Howland & Aspinwall
Howland & Aspinwall was a New York City merchant firm in the 1830s and 1840s. It traded across the Pacific, importing goods from China for American buyers. The firm helped finance the new clipper ships, especially the Rainbow and the Sea Witch. It began as G.G. & S.S. Howland, started by Gardiner Greene Howland and Samuel Shaw Howland. In 1832 their clerk, William Henry Aspinwall, joined, and the firm became Howland & Aspinwall. They imported luxury Chinese goods like porcelain, silk, and tea, and sold them to wealthy Americans. The duties paid by firms like Howland & Aspinwall helped fund the federal government in the 1840s. The firm also exported opium to China. In 1848, after the United States gained California, they shifted focus to California trade. As steam engines improved, fast sailing ships fell out of favor, so they helped form the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. This company later became American President Lines, now part of Neptune Orient Lines. Part of the Aspinwall fortune was passed down to Franklin D. Roosevelt through his grandmother, Mary Aspinwall Roosevelt.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 14:58 (CET).