Brief guide to manuscripts collections| William L. Clements Library The University of Michigan John Atkinson Papers |
John Atkinson, a British merchant active in colonial trade since 1768, arrived in Boston in 1771, where he established a partnership with Richard Smith. During the immediate years before the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, he invested heavily in land in western Virginia, Ohio, New York, and Vermont. A Loyalist, Atkinson emigrated to Halifax, Nova Scotia, when the British evacuated Boston in March, 1776. Although he was proscribed and banished by Massachusetts in 1778, he had his citizenship restored in 1791 and returned to live in New York City. Atkinson, with his father-in-law Ebenezer Storer and brothers Francis and Hodgson, founded 'A Company for Rendering the Connecticut River Navigable past Bellows Falls, Vermont.' Construction of the canal began in 1792 and was completed in 1802. Financial reverses shortly before his death in 1823 forced him to sell his canal stock and land. Management of his estate was left to his nephew, George Atkinson.
Business and personal papers of John Atkinson, merchant, land speculator, principal investor in the Bellows Falls Canal Company.
This collection of 250 items deals primarily with Atkinson's postwar business ventures; there are several letters describing Boston in 1775 and correspondence relating to the War of 1812. Three letterbooks kept by George Atkinson record his management of the reorganized canal company, 1836-1849.
Purchased, 1958
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