Jewett, John Punchard

Life Span
to
    Full name
    John Punchard Jewett
    Place of Birth
    Birth Date Certainty
    Exact
    Death Date Certainty
    Exact
    Gender
    Male
    Race
    White
    Sectional choice
    North
    Origins
    Free State
    No. of Spouses
    2
    No. of Children
    10
    Family
    Reverend Paul Jewett (father), Eleanor Masury Punchard (mother), Harriette Cobb (first wife, 1837), Helen Marie Crane (second wife, 1861)
    Occupation
    Other
    Other Occupation
    Publisher
    Relation to Slavery
    White non-slaveholder
    Other Affiliations
    Abolitionists (Anti-Slavery Society)

    John Punchard Jewett, Uncle Tom's Cabin (American National Biography)

    Scholarship
    Jewett was ingenious and innovative in his promotion of the book. He employed his friend John Greenleaf Whittier to write some verses about Little Eva, whose death in chapter twenty-six wrenched the hearts of readers. Set to music, these verses were the first of many spin-offs that spread the popularity of Uncle Tom's Cabin, from plates, spoons, wallpapers, and candlesticks to toys and games. The book, published in 1852, was an immediate sensation. It sold 10,000 copies on the first day and more than 300,000 by the end of the first year. [Harriet Beecher] Stowe's first royalty check was for $10,000, but of course Jewett had the lion's share of the profits. Stowe conferred with businessmen at home and abroad and concluded that Jewett had taken advantage of her somewhat unworldly husband. When she wrote to him to ask him for confirmation of his theory that they would make more by agreeing to 10 percent instead of 20 percent, Jewett responded angrily and broke off communication. Stowe described him as "positive, overbearing, uneasy if crossed."
    Joan D. Hedrick, "Jewett, John Punchard," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/16/16-02441.html.
    Chicago Style Entry Link
    Drew, Benjamin. A North-Side View of Slavery. The Refugee: or, The Narratives of Fugitive Slaves in Canada. Boston: J. P. Jewett, 1856. view record
    How to Cite This Page: "Jewett, John Punchard," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/20628.