Cosmopolitan Networks in Commerce and Society 1660–1914

Religion and Trade
ster dam and Altona. 76 One of them, Abraham Hingsberg, was Hinrich
I van der Smissen’s son-in-law. Richard How had met Hinrich I van
der Smissen when he visited Altona in 1732, and they had agreed that
Gilbert III should serve his apprenticeship at How’s merchant house
in London. 77 The contact must have been longer lasting than the surviving
sources suggest, for in 1745–9 Richard How II went to Altona
to stay and work with Hinrich van der Smissen Söhne, 78 and from
1769 to 1771 Gilbert III put up Richard How’s II stepson, Thomas
Ramsay, who learnt German and studied trade with him. 79
What we notice here is an extension of the business network
beyond the confines of the Mennonite diaspora, initiated by personal
contacts via familial ties. This has further consequences. The
lifestyle of London merchants obviously appealed to Gilbert III and
Jacob Gysbert van der Smissen, and in Quakers such as Richard How
they found a model for reconciling their traditional moral values
with the fact of being merchants. The global networking approach
inherent in English evangelicalism, it seems, suited their way of
thinking as overseas merchants much better than the locally confined
rigour of Mennonite congregations. We may therefore assume that
these encounters had lasting results.
76 Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Record Service (hereafter BLA),
How White Papers (hereafter HW) 86/52, H. Hingsberg to R. How, Amster -
dam, 18–19 June 1728; HW 87/52, 53, H. Hingsberg to R. How, Hamburg, 30
July 1728 and 20 Aug. 1728. I am indebted to Sünne Juterczenka and Simon
Dixon who directed me to this source material.
77 BLA, HW 87/57, R. How to Susannah How, Hamburg, 3 Aug. 1732; HW
87/58, H. van der Smissen to R. How, Altona, 12 May 1733; HW 87/59, G.
van der Smissen to Susannah How, Altona, 9 Jan. 1732–3.
78 BLA, HW 87/116, R. How II to Wm. Tomlinson, Aspley, 7 July 1745; HW
87/121, letters from R. How II notifying his safe arrival at Altona to Benjamin
and Betty Post, Richard Finch, Thomas and Elizabeth Walduck, H. Green,
and R. How I, Hamburg, 30 Aug. 1746 and 10 Sept. 1745. Richard How II’s
last letter from Altona is dated 4/15 Aug. 1749 (HW 87/170).
79 BLA, HW 87/301, Gilbert van der Smissen to R. How II, Altona, 13 Oct.
1769; HW 87/302, T. Ramsay to R. and Silena How, Altona, 7 Nov. 1769 (on
his arrival). The last letter related to Ramsay’s stay is dated 13 Apr. 1771 (HW
87/310).
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