John Barstow

He was extensively engaged in commerce in New York, prior to 1838, when he withdrew form commercial activities and removed to Providence.

On the first of January 1828 he formed a copartnership with his friend and relative Caleb Barstow of New York and embarked in the general shipping and commission business under the firm of C & J Barstow In the autumn of the same year he was married to Sarah Swoope second daughter of Edward K Thompson of Providence RI and added the interesting and agreeable cares of the household to those of the counting room In his new business connection opening as it did an extensive field of operations he soon became prominent among his commercial associates His knowledge of business on a broad scale his sound judgment and his uniform courtesy made him welcome in every circle where the interests of trade were under consideration A commercial friend speaking of him at that time says there was a high toned sense of honor about him and a dignified presence that commanded the respect of all with whom he had intercourse He was soon elected a member of the Chamber of Commerce and a Director in the Bank of America one of the first banks in the city He discharged the duties of both of these trusts with high credit the former for several years the latter until he left New York in 1838 The firm of C & J Barstow was continued for ten years with gratifying success They were largely interested in the first line of packets that sailed regularly between New York and New Orleans The tastes of the partners determined their respective departments of business The former took the supervision of the counting room and the sale of merchandise the latter had charge of the shipping and of the outdoor business generally It may be added that during the entire continuance of the firm the warmest friendship subsisted between the partners and was severed only by the hand of death

personal He was the second president of the Providence and Worcester Railroad and during the completion of its construction and in the settlement of contested claims for land damages which were numerous and often difficult of adjustment he rendered most important services to the corporation He was for several years the efficient president of the Commercial Steamboat Company which has done so much to facilitate the transmission of merchandise between the cities of Pro vidence and New York This agency now seemingly indispensable to our commerce and indeed forming an era in its history owes its success and present magnitude to say the least as much to him as to any other single man Every day at a fixed hour the company despatched a capacious boat ladened with freight to New York and every day at almost as fixed an hour another equally ladened arrived from thence In the construction and equipment of the very considerable number of expensive boats necessary to the service and in the general management of the business the sound judgment and skill of the president were too conspicuous to be overlooked The marked success of the company did not inure to the benefit of the stockholders alone but to the commerce of the city as well For nearly twenty three years he was a director in the Boston and Providence Railroad No office was with him a sinecure or a mere matter of form If he accepted a position he took it with all its duties and responsibilities As a director of the railroad he gave minute and personal attention to every question of importance which came up in the course of business There was no negociation no question of policy no contract of any magnitude which did not pass under his examination and few that were not benefitted by his suggestions Outside of the official corps who were wholly devoted to the business of the company we think it quite safe to say that there was no one so thoroughly conversant as he with its condition its daily working and all its accounts

HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF HANOVER, MASSACHUSETTS, with Family Genealogies, by Jedediah Dwelley, John F. Simmons, Published by the Town of Hanover, 1910, p. 31, 33