Roster: Old China-Trade Merchants (New York focus)

1) Howland & Aspinwall (a.k.a. G. G. & S. S. Howland → Howland & Aspinwall)

• Active / peak: early 1800s → 1830s–1850s (as Howland & Aspinwall).

• NY ties / location: based on South Street / New York mercantile wharves (family merchants active in NYC).

• Main trade: luxury imports from China — porcelain, silks, tea; heavy involvement in Pacific/clippers. Noted for financing clipper ships (e.g., Rainbow, Sea Witch).

• Why important: One of NYC’s signature houses that financed clippers and specialized in China luxury imports.

• Where to look (archives/refs): Scoville’s The Old Merchants of New York City and family papers; family/merchant manuscript holdings at regional historical repositories. Wikimedia Commons+1

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2) A. A. Low & Brothers (Abiel Abbot Low)

• Active / peak: 1840s–late 19th century.

• NY ties / address: New York headquarters (167–171 John Street — the A. A. Low Building, South Street Seaport area).

• Main trade: tea, silks, porcelain, spices, clipper-ship ownership; firm built a prominent Low building that survives as part of Seaport history.

• Why important: One of New York’s most visible China-trade houses; ran a fleet of clippers and moved large volumes of tea/porcelains.

• Where to look (archives/refs): South Street Seaport Museum materials and biographical resources on A. A. Low. South Street Seaport Museum+1

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3) Russell & Company (Russell & Co.) — (strong Canton/Shanghai presence; major U.S. house)

• Active / peak: founded ~1818–1820s in Canton; mid-19th century = largest American firm in China.

• NY ties: Many New York merchants/clerk-partners (e.g., John Cleve Green, Abiel A. Low) worked with or spun out of Russell & Co.; strong commercial ties between NY houses and Russell’s Canton operations.

• Main trade: tea, silk, opium (historical involvement), shipping/commission agency.

• Where to look (archives/refs): Russell & Co. records at the Library of Congress (detailed business/financial correspondence). Also extensive scholarly work on Russell & Co. and its network. Library of Congress+1

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4) N. L. & G. Griswold (Griswold family firms)

• Active / peak: early 1800s → mid-19th century.

• NY ties / location: South Street / Broad Street merchant houses in NYC; Griswolds became major tea importers and built merchant fortunes here.

• Main trade: tea and general China imports (Griswold ships and packets were well-known in the tea trade).

• Where to look (archives/refs): Griswold family papers (Columbia/NY repositories), Old Merchants of New York, and museum/catalog records. Wikipedia+1

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5) John Cleve Green (individual) — New York merchant & Russell partner

• Active / peak: 1820s–1875 (career). Based in NYC after return from Canton.

• Main trade: clerk → supercargo → partner in Russell & Co.; made fortune in China trade (tea/silk); major NYC philanthropist later in life.

• Where to look (archives/refs): Biographical entries and 19th-century merchant records; his career looms large in Princeton/NJ & NY histories. Wikipedia+1

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6) Augustine Heard & Co. (connected U.S. houses + China office)

• Active / peak: ~1840–1870s.

• NY ties: New-England origins but tight commercial links with the NYC-based trade network (American houses shared agents, ships, and financing).

• Main trade: tea, opium, and steamship introductions; one of the larger American houses in China mid-19th century.

• Where to look (archives/refs): Harvard Business School Baker Library (Heard family business records), published chronicle materials. Harvard Business School Library+1

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7) John Jacob Astor (individual, New York) — fur & China connections

• Active / peak: late 18th–early 19th century.

• NY ties / location: NYC (real estate, merchant offices).

• Main trade with China: routed furs to Canton and returned with tea/Chinese goods; Astor’s American Fur Co. tied the fur–China exchange into NY mercantile networks (and—historically—opium was among the commodities sometimes trafficked).

• Where to look (archives/refs): Astor biographies, LOC/secondary sources on early American China voyages. Wikipedia+1

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8) (Additional NYC-connected houses / names to pursue)

• Other merchant families & firms that appear in NYC China-trade networks: Townsend/Howell relatives, various South Street merchants recorded in Scoville’s The Old Merchants of New York City, and several smaller commission houses that acted as agents for Canton firms. For a wider cast of names consult Scoville’s listing and merchant directories. Wikimedia Commons+1

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Archives & primary sources to consult (priority order)

If you want to follow paper trails (letterbooks, ledgers, vessel manifests, agent invoices), start with:

1. Library of Congress — Russell & Company records (Guangzhou/Canton) — business correspondence, ledgers. (strongly recommended for Russell & Co. research). Library of Congress

2. South Street Seaport Museum & local maritime repositories — A. A. Low building history and Seaport collections (for Low & related NY houses). South Street Seaport Museum

3. Harvard Business School / Baker Library (Heard, Russell-related collections) — manuscript collections and firm records connected to U.S. China houses. Harvard Business School Library+1

4. New-York Historical Society & NYPL / Columbia collections — general merchant letterbooks, family papers (Howland, Griswold, and other NY families). Scoville’s Old Merchants of New York City is digitized and very useful as a starting reference. findingaids.library.nyu.edu+1

5. Regional university & maritime museums (e.g., Peabody/Phillips Library, Mystic Seaport, Whaling Museum) — for Howland family papers and clipper-ship records. whalingmuseum.org+1

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Quick research plan (if you want me to keep going)

I can immediately (choose one) and pull documents that are digitized and assemble them into a research packet:

• A. Exported spreadsheet (CSV) of NY China-trade houses with active dates, addresses, ships, and archival holding links (useful for citation tracking).
• B. A 2–3 page annotated bibliography with direct links to finding aids and the top 15 digitized letterbooks/ledgers to consult first.
• C. A focused archive-by-archive checklist (what to request from LOC, NYHS, Baker Library, South Street Seaport) and likely call numbers/finding-aid refs so you can request scans or plan a visit.