letter Books are cited hereafter as Girard LB; the Astor Letter Books as Astor LB.
2 Raffalovich, A., “John Parish, banquier et négotiant à Hambourg,” Journal des économistes, 6th series, VII (1905), 199–208.Google Scholar
3 Nolte, Vincent, Fifty Years in Both Hemispheres (New York, 1854), PP. 80, 81.Google Scholar
4 Nolte, pp. 70, 71, 73–8; [Ouvrard, George Julien], Mémoires de G.-J. Ouvrard (Paris, 1826), I, 75 ff.Google Scholar; Peter Labouchère to Sir Francis Baring, May 10, 1805, Parish to Labouchere, May 18, 1816, in Parish LB, I, 74, 75; VI, 336, 337.
5 Parish to Hope & Co., September 25, 1805, in Parish LB, I, 85, 86; Nolte, pp. 79, 80.
6 Parish to Julien Ouvrard, 24 Floreal XII, to Talleyrand, 7 Thermidor XIII, to Hope & Co., October 15, 1805, in Parish LB, I, 58, 68, 90; Hope & Co. to Stephen Girard, September 20, 1805, Alexander Baring to Girard, November 10, 1805, in Girard Papers, 1805, Nos. 585, 670.
7 Parish to Labouchère, January 11, 1806, in Parish LB, I, 96, 97; Nolte, p. 85.
8 Parish to José Villaneuva, February 3, 1806, in Parish LB, 1, 160–65.
9 Nolte, p. 98. The letter in which Parish gave Lestapis these directions, like all communications be sent him later, was addressed to José Gabriel de Villaneuva. Lestapis bad adopted this pseudonym for use in Vera Cruz on orders from Labouchère, who feared difficulties if it were learned that the real promoters of the syndicate were not Spanish.
10 Parish to Nolte, February 2, 1806, to Amory and Callender, February 3, 1806, in Parish LB, I, 166–71.
11 Parish to Archibald Grade, March 8, 1806, Parish LB, I, 254.
12 Parish to Captain Pearson, November 15, 1806, in Parish LB, II, 69.
13 Parish to Villaneuva, March 14, 1806, in Parish LB, I, 262, 263.
14 Nolte, pp. 96, 97; Parish to John Craig, March 1, 1806, to Villaneuva, March 18, 1806, to Robert and John Oliver, October 29, 1806, in Parish LB, I, 239, 290, 291; II, 5.
15 Parish to Villaneuva, November 6, 1804, to Baring Brothers, November 6, 1806, in Parish LB, II, 25, 27.
16 Nolte, pp. 95, 96.
17 Parish to Willing and Francis, November 4, 1806, in Parish LB, II, 16.
18 Parish to Hope & Co., January 17, 1807, to Grade, January 27, 1807, to Nolte, February 1, 1807, to Villaneuva, February 2, 1807, in Parish LB, II, 248, 249, 272, 275, 276, 279.
19 Nolte, pp. 139, 140.
20 Parish to Stiles, January 6, 1812, in Parish LB, III, 131.
21 Nolte, p. 173; Raffalovich, “John Parish,” Journal des économistes, 6th series, VII, 208.
22 Parish to John Parish, April 9, 1812, in Parish LB, III, 254; Nolte, p. 173.
23 Parish to Gracie, January 8, 1812, to Joseph Rosseel, April 15, 1812, May 3, 1816, to Alexander Baring, April 20, 1812, to Nolte, October 6, 1813, in Parish LB, III, 134, 135, 250, 261, 385; VI, 313.
24 Parish to Labouchère, January 20, June 21, 1812, May 23, 1814, to Alexander Baring, January 20, 1812, in Parish LB, III, 175–78; IV, 19–23; V, 259.
25 Parish to Charles W. Hare, May 8, 1816, in Parish LB, VI, 318, 319.
26 Parish to Labouchère, May 18, 1816, in Parish LB, VI, 332–38.
27 Nolte, p. 163.
28 Parish to Labouchère, January 22, 1816, in Parish LB, VI, 205.
29 See, for example, Parish to G. Agie, March 1806, to Samuel Gouverneur, March 18, 1806, to Murphy and Pannet, March 19, 1806, to George Tucker, March 19, 1806, to Fred Kohne, November 27, 1806, in Parish LB, I, 277, 278, 292–95. 298. 299; II, 105; Stephen Girard to Parish, May 24, November 27, 1806, to Baring Brothers, May 25, 1810, to Schwartz Brothers, May 25, 1810, in Girard LB, X, 97, 239; XII, 96, 97.
