OLD HAND-WRITEN LEDGER
n.p. Privately written, 1809. Hardcover. Good. Item #1302028
Hardbound, original 1/4 leather & paper over boards. Original handwritten (in ink) ledger, small folio, 8" x 12". Non-ruled paper. Unpaginated. 94pp, representing approximately 40% of the pages, are filled out, and also the rear paste down. The rear free endpaper lists births & deaths of about 20 family members (primarily Stocking & Hooker families) from the 1750s to the 1830s. Not every entry has both birth & death listed. One entry: "Elijah Hooker Decr (December) 1769 (presumed birth year) killed by lightning (no date)". Just browsing the pages we find references to Berlin, Midletown (Middletown), & Southington (Connecticut). This ledger lists activities involving expenditures of one of these family members, whom we might presume to be Luther Stocking. Listings of financial dealings begin in 1809 (with one 1808) & end in 1852, and incorporate an absolutely fascinating number of people, types of work, purchases/payments/receipts, etc. Materials and products include cider, brandy, tallow, potatoes, apples, lard, various grains (buckwheat) building materials & farm animals. Work included a lot of painting, plastering, stone & brick laying. leading us to believe the owner had a home construction, or part thereof, business. Also "sawing pickets for fence", etc.. "Waggons" are loaned, animals are bought & sold & rented/fed, harvesting is done, and dollar amounts are given for each entry. Two examples: "June the 14th 1833 Gideon Munson Pd For Eight Bushels of potatoes which he is to Return the sam Number of Bushels in my sellar (sic) Next fall." "July the 14th 1838 Norman Warner turned in his Cow Nov the first took her out fifteen week and three days three dollars". A remarkable "portrait" of personal/business economic life early in our nation's history. Covers worn but in real good shape. Front hinge broken but binding nevertheless sound.
Price: $403.20