Civil War Articles by Julian WilliamsPapermaker Thomas Willcox And Printer Benjamin Franklin Were Friends In Trade
This article was compiled by Julian Williams.
Before John Willcox of Telfair County, Georgia, made pole boats for his country in the War of 1812, his grandfather, Thomas Willcox, made paper for his country in Pennsylvania. And fine paper it was. The Revolution was coming.
Thomas Willcox was born near Ivy Bridge in England in 1689. Evidently, there was a lot of ivy over there and he liked ivy. He liked it so much he planted it all over the grounds of his new home and paper mill. All this probably gave the place its name - Ivy Mills.
It was at Ivy Mills that not only the first line of Thomas Willcox's family was born and reared, but also the place where a friendship and business relationship was formed with a person who was to become a famous American - Benjamin Franklin.
It is remembered that this was an emotional, dynamic and changing time for the colonies in America. For ages, many of the colonists and their ancestors had been subjected to the tyrannies of the King of England. Religious and political oppression and persecution had caused these people to want to seek a better way of life.
Not only this, but now in the budding 18th century, the Age of Enlightenment was shining a new way. Inquiry and discussion - even violent arguments, were becoming the order of the day. Literary thought and scientific discoveries were being pursued with a fervor and vigor never before known.
And Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Willcox were privileged, at and near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to be together, on this stage of great drama.
From town halls to the taverns, subjects ranged from religion to politics - from the nature of the Trinity to the ethics of taxation; and from the requirements of baptism to the debate over how many houses (legislature), if any, should be in the new government, now being conceived in the minds of folks like Benjamin Franklin and other Patriots. Indeed, Penn's "Holy Experiment" had blossomed forth into a spawning bed of ideals of all kinds and descriptions. And people liked it. Thomas Willcox not only liked it - he supported it - from having the first Mass in Pennsylvania in his own home to making high-quality paper for the government and others. He was in the middle of it all.
But it was not any easy thing. Even Benjamin Franklin's own son, William, would not join his father and become a Patriot. He remained with the King of England and was a Tory. This was a bitter pill for Franklin to swallow - it was like losing his son. But is was worse - Franklin had to watch William like a hawk. If defeated in their efforts to break the King's hold on them, it would all be over - "over" - like final - like death for those who dared to challenge the Crown. This is sort of the way Franklin put it, "Gentlemen, we must all hang together, and if we don't, we will all surely hang separately." Not a comforting prospect. By the way, William was left out of Franklin's will. Franklin said if the British won there would be nothing left anyway to leave anyone.
But, we are getting a little ahead. Let's go back to 1729, to Ivy Mills, when Thomas Willcox drove down his stob and built his home and paper mill at Ivy Mills, a little place, near Philadelphia.
At about the same time, Thomas was getting established at Ivy Mills, Benjamin Franklin was setting up shop in Philadelphia. Among many other pursuits, Franklin was a printer. Whether this had anything to do with it or not, Franklin also pushed the colonial government toward using paper money. And Thomas Willcox was probably one of Franklin's best supporters of this effort!
Benjamin Franklin wrote:
"Our debates possess'd me so fully of the subject, that I wrote and printed an anonymous pamphlet on it, entitled "The Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency." It was well receiv'd by the common people in general; but the rich men dislik'd it, for it increas'd and strength'd the clamor for more money, and they happening to have no writers among them that were able to answer it, their opposition slacken'd, and the point was carried by a majority in the House. My friends there, who conceiv'd I had been of some service, thought fit to reward me by employing me in printing the money; a very profitable job and a great help to me. This was another advantage gain'd by my being able to write.
The utility of the currency became by time and experience so evident as never afterwards to be much disputed; so that it grew soon to fifty-thousand pounds, and in 1739, to eighty thousand pounds, since which it arose during War to upwards of three hundred and fifty thousand pounds, trade, building, and inhabitants all the while increasing, till I now think there are limits beyond which the quantity may be hurtful."
And whether being paper money's great advocate had anything to do with it or not, Benjamin Franklin wound up getting a government contract to print some of this new money - made of paper - a lot of paper -Thomas Willcox's paper.
According to a newspaper ad in 1734, Benjamin Franklin advertised for persons in the community to bring in rags for him to buy.
"In 1734 Benjamin Franklin began collecting rags (11 April) for the local papermakers, Thomas Willcox at Ivy Mills, Delaware County (Pennsylvania) ---"
"Benjamin Franklin advertised: READY Money for old RAGS, may be had of the Printer hereof."
Rags were used for papermaking and evidently Franklin could save money by buying his own rags, taking them to Ivy Mills, and having the paper made by Thomas Willcox. (It is interesting to note, that the fine paper at Ivy Mills was made by hand. Only at the later Willcox mills, known as Glen Mills, were the processes done by machine.)
So, Benjamin Franklin bought paper from Thomas Willcox and Thomas Willcox bought merchandise from the general store of Benjamin Franklin. Of course, he probably saw more of Deborah, Ben's wife, in the store, because Ben was in the back of the establishment positioning his newly-made Willcox paper in his press. For he had important printing to do.
Credits:
Telfair History Book, 1807-1987;
Willcox Family information; 1734 newspaper ad;
other information on Benjamin Franklin;
various other sources.
