This collection contains correspondence, documents, and a poem related to Philadelphia merchant Samuel Coates. Most of the material consists of incoming personal letters addressed to Coates, including three letters by Richard Dimsdale, who recounted his recent nautical travels around New York City and throughout the state of New York (June 29, 1773) and provided his opinion on recent social unrest in the colonies (September 9, 1775). Another acquaintance, Joseph Pemberton, inquired about food prices in Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War, and shared his desire for Washington to surround General Howe and secure victory (January 23, 1777). Additional incoming items include a letter from Ezekiel Edwards (October 25, 1772), a shipping receipt (December 18, 1772), and a letter from William Jones concerning the estate of the late Samuel Cooper (February 4, 1799). The collection also holds three items written by Samuel Coates: a letter to Moses Brown describing a recent epidemic and conditions in the Pennsylvania Hospital (October 30, 1798); a letter about Samuel Cooper's estate (December 6, 1806); and a letter from Samuel Coates to Henry Clifton (ca. 1809) containg whaling captain Mayhew Folger's account of his discovery of a colony on Pitcairn Island consisting of the widows, children, and last survivor of the HMS Bounty mutineers. Additional material includes an indenture apprenticing Samuel Cooper to Samuel Clark, Bartholomew Wistar, and Samuel Coates, managers of the Pennsylvania Hospital (January 1, 1793), and a poem written by Enoch Lewis in memory of Samuel Cooper (September 6, [1798]).
Samuel Coates was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on August 24, 1748, the son of Samuel Coates and his wife, Mary Langdale. Orphaned at a young age, Coates lived with his uncle and mentor, John Reynell, who helped establish Coates as a merchant before he joined Reynell’s firm in 1771. In 1782, Coates gained sole ownership of the company, and conducted business along the Eastern Seaboard, particularly around New England. A prominent resident of Philadelphia, he served with a relief committee during the 1793 yellow fever epidemic, as an overseer of Philadelphia's public schools, as a director of the First Bank of the United States, and as treasurer of the Philadelphia Library Company; he also served as a manager of the Pennsylvania Hospital and, later, as the president of its board. He and his wife, Lydia Saunders, married in 1775 and had four surviving children: John Reynell, Hannah, Joseph Saunders, and Lydia. Following the death of his first wife in 1791, he married Amy Horner in 1791, with whom he had three surviving children: Samuel Horner, Benjamin Horner, and Reynell. Samuel Coates died on June 4, 1830.
Dr. Samuel Cooper was born in Maryland on September 8, 1772. In 1786, he moved to Philadelphia, where he attended a Quaker school. He began his medical studies in Maryland in 1791, and in 1793 became apprenticed to Samuel Coates, Samuel Clark, and Bartholomew Wistar, managers of the Pennsylvania Hospital. He received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in May 1797, and began to practice medicine in Philadelphia. Cooper died of yellow fever on September 25, 1798.