Manuscripts over two hundred years old from Black Rock’s most prominent merchant and shipmaster, Thomas Bartram, have been successfully preserved and digitized thanks to a donations from local Black Rock residents and the CT Daughters of 1812.. The Thomas Bartram account books are in three volumes from 1801 to 1838, with 650 pages and over ten thousand lines of script. Transcribing the documents may unlock much of the mystery of Black Rock's earliest days, of which little is still known today. And so a fundraising campaign will take place to pay to have all the pages transcribed and also for an online exhibit which will let local students and scholars learn more about early local history. The log books detail trade transactions with merchants and shipping and involve many of the earliest residents including Caleb Brewster. Both Bartram and Brewster have streets named them in Black Rock. The merchant documents will also help provide insight not only into daily life in early 19th century Black Rock but also how and commerce and trade led to the building the Black Rock lighthouse which became operational in 1806.
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History of the American privateers, and letters-of-marque during our war with England in the years 1812, '13 and '14 interspersed with several naval battles between American and British ships of war / by George Coggeshall., .
