The Whelen papers are made up of approximately three feet of papers relating to the mercantile careers of Israel Whelen, his son, Israel Whelen, and their partner Joseph Miller of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The largest portion is pertinent to their shipping enterprises, with some material relating to the Phoenix Insurance Company and the Lancaster Turnpike venture. Around two linear feet of business letters, retained copies, accounts and receipts pertain to Townshend Whelen's brokerage and banking career, particularly the firm of Charnley & Whelen.
Israel Whelen was born into a Chester County, Pennsylvania, Quaker family on December 13, 1752. After serving in the American Revolution as Commissary General, he moved to Philadelphia and opened a grocery business, taking Joseph Miller as a partner in 1794. The partners rapidly moved from groceries to shipping, and by the late 1790s, substantially expanded their enterprise to include a brisk trade in gunpowder with France.
Whelen entered Pennsylvania politics, serving in the state senate from 1796 to 1797. In April 1796, he received an appointment to a committee to secure ratification of the Jay Treaty, and in the same year he headed the Pennsylvania Electoral College that supported John Adams' bid for the Presidency. He was also commissioner of assessed taxes for the District of Pennsylvania, overseeing the collection of taxes in all counties in Pennsylvania. Israel Whelen became the American agent of the Phoenix Insurance Company of London, a director of the Bank of the United States upon its establishment in 1791, an incorporator and president of the Lancaster Turnpike Company and, in 1800, he was appointed purveyor of public supplies. Although Whelen amassed a substantial fortune and built a grand house on the turnpike near Downingtown, he lost heavily in his shipping business shortly before his 1806 death, when the French government seized a number of his ships.
Israel and Mary Hunt Downing Whelen had over 10 children, including Israel Whelen, Jr. (1783-1827). He continued his father's business, apparently into the early 1830s. One of Israel Whelen, Jr., and Mary Whelen's children was Townshend Whelen (1822-1875), who formed a partnership with Edward S. Charnley in the brokerage firm of Charnley & Whelen. The company formed in 1835 and Whelen spent his career as a banker and broker.
