Chapter III 

 Delaware Tan?ieries 



"The Tanning Trade . . . may be here man- 

 aged to good advantage." — Thomas Budd, 1685 



Examined in some detail in a single area, such as Delaware, 

 the techniques and business practices of an entire industry are 

 revealed. What confronted a tanner in Delaware also faced his 

 counterpart in New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and, to 

 some degree, in the South. In Delaware, tanners had long 

 found the perquisites of their trade convenient and the markets 

 for their product widespread and demanding. In fact, quercitron 

 or black oak bark used both in tanning and the dye trades had 

 been a Wilmington export well before 1775.'" Beyond the essential 

 raw materials, the tanning industry required a steady supply of 

 pure water (Diderot considered water to be one of the essential 

 tools of the tanner, but not necessarily for power), "^ and in Dela- 

 ware the nearness of clear water, of oak bark, and of good pasture- 

 land for cattle contributed to the success of the industry.'^ 



Joshua Gilpin reported in 1832 that leather manufacture in 

 Delaware was "verv old" and largely "founded on its own mate- 

 rials." "' Since the time of first settlement in 1638 a succession of 

 Swedish governors had cited the need for tanners, leather dressers, 

 and cordwainers.'*' Hides were abundant, and before the arrival 

 of the English, the Swedes wore waistcoats and breeches of skins 

 they had tanned, while some of them, according to Peter Kalm, 

 "had learned to prepare leather, and make shoes with heels." " 



As early as 1683, Penn had noticed that there was "plenty of 

 Bark" for tanning; and a year later John Grubb obtained a 4- 

 acre tract in New Castle County for a tanvard,'^ in a region where 

 ^'Hides being plenty, and had at moderated Prices, and Bark to 



^^ Bishop, vol. 1, p. 461. 



'^ See p. 1 of "Tanneur" in vol. 9 o{ L Encyclopedic . . . Recueil des Planches . . , 



"'^ MuNROE, Federalist Delaware, p. 128. 



" McLane Report, vol. 2, p. 778. 



™ Myers, ed.. Narratives of Early Pennsyhania . . . . , pp. 125, 126, 140, 142, 148. 



'^ Benson, ed.. The America of 1750; Peter Kalm' s Travels in North America, vol. 1, p. 272. See also 

 Johnson, The Swedish Settlements on the Delaware, and Acrelius, "History of New Sweden,'' 

 Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, (1874), vol. 11. 



"8 New Castle County Deeds. 



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