William Ropes (1784-1869)
Merchant & Shipowner, of Boston, St. Petersburg & London
He was born in Salem and shipped out to Calcutta (1806) and Canton (1809) before going into business with Colonel Benjamin Pickman as Ropes, Pickman & Co., in Boston. They dissolved the company in 1816 and he went into business with Thomas W. Ward until 1825. In 1830, he sailed for St. Petersburg to establish an import/export business there. In 1833, he established William Ropes & Co. and four years later he left his four eldest children in St. Petersburg permanently before he moved to London in 1837. Setting up another business there, he finally returned to the States in 1842. He was married twice and had twelve children with his first (Martha Reed) and second (Mary Codman) wives, including the co-founder of the law firm Ropes & Gray.
