Hoping for help with identification

Joined
Sep 8, 2021
Hello all! Very new here! Attached is a picture of a chest of drawers made by D.H. Silcox of Charleston SC during the war. I am hoping someone can either read the writing better than I can or can *especially* research more on the sailing vessel upon which this piece sailed. Thank you in advance!
@John Winn thank you for your help regarding your family, DH Silcox!
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But SO close! Off by about a block!!! Maybe the company had two buildings or addresses?? I think it may still be in the running! I’m hoping from what you’ve found along with @Llewellyn and @SandiD are providing, we can put a company name to 84 South Street. If the company doesn’t look anything like “Bentleys”/“Bentlings” “Line”/“Tailor” I think it’s safe to assume that this (whichever spelling one sees for themselves!) is the name of the vessel! Thank you all so much for your help! I had no idea how helpful y’all would be or that this would even get a reply- so I’m ecstatic! I am going to take some better photos tonight and maybe that could help the effort! Thanks again!
A company having two buildings would not be unusual. I worked for a winery that was established in 1838. They had two NYC buildings about a block apart from each other over around Vesey Street on the lower west side. One address was the warehouse, the other address was offices. This could be a similar situation.
 
Easy to get muddled with many suggestions, suppositions and speculations. I do a lot of genealogical research in NYC (especially Brooklyn) because my immigrant family lived in Bay Ridge (me too!). So watch out--if I have my way, you'll probably have your chest shipped off to Oslo! 😂
My German & Scottish immigrant families lived in Manhattan - lower west side, around the meat packing district. They worked as drivers out of the livery stables.
 
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My German & Scottish immigrant families lived in Manhattan - lower west side, around the meat packing district. The worked as drivers out of the livery stables.
My Norwegian immigrant families lived in Brooklyn (Bay Ridge) and on Staten Island (Richmond). They could have waved to each other across the river!
 
Easy to get muddled with many suggestions, suppositions and speculations. I do a lot of genealogical research in NYC (especially Brooklyn) because my immigrant family lived in Bay Ridge (me too!). So watch out--if I have my way, you'll probably have your chest shipped off to Oslo! 😂
My German & Scottish immigrant familie lived in Manhattan - lower west side, around the meat packing district. The worked as drivers out of the livery stables.
The fourth line may read "sail vessel". If this is so, the words "Bentleys [Bentley S.?] may refer to ship to which delivery was to be made. BUT commercial and shipping notifications refer Bentley Smith & Company, a shipper with ties to North Carolina; perhaps that line is "Bentley S[mith] Line.

Puzzlement: why would someone ship something from South Carolina to NYC only to redirect it to North Carolina?
The final destination may not have been North Carolina even though the company had ties to NC. They could have been shipping along the coast, to New England or Canada or possibly even trans Atlantic to Europe.
 
Now I think that Bentley, Smith and Co. is a distraction. BTW both Bentley, Smith and HK Corning appear in the same NYC directory.

The Charleston Courier has excellent shipping information. It refers to a vessel called "Bentley" but it's confusing: the Mary Bentley (often called just Bentley) was a bark out of Thomaston, ME. Also mentioned--in 1856--was a schooner named Bentley that was missing enroute between Philadelphia [possibly its home port] and NYC.
 
Wilson's Business Directory for New York City, 1867-1868 lists a Miller and Thomas Bentley at 84 South Street, under the category "Merchants, Shipping and Commission."
The same NYC directory (1864) that listed Bentley, Smith and HK Corning, both on South Street, also listed "Andrew W. Bentley" at the same address as Bentley, Smith. But I'm coming to wonder if Bentley isn't the name of the ship.
 
The same NYC directory (1864) that listed Bentley, Smith and HK Corning, both on South Street, also listed "Andrew W. Bentley" at the same address as Bentley, Smith. But I'm coming to wonder if Bentley isn't the name of the ship.
It's possible, though I would expect it to be written on the same line as vessel
 
Looking at newspapers, there are always long lists of incoming ships -

11 November 1869, Schooner Palms, out of Georgetown, SC with naval stores to Bentley, Miller, and Thomas

10 March 1870, Schooner Jennie B Smith out of Wilmington, NC with naval stores to Bentley, Miller, and Thomas

There are many of these and most of the ships seem to be coming from the Carolinas
 
Wilson's Business Directory for New York City, 1867-1868 lists a Miller and Thomas Bentley at 84 South Street, under the category "Merchants, Shipping and Commission."
I hadn't gotten that far in the directories. I probably would have come across it as I was in the 1864
I shortcut by doing a search!
I was timing out on searches. I was also looking for stuff on my great great granddad and great granddad at the same time.
 
*UPDATE!*
After about 75-100 man hours by myself- a lay furniture restorer with access to YouTube- the chest of drawers is completely restored! I love this piece so much and it’s made even more special with new information!
I got in touch with my Grandfather regarding this piece and he informed me that it belonged to HIS family and he gave it to my Grandmother when they divorced in 1970. He said it originally belonged to his great aunt Sarah Bissell Silcox, which I’m working on confirming any connection with the furniture dealer whose name is painted on the top underneath the marble, DH Silcox.
Just wanted to let you all see this piece of Civil War era furniture in all of its glory! Thank you all so much for your help researching its history!
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Yep. Here's the building now (and me with the current owner):

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Birlant Bldg exterior, Charleston.jpg


During the war he was one of the largest blockade importers and used the building for Bee sales.
 
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