Roger Williams Account Book, 1808-1822
1 vol. (0.1 linear feet).
During the early decades of the nineteenth century, Roger Williams ran a ferry in West Springfield, Mass., carrying passengers and freight across the Connecticut River.
The Williams ledger is a combination daybook and account book, recording several dozen transactions of a Connecticut River ferryman, centered on the years around the War of 1812. Most of the entries are brief records of trips carrying individuals or freight across the river, however a few provide indications of other economic activity, including framing and joining, making a coffin, fixing sleds, and cidering.
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Subjects- Ferries--Massachusetts--Connecticut River
- West Springfield (Mass.)
ContributorsTypes of material
Call no.: MS 619 bd
View related collections: Massachusetts (West), Transport : : No Comments
Worthington (Mass.) Tavern Account Book, 1826-1854
1 vol. (0.2 linear feet).
By the turn of the nineteenth century, the Hampshire County town of Worthington, