Carrington Papers (MSS 333)

Historical note

Edward Carrington (1775-1843) was born in New Haven, Connecticut. As a young man, he came to Providence, R.I., where he worked as a clerk and supercargo for local merchants Seth Wheaton, Samuel Butler, and Richard Jackson. He resided in Canton, China from 1802 to 1810, serving as American Consul, acting as an agent for other American merchants, and amassing a considerable fortune by trading on his own behalf. He returned to Providence in 1811, where he continued to invest in mercantile trading (to China, South America, Europe and other ports). In 1815, he took in partner Samuel Wetmore and founded the firm of Edward Carrington & Company. The firm was reorganized in 1821 to allow for the addition of W.W. Wetmore as a partner. Carrington also invested in the Blackstone Canal in the 1820s, and several textile mills such as the Hamlet Mill in Woonsocket. He suffered extensive losses on his investments in the late 1830s, when he gradually began to cede control over his business to his son Edward Jr.

Edward Carrington Sr. married Lorania Hoppin (1774-1861). Their son Edward Carrington II (1813-1891) entered into the family businesses and took over upon his father's death in 1843. Edward Jr. prospered until losing most of his assets in the depression of 1857, at which point he withdrew from business. Edward II married Candace C. Dorr (1815-1886), sister of Dorr Rebellion leader Thomas Wilson Dorr. They had two children: Edward "Ned" Carrington III (1852-1934), who married late and left no children; and Anne I. (Carrington) Dwight (1849-1904). Anne Dwight's only child, Margarethe L. Dwight (1871-1962), never married. She was the great-granddaughter and last surviving descendant of Edward Carrington Sr.