Temporary record

Henry Pratt was born in Philadelphia, the son of a portrait painter. He began his mercantile career trading in crockery and china from his store on Water Street. Later he moved into to groceries and eventually became an important shipping merchant. Pratt served as President of the Philadelphia Select Council (1798-1803), was a director of the Insurance Company of Pennsylvania, the American Land Company, and the Bustleton and Smithfield Turnpike Company. He made an immense fortune, enabling him to purchase one of the city's great mansions, 'Lemon Hill' on the Schuylkill near Fairmont.

Abraham Kintzing was a wagon master in Philadelphia in 1791, and was listed in the city directory for 1798 as a grazier. Sometime after 1797 he became a partner of Pratt's, and continued in the firm of Pratt and Kintzing until 1812, when he reorganized his business as Kintzing, Son and Coxe (Francis S. Coxe). Kintzing was a director of the Bank of North America and of the Philadelphia Insurance Company.

Scope and contents:

The Pratt & Kintzing Records consist of business correspondence, accounts, and receipts, mostly relating to the firm of Pratt & Kintzing between 1797 and 1800. It also includes material relating to the American Land Company (1796-1829); manuscript maps of Pratt's real estate holdings; correspondence relating to the partnership of Pratt and John Miller, Jr., involved in shipping gun powder to Europe (1797-1800); and correspondence relation to the Union Canal Company.

M-1861

Subjects

American Land Company
Canals--Pennsylvania
Kintzing, Abraham, 1763-1835
Merchants--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia
Philadelphia (Pa.)--Commerce
Pratt, Henry, 1761-1838
Real property--Pennsylvania
Union Canal Company

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