Pearce, Abraham (1768-1782)
Pearce, Abraham
London then Charleston South Carolina, USA; cabinet maker, carver, undertaker, ferry boat operator, slave owner and slave trader, (fl.1768-1782)
Abraham Pearce arrived in Charleston about 1766 and by March 1768 had set up shop in Broad Street where he supplied 'every article ... in every branch of his business, in the most elegant and workmanlike manner, and with great dispatch [and supplied] orders from the country, or any of the southern Provinces'.
Three months later he moved into Church Street opposite Beresford's Alley.
The Charleston furniture trade was not immune from economic collapse during Revolutionary War; it not only strained the availability of materials and markets but also destabilized the financial environment in which tradespeople operated, leading to widespread debt and business failure.
In October 1776, Pearce was working from Broad Street when announcing he continued in business 'as usual, and for Cash only, as Times are hard. Those who are already indebted to him, and do not discharge their Accounts, respectfully, will not take it amiss if they find their Accounts, Notes or Bonds laid before the Committee to be sued for, &c. which their speedy Payment will prevent'. He compromised his rule of cash only, however, when selling his free labour force: 'A likely young Negro Fellow to be sold for Cash or short Credit'.
Pearce apparently looked outside Charleston's urban middle-class environment for his livelihood. By late November 1777 he was involved in ferry boat operations. 'In a few weeks will be opened a FERRY on Daniel's Island, formerly known by the name of Scott's Ferry, where the fastest boats will be provided and kept, always ready, to pass and repass the river from thence to Mr. Fullwood's and for passengers to and from Charlestown, if required, without any delay: The safety, convenience and dispatch of which Ferry, when properly attended, is well known to every person travelling from Charlestown to and from the Northward, and will always recommend it, as the best accommodations for the entertainment of gentlemen and care of their horses will be provided, and the strictest care and attention will be had at all times, to be oblige, by ABRAHAM PEARCE'.
He evidently kept his cabinet-making business afloat, as seen in the notice below that one of his apprentices had absconded in the early summer of 1778:
As was also customary in Britain during the long eighteenth-century, his range of services included undertaking. Below is the final known record of Abraham Pearce's business activity.
Source: DEFM; MESDA ID 28001; Jones and Warren, South Carolina Immigrants, 1760 to 1770 (Danielsville, Ga., 1988), p. 430; American Craftspeople, 1600-1995, The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum; John Tobler, The South-Carolina and Georgia Almanack, for the year of Our Lord 1782;
The original entry from Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, 1660-1840 can be found at British History Online.
Ornamentation/Design