Locomobile and Other Correspondence, Addressed to Cornwall (often with Retained Copies of Correspondence Written by Mr. Cornwall attached). Cornwall was a Wealthy Piano and Organ Hardware Manufacturer (Cornwall and Patterson Manufacturing Corporation) in Bridgeport and an Early owner of Locomobiles which were Manufactured in Bridgeport as well as some other early automobiles. Cornwall built a summer home in Redding, CT, 16 miles from Bridgeport and then reachable by Locomobile over unpaved and rather r0ocky roads

Cornwall, Jesse Banks, 1856-1912

About this Item

1 inch plus stack of correspondence loosely laid loosely in a Yale File manufactured by the Yale Co-operative Corporation. Almost no retained envelopes. Includes several letters and note to and from the Locomobile Corporation -- we counted 23 from -- mostly about purchase and repair of his Locomobiles. Also includes correspondence from Continental Caoutchouc Company (a dozen or more), B. F. Goodrich Company, A. H. Nielsen Machine Company, The Bridgeport Vehicle Compnay, Back Bay Auto Station, Blue Ribbon Horse & Carriage Co., James Staples & Co. and perhaps others about auto and tire repair or auto insurance, A few letters are from other car owners or prospective car owners giving or wanting car advice and sharing auto experiences. As to the home in Redding, there are a few letters from Southern New England Telephone Company about their inability to provide the level of service that Cornwall desires until enough Redding residents become willing to pay for a higher level of service to enable the company to invest profitably in upgrading the levels of service offered. The phone company explains that Jesse's annual Redding bill of $26.80 was that high partly due to the fact that telephone wires for his house had been attached to 44 poles belonging to AT & T for which an annual 20 cent per pole rental charge was due. There are a few letters to and from the CT Secretary os State, one of which deals with registration and markers (license plates?) for three cars (a 30-35 H, P. Locomobile (for which he had Connecticut license plate -- marker -- No. 28), a 25-30n H. P. Pope-Hartford and a 6 H. P. De Dion. A $5 receipt from the Automobile Club of American accompanies a 1903 solicitation of membership or renwal of membership. A 1900 note from F. W. Tousey, an Assistant Secretary of the Automobile Club of America encloses a clipping from the "Mail & Enterprise about "Saturdays [forthcoming 70 mile] run to Bridgeport." Two copies of an unused real photo postcard show a young man and an older woman seated in an early automobile -- perhaps Jesse's wife and their son Lawrence in one of Jesse's cars. Several letters deal with Cornwall's Redding summer home, including a few to a Redding official asking that certain roads in Redding be improved or made passable. Several letters and notices are to Jesse as a stockholder in The Bridgeport Hardware Mfg. Co. and other businesses. A few letters and documents relate to his son Lawrence, as he attended Yale and graduated in 1912, the year in which Jesse died. Lawrence's mother had died a year earlier. A few letters relate to efforts by Lawrence to buy or sell a car in 1913 or 1914. We found almost nothing online about Lawrence's later life.

Seller Inventory # 96295

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Locomobile and Other Correspondence, Addressed to Cornwall (often with Retained Copies of Correspondence Written by Mr. Cornwall attached). Cornwall was a Wealthy Piano and Organ Hardware Manufacturer (Cornwall and Patterson Manufacturing Corporation) in Bridgeport and an Early owner of Locomobiles which were Manufactured in Bridgeport as well as some other early automobiles. Cornwall built a summer home in Redding, CT, 16 miles from Bridgeport and then reachable by Locomobile over unpaved and ...
• Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Connecticut