Call Number:

F0183

Repository:

University of Delaware Library Special Collections

Extent:

1 item (1 page)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

MSS 0098, F0183, Mark Pedrick letter to Adam Harbeson, Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware.

Date:

1850 (inclusive)

Creator:

Pedrick, Mark, circa 1817-

Form:

Letters (correspondence)

Abstract:

In this autograph letter from Mark Pedrick of Wilmington, Delaware, to Adam Harbeson of New Pennsgrove, New Jersey, dated 1850, Pedrick sought advice and financial backing in order to enter the iron business.

Nineteenth-century Wilmington, Delaware, iron merchant Mark Pedrick was born in New Jersey, in about 1817.

He moved to Wilmington, Delaware, with his wife Anna (or Hannah) prior to 1845. In Wilmington he was the clerk for Richard Gilpin's iron store, which was located on the southeast corner of Third Street. Pedrick continued to work as an iron merchant in Wilmington until at least 1870. According to several Wilmington city directories, Pedrick operated Gilpin's former store under several different partnerships throughout the 1850s and 1860s, including Pedrick, Price & Co., Mark Pedrick & Co., and Pedrick, Green, & Co. He and Anna had at least one child, also named Mark, who worked for a time as a blacksmith's apprentice.

Jones, Theophilus K.Recollections of Wilmington from 1845-1860. Wilmington: Historical Society of Delaware, 1909. Wilmington Directory. Wilmington, Del: L. Wilson, 1845-1867.

In this autograph letter (signed) from Mark Pedrick of Wilmington, Delaware, to Adam Harbeson of New Pennsgrove, New Jersey, dated 1850, Pedrick sought advice and financial backing in order to enter the iron business.

In his brief letter Pedrick detailed the terms of his proposed business venture to Harbeson, who, given the letter's salutation of "Dear Father," was most likely Pedrick's father-in-law. Pedrick noted that Mr. Gilpin "is now willing to sell out his stock and relinquish the [iron] business altogether." Pedrick advised his father-in-law that he would like to buy the stock in a partnership with an "old gentleman" by the name of John L. Shorter (or Shuster), who would put in three dollars to Pedrick's one. Finally, he asked Harbeson if he would be willing to back him for his share of the investment, for which he intended to secure a loan at six percent interest.

The outcome of Pedrick's proposition to his father-in-law is unclear, as this single piece of correspondence includes no reply. However, it is known that as of 1853 Pedrick was operating as an iron merchant with the firm Pedrick, Price, & Co. out of the former Gilpin store on Shipley Street in Wilmington.