30 Parish to John Donnell, December 2, 1806, to George M. Woolsey, November 1806, March 7, 1807, April 17, 1807, in Parish LB, II, 35, 36, 120, 121, 373, 509; Parish to Girard, November 18, December 4, 8, 1807, February 17, 27, 1808, in Girard Papers, 1807, Nos. 661, 705, 716; 1808, Nos. 94, 119; Girard to Parish, November 30, 1808, January 2, 1809, in Girard LB.XI, 261, 276, 278.
31 Parish to John Parish, March 4, 1807, September 25, 1814, in Parish LB, II, 354; V, 346.
32 Hough, Franklin B., History of St. Lawrence and Franklin Counties, New York (Albany, 1853). pp. 402. 422. 448, 603Google Scholar; Rosseel, Frank R., “First Fortunes in the American Republic,” The Journal of American History, I, 748, 751Google Scholar; Nolte, pp. 137, 138, 161.
33 Nolte.pp. 173, 174.
34 Parish to David B. Ogden, April 1, 1812, to Gouverneur Morris, April 1, 1812, to Russell Attwater, April 28, 1812, in Parish LB, III, 232–35, 269, 270.
35 Parish to Rosseel, August 29, September 21, 1814, in Parish LB, V, 329, 337.
36 Parish to William Adamson, March 23, 1812, in Parish LB, III, 216, 217.
37 Parish to John Parish, November 4, 1815, in Parish LB, VI, 110.
38 Hough, p. 423.
39 Parish to Stephen Van Rensselaer, March 14, 1812, to Daniel Hoard, April 1, 1812, to Nathaniel Ford, February 10, March 17, 1813, in Parish LB, III, 199, 240, 241; IV, 181, 182, 211–13.
40 Hough, pp. 403, 404; Rosseel, “First Fortunes,” The Journal of American History, I, 752; Parish to John Parish, December 1, 1812, in Parish LB, IV, 164.
41 Rosseel, op. cit., 751–54; Hough, p. 403.
42 Parish to John Parish, December 1, 1812, in Parish LB, IV, 162; Hough, p. 423.
43 Parish to Robert Coleman, June 6, 1812, in Parish LB, III, 358.
44 Parish to Paul Hochstrasse, May 10, 1812, to Rosseel, May 20, 1812, to John Parish, June 28, 1812, to William Denbow, February 18, October 8, 1813, December 15, 1815, to H. G. Spofford, December 13, 1815, in Parish LB, III, 315, 316, 329; IV, 75, 191, 397, 398; VI, 117, 118.
45 Parish to John Parish, December i, 1812, in Parish LB, IV, 138, 159.
46 Parish to Colonel Wadsworth, March 3, 1813, to Rosseel, March 10, 1813, in Parish LB, IV, 199, 207.
47 Hough, p. 423.
48 Parish to Richard Parish, June 26, 1815, to George Parish, June 29, 1815, to John Parish, April 2, 1816, in Parish LB, VI, 1, 6–8, 270.
49 Rosseel, “First Fortunes,” the Journal of American History, i, 760, 761.
50 Parish to Messrs. LeRoy, Bayard, and McEvers, February 11, 1813, to Messrs. Prime and Ward, March 12, 1813, in Parish LB, IV, 184, 209; Albert Gallatin to James Madison, March 5, 1813, in Adams, Henry, ed., Writings of Albert Gallatin (Philadelphia, 1879), I, 533Google Scholar.
