sold Thomas Jefferson and James Madison Provide a Noted Captain With a Passport to South America

Henry DeKoven, the son of a Hession soldier that chose to remain in America, was one of the notable American ships captains of the early 19th century. Over a period of two decades, he plied the international trade, visiting such destinations as Europe, the Caribbean, South America and India. He was at the helm of a number of ships during that time, among them the Bengal. In 1824, Captain De Koven was among a group of U.S. citizens residing or transacting business in Lima, Peru, who thanked Commodore Charles Stewart, the commander of U.S. Naval forces in the Pacific, for protecting their interests against the revolutionary governments of Peru and Chile. In 1831, be became one of the incorporators of Wesleyan University.

Document Signed by Jefferson as President and Madison as Secretary of State, signed by them at Washington but issued at New York, December 4, 1806, being a four-language ship’s passport issued to Captain DeKoven to take the ship Bengal to Buenos Aires, Argentina. The ship was carrying a diverse cargo of iron, naval stores, liquor, sugar, tobacco, snuff, fish, flour, groceries and lumber.