The Two New Bedfords: Spatial and Social Analysis of the City, 1800-1870

The Port Society

As part of a reaction to the Ark riots and similar squabbles, Samuel Rodman Jr. and James Arnold officially founded the New Bedford Port Society in June 1830. Rodman, a Quaker activist and member of the prestigious whale outfitting-mercantile Rotch-Rodman family, took charge of the group’s organization. As owner of William Rotch Jr. & Sons,  Rodman had taken particular interest in the town’s welfare and waterfront social activity in the 1820s. Described by others as a “birthright Friend, an aristocrat by birth and temperament, an old-school gentlemen who mixed easily with all classes but the vulgar,” Rodman represented the upper echelon of New Bedford society⁠1. Born in Nantucket, he arrived in New Bedford as a young boy when his family moved to the mainland. He involved himself in a number of town industries, mostly notably in outfitting whaling voyages. Known for his piety and admired character, Rodman firmly held his devout Quaker beliefs and his support of pro-temperance and antislavery movements.⁠2

Similarly, James Arnold was a successful merchant and prominent member of the Society of Friends. He married into the Rotch family when he married Sarah Rotch, the daughter of William Rotch, Jr., a third-generation resident of New Bedford.⁠3 Though born into Quaker faith, he had made the transition to the Methodist church in the early 1820s. While involved in town meetings and highly respected as a sharp businessman, Arnold assumed a quieter position in public life. More importantly, he used his power as a form of benevolence, acting as “father of the poor” in coming years.⁠4 Rodman and Arnold, in addition to their relation through marriage (Rodman was Sarah Rotch’s cousin) represented⁠ the powerful elite of New Bedford during the period: predominantly Quaker men of long-established families, merchants of the whaling (and later textile) trade, well-versed in town issues and highly influential in local and regional economies.5 The Port Society combined two interests - business and philanthropic - into a coherent organization. 

Made up of ministers, merchants, and shipmasters, this group of private citizens first attempted a meeting in May 1830 at the Merchants Insurance Office. A month later, they held their first official meeting.⁠6 Founded on a mission to review the lot of sailors and the population’s need for aid, the group met quarterly for at least the first three years of its existence. Charitable aid societies of a religious nature like this one grew under the helm of prominent local men in major port cities along the east coast. These societies functioned under a mission of continual benevolence to the young men employed in the maritime industry. In part, they attempted to assert order and respectability to the waterfront community, maintaining some semblance of the town they had helped to create. 



1 Zephaniah Pease, introduction to Diary of Samuel Rodman by Samuel Rodman (New Bedford: Reynolds Print. Co.):1
2 Zephaniah Pease, introduction to Diary of Samuel Rodman by Samuel Rodman (New Bedford: Reynolds Print. Co.):1
3 Zephaniah Pease, “The Arnold Mansion and its Traditions.”
4 Ibid.
5 Charles Henry Jones, Genealogy of the Rodman family, 1620-1886 Philadelphia, 1886): 40.
6 New Bedford Port Society, First Annual Report.

 

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