Kunders A (Cunard)
Name: Abraham Kunders
Nickname/Alias: Also known as Cunard
Achievements: Responsible for Samuel Cunard’s entry into transatlantic shipping
Born: Whitpain, Montgomery Court, Pennsylvania
Died: 1723, Rawdon, Novia Scotia
Field & Discipline: Transportation; Shipping
Language: English
Father: Robert Kunders
Mother: Unknown
Siblings: Unknown
Spouse: Margaret Murphy
Children: 9
Education: Unknown
Life & Times:
The Kunders family arrived in America at the end of the seventeenth century when Abraham Kunders’s great-grandfather, Thones Kunders, a prosperous Quaker dyer, left Krefeld, Germany for Pennsylvania in 1683. The family, who were variously known in America as Conrad, Cunrads or Cunraeds, settled at Germantown and prospered. According to a romantic family legend (for which there is no hard evidence) Thones Kunders discovered the hoard of an English pirate, after which he moved his family to Philadelphia and used the money to found a successful merchant fleet.
Whatever the origin of their fortune, a hundred years after their arrival in America, the Cunards, as some of them had now become known, were a well-known and wealthy family. Their ships traded between Philadelphia and England, England and the West Indies, and back to Philadelphia. Abraham Cunard was brought up in prosperous circumstances.
His father remained loyal to the British crown during the American Revolution and the Cunard fleet was confiscated in 1780. After the surrender of [affected by defeat of] Cornwallis* at Yorktown in 1781 and the victory of the colonists, Abraham Cunard prepared himself for a new start by learning the trade of carpenter and in 1783 he fled to Halifax, Nova Scotia, the most important remaining British port on the Atlantic coast, where as a loyalist he was entitled to a grant of land.
He chose land on the edge of Halifax which ran down to the harbor and obtained employment in the dock yard as a foreman artificer with the Royal Engineers in the government lumberyard at the docks. He married the daughter of a loyalist who had fled from South Carolina, and who had brought with her one of the slaves she was accustomed to. However, in 1787 slavery was outlawed and the [wife owned] Nova Scotia loyalist blacks* were given their freedom.
Abraham’s eldest son, Samuel Cunard, who is generally associated with the shipping line of Cunard, was born in 1787. Abraham was accepted as a member of the higher social circles in Nova Scotia and he made many contacts in commercial and official circles through the dock yard. To supplement his income, he designed and built houses for other settlers. When he noticed Samuel’s energy and commercial ability he decided to make him his partner in a new enterprise.
In 1808, the firm of Abraham Cunard and Son was established and they started a shipping business with one coaster. They also built and repaired ships. The war between America and Britain which had broken out in 1812 made voyages across the Atlantic too dangerous for single ships but it also increased the wealth of Abraham and his son.
In 1813 they were able to buy a captured American merchant ship, the “White Oak” at a bargain price. In July of that year they advertised passages to London in the “White Oak” as part of a convoy. Abraham Cunard oversaw the administration and offices, and supervised harbor activities, while Samuel organized the trade at sea. They obtained a commission to run a mail packet between Halifax and the West Indian islands but on the whole Abraham was inclined to be cautious about new projects.
In 1820, Abraham retired and moved with his wife to a large farm inland at Rawdon which she had inherited from her father.
Assessment: Founded the shipping firm in Nova Scotia which was the basis for the Cunard Shipping Line.
Oneliner: Abraham Kunders, founder of Cunard shipping line
Bibliography:
- Bassett, John M, Samuel Cunard, Fitzhenry & Whiteside Ltd., Don Mills, Ontarioo, 1976.
- Grant, Kay, Samuel Cunard, Pioneer of the Atlantic Steamship, Abelard-Schuman, London, New York, Toronto, 1967.