Baltimore Hats, Past and PresentBrigham, William Tufts
History
Baltimore Hats, Past and Present
Brigham, William Tufts
Hat trade -- Maryland -- Baltimore -- History; Hats
ARNOLD LIVERS would seem to have been the most peripatetic of hatters,
and must have caused no little stir and comment among his
fellow-tradesmen. Until 1801 he appears as solitary Arnold Livers,
carrying on the hat business at 24 South Calvert street, where
probably he had a retail "shop." In 1802 the Directory records:
"Arnold Livers, 24 South Calvert street," and on Fayette street
(probably his residence), also 70 Cumberland Row; Livers & Atkinson,
35 Fell street, and Livers & Atkinson, 10 George street, Fell's Point.
In 1804 Arnold Livers is still at 24 South Calvert street, also at 70
Market space, and George Atkinson has succeeded to the firm of Livers
& Atkinson. In 1810 it is Livers & Grover, 39 South, corner of Water
street. From this time Mr. Livers disappears entirely; one may imagine
what a commotion this evidently unsettled man of business must have
raised during ten years of these varied and numerous changes, and
possibly others of which the Directories give no account.
So rapidly and effectively does time erase the evidence of former
labors, and so quickly is the past forgotten, that one is surprised
and disappointed at not finding more proof on record of what these
worthy apostles of work may have done.
Of the nineteen whose names are in the Directory of 1796, traces of
the personal history of but two of the number can be found: these are
David Shields, before alluded to, and John Parks. In Griffith's
"Annals of Baltimore," John Parks is mentioned in the year 1784 as
subscribing ten pounds to the funds raised by citizens for the purpose
of elevating the courthouse to admit the extension of Calvert street.
Then the courthouse stood in the bed of Calvert street, which it
spanned, where since has been erected and now stands Battle Monument,
commemorating the loss of Baltimore's brave citizens, who gave their
lives in defence of their homes against British invasion in 1814.
Among the patriots whose names are inscribed upon this monument by a
grateful people, desiring in such way to honor and perpetuate the
memory of those who sacrificed themselves in the defence of their
homes and firesides, appears that of JOSEPH BURNESTON, a hatter, who
is found in 1796 doing business at 19 George street, Fell's Point.
Thus, while little else is known of Mr. Burneston's career, he is
immortalized by a noble deed, and his name is handed down to coming
generations to show what sacrifices were made in securing to us that
freedom and comfort we now possess, sacrifices which should inspire us
with the determination that when similar calls come we will be ready
to answer as unhesitatingly as did this patriotic hatter.
From the location of Mr. Burneston's place of business it may be
inferred that he was only a hat-maker, having no "front shop" or
retail establishment, but was merely a maker of hat bodies to be sold
to retailers, who themselves finished and trimmed them ready for sale.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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