Thomas Rotch's long transition from seaman to merchant began in a family that owned a whaling and shipping company. Two of the family's ships were involved in the Boston Tea Party. He married Charity Rodman in 1790 and became more involved in Quaker missionary efforts along with myriad business pursuits. When Merino sheep were introduced in 1802, he began breeding them for their fine wool.
Charity Rodman's health was fragile, and her physician recommended they move to a milder climate. Desiring to remain in a state without slavery, Thomas and Charity set out on horseback for the Ohio Valley. After traveling along the Ohio River to Cincinnati, they headed northeast seeking good pastureland and a site for a woolen mill. The land they chose in Stark County had been cleared by Indians for hunting, and had a creek for waterpower. They returned East to wrap up their affairs, and journeyed back by carriage, with six men on foot and a flock of 400 Merino sheep. The journey took two months.
Thomas eventually owned 4,000 acres of land, and in 1812 recorded the plat for Kendal, a settlement designed to resemble a New England town. An Owenite communal society at Kendal was short-lived but still intrigue researchers. As Kendal grew, the Rotches built a permanent home, Spring Hill, known as a station on the Underground Railroad. The Rotches, like other Quakers, were opposed to slavery and their correspondence on this topic is another attraction of this collection. The Rotches were appointed to deal with the Indians, investigate the finances of German immigrants who founded Zoar, and conduct other business for the Quakers.
Thomas and Charity died in 1823 and 1824, and the bulk of the estate went to further a dream of Charity's: the establishment of a school for orphans and poor children, "that they be trained up in habits of industry and economy. " The Charity School of Kendal, one of Ohio's earliest vocational schools, operated from 1829 to 1906, educating more than 500 children. School records are included in this collection.
Thomas Rotch was instrumental in attracting to Kendal another famous mariner. Near the turn of the 18th Century, Mayhew Folger played a part in a famous incident. He captained the ship that discovered the surviving mutineers from the "Bounty" while stopping at Pitcairn Island in The South Pacific. Folger's correspondence with Rotch is included in the collection.
The Rotch-Wales Collection includes gems as diverse as household remedies and recipes, weather reports and machinery plans, to a personal letter to Charity Rotch from a signer of the Declaration of Independence (Dr. Benjamin Rush of Philadelphia, giving her medical advice.) It would be a valuable addition to the Ohio Memory Project Database.
This important collection is used extensively by researchers interested in mid-17th Century New England, colonial-European trade, early Ohio topics such as Indian affairs and the role of Pioneer Quakers. The need exists for greater accessibility to the collection with less physical handling. Every piece is handwritten, naturally, and very few pieces are yet transcribed. The Massillon Public Library is committed to broadening access to this collection and has hired historical transcriptionists to begin this task.
