ELIJAH AND JACOB SANDERSON
PAPERS, 1780-1827, undated
MSS 246 Processed by: Jane E. Ward
July 2002
Volume: 2 boxes
1 Linear foot
Provenance: The account of Elijah Sanderson's capture by the British on April 18, 1775 and
the five photographs in the envelope (Box 2, Folder 12) were given to the Essex
Institute in 1961. The rest of the collection is a reorganization of two scrapbook
volumes from an unknown source.
Conservation: The material was placed in acid-free folders.
Copyright: Requests for permission to publish material from the collection must be submitted
in writing to the Manuscript Librarian in the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex
Museum.
Processing: Preliminary organization of this collection was first done in December 1989 by
James Tuden. MaryAnn Campbell further processed the collection in July 1994.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Elijah Sanderson (1751-1825) and his brother Jacob Sanderson (1757-1810) became known
as Salem, Massachusetts' most prominent cabinetmakers during the late eighteenth and early
nineteenth centuries. Elijah Sanderson was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, on 10 October
1751, the son of Jonathan and Mary Sanderson. Elijah served his apprenticeship in Watertown and
eventually moved to Salem sometime around 1780, where he set up the E. & J. Sanderson Company
with his brother.
Elijah served briefly in the army at the Battle of Lexington (where he was living in 1775) and
was captured (and later released) by British troops the same night Paul Revere made his famous ride
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to warn the surrounding countryside of the British troops' approach. On 12 January 1781, Elijah
married Mary Mulliken of Lexington, the sister of clockmaker Samuel Mulliken.
During the period Elijah and Jacob Sanderson worked together, approximately 1780 to 1810
(the year of Jacob's death), they employed many workmen and apprentices (the prominent Salem
architect and woodcarver Samuel McIntire carved furniture for them). In 1799, in partnership with
Josiah Austin, they instituted a cooperative business venture in which cabinetmakers, carvers,
gilders, turners, upholsterers, and many other craftsmen contributed their respective parts in the
making of furniture for exportation to southern ports such as Charleston, South Carolina, Baltimore,
and New Orleans. Other ports included Havana, Cuba, the East and West Indies, the Madeiras, and
various ports along the coast of Brazil and Africa--wherever a cargo could be disposed of to the best
advantage.
The most common types of furniture shipped by Elijah included bureaus, tables, sideboards
for beds, bamboo chairs, secretaries, and bookcases. Sanderson also shipped bricks and barrels of
tar to South Carolina. He received payment in money, molasses, and wood. The Sandersons
produced furniture for a local market as well as for exportation. The type of furniture sold in Salem
consisted mostly of chairs for kitchens and dining tables as well as smaller tables and washstands.
(See Appendix II for a complete list of the kinds of furniture listed in the Sanderson papers.)
After his brother's death in 1810, Elijah formed a partnership with Benjamin Swan, Joel Tay,
and Capt. John Waters, and continued to make furniture for export. Elijah died in Salem on 18
February 1825.
Jacob Sanderson was born six years after his brother on 20 October 1757. He, too,
apparently served briefly in the army during 1776 and 1777. Jacob married Catherine Harrington of
Watertown in April 1781; they had at least two children, a son Jacob, who drowned at the age of 11
in 1795, and a daughter Catherine. By 1795, he was a respected selectman in Salem; he is addressed
as "Deacon" on many bills and receipts. Jacob Sanderson was also often referred to as "Capt.
Sanderson" on some bills and receipts in the collection; both Sandersons owned shares in a number
of vessels, although there is no evidence that Jacob or Elijah Sanderson ever sailed as a shipmaster.
Sanderson and his brother sold their furniture to a number of well-known Salem residents
including Elias Hasket Derby, who purchased a considerable amount of furniture in 1791 and
shipped much of it to Calcutta, where it was sold. Jacob is believed to have made a mahogany tester
bed currently in the Gardner-Pingree House in Salem. Jacob Sanderson died in Salem in early
February 1810 and was buried on 14 February 1810. His widow, Catherine, died in December 1811
in Salem.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
The Elijah and Jacob Sanderson Papers reflect Elijah's and Jacob's prosperous cabinetmaking
business. The collection has been divided into two series.
Series I. Business Papers has been further subdivided into papers clearly relating to the
furniture business, other business papers, and legal papers. Subseries A. Furniture Business
Papers includes shipping invoices and accounts of sales, and document what the Sandersons sold,
both at private sales in Salem and at port auctions, and to which ports they were shipped. (See
Appendix I for a list of the ships on which Sanderson furniture was consigned and the ships'
destinations.) Also found here will be receipts for wood and hardware that were purchased for their
business, as well as for services contracted, including furniture painting, gilding, etc., bills for
advertising furniture for sale, wharfage and storage of cargoes, such as timber, and wages to
indentured servants.
