152 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Obadiah Brown & Co., with one or two others, were empowered to call 

 a special meeting at Taunton if the influence of the whole company was 

 required. Two general meetings were ordered, one for the first Tuesday 

 in November, 1762, and the second for the first Tuesday in March, 1763. 

 Expenses were to be apportioned pro rata, and at least one member 

 from each firm was required to be present under a penalty of $8 for 

 neglect to attend. The absentees were to be bound by the unanimous 

 vote of the company's representatives, and the association could be dis- 

 solved upon evidence under the hand of one credible witness that one 

 or more members of the copartnership had broken the agreement. 



At a meeting held in Providence on the 13th of April, 1763, some 

 slight alterations were made in. the agreement. Ten pounds sterling 

 was the price to be paid for head matter, and the members agreed to 

 receive it only of following parties who were appointed the factors of 

 the company: John & William Rotch, Sylvanus Hussey & Co., Folger 

 & Gardner, Robert & Josiah Barker, Obed Hussey, liichard Mitchell, 

 and Jonathan Burnell, of Nantucket; Benjamin Mason, of Newport; 

 George Jackson, of Providence ; and Henry Lloyd, of Boston. All such 

 matter was, after the date of these revised articles, to be common stock, 

 w^hether obtained by the company's or other vessels, and to be divided 

 in the following proportion of parts to the hundred : Nicholas Brown & 

 Co., 20 barrels ; Joseph Palmer & Co., 14 ; Thomas Robinson «& Co., 13 ; 

 Aaron Lopea, 11; Rivera & Co,, 11; Isaac Stelle & Co., 9; Naphthali 

 Hart & Co., 9 ; the Philadelphians, 7 ;* Edward Laugdon & Son, 4 ; 

 ]Moses Lopez, 2.* The factors were to divide their purchases according 

 to the above rule, and dishonorable conduct by any member in endeavor- 

 ing to obtain an advantage over his fellow-partners entailed a forfeiture 

 of the whole share. 



John Slocum, Jacob Rod Rivera, Thomas Robinson, and Moses Brown 

 were appointed to treat' with the factors at Newport aud Nantucket, 

 John Brown with the one in Providence, aud Joseph Palmer with the one 

 in Boston. These gentlemen were to report to Nicholas Brown & Co., 

 who were in turn to report to the other manufacturers. 



There is no means at hand of arriving at the results of the partner- 

 ship and manufacture; those enumerated were by far the principal 

 parties engaged, though there were subsequently many others in New- 

 port, Nantucket, aud other towns with a large aggregate capital. The 

 expense, says '* M.,"t of a manufactory was trifling. The building was of 

 wood, usually about 60 feet by 30 feet, one-half formed with 14-feet posts 

 and used as a work-room, the other half with 8 feet posts and used as a 

 shed. Building and utensils cost about $1,000, and about 600 barrels 

 of head matter would be used up each year in such a factory.^ 



The process of manufacture was so carefully kept a secret that it was 

 not until 1772 that the people of Nantucket acquired sufficient knowl- 



* By this agreemeut it would seem that the arraugernent had become unanimous. 



t See New Bedford Shiijping-List, January 23, 1855. 



t At the last report Newport did not have a candle factory worthy of the name. 



