Louisiane

1804 · WRCAM56593 — Philadelphia 1804. 1p. autograph letter signed on a folio sheet with address panel and docketing on verso. Remains of wax seal. Old folds with small separations starting a most folds no loss of text one-inch seal tear to left margin no text affected else very good. A friendly and informative letter from Philadelphia merchant Lewis Cist to his brother Jacob Cist prominent naturalist and coal entrepreneur. In between updates on various investments he and his brother are involved in with an individual named Ritter and money he owes Jacob Lewis recounts: "We have just been watching a procession in commemoration of the acquisition of Louisiana. All of our volunteers infantry foot horse artillery the governor followed by the councils the Cincinnati the Incorporated Cordwainers with an 8 gallon shoe & flags with the names of the states.obscured.&c. It made a very good appearance & lasted from the beginning to end abt. 3/4 hours." Popular opinion on the Louisiana Purchase was mixed and so the government was keen to promote the country's profound expansion along with great potential of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's Corps of Discovery Expedition which launched from Camp Dubois just two days after the date on this letter. <br> <br> Jacob Cist 1783-1823 was born in Philadelphia son of printer Charles Cist. A man of varied interests and activities Jacob starting by working in his father's printing establishment which was then the official government printer for John Adams' administration. In 1800 as the capital moved from Philadelphia to Washington his father opened a new printing house in Washington D.C. and Jacob became manager as well as acquiring a clerkship in the U.S. Post Office. From there he was appointed the first postmaster of Wilkes-Barre in 1808 as well as co-founding the Wilkes-Barre Bridge Company and Luzerne County Agricultural Society and serving as Luzerne County treasurer. The Cist family was already involved in coal and he inherited shares in the Lehigh Coal Mine Company. In time he became a leading advocate for the commercial production of anthracite coal as well as inventing and patenting an anthracite heating stove since anthracite was difficult to ignite in existing stoves. This was helped in part by coal shortages during the War of 1812 as British blockades prevented the shipment of Virginia bituminous coal to Philadelphia. Jacob was also a avid naturalist and geologist. As an early contributor to the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND ARTS the longest-running scientific journal in the U.S. he began a correspondence with Adolphe Brongniart an important French paleontologist. Jacob's letters pamphlets maps specimens drawings and watercolors both promoted his commercial coal-mining interests and helped establish correlations between American and European coal deposits through their fossils. Jacob's papers are now at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. <br> <br> Lewis Cist d.1806 was a merchant and investor and may have gone on to equally diverse and distinguished achievement had he not died suddenly in 1806 on a voyage back to Philadelphia. Probate records note that he had not created a will; existing paperwork on the settlement of his estate was administered by Jacob Ritter possibly the same Ritter mentioned in this letter and signed by his mother Mary. Cist Lewis. Files No. 159-224 Book K p.253 1806. Philadelphia Pennsylvania Register of Wills. Jacob Cist correspondence and documents 1794- 1829. ANSP-Coll-0152. Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. unknown books