Kaaterskill Books

Account of The first merchant in the newly erected town of Louisville signed by city Founder

[Kentucky] [Brodhead, Daniel, Jr.]; Campbell, John.

[Manuscript] First Merchant of Louisville, Daniel Brodhead, Jr., in Account with Robert Neilson & Co. Signed by John Campbell, an early landowner of Louisville, KY.

[Louisville], Jefferson County, [District of Kentucky]; [VA]: 1785. [1] sheet. 8 x 13 inches. Very good, wear & tear to edges and folds, several repaired tears to verso, light soiling and ink staining. Item #45392

This manuscript balance sheet, dated May 21st, 1785, is for business expenses and goods for the months of April & May for Brodhead, with the balance payable to Roger Neilson & Co. Statement below the tally is signed by Jefferson County, Justice of Peace John Campbell, with manuscript seal.

Daniel Brodhead, Jr. (1756-1831) was the son of Brigadier-General Daniel Brodhead, who had commanded at Pittsburgh during the last years of the war. Daniel Jr. had also served in the Revolutionary War, and had afterwards settled in Louisville, KY (then a district of Virginia), where he became one of the first to move out of the early forts to establish a himself as the town's first merchant. Shortly after his arrival, he established connections with "the court party," which was comprised of a number of lawyers, justices, surveyors, and merchants, whose aim was to establish autonomy, and subsequent separation, from Virginia. "These men, in turn, had interests in the down river trade with New Orleans, and they had contacts with New Orleans merchants as a result of Clark's military expeditions. Before long Broadhead too had mercantile acquaintances in Spanish Louisiana."(Norman K. Risjord: Chesapeake Politics, 1781-1800. NY:Columbia University Press. 1978).

Neilson & Co. operated in Louisiana as well as the Caribbean.

John Campbell, born in Ireland, became a trader on the frontier. in America, ending up at Fort Pitt in the mid-1770s. later Pittsburgh, where he laid out four blocks of that city in 1764. In 1773, Campbell and a business partner, Dr. John Connolly secured 4000 acres in Kentucky. Included in that acreage was much of what is Louisville.” While Campbell was a prison of the Native Americans, the land owned by Campbell and Connolly, a British loyalists sold by the Virginia Assembly because Connolly was a loyalist “Unfortunately for the town’s developers, no one had taken into account Campbell’s half ownership in the land. The action of the Virginia Assembly did not include his claim. Campbell sued the town organizers after he was freed by the Indians. The eventual settlement paid to Campbell was $4,091, and he was given an IOU for another $753. To pay him, town organizers had to sell all the public lands that had been set aside in the city except for the court house square and cemetery.

“Campbell then settled into the new community. In 1783, he opened a tobacco warehouse at Shippingport, which marked the beginning of the tobacco industry in Louisville. Two years later, Campbell also started operating the first public ferries on the Ohio River at Louisville. Campbell was named a Jefferson County representative to the first state convention held in Danville in 1792. Campbell also was named a state senator from Jefferson County to the first session of the state legislature. In 1798 he was named speaker of the Kentucky Senate. Campbell also became a trustee at Transylvania Seminary.

"Campbell was serving in the legislature in 1794 when a decision was made to carve out a new Northern Kentucky county. That county was formed out of parts of Mason, Scott and Harrison counties, and named Campbell County in his honor.” (Jim Reis: Pieces of the Past (Vol. 1). Kentucky Post, 1988).

Price: $250.00