Albert L. Freeman was born and educated in the Boston area. His birth and death dates have not been established, however, we can surmise that he was a very close friend of Charles Cullis' and worked for Fogg Brothers, a New York merchant house, between 1847 and 1861. In January 1855 he sailed to China aboard the bark STORM. Arriving in Shanghai in April, he helped establish H. Fogg & Co., ship chandlers, agents, etc. In 1861 he sold out the interest he had acquired in the business because Fogg Brothers failed to invest in a Cullis business venture.

Freeman left Shanghai in August 1861 and arrived home around February 1862, after stops in Marseilles and London. He left again in April for China; he writes from San Francisco in June, and by October he is back in Shanghai, this time seeking investors for his own ships and cargos. He did not have immediate success, and one of his vessels was overdue. By December he had employed men and machines to build wharves, and was pursuing other investments in China.

Freeman's letters are informative, and many are quite lengthy. Included are accounts of conditions in China as they appeared to a New England merchant during the 1850's. At this time Shanghai, one of the first Treaty Ports, had just recently been opened, and foreigners were just beginning to be allowed to travel to the interior. The opium trade was being legalized, there were constant rebellions, and war lords were active.

Freeman's first passage to China, aboard to STORM, is detailed in several letters to Cullis, as are his subsequent travels at sea. Descriptions of New York City, London, Shanghai, San Francisco, and other places are present, accompanied by accounts of Bethel activities, missionary work, medicine, and the latest news from "home." Freeman comments on the progress of our Civil War, and offers his opinions on the arts and religion.

Charles Cullis (1833-1892) was evidently infirm as a youth and remained more or less an invalid all his life. After serving as a clerk in a mercantile house he turned to the study of medicine, later becoming a well-known homeopathic physician.