Israel Cope Letter to Thomas Rotch Regarding Salt Works

This letter from Israel Cope asks Thomas Rotch if he would be interested in lending money to establish a salt works. Salt was expensive in the early nineteenth century, since it had to be imported into Ohio until settlers discovered salt deposits. Cope also gives Rotch permission to graze his sheep on the 1100 acres of land Cope owned in Columbiana County in eastern Ohio. The letter is three pages long and measures 6.5" x 8" (16.51 x 20.32 cm). Thomas Rotch (1767-1823), a Quaker and early settler of Kendal, Ohio (now Massillon), was active in the abolition movement and conducted slaves to freedom on the Underground Railroad. He also served as a correspondent for the Committee on Indian Concerns. The Rotch-Wales Collection comprises several thousand items, including Quaker and abolitionist materials, household remedies and recipes, weather reports and machinery plans, and personal letters of Thomas and Charity Rotch and their family. It contains personal and business correspondence, diaries, documents, accounts, ledgers, and daybooks. A large portion of the collection consists of the personal and business correspondence, documents, and business papers of Arvine Wales I (1785-1854), who accompanied Rotch from Hartford to Ohio in 1811, worked for him, and carried on Rotch's business interests after his death. The papers of his son, Arvine C. Wales (1827-1882), a lawyer and civic leader in Massillon, are also part of the collection