Book - Christopher Gadsden & Henry Laurens

Ramsay's Biographical Sketches - Laurens (Smallpox incident), Gadsden

John Laurens - Radical Son

Gadsden and Laurens

Christopher Gadsden - Born 1724 in Charleston;
He was educated in England beginning at age 8, then apprenticed with a Philadelphia Merchant.  On a trip to visit relatives in England, travelling aboard a British man of war, the purser died and Gadsden was appointed in his stead.  It turned out to be lucrative, as his ship captured several French vessels and won a good deal of prize money, this during the period of The War of Austrian Succession.
Gadsden resettled in Charleston in 1748, opening up Shutes Wharf and a large mercantile store on Broad St.
He moved to a home on Elliot St., one street over from Tradd St.


Henry Laurens - Born in 1724 in Charleston
He was tutored in Charleston until age 20, then went to England to apprentice under one of the larger merchants in London.  That turned into a partnership, but one that ultimately ended.  Laurens settled in Charleston, but became a "factor" for the major English trading companies, receiving a 5% commission wholesaling goods and arranging for the delivery of SC goods to England.  He supplemented that with buying and selling slaves and the development of several of his own plantations.  Laurens stayed in the slave trade until 1763, and thereafter offered advice to those other businessmen who requested it, earning commission on the advice.  In 1768. Laurens said he got out of the slave trade in 1763 for moral reasons.  Though, that said, he did so only in private, as to oppose slavery on moral grounds would have meant social ostricism in 1760 Carolina.

During the period of his mercantile business, Laurens was famous for being a hard worker.  He rarely slept over four hours a night and carefully avoided balls, horse racing, and many other social activities.  His attention to detail was scrupulous and he was a cautious man by nature.  He was honest in his business dealings to a fault.  His personal reputation, like so many men of the era, was his most important concern.

He was certainly one of the richest men in the colonies, and perhaps second richest in Charleston, second only to another Huegonot, Peter Manigault, speaker of the House of Commons in 1760.  The slave trade was deemed an entirely legitimate and respectable business through about 1765 in Charleston.

Laurens married Elanor Ball in 1750.  She lived until 1770.  They had thirteen children together, but only four lived until adulthood.

In 1762, Laurens built a home on East Bay St. that was directly across the street from Gadsden on Elliot St.  That was to be his primary home ever after when in Charleston.


Both were sons of immigrants who did well.  Neither started life in the elite of Charleston, but they both earned their way there through ambition, hard work and business sense.  Henry, the planter and slave trader.  Gadsen, a minor planter with a large mercantile business.

Both men grew up in Charleston and were playmates in their youth.