Transcription
Envelope
Mr. Charles Stillman
Care Messrs Smith & Dunning
No. 65 South Street
New York
Letter
Brownsville July 19th 1854
Mr Charles Stillman
New York
Dear Sir,
Enclosed you will find bill of exchange in your favour No. 92 for seventeen hundred pounds sterling (£1700) at sixty days sight, of this date, on Messrs Duff & May, of Manchester, England.
My object in sending you this exchange is this — Messrs B. String & Co., Santa Gertrudis, have given us note for Seventeen Hundred and five hundred dollars payable in American gold, at the house of Messrs Smith & Dunning, No. 65 South Street, New York, at the maturity of their note due on the first day of August next, with one month interest at ten per cent per annum.
Interest for this month of July.
You will please dispose of the exchange for our credit and return the proceeds to us by first opportunity.
Should any balance remain please place it with Messrs Smith & Dunning to my account.
I am much obliged to you for the trouble you have taken in this matter, and you are the only one in New York that knows anything about this exchange.
Yours truly
M. Kenedy
(Note: Handwriting suggests “M. Kenedy,” very likely Mifflin Kenedy himself rather than attorneys.)
What the Letter Actually Means
This is a financial instrument transaction, not a legal matter.
Kenedy is sending Stillman a bill of exchange drawn on Manchester, England and asking him to cash or negotiate it in New York.
Step-by-step explanation
1️⃣ Someone in Texas (likely Kenedy’s partners) owed money.
2️⃣ Instead of sending coin, they issued a bill of exchange payable in England.
3️⃣ Kenedy sends the bill to Charles Stillman in New York, because Stillman had the financial connections to convert it.
4️⃣ Stillman would:
• sell the bill
• deposit proceeds
• credit Kenedy
This is typical merchant banking practice in the 1850s.
The Important Names
Charles Stillman
Frontier merchant-banker and founder of Brownsville.
At this time he acted as:
• banker
• clearing agent
• exchange broker
He handled international financial instruments.
Mifflin Kenedy
One of the most important figures on the Texas-Mexico frontier.
• freight contractor for U.S. Army
• rancher (Santa Gertrudis region)
• shipping merchant
• partner with Richard King in early years
This letter shows him operating in high-level financial trade.
Smith & Dunning
New York commission merchants and financiers.
Their address:
65 South Street, New York
South Street was the shipping and mercantile district of Manhattan.
Many Rio Grande merchants used them as New York agents.
Duff & May (Manchester)
Manchester textile merchants or bankers.
This tells us the exchange was tied to:
cotton trade between Texas and England.
Why the Letter is Historically Important
It shows the financial infrastructure of the Rio Grande trade.
Money rarely moved in coin.
Instead merchants used:
• bills of exchange
• London/Manchester credit houses
• New York intermediaries
The system looked like this:
Brownsville merchant
↓
Bill of exchange
↓
Charles Stillman (New York broker)
↓
Manchester bank
↓
Textile trade settlement
What This Tells Us About Stillman
Stillman was not just a frontier storekeeper.
He was functioning as a trans-Atlantic financial broker.
That is why Kenedy writes:
“You are the only one in New York that knows anything about this exchange.”
This implies:
• trust
• experience with foreign bills
• long-standing business relationship
Connection to the Rio Grande Economy
In the 1850s Brownsville trade system, the main commodities were:
• cotton
• hides
• wool
• cattle
• silver from Mexico
Bills of exchange allowed merchants to convert frontier trade into European capital.
Stillman was one of the key intermediaries.
A Detail Worth Noting
The interest rate:
10% per annum
That is extremely high by modern standards but normal for frontier credit.
It reflects:
• distance
• transport risk
• currency instability
A Small Historical Observation
The letter date:
July 19, 1854
This is only five years before the Cortina War (1859).
At this moment:
• Stillman
• Kenedy
• King
• others
were building the commercial elite of the lower Rio Grande.
Their financial networks would shape the region for decades.
This letter is actually evidence of a three-continent trade network:
Brownsville → New York → Manchester → Mexican markets.
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