Rhodes & Smith Woollen Factory. Printed receipt, signed by Dorrance

Pawtuxet: July 25, 1818. Manuscript receipt (approx. 2¾" x 7½"), ink bright and legible. From the earliest beginnings of the textile industry in Rhode Island. Rhodes & Smith were the well-known Christopher and William Rhodes and Elisha P. Smith (1777-1832). The Rhodes brothers, who advertised as spinners, clothiers, and carders of wool, were very successful textile manufacturers. They were noted for producing the first woolen broadcloth in America made from the wool of sheep imported from Norway. This receipt shows a $1.75 payment to George Cary "for childrens (sic) work in factory up to this date...payable in goods." It was common before labor reform (truncated) for minors to be employed the early textile mills. Signed "For Rhodes & Smith, T. Dorrance," i.e. Tully Dorrance (1784-1861), a son of Samuel Dorrance II and Anne Tully. He married Sally Fear Rhodes, and went on to acquire The Pomfret Cotton Manufactory in Connecticut. (Inventory #: 55376)