What was advertised in a colonial newspaper 250 years ago today?

“He will be ready to execute any commands in the branch of factorage business.”

William Moore facilitated the buying and selling of goods in colonial America. As a participant in the “factorage business” he played an integral part in the consumer revolution of the eighteenth century by coordinating transportation, delivery, and dissemination of goods via the wharf and storehouses he operated in Savannah. That terminology – consumer revolution – often places primary emphasis on the people who bought and used goods, incorporating them into their everyday lives, but it sometimes overlooks or does not place sufficient emphasis on others who participated in a transatlantic (and even global) historical process. The study of consumer culture does not always sufficiently recognize that the exchanges that put a variety of goods (textiles, hardware, housewares, books, foodstuffs, to name a few major categories frequently advertised) into the possession of colonists was balanced on the other side by retailers, producers, and suppliers. Even the recognition that consumers interacted with merchants or shopkeepers does not necessarily acknowledge other intermediaries who played a part in moving goods from their place of initial production to their place of ultimate consumption.

William Moore may not have sold directly to end-user consumers. Based on this advertisement, it appears that he operated as a wholesaler, dealing in bulk when he sold imported goods like rum, sugar, coffee, and fish. In addition, an important part of his enterprise consisted of providing a place for merchants to land their goods and store them until they could be distributed to shopkeepers and others who would sell them to consumers. Moore assisted in connecting merchants (or their representatives) and retailers, “charging low commissions for any thing committed to his charge.” In the process, he also facilitated the movement of locally produced goods out of the colony, storing “country produce” until it could be loaded on a ship for export. Understanding that time was money, he also promised that any merchants or captains of vessels who chose his wharf would “have good attendance and quick dispatch.” In other words, goods would unloaded and loaded quickly so ships could move on to their next port and continue trading.