{"id":400,"date":"2025-09-08T18:46:38","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T18:46:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/librarycompany.org\/librarycompanypapersproject\/?p=400"},"modified":"2025-09-08T18:46:39","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T18:46:39","slug":"history-of-share-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/librarycompany.org\/librarycompanypapersproject\/2025\/09\/08\/history-of-share-13\/","title":{"rendered":"History of Share #13"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Library Company share #13 was first issued to Nicholas Reddish<\/strong> on November 22, 1731.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reddish was a saddler and merchant, according to newspaper advertisements from the time. By 1731, he was obviously acquainted with Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) and his fellow Junto members. That group drew up \u201cArticles of Agreement\u201d on July 1, 1731 to found a library, and Reddish was among the first group of shares issued four months later. These subscribers each invested forty shillings and \u201cpromised to pay ten shillings a year thereafter to buy books and maintain a shareholder\u2019s library.\u201d[i]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 1736, he announced his business partnership with another Library Company shareholder Alexander Paxton (share #23) was ending, but he planned to continue supplying \u201call sorts of Saddles and Sadlery Ware\u201d and other products at the same shop.[ii]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reddish sold the share to William Crosthwaite <\/strong>on November 17, 1739.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is most likely William Crosthwaite (d. 1747), who made \u201cperukes\u201d or a style of wigs popular at that time with long curled hair on the sides and back. Advertisements in the Pennsylvania Gazette<\/em> newspaper from the 1730s locate Crosthwaite\u2019s shop on Front Street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Crosthwaite was involved in more than just wig-making. Just a few months before he became a Library Company shareholder, Crosthwaite was listed as the contact for \u201cseveral very likely negro boys, and very good rice by the barrel\u201d from a ship from South Carolina.[iii]<\/p>\n\n\n

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Image: Advertisement, <\/em>The Pennsylvania Gazette, August 9, 1739.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Crosthwaite\u2019s death in November 1747, his executor George Orkill published newspaper advertisements noting that Orkill planned to liquidate all of Crosthwaite\u2019s business and personal belongings, including \u201ca young Negroe man, who can shave and dress wigs very well, and a Negroe woman, who can wash, iron, and is a very good cook; also a servant man\u2019s time, who has two years and three months to serve.\u201d[iv]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Erwin<\/strong> apparently acquired the share either from Crosthwaite directly or from Crosthwaite\u2019s executor, but the Library Company\u2019s records list \u201cno date recorded\u201d for the transaction and provide no further details about Erwin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Mease<\/strong> (1746-1826)<\/strong> acquired the share from John Erwin\u2019s estate on November 30, 1769.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Library Company\u2019s records describe this new owner of the share as \u201cJohn Mease of Philadelphia merchant.\u201d According to a much later biographical profile, Mease was an original member of the volunteer First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry<\/a>, and served throughout the Revolutionary War.[v]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mease maintained his share in the Library Company for nineteen years. On July 29, 1788, Mease sold his share to his father-in-law, John Miller (1720-1799)<\/strong>.[vi]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Library Company\u2019s records provide no further information about Miller. When he sold the share eleven years later, on November 20, 1799, he sold it to his grandson Dr. James Mease (1771-1846)<\/strong>. But Miller also wished to grant \u201cfree and equal liberty, from time to time . . . to take out books from the said Library\u201d to two more grandchildren: Thomas C. Mease and Isabella C. Mease (b. 1775), who were James\u2019 siblings.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Image: John Miller transferred his share to his grandson Dr. James Mease, but also specified that James\u2019 two siblings, Thomas and Isabella, could have \u201cfree and equal liberty, from time to time . . . to take out books from the said Library.\u201d Detail from <\/em>Share Record Book B<\/a>, volume 172, Library Company of Philadelphia records (MSS00270).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. James Mease was a physician, scientist, and author with wide-ranging interests. Among other accomplishments, he is credited with inventing tomato catsup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also clearly loved books, or at least desired longer hours for accessing them. Fifteen years after acquiring this Library Company share, Mease helped found the Athenaeum of Philadelphia<\/a> in 1814. He was among the original charter shareholders of that institution, as well as its first vice president.[vii]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Share #13 remained with Dr. Mease\u2019s estate for about twenty-five years after his death, but his sister Isabella Mease (1775-1853)<\/strong> officially acquired the share from the estate on February 8, 1850.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The transfer appears to have been solely to allow Isabella to sell the share. On the same day she acquired it, she sold share #13 to Cecilia Godon<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Library Company\u2019s records provide no other information about Godon. She maintained the share for the next four years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charles Ferguson (1821-1906)<\/strong> acquired the share on August 10, 1854, and maintained it for the rest of his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ferguson made his fortune in coal mines. He and his family lived at 1314 Walnut Street in Philadelphia, and he eventually hired architect Stephen Decatur Button (1813-1897) to build the family a large \u201ccottage\u201d in Cape May, NJ as well.[viii]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

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Image: This view of shareholder Charles Ferguson\u2019s Cape May \u201ccottage\u201d shows off its curved second-floor porch and railing. Historic American Buildings Survey, <\/em>Charles Ferguson House, 101 South Lafayette Street, Cape May, Cape May County, NJ<\/a>. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Ferguson\u2019s death, his daughter Esther Ferguson Mears (1864-1925) <\/strong>acquired the share on November 5, 1908.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She and her family lived in Philadelphia and in Bar Harbor, Maine. She maintained the share for roughly twenty years until her death. Next, her widower Edward B. Mears (1854-1947) <\/strong>acquired the share on February 2, 1928.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edward was a lawyer and real estate agent. Library Company records note that his ownership of the share was relinquished on February 4, 1943.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Share History:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n