Letters and pamphlets regarding Fenwick, Mason, & Company legal cases and appeals

Access and use

Location of collection:
George Mason University
2400 Fenwick Library
Special Collections Research Center
Fenwick Library MS2FL
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Mieko Palazzo
Phone: (703) 993-2220
Fax: (703) 993-2669
Restrictions:

There are no access restrictions.

Terms of access:

No known copyright. The Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries believes that this collection is not restricted by copyright or related rights, but a conclusive determination could not be made. (See https://rightsstatements.org/page/NKC/1.0/?language=en)

Preferred citation:

Letters and pamphlets regarding Fenwick, Mason, & Company legal cases and appeals, C0550, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries

Summary

Extent:
.01 Linear Feet 1 folder
Creator:
Fenwick, Joseph, 1762-1849
Abstract:
Letters and pamphlets collected by Joseph Fenwick concerning legal cases and appeals related to his international trade issues involving Fenwick, Mason, & Company.
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Letters and pamphlets regarding Fenwick, Mason, & Company legal cases and appeals, C0550, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries

Background

Scope and content:

Letters and pamphlets collected by Joseph Fenwick concerning legal cases and appeals related to his international trade issues involving Fenwick, Mason, & Company. Papers originally kept in document enclosure with name "Fenwick" on front suggesting these materials were collected together by Joseph Fenwick. One of the two handwritten letters is dated 1794 in Philadelphia, while the other is undated.

The papers include five printed legal appeal pamphlets, each found along the edge with string. Four of these concern a lengthy dispute between Fenwick and Jonathan Jones, a Quaker from Philadelphia living in Bordeaux, France, with one pamphlet including a duplicate manuscript version with handwritten annotations. The case involved Jones chartering a ship from Fenwick, Mason, & Company to move goods from French Indian Ocean colonies to France by way of the neutral America, which was viewed to be in violation of British trade provisions during the Napoleonic Wars, leading to the capture of the ship and its cargo, which was brought to Halifax, Canada. John Mason retrieved the goods from Canada and sold it at a loss, and the apportioning of this became the subject of years long legal proceedings detailed in these pamphlets. The collection's two handwritten letters are French translations of correspondence related to the Jones dispute and referenced in the one of the pamphlets, one dated December 4, 1794 in Philadelphia and addressed to Fenwick from John Mason and one dated May 24, 1794 in Georgetown from Mason to a colleague named Gabriac.

The fifth pamphlet concerns a different legal case involving the 1798 capture by the French of an American ship named "The Union" captained by Abel Lunt of Newburyport, Massachusetts. The pamphlet details that following legal appeals the value of the ship and cargo, plus interest, were awarded to Lunt through Fenwick as proxy.

Biographical / historical:

Joseph Fenwick of Maryland, born in 1765, is best remembered for his role as first U.S. Consul to Bordeaux, France. He was commissioned by President George Washington in 1790, having been recommended by both Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) and George Mason (1725-1792). Following the Revolutionary War, Joseph and his brother James founded and jointly operated a shipping company based in Bordeaux and Georgetown. Soon after, John M. Mason, son of George Mason, joined the company as a third partner and the name was changed to Fenwick, Mason & Company. In November 1792, while still based in Bordeaux, Joseph married Catherine Eleonore de Menoire and the pair would go on to have two children. Joseph passed away on November 24, 1849 at the age of 83 or 84 and is buried in the Cimetière de la Chartreuse, Bordeaux's oldest and largest cemetery.

John M. Mason was born on April 4, 1766, in Charles County, Maryland to George and Ann (Eilbeck) Mason of Gunston Hall. His father, officially George Mason IV, was one of fifty-five delegates sent to the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, although he did not sign the constitution due to concerns over the scope of federal authority. Following a two-year mercantile trade apprenticeship in Alexandria, Virginia with William Hartshorn, a Quaker businessman, John formally began his merchant career in 1788 alongside Joseph and James Fenwick of Maryland, managing the business in Bordeaux, France until 1792 when he returned to the United States and took over management of the company in Georgetown. In 1798, he became president of the Bank of Columbia and in 1796 he became a director of the Potowmack Canal Company, going on to assume the role of president in 1817. In 1796, John married Ann Maria Murray of Annapolis, Maryland and the couple would go on to have ten childre. The family lived in both Georgetown and a mansion on Analostan Island (now known as Theodore Roosevelt Island). John passed away on March 9, 1849 at the age of 82 and is buried in Christ Church Episcopal Cemetery in Alexandria, Virginia.

Acquisition information:
Purchased by Lynn Eaton and George Oberle from Leo Cadogan Rare Books in March 2025.
Processing information:

Processing completed by Meghan Glasbrenner from May-June 2026. Finding aid completed by Meghan Glasbrenner from July-August 2026.

Arrangement:

This is a single folder collection.

Physical location:
R 73, C 2, S 4
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard