Studies in American History 
107 
Fur Company. They shipped furs to James Abbott, the com- 
pany’s representative at Detroit, and bought Indian trading 
goods from him.®® They were not satisfied, however, to deal 
with the great monopoly, and early sought other connections. 
They entered into negotiations with Daniel Stone, probably 
the shrewdest of the independent traders. They also dealt 
with a number of merchants who have left behind only a 
name. Soon, however, they established an arrangement with 
Suydam and Jackson of New York, from whom they bought 
their trading goods and to whom they consigned their furs.®^ 
This agreement was continued with Suydam, Sage, and Com- 
pany, the successors of Suydam and Jackson, and lasted for 
more than twenty years. Under this arrangement the New 
York firm furnished the trading goods and honored the drafts 
of the Ewings on the security of the fur collections. They 
kept the Ewings informed of market conditions and sold 
their furs in America or shipped them to Europe as they 
deemed best. For these services they received a commission 
of three per cent on the gross sale of furs. Their accounts 
also show an interest charge on all advances of goods and 
capital.®- By this agreement the Ewings and their New York 
correspondents became important rivals of the American 
Fur Company. 
The Ewings tried first to get all the furs around Fort 
Wayne. They soon enlisted traders at St. Joseph, Elkhart, 
Muncie, and Vincennes, and in 1830 went to Logansport to 
give personal attention to the fur-buying in that locality. A 
few years later they established another headquarters at Pe- 
ru.®® Among the more important of the Ewing agents were 
the brothers, D. and C. Rousseau, who traded for some years 
at St. Joseph and Elkhart, James Avoline, William H. God- 
frey, A. M. Drouillard, William Gilbert of Muncie, Isaac 
Covert of Wells County, Nicholas D. Grover, W. S. Edsall, 
and George Walker. As competition grew keen the Ewings 
established the firms of Ewings, Edsall, and Company, and 
James Abbott to W. G. and G. W. Ewing, Detroit, January 7 and March 12, 1827, 
regarding- earbobs and price of furs, in ibid. 
Suydam and Jackson to W. G. and G. W. Ewing, New York, November 19, 1828, 
in ibid. 
A copy of the contract of October 14, 1837, and of annual renewals is in the 
Ewing Papers. 
W. Ewing, in Wallace A. Brice, History of Fart Wayne (Fort Wayne, 1868), 
23 ; Byrum D. Miner, “Sketch of George W. Ewing”, in H. S. Knapp, History of the 
Maumee Valley (Toledo, 1872), 409-412. 