51 Parish to A. J. Dallas, March 16, 1813, in Parish LB, IV, 216–18.
52 Dallas to Parish, March 17, 1813, in A. J. Dallas Personal Collection, Library of Congress, Washington.
53 American State Papers: Finance, II, 626.
54 Porter, Kenneth W., John Jacob Astor, Business Man (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1931), I, 330Google Scholar; Brown, Kenneth L., “Stephen Girard, Financier: Methods and Operations, 1810–1820” (unpublished D.Ed, dissertation, Temple University, Philadelphia, 1941), pp. 127–29.Google Scholar
55 Parish to Messrs. Minturn and Champlin, to Ogden, to George Griswold, to George Newbold, April 3, 1813, in Parish LB, V, 236.
56 Girard and Parish to Gallatin, April 5, 8, 1812, in Parish LB. IV, 258–60.
57 Nolte, pp. 186, 187.
58 McMaster, John B., The Life and Times of Stephen Girard, Mariner and Merchant (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1918), II, 246Google Scholar.
59 Girard to Parish, October 25, 1813, in Girard LB, XIII, 79
60 Parish to John Parish, Jr., January 17, 1814, in Parish LB, V, 120.
61 Parish to Astor, April 6, 1814, in Parish LB, V, 188.
62 Parish to Astor, April 30, 1814, in Parish LB, V, 224; Parish to Dallas, May 2, 1814, in Monroe Papers, XX, Nos. 3595, 3596.
63 Monroe to James Madison, May 14, 1814, George W. Campbell to Monroe, May 13, 1814, in Monroe Papers, XX, Nos. 3611–14, 3616, 3617.
64 Parish to Astor, May 23, 25, 1814, in Parish LB, V, 261, 263.
65 Parish to Astor, May 28, June 4, 1814, in Parish LB, V, 266, 267, 275; Porter, I, 334, 335.
66 Parish to Astor, June 14, 1814, in Parish LB, V, 280–83.
67 [Barker, Jacob], Incidents in the Life of Jacob Barker (New York, 1855), pp. 46–81.Google Scholar
68 Washington, D. C., National Intelligencer, March 16, 1814.
69 Parish to Astor, March 21, 1814, in Parish LB, V, 156.
70 Parish to Astor, March 17, 18, 21, 22, 29, 30, April 1, 1814, in Parish LB, V, 147, 148, 156, 158, 172–77.
71 Parish to Astor, April 4, 1814, in Parish LB, V, 183.
72 Parish to Isaac Bronson, April 11, 1814, to Astor, April 11, 1814, in Parish LB, V, 197–99.
73 Parish to Astor, July 14, September 22, 28, 1814, in Parish LB, V, 309, 341, 346; Astor to Parish, August 13, 1814, in Astor LB, I, 257.
74 Dallas to Girard, October 3, 1814, in Girard Papers, 1814, No. 392; Parish to Astor, September 28, 1814, in Parish LB, V, 363.
75 Compare the draft of Dallas' plan for a bank in the uncatalogued items of the Girard Papers with American State Papers: Finance, II, 866–69. Many of the questions about the relations of Parish, Girard, and Dallas in the bank movement, which were raised by Brown, Kenneth L. in his “Stephen Girard, Promoter of the Second Bank of the United States,” The Journal of Economic History, II (1942), 126–29Google Scholar, are answered in Walters, Raymond Jr., Alexander James Dailas, Lawyer, Politician, Financier (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1943), pp. 184–86.Google Scholar
76 Astor to D. A. Smith, October 10, 1814, to Attwater, October 18, 1814, in Parish LB, V, 383, 384, 397; Parish to Girard, October 31, November 2, 1814, in Girard Papers, 1814, Nos. 415, 420.
77 American State Papers: Finance, II, 892–95.
78 Parish to Dallas, December 15, 1813, in Parish LB, VI, 122.
79 Parish to Dallas, April 8, 1816, in Parish LB, VI, 385.
80 Parish to James Prentiss, June 3, 1816, in Parish LB, VI, 372.
81 Parish to Girard, July 4, 1816, in Girard Papers, 1816, No. 587.
82 Parish to Girard, October 16, 1816, December 10, 1819, in Girard Papers, 1816, No. 866 and 1819, No. 926A.
83 Raffalovich, “John Parish,” Journal des économistes, 6th series, VII, 208; Hough, p. 604; Girard to Parish, January 9, 1821, in Girard LB, XVIII, 625.
84 Raffalovich, pp. 208, 209.
