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Isaac Tyson, Jr.: Pioneer Industrialist

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2012

Collamer M. Abbott
Collamer M. Abbott
Affiliation:
White River Junction, Vermont
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Abstract

In an era when American specialists in mining, metallurgy, and industrial chemistry were few, Isaac Tyson, Jr. (1792–1861) was an exceptional practitioner. His blending of science and business was a valuable asset during the pioneer stage of natural resource development in the United States.

Type
Articles
Information
Business History Review , Volume 42 , Issue 1 , Spring 1968 , pp. 67 - 83
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 1968

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References

1 Much of the basic source material in this study is taken from three original documents: Journal of Isaac Tyson, Jr., May 6, 1833—July 7, 1834 (Vermont Historical Society, Montpelier, Vt.); Memorandum Book, kept by Tyson between 1835 and 1850, and now in the possession of his great granddaughter, Miss Rosa Tyson, of South Strafford, Vt.; and Isaac Tyson's Record Book, covering the years 1828–1849 (Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore). The Record Book is the only one with adequate pagination. Citations for the Journal are by date of entries. References to the Memorandum Book cannot be either by page or entry because of the confusion of dates and inadequate pagination. Many of the conclusions arrived at and events described are based on these three sources, or on these sources and original documents which relate to the people and period under discussion.

2 Stickney, J. W., “Isaac Tyson, Jr., In Vermont,” Report of the State Board of Agriculture Manufactures and Mining, 1875–76 (Montpelier, 1876), 655–56Google Scholar; Hayden, Horace H., “Description of the Bare Hills Near Baltimore,” American Journal of Science and Arts (AJSA), XXIV (July, 1833), 349Google Scholar; Mutual Chemical Company of America, Chromium Chemicals (c. 1941), 12; Haynes, Williams, American Chemical Industry: Background and Beginnings (New York, 1954), I, 200, 201, VI, 287.Google Scholar

3 Pearre, Nancy C. and Heyl, Allen V., The History of Chromite Mining in Pennsylvania and Maryland, Pennsylvania Geological Survey Information Circular 14 (Harrisburg, 1959), 6, 7, 8.Google Scholar

4 Griffith, Thomas W., Annals of Baltimore (Baltimore, 1824), 228Google Scholar; Pearre and Heyl, op. tit., 7.

5 Laws of Maryland, 1826, Chapter 195; Blandi, Joseph G., “Maryland Business Corporations,” Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science (Baltimore, 1934), 97Google Scholar; Journal of the Franklin Institute, IV, 407; Frazer, Persifor Jr, “The Geology of Lancaster County,” Pennsylvania Second Geological Survey Report C3 (1880), 178Google Scholar; Carpenter, George W., “On the Mineralogy of Chester County,” AJSA, XIV (1828), 10.Google Scholar

6 Dictionary of American Biography, XVI, 99–100; The American Advertising Directory for Manufacturers and Dealers in American Goods for the Year 1831 (New York, 1831), 8.Google Scholar

7 Glenn, William, “Chrome in the Southern Appalachian Region,” Transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, XXV (1895), 481–99Google Scholar; idem., “Chrome,” Maryland, Its Resources, Industries, and Institutions (Baltimore, 1893), 120–22.

8 Digest of Patents Issued by the United States from 1790 to Jan. 1, 1839 (Washington, 1840), 138Google Scholar; Journal of the Franklin Institute, IV (1827), 142.Google Scholar

9 See Abbott, Collamer M., “Early Copper Smelting in Vermont,” Vermont History, XXXIII (Jan., 1965), 233–42.Google Scholar

10 Isaac Tyson, Jr., Record Book, 172–76.

11 G. W. Stokes, Notes on Copper in New Jersey (n.p., 1890), 3.

12 James F. Dana, “Mineral Locations,” AJSA (1824), 234; idem., “Analysis of the Copper Ore of Franconia, New Hampshire,” Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York, II (1828), 253–58; Niles Weekly Register, XXIX (Oct. 22, 1825), 115Google Scholar; Massachusetts Special Laws, 1814–1822, V (1821), Chapter 105, p. 497Google Scholar; James W. Tyson, II, letter to the author, Nov. 9, 1965.

