Antebellum Jefferson, Texas: Everyday Life in an East Texas Town

23. Late Merchants

329 The Cass County tax rolls indicate ownership of town lots and value of merchandise in stock as of January 1 only for 1857. The value of merchandise is not given for 1858 and 1859. The Marion County tax rolls do not provide value of merchandise for 1860. Persons with town lots and merchandise in 1857 include E. M. Jenkins (1857); J. W. Turner (1857); and Saufley & Batte (1857). Persons without town lots but with merchandise and known to have been Jefferson merchants include Bryan & Clark (1857); O. C. Frazor (1857); Theophilus Nichols (1857); and Stanley & Nimmo (1857). Merchants advertising in the November 7, 1857, Eastern Texas Gazette include Frazor & Company, dry goods; A. D. Taylor & Company , dry goods; Pinsky & Kallisher, dry goods; Dr. A. Prewitt, drugs; Saufley & Batte; H. Rhine & Brothers, dry goods and groceries; Reece Hughes, dry goods; and D. N. Alley, dry goods and groceries. Merchants advertising in various newspapers from late 1857 through late 1860 include: Reece Hughes, dry goods and groceries (September 1857); H. Rhine & Brothers, dry goods and groceries (April 1858); W. P. Torrans, groceries (April 1858); John Speake, receiving, forwarding, and commission merchant (January 1859); R. Manwaring & Company, dry goods and groceries (February 1860); J. B. Ligon & Company, furniture and buggies (February 1860); Bob C. Hughes, dry goods and groceries (May 1860); T. D. Sedberry, dry goods and grocer23 . Late merchants 330 Antebellum Jefferson, Texas ies (June 1860); W. K. Vining, hardware (July 1860); and Thomas Ferrell , at Speake’s warehouse (November 1860). Jefferson merchants listed in the 1860 census include A. B. Bayless, B.C.Hughes,JohnSmith,SamuelSmith,JacobSterne,B.H.Jacobs,Robert Green, William Smithson, Robert McWilliams, Theophilus Nichols, A. Bredig, Thomas Sedberry, John Pitkin, Joseph McDermott, James Brown, Elisha Price, A. B. Morris, Peter Morris, W. N. Klyce, Frederick Schluter, F. E. Taylor, George Taylor, Joel Hughes, S. Nussbaum, J. Nussbaum, Thomas Turner, D. C. Phillips, John Wallace, Jeptha Crawford , William Crawford, Lazarus Rosenzweig, Morris Rosenzweig, W. K. Vining, Samuel Nimmo, William Phillip, Moses Steinlein, Gus Hodge, John Murphy, Benjamin Terry, J. H. Faucett, William Torrans, John Speake, Richard Waterhouse, James Durr, Williamson Freeman, David Smith, John Reed, William Saufley, James Murphy, and William Nichols. Abraham Kohn and John Ligon are listed as merchants living in the vicinity of Jefferson. Saufley & Batte, which was composed of William Saufley and William Batte, is listed in the 1857 tax rolls as owning $7,000 in merchandise and two town lots valued at $1,500. Saufley and Batte issued a notice in the March 14, 1857, Eastern Texas Gazette requesting that people owing Saufley & Batte and the old firm of Saufley & Nimmo pay up in cash, stressing that “We have been very liberal with our friends for the last five years, and have allowed ourselves pressed to save them; and we shall now expect in return for our indulgence to them, they will come forward and assist us.” They advertised in the November 7, 1857, Eastern Texas Gazette, with the advertisement dated 1856, that they featured Smith’s Tonic Syrup sold at wholesale and retail. This firm was probably in the dry goods and groceries business. Saufley & Batte was obviously a successor to Saufley & Nimmo. William Saufley had been a partner in 1851 in the dry goods and groceries business of Saufley & Hudgins, continued in the same line of business by himself in May 1851, and joined with John Speake and Samuel Nimmo in a receiving, forwarding, and commission business in September 1852. The latter partnership apparently did not last very long, and Saufley and Nimmo entered into the dry goods and groceries business under the name Saufley & Nimmo in 1853, which was suc- 331 Late Merchants ceeded by Saufley & Batte at least by March 1856 when Nimmo went into the furniture business with Charles Stanley. On February 5, 1853, Saufley and Nimmo purchased from Jeptha Crawford for $1,750 in cash and dry goods the lot on the northwest corner of Marshall and Austin known as Crawford’s corner, which contained a storehouse and barber shop. This was obviously the inception of Saufley & Nimmo. Thomas Ferrell sold Lot 4 in Block 21 at the corner of Marshall and Lafayette to Saufley & Batte in October 1856. The transaction does not mention a storehouse, and the sales price was too low to account for one. Batte, who was a resident of Titus County, became dissatisfied with Saufley’s management of the business and sued him in district court. A February 14, 1860, agreement between Saufley...