Jonathan Crathorne

February 14

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago this week?

Feb 14 - 2:11:1768 Pennsylvania Gazette
Pennsylvania Gazette (February 11, 1768).

“All the mustard put up in bottles, has the above stamp pasted on the bottles.”

Readers of the Pennsylvania Gazette would have been familiar with the “genuine FLOUR of MUSTARD” and chocolate that Mary Crathorne advertised in February 1768. Her husband, the late Jonathan Crathorne, had previously produced and sold chocolate and mustard with Benjamin Jackson, but when that partnership dissolved the two men each continued in the business. Sometimes their advertisements appeared one after the other in the Pennsylvania Gazette, as was the case in the November 21, 1765, edition.

Jonathan Crathorne’s advertisement included the same woodcut that his wife later used to promote the business that she operated after his death. It featured a seal flanked by a bottle of mustard on the left and a brick of chocolate on the right. The seal incorporated William Penn’s insignia, a shield decorated with three silver balls, but it bore the words “J. CRATHORN’S PHILADA FLOUR OF MUSTARD.” Crathorne associated pride in the colony with his own products.

After they parted ways, Jonathan Crathorne and Benjamin Jackson engaged in a prolonged public dispute in their advertisements. Mary Crathorne was not as aggressive as her husband in that regard, but the widow did not that “her late husband went to a considerable expence in the erecting, and purchasing out Benjamin Jackson’s part” of “those incomparable mustard and chocolate works at the Globe mill, on Germantown road.”

Mary Crathorne did not want her product confused for any other. To that end, the woodcut in her newspaper advertisement had a purpose that went beyond drawing the attention of readers. “All the mustard put up in bottles,” she reported, “has the above stamp placed on the bottles.” Similarly, “the paper round each pound of chocolate has the same stamp thereon.” To avoid competitors’ products being mistaken for her mustard and chocolate, the widow Crathorne deployed the woodcut from her advertisements as a brand to mark her merchandise. Her husband may have followed the same practice, but his advertisements did not explicitly state that was the case. Perhaps as a woman running a business in a marketplace dominated by men Mary Crathorne found it necessary to devise additional means of promoting her products. She made it easy for consumers to recognize her mustard and chocolate by making sure they were labeled with some sort of trademark that identified the producer.

October 4

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago this week?

Oct 4 - 10:1:1767 Pennsylvania Gazette
Pennsylvania Gazette (October 1, 1767).

“The mustard and chocolate business is carried on as usual.”

Mary Crathorne, a widow, placed an advertisement in the Pennsylvania Gazette calling on “ALL persons that are any ways indebted to the estate of JONATHAN CRATHORNE … to make immediate payment.” She also requested that “all those who have any demands against said estate” to submit them so she could settle accounts. As administratrix (or executor) of her husband’s estate, she followed the standard protocols for placing newspaper advertisements.

Yet she also appended a nota bene to inform readers, regardless of whether they had unfinished business with her husband’s estate, that “The mustard and chocolate business is carried on as usual, and the highest price for mustard seed is given.” Like many other widows, Crathorne carried on her husband’s business after his death. Although she shouldered some new responsibilities, much of what went into the daily operations of the “mustard and chocolate business” may have been quite familiar to her already. Especially in busy port cities like Philadelphia, colonial wives often assisted their husbands who ran businesses. They served customers and provided other labor when necessary, yet their contributions usually remained hidden or unacknowledged.

Mary Crathorne may not have taken over all of her husband’s former duties. Her role may have been restricted to managing and overseeing male relatives and employees who continued the business on her behalf, leaving the specialized work to them. Still, she now held a position as the proprietress who represented the business to the public. Her name appeared in the public prints, not only peddling mustard produced at her shop but also negotiating for the supplies necessary for continuing the endeavor. She announced that she paid “23 shillings per bushel,” proclaiming it the “highest price for mustard seed” paid in the colony.

This advertisement does not tell Mary Crathorne’s entire story, but it does suggest that women played a more substantial role in the colonial marketplace as entrepreneurs – producers, suppliers, and retailers – than advertisements placed by their husbands might otherwise indicate. At least temporarily, Mary Crathorne operated her husband’s business after his death, perhaps continuing and expanding on activities that she previously performed.