Family and Business News: Lydia Coleman and Hugh Hall

This letter, dated 27 April 1719, was sent by Lydia Coleman in Boston to her son-in-law, Hugh Hall, in Barbados. While, at first glance, the contents of this letter appear to be of a familial nature, a closer reading of the letter reveals the complex exchange of commercial news and business information that was transmitted within mercantile familial networks of the early-modern Atlantic.

In the opening section of the letter, we learn that Coleman had received an assortment of textiles from Hall – including scarves, hoods, and nightdresses – that she had been instructed to sell them within her hometown. In her reply, Coleman demonstrates a sound understanding of the local market, including the standard pricing of similar goods. Notably, it was Hall’s wife who was the driving force behind the sale of the goods: although it was her son-in-law with whom Coleman corresponded, the instructions (and permission to return any unsold items to Barbados) came from Mrs Hall.

We also learn that Coleman, in Boston, provided her son-in-law with crucial economic information concerning the local market value of Caribbean-produced goods. In the latter part of the letter, Coleman writes only “rum : 4 : shilling sugar : s9 : a pound”. The brevity of the exchange indicates that no context was needed. This formed a regular feature of Coleman’s letters, often wedged between news of shipping conditions and updates from Hall’s children, who lived with her in Boston.