North
Carolina
Business
History
Being an insurance agent generally was a part-time profession prior to the Civil War. Lawyers, hotel owners, dry goods store owners, bankers, newspaper editors and others occasionally acted as insurance agents for companies. In North Carolina, there were numerous insurance agents representing many different companies, ranging from major
North America, Protection
Insurance, United States Fire Insurance Co., Howard Insurance Co.,
Merchants' Fire Insurance Company of Baltimore, New York Firemen Insurance
Company, etc.) to Southern insurers
(Charleston Fire & Marine Ins. Co., Augusta Fire Insurance Company,
etc.). Insurance was provided on a wide variety
of risks — such as property (Fire and Cargo/Marine) and life. Some
insurers, often local mutual firms, did not use agents. Individuals in
North Carolina also could insure with agents located in Norfolk, VA, and
Charleston, SC, which were natural trading outlets for the state.This listing is not complete and additional names will be added over time. Original research by Ron Vinson from company records and other documents.
Among the insurance agency operations started prior to 1860 were:
Antebellum Insurance Agents
Pre-1800
Dunbar Sloan, Norfolk, VA — insurance broker started business in December 1793 and advertising in the North Carolina Gazette, Newbern, North Carolina (Dec. 21, 1793 into early 1794).
Starting in 1800 - 1820
John Maynard Davis, Charleston, SC — insurance agent for The Phoenix Insurance Company of London; Oct. 1, 1805 - (advertisement starting in Wilmington, North Carolina)
Elias Hawes, Newbern, NC — insurance surveyor/agent for the Washington Insurance Company of the City of New York (December 20, 1818 - ); buildings, personal possessions and merchandize goods; acted to pre-qualify risks by conducting examination and issuing report to the insurer to issue a policy.
James Dickson, Wilmington, NC — insurance agent, New York Firemen Insurance Company (New York, NY), February 23, 1819 -
Edmund Bridge, Jr., Wilmington, NC — insurance agent, The Charleston Fire & Marine Insurance Company (Charleston, SC), March 6, 1819 -
Gurdon Robins, Fayetteville, NC — merchant & insurance agent, Aetna Insurance Company (Hartford, CT) Fall 1819 - 1822 (perhaps up to April 1823); merchant, stoneware manufacturer and well-known to executives at the newly formed Aetna Ins. Co. in Hartford (chartered June5, 1819). Robins was a former Hartford resident. He was Aetna's first agent in the South. The insurance company wrote fire insurance on individual's buildings, businesses, etc.
Starting in 1821 - 1840
John H. Hull, Fayetteville, NC — agent, Aetna Insurance Company (Hartford, CT) September 1823 - 1831+. The company wrote fire insurance on individual's buildings, businesses, etc.
William C. Lorde, Wilmington, NC — agent, Aetna Insurance Company (Hartford, CT), October 16, 1824 - 1828+ . The company wrote fire insurance on individual's buildings, businesses, etc.
Jesse Birdsall, Fayetteville, NC — merchant & insurance agent, United States Fire Insurance Company (New York City) Jan. 1825 - 1828/1830?; fire insurance on buildings, furnishings and merchandise. Apparently John Crusoe of Fayetteville acted as a sub-agent for a few months.
Charles T. Haigh, Fayetteville, NC — merchant & insurance agent, The Charleston Fire & Marine Insurance Company (Charleston, SC) September 1825 - 1830s. Haigh wrote policies for this company on cargo insurance on steam boats and pole boats between Fayetteville and Wilmington. Agent, Howard Insurance Co. (New York) Jan. 1826 - 1830s; policies on houses and buildings against fire, as well as merchandise and other property on inland navigation hazards.
P. J. Tillinghast, Fayetteville, NC — merchant & insurance agent, Traders Insurance Company (New York) April 1826 - ; buildings and goods against fire, also goods iin inland navigation.
John Taylor, Norfolk, VA — insurance agent (1831 - ), London Phoenix Fire Insurance Office; throughout South (advertised in Fayetteville, etc.) for fire insurance for buildings, goods and merchandise, also ships in dry dock or in port.
E. L. & W. Winslow, Fayetteville, NC — merchant & insurance agent, Augusta Fire Insurance Company (October 1834 - at least well into the 1840s), providing fire insurance on buildings and other property.
Henry Russell Savage, Wilmington, NC — agent, Hartford Fire Insurance Company (Hartford, CT), Feb. 1, 1836 - 1861. He also was the cashier of the Bank of Cape Fear (1847 - 1861). He died in 1861 (pictured at right in 1858 oil portrait).
Stark & Pearce, Fayetteville, NC
— merchants and insurance agent, Georgia
Insurance & Trust Co. (Augusta, GA), September 1837 - at least
into mid-1840s; Hartford Fire Insurance
Company (Hartford, CT), May 1, 1847 - 1861.Starting in 1841 - 1865
J. W. Wright, Fayetteville, NC — agent, The Merchants' Fire Insurance Company of Baltimore (MD), Sept. 1842 - .
J. Boner, Salem, NC — agent, North Carolina Mutual Fire Insuranace Co. (Raleigh, NC), May 1854 - 1859. He then became secretary for the Salem Mutual Insurance Co.
S. W. Whiting, Raleigh, NC — agent, Aetna Insurance Company (Hartford, CT), <1855+. He was a city commissioner and Raleigh's first salaried fire chief (1852).
DeRossett & Brin, Wilmington, NC — agent, Aetna Insurance Company (Hartford, CT) <1855 - 1861. Merchants; John Armand De Rossett also was a physician.
Edward Jones Hale, Fayetteville, NC — agent, Aetna Insurance Company (Hartford, CT), <1855 - 1861. Owner and publisher of The Fayetteville Observer newspaper from 1825 - 1865 (he is pictured at right).
Jonathan M. Johnston, Danville, VA — agent (including upper NC), Aetna Insurance Company (Hartford, CT), -1855+
Joseph Treat, Wilmington, NC — agent, The North American Fire Insurance Company (Hartford, CT), - 1859+
Thomas W. Dewey, Charlotte, NC — agent, Hartford Fire Insurance Company (Hartford, CT), Feb. 1, 1860 - 1861, suspended during war. He also was the cashier for the Bank of North Carolina (Charlotte branch). He also acted as agent for the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company in 1860.
Jesse Brown, Raleigh, NC — agent, Hartford Fire Insurance Company (Hartford, CT), May 1, 1860 - 1861, suspended during war. He was Treasurer of the Raleigh Fire (Fighting) Company (1840+).
E. Nye Hutchinson, Charlotte, NC — agent, for Confederate stock fire insurance companies (not named), 1863.
Henry R. Savage
(photo courtesy Lower
Cape Fear Historical
Society)
Edward J. Hale
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