Post # 24 ~ A Partner and a Friend

Jeffers & Cothrans
~ Factors and Commission Merchants ~

Henry L. Jeffers had several different partners during his career, and the announcement of new partnerships always coincided with big new plans: water-proof warehouses, free wharfage, steam-boat travel, liberal advances to planters, new stores, fine silks and calicoes, boots, and bonnets.

The Edgefield Advertiser, 1844-01-03. LOC. After partnering with Dr. J. F. Griffin.

Most partners lasted only a few years, until Jeffers found one as driven as he was: Col. Wade S. Cothran. 

Col. Cothran, Henry Jeffers' new partner in 1847, enabled Jeffers’ business to grow rapidly in the late 1840’s and into the 1850’s. Their company, Jeffers & Cothran, soon dominated the wagon-delivery business between the Hamburg train depot and the widespread farms of the upcountry. In 1852, the partners set their sights on other locations: Georgia and Charleston. Cothran watched over business from his home in Rome, Georgia; a clerk minded the store in Hamburg; and Henry Jeffers managed the factorage and commission end in Charleston.

The big move to Charleston prompted a series of advertisements with flowery messages that made me smile. Henry Jeffers may have been a tad sentimental; for sure, he was at his best when explaining himself. Amidst the promises of promptness, personal attention, and liberal advances, Henry gave a fond farewell: 

In leaving Hamburg, I cannot think or feel that I bid adieu to my friends, among whom I have been raised, and for whom I have long done more or less business. I shall still be in Carolina, and a Carolinian, and will be in Charleston where I can serve you to great advantage…

Henry bid this same fond adieu repeatedly in the The Edgefield Advertiser, over a period of a few months in 1852, as was the custom in advertising at the time.

Henry was full of hope and confidence then. But all too soon dark clouds appeared on the horizon. Simultaneous with the opening of a Jeffers & Cothran location in Charleston, something else was in the works for the restless and energetic Jeffers. Apart from his connection to Mr. Cothran, he formed an ambitious new company, a separate partnership with James S. Chambers, another South Carolina merchant looking to expand to a much bigger-scale enterprise. The plan was that the Jeffers & Cothran firm would continue with its well-developed business of shipping goods from up-country SC, down to Charleston. From there, Chambers, Jeffers  & Co. could ship the goods out over the seas, wherever there was a demand.

The Edgefield Advertiser, 1852-09-01, LOC. Excerpt from an advertisement for the new Factorage and Commission business of Chambers, Jeffers & Co.

Henry Jeffers’ new alliance with Chambers ran into trouble. He overreached himself. In spite of his long history of promising meticulous attention to the customers’ interests, I believe he lost serious money speculating on cotton that had been entrusted to him by up-country planters. And, as I touched on in a previous post, Henry also became financially responsible for a heavy debt. Reading what I can about the situation (on Google books), in late 1853 an employee of the firm, a Mr. P. P. Chambers, signed a large bank note; when the firm could not make the payment, a long-lasting court case resulted. 

Though I haven’t seen a dissolution notice, the advertising for Chambers, Jeffers & Co. stopped abruptly after January, 1854. Notices began appearing in the Charleston papers of preparations to assign their assets to their creditors. In February, 1855, the creditors' agent sold every last thing out of the Chambers, Jeffers & Co. South Atlantic Wharf office - right down to the stools and the bailing twine.

The Charleston Daily Courier, 1855-02-06. LOC

In the upstate, Jeffers & Cothran advertisements also went quiet at the same time in 1854. No newspaper advertising for any business involving Henry Jeffers occurred for well over a year. Most unusual! Highly irregular! Instead, there were notices from other Hamburg and Augusta merchants soliciting the “patronage heretofore extended to the Late Firm...of Jeffers, Cothran & Co.”

While the Chambers case dragged through the courts, Henry Jeffers began to pick up the pieces. After March, 1855, he appeared in ads for a solo business, like in the old days. He wrote weekly advertisements with the usual flowery boasts about his company’s superior services, but always ending with contrite and humble apologies for his own “misfortunes” and “difficulties.” He vowed that "I have now, (after my misfortune) commenced (as it were) anew..." Henry pledged to never again “speculate in Cotton, or in any way involve myself.” He worked hard to regain his planter customers, and to overcome what sounds like a disgrace.

The Edgefield Advertiser, 1855-03-14. LOC

Jeffers’ old friends at The Edgefield Advertiser helped out. For a 19th-century newspaper writer, the editor's voice here seems muted; but the personal recommendation for the man is certain.

The Edgefield Advertiser, 1855-03-14. LOC

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Next, a poignant story unfolded amidst the hundreds of old newspaper clippings - one of real friendship between Henry L. Jeffers and Wade S. Cothran. The “misfortunes” and “difficulties” of Jeffers (encountered while at the firm of Chambers, Jeffers & Co) obviously caused his separate enterprise with Mr. Cothran to crash. After a space of time, we see him begin the process of rebuilding; Jeffers started back at square one with a solo business, hauling goods from Hamburg to Charleston. Then six months later the come-back strengthened dramatically with the re-birth of Jeffers & Cothrans.

The Edgefield Advertiser, 1855-09-26. LOC

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Henry Jeffers’ energy, earnestness, and history of community involvement certainly helped to pull him through this episode. The local newspapers did their part. 

The Abbeville Press and Banner, 1855-09-28. LOC

But it is obvious that the continued countenance of his partner Col. Wade Cothran made all the difference. Henry Jeffers recovered.

Wade S. Cothran, 1804-1877 (Find-A-Grave)

By 1859 Henry L. Jeffers’ two oldest sons, William Henry and Thomas, joined him in the Charleston office, where they spent most of the year living and working. Wade S. Cothran handled the company’s trade in Georgia, though I can tell from the letters that he was often in Charleston. 

Soon, the Civil War changed their world forever.