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MSS 246: Elijah and Jacob Sanderson
Contained in Subseries B. Other Business Papers are ship related bills containing
information regarding cargoes to be shipped and the sale of cargoes, assessments, etc., which can be
traced to particular ships, but which do not appear to relate to the furniture business. These are
probably ships in which the Sandersons owned shares. Also found here will be promissory notes
and miscellaneous business bills and receipts. (Although every effort has been made to separate any
bills relating to the furniture business from other business affairs and the personal family bills,
occasionally there is some overlap.)
Subseries C. Legal Papers contains contracts with ship captains, an indenture contract,
deeds, bonds, pew deeds, insurance policies, and a power of attorney. The bulk of the legal papers
deal with a court case between Elijah Sanderson and Caleb Burbank vs. John Waters. The case
involved money owed to Elijah Sanderson by Caleb Burbank. Included in the papers relating to this
case are depositions and other papers concerning the business between Burbank and Waters.
Series II. Family Papers contains miscellaneous bills covering groceries, clothing, taxes,
repairs to the house, medical expenses (Edward Augustus Holyoke attended the family), tutoring for
the children of Jacob Sanderson, funeral expenses for 11-year-old Jacob in 1795, and bills from the
Salem Aqueduct for water and wood used for fuel. Virtually all of these bills deal with Jacob
Sanderson and not Elijah. Also included here are two account books of the probate of Jacob
Sanderson's estate that appear to be identical up to March 1811; one account book continues to
October 1811. The more extensive account book also contains lists of weights and measures;
although "Jacob Sanderson" is written on the cover, it does not appear to be in Jacob Sanderson's
hand. The first folder of Jacob's estate papers contains probate papers and inventories, including
extensive lists of furniture sold (or in some cases, not sold) as part of the probate. The second folder
of estate papers contains bills and receipts due to Jacob's estate, including his funeral expenses. The
folder of personal bills and receipts of Catherine Sanderson also contains an undated memorial to
their son and an obituary of Mrs. Elizabeth Grosvenor, copied by their daughter Catherine. The
estate papers of Catherine Sanderson contain probate papers, detailed inventories of her estate, and
bills and receipts paid by her estate.
The Family Papers also include a detailed account given by Elijah Sanderson on the capture
of Paul Revere. On the night of Paul Revere's ride, Elijah Sanderson, Solomon Brown, and Jonathan
Loring rode out from a Lexington tavern. On their travels they were detained at a roadblock by
British soldiers who asked them what they were doing. While being questioned they noticed some
of the British chasing a man on a horse. When they captured him, Elijah Sanderson found out that it
was Paul Revere. The British then let Sanderson, Brown, and Loring go. This account was taken
from the Salem Gazette about the time of Elijah Sanderson's death (1825). Also included with this
account are photographs of a portrait of Elijah Sanderson, of the monument at the place where Paul
Revere was captured, naming Sanderson, Brown, and Loring, and the house of Elijah Sanderson in
Salem.
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND RELATED COLLECTIONS
Belknap, Henry Wyckoff. "Furniture Exported by Cabinet Makers of Salem," Essex
Institute Historical Collections 85 (October 1949): 335-59.
Bjerkoe, Ethel Hall. The Cabinetmakers of America. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday &
Company, Inc., 1957, pp. 189-90.
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MSS 246: Elijah and Jacob Sanderson
Bond, Henry. Family Memorials. Genealogies of the Families and Descendants of the
Early Settlers of Watertown, Massachusetts, including Waltham and Weston… Boston:
Little, Brown & Co., 1855.
Clunie, Margaret Burke. "Furniture Craftsmen of Salem, Massachusetts, in the Federal
Period," Essex Institute Historical Collections 113 (July 1977): 191-203.
Swan, Mabel M. Samuel McIntire, Carver and The Sandersons, Early Salem Cabinet
Makers. Salem, Mass.: Essex Institute, 1934.
Vital Records of Salem, Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849, Vol. 6. Salem,
Mass.: Essex Institute, 1925, pp. 207, 209.
ELIJAH AND JACOB SANDERSON
PAPERS, 1780-1827, undated
SERIES LIST
SERIES I. Business Papers
A. Furniture Business Papers
B. Other Business Papers
C. Legal Papers
SERIES II. Family Papers
CONTENTS LIST
SERIES I. Business Papers
A. Furniture Business Papers
Box Folder Contents Date
11 Shipping invoices 1788-1809
2 Shipping invoices 1810-1820, undated
3 Accounts and sales of furniture 1789-1811
4 Accounts and sales of furniture 1812-1822, undated
5 Bills for material, hardware, and services 1785-1798
6 Bills for material, hardware, and services 1799-1803
7 Bills for material, hardware, and services 1805-1821, undated
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MSS 246: Elijah and Jacob Sanderson
B. Other Business Papers
Box Folder Contents Date
18 Ship related bills 1789-1818, undated
9 Promissory notes 1789-1810
10 Miscellaneous bills 1789-1810, 1821,
undated
C. Legal Papers
21 Deeds, bonds, pew deeds, insurance policies, etc. 1780-1819, undated
2 Elijah Sanderson and Caleb Burbank vs. John Waters 1810-1812
3 Elijah Sanderson and Caleb Burbank vs. John Waters 1814-1815, undated
SERIES II. Family Papers
24 Family bills and receipts 1785-June 1803
5
6 Family bills and receipts July 1803-1808
7 Family bills and receipts 1809, 1810, 1817,
8
undated
9
10 Two account books of Jacob Sanderson’s estate 1810-1811
11
Probate papers and estate inventories of Jacob
12
Sanderson’s estate 1810-1813
Bills and receipts paid by Jacob Sanderson’s estate 1821
Personal bills and receipts of Catherine Sanderson 1809-1811
Estate papers of Catherine Sanderson 1811-1819, 1827,
undated
Miscellaneous papers:
Elijah Sanderson's account of events of 18 April 1775 undated
8x10 glossy photo of portrait of Elijah Sanderson undated
8x10 glossy photo of chair and secretary made by Elijah
Sanderson circa 1938
approx. 3x5 photo of secretary made by Elijah Sanderson,
approx. 3x5 photo of chair made by Elijah Sanderson, and
family history of the possession of the secretary from its
creation by Elijah Sanderson up to 1939 undated
two approx. 3x5 photos of house owned and occupied by
Elijah Sanderson circa 1938
approx. 5x7 glossy photo of memorial in Lincoln, Mass. undated
in envelope: 8x10 matte photo of portrait of Elijah
Sanderson, 8x10 glossy photo of chair and secretary made
by Elijah Sanderson, approx. 3x5 photo of house occupied
by Elijah Sanderson, two 3x5 photos of memorial in Lincoln
commemorating the incident with Paul Revere and the
British undated
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MSS 246: Elijah and Jacob Sanderson
MSS 246 Elijah and Jacob Sanderson Papers
APPENDIX I
Shipping Invoices - Box 1, Folders 1-2
Ship Destination Master
FANNY, snow Havana George Taylor
LARK[IN], schooner Virginia William Goodhall
JOHN, brig East Indies Daniel Proctor
SALLY, schooner Surinam Joseph Hende[r]son
GOODINTENT, schooner West Indies Tere. L. Page
BETSY, ship Batavia Ephriam Symonds
MARTHA, brig Havana James Mansfield
GREYHOUND, schooner South Carolina Henry Osborn
ANN, schooner Baltimore Benjamin Fabens
NUTRALITY, schooner Virginia Tunis Sanison
VENUS, brig Brazil Samuel Cook
OSPRAY, ship River De Plate Samuel Farnsworth
WILLIAM, brig N.C., West Indies James Odell
MADORA, [?]oundo North Carolina William Muckford
JUNO, brig New Orleans Thomas Brian[e?]
KEARN, brig Georgia Charles Henry King
ANGLER, brig South America Hasket Lang
ANSON, brig South America [Thomas] Holmes
ARGUS, brig Mantanzes Joseph Perkins
ARGUS, schooner North Carolina William Punchard
VANDYKE, schooner North Carolina Justin M.D. Sustac[d]ha
HAPPY CHANCE, brig Havana Edward Barnard
STORK, sloop New Orleans Edward Richardson
ANDREW JACKSON, ship New Orleans Anthony Devon
HERO South Carolina John Harrington
FAME, schooner Baltimore Asa Hooper
ARDANT, brig New Orleans Wm. Haskell
CHARLES AMBURGER, brig New Orleans Job D. Porter
NANCY, schooner South Carolina Edward Lewis
HALEGON [?], schooner New Orleans Saml. Page
DIOMIDE, ship Brazil Richard Smith
CHARLES, schooner Baltimore John Stimpson
THEODA, schooner [?]
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MSS 246: Elijah and Jacob Sanderson
MSS 246 Elijah and Jacob Sanderson Papers
APPENDIX II
Kinds of furniture sold by the Sandersons including but not limited to:
dining tables
pine tabletop
chair stools
sideboard
candle stand
desk (walnut, mahogany, cherry, etc.)
bureau
chairs
bedstead
bookcase
easy chair
bamboo chairs (gold leaf)
back chairs; flag bottom chairs with rockers
cradle
curtain rods
card tables
night table and washstand
commode bureaus
coffin
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