66 Kenneth S. Latoiirette, 



arrived from its first voyage to the Northwest Coast, and learned 

 of the great possibiHties of the fur trade. On his return he sent 

 out the "Hope," Ingraham, master, and later, the "Margaret" 

 under James Magee, a former captain of the "Astrea." In 

 1792 he formed with his brother the partnership of James and 

 Thomas H. Perkins, which in 1838, when dissolved, was the most 

 prominent of the American-Chinese firms. At first they were 

 engaged only in the Northwest Coast fur trade, but in 1798 they 

 began sending ships directly to Canton, and finally entirely 

 confined themselves to this.^'' A branch house was established 

 at Canton and another at Manila.'"''* More or less closely allied 

 with James and Thomas Perkins by blood or business relations 

 v^ere Samuel Cabot, the Lambs, John P. Cushing, Thomas T., 

 John M., and Robert B. Forbes, James P. Sturgis,'''' and the firm 

 of Bryant and Sturgis,^" part of whom were in China and part 

 in the United States. Into the hands of these houses went most 

 of Boston's share in the China trade, and they furnish the best 

 example of the semi-monopoly which characterized the China 

 trade during this period. The nephews and cousins of the mem- 

 bers of the firm were trained in counting houses or on the ships 

 to take up the business as the older men laid it down. Other 

 Boston firms there w^ere, such as the Lymans — great rivals of 

 the Perkins"^ — Dorr and Sons, J. Coolidge, Bass, J. Gray, 

 Thomas Parish, and Hoy and Thorn,"- but unfortunately there 

 exist no easily accessible materials for their history. The 

 destruction of the early papers of the Boston Custom House, 

 too, prevents a sketch of the port's trade as a whole. From what 

 little survives of the original records, it can be safely asserted 

 that with the years, the relative importance of Boston in the 

 China trade increased, and that the Perkins family and its allied 



"Letter of Perkins to Bulfinch, Dec. 21, 1817. Ms. 



•■■** Robert B. Forbes, Personal Reminiscences, Boston, 1878, p. 88. See 

 also on the history of Perkins and Co., in addition to the authorities 

 mentioned thus far. C. C. Perkins, Memoir of James Perkins, and Letters 

 and Recollections of J. M. Forbes. 



^^ Forbes, Personal Reminiscences, pp. 39-64, and passim. 



""Ibid., p. 131. 



"' T. L. V. Wilson, Aristocracy of Boston, Boston, 1848, p. 26. 



"' Tufts' Acct. of Vessels in Sea Otter and N. W. Trade. 