13 Strafford, Vt., Land Records, Book VII, 502; Vershire, Vt., Land Records, Book XI, 141, 146, 148, 170, 286, 288, 299.

14 C. M. Abbott, op. cit.; Tyson, Journal, passim; Tyson, Memorandum Book.

15 Amos Binney, letters in Documents Relative to the Manufactures of the United States, Collected and Transmitted to the House of Representatives by the Secretary of the Treasury in Compliance with a Resolution of Jan. 19, 1832, 22d Cong., 1st Sess., House Doc. 308 (1833), I, 894, 895, 906, 907; Tyson, Isaac Jr, “Report of the Committee on Chemistry of the General Convention of the Friends of Domestic Industry,” Read Oct. 26, 1831, in New York City, reprinted in Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, IX (1917), 177–81.Google Scholar

16 Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States, at the First Session of the 12th Congress, begun Nov. 4, 1811, VIII, 164.

17 Bishop, J. Leander, A History of American Manufactures from 1608–1860 (3rd ed., 3 vols., Philadelphia, 1868), II, 228, 292.Google Scholar

18 Amos Binney, letters, op. cit.

19 Tyson Journal, Memorandum Book, and Record Book, passim.

20 Stickney, J. W., op. cit.; Report on the Tyson Iron Company (Boston, 1864)Google Scholar; Jackson, Charles T., Final Report on the Geology and Mineralogy of the State of New Hampshire (Concord, 1844), 204.Google Scholar

21 Prospectus of the Canton Company of Baltimore to which is Prefixed a Map of the Company's Ground; together with the Act of Incorporation and an Explanation of the Designs of the Company and Some views of the Local Advantages of Baltimore (Baltimore, 1829), 25, 26Google Scholar; Swank, James M., “History of Iron in the United States,” Report on the Manufactures of the United States at the Tenth Census, June 1, 1880 (Washington, 1883), II, 113–16Google Scholar; Johnson, Walter R., Notes on the Use of Anthracite in the Manufacture of Iron (Boston, 1841), 12, 13, 15, 20, 24, 32, 33, 34, 36.Google Scholar

22 Tyson Journal, entries of Aug. 11 and 25, Jan. 13, 1834; Tyson Memorandum Book, passim.

23 Tyson Memorandum Book, passim; Tyson Journal, entries of Oct. 22, Nov. 19, 1833; April 7, 9, 11, 16, July 6, 1834; Anon., “Baltimore,” North American Review, XX (1825), 130.Google Scholar

24 Tyson Memorandum Book and Journal, passim.

25 Tyson's work in the copper mines of Maryland has been described in a number of articles, including the following: Keyser, R. Brent, “Copper,” Maryland, Its Resources, Industries and Institutions, op. cit., 112–16Google Scholar; Robinson, Ralph J., “Maryland's 200-Year-Old Copper Industry,” Baltimore (July, 1939), 23–30Google Scholar; Pearre, Nancy C., “Mining for Copper and Related Minerals in Maryland,” Maryland Historical Magazine, LIX (March, 1964), 15–33.Google Scholar The Tyson Memorandum Book, Journal, and Record Book also reveal many facts about Tyson's copper mining enterprises.

26 Egleston, Thomas, “The Point Shirley Copper Works,” The School of Mines Quarterly, VII (1886), 360–84Google Scholar; R. Brent Keyser, op. cit., 115–17; “The Baltimore Copper Works,” Engineering and Mining Journal (EMJ), XXXII (Aug. 6, 1881), 87Google Scholar; Lindley, Alfred B., “The Copper Tariff of 1869,” Michigan History, XXXV (March, 1951), 1–30Google Scholar; Douglas, James, “Historical Sketch of Copper Smelting in the United States,” The Mineral Industry, Its Statistics, Technology and Trade to the End of 1895 (New York, 1896), IV, 269–86.Google Scholar

27 James Douglas, loc. cit.; Laws of Maryland 1849, Chapter 158.

28 Mutual Chemical Company of America, op. cit., 16; Pearre and Heyl, op. cit., 9; Day, D. T., “Chromium,” Mineral Resources of the United States, 1883–1884 (Washington, 1885), 567.Google Scholar

29 Anon., “Baltimore,” North American Review, loc. cit.; William Glenn, op. cit., 120; Cleaveland, Parker, An Elementary Treatise on Mineralogy and Geology (Boston, 1822), II, 624Google Scholar; Isaac Tyson, Jr., “Report of the Committee on Chemistry …” op. cit.; The American Advertising Directory for Manufacturers and Dealers in American Goods for the Year 1831, op. cit., 8.

30 Dictionary of American Biography, XVIII, 544; Memorandum Book, no page, entries for 1843, 1844, 1845; Jesse Tyson to James W. Tyson, Oct. 22, 1846.

31 William Glenn, “Chrome,” op. cit., 122.

32 Memorandum Book, no page, entry dated Feb. 25, 1850.

33 James B. Rogers to Patrick Kerr Rogers, April 20, 1827; Henry D. Rogers to Patrick Kerr Rogers, June 7, 1828, William B, Rogers to Patrick Kerr Rogers, June 26, 1828, all quoted in Rogers, Emma (ed.), Life and Letters of William Barton Rogers (Boston, 1896), I, 43, 52Google Scholar; DAB, XVI, 99–100.

34 William B. Rogers to Patrick Kerr Rogers, June 26, 1828, op. cit.

35 Pearre and Heyl, op. cit., 9.

36 Memorandum Book and Journal, passim.

37 United Opinion (Bradford, Vt.), March 4, 1892, and Aug. 10, 1895; Argus and Patriot (Montpelier, Vt.), Aug. 27, 1890, and Nov. 15, 1893; Death records in Office of Secretary of State, Montpelier, Vt.

38 Adams, W. H., “Copper Smelting in 1865,” EMJ, XLII (Dec. 4, 1886), 401Google Scholar; Argus and Patriot, Nov. 15, 1893; United Opinion, Aug. 10, 1895; Vermont Historical Society, Proceedings, 1916–17 (Montpelier, 1918), 150.Google Scholar

39 Tyson Memorandum Book, Journal, and Record Book, passim.

40 Ibid.

41 Ibid.; Laws of Vermont (1836), 118; Ibid. (1855), 118.

42 Tyson Memorandum Book, Journal, and Record Book, passim; Laws of Vermont (1833), 84; Laws of Maryland (1836), Chapter 96.

43 Tyson Memorandum Book, Journal, and Record Book, passim; Pearre and Heyl, op. cit., 9–11; Unidentified newspaper clipping dated “Jan'y 1889” in Daniel Cobb Scrapbook No. 2 (Stafford, Vt., Historical Society Collections); United Opinion, Dec. 15, 1899; “Elizabeth Mine. Act of Incorporation, etc. To Be Kept in Strafford,” MS record book, 1881–1904, in possession of Miss Rosa Tyson, South Strafford, Vt.

44 Ratner, Sidney (ed.), New Light on the History of Great American Fortunes: American Millionaires of 1892 and 1902 (New York, 1953), 141.Google Scholar

45 Strafford, Vt., Land Records, Book XVII, 454–457.

46 American Journal of Mining, V (Feb. 8, 1868), 85.Google Scholar

47 Pearre, Nancy C. and Heyl, Allen Jr, Chromite and Other Mineral Deposits in the Serpentine Bocks of the Piedmont Upland, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1082–K (Washington, 1960), 735, 736, 742.Google Scholar

48 Massachusetts Special Laws, VII, Chapter 86, p. 328.

49 Tyson Memorandum Book, no page.

50 Amos Binney, letters, op. cit., I, 894.

51 Tyson Journal, passim.

52 Tyson Record Book, 376, 377.

53 Vermont Mercury (Woodstock, Vt.), Nov. 27, 1840.

54 Justin Smith Monill to Isaac Tyson, Jr., July 12, 1839.