| Description | Copybook with blank index pages of letters from William C. Endicott to Joseph Chamberlain, Sir Ambrose Shea [Governor of the Bahamas], William F. Wharton [US Assistant Secretary of State], F. L. Ames [a wealthy American businessman], James M. Waterbury [of the National Cordage Company], Henry S. Chapman, Augustus P. Loring, Benjamin H. Dorr and L. L. Leiter. A copy of letter received by Endicott from J. M. Waterbury and from Ambrose Shea are also included. The copies of the letters have been removed from the copybook and placed in a fascicule. The letters are dated between 23 October 1891 and 13 June 1892.
A note by Anne Chamberlain dated 19 June 1940 states the copies of the letters were sent to her by Mr Endicott's widow Louise (Mary Carnegie's sister-in-law) after Mr Endicott's death. Endicott from the state of Massachusetts in the USA was the father of Mary Endicott Chamberlain, and a former United States Secretary of War.
The letters relate to a proposed scheme suggested by Joseph Chamberlain in Autumn 1891 for further sisal plantations in the Bahamas funded by American investment to use land which Joseph Chamberlain had an option to purchase. Endicott was involved in finding potential investors and negotiation for land with the Governor of the Bahamas, Sir Ambrose Shea during his stay in New York. He met or wrote to various contacts including potential investors, potential customers to buy the sisal, or sources of information in the United States regarding the scheme such as Loring of the Plymouth Cordage Company and Waterbury of the National Cordage Company. Endicott received help in this work from his friend Henry G. Chapman who seems to have acted as agent for the scheme in New York when Endicott was at home in Boston. The letters also include some details of Endicott's thoughts about the scheme and Neville Chamberlain and the sisal growing business he managed is mentioned in some of the letters. However, there was a lack of interest from potential investors in the scheme and it seems to have been abandoned by June 1892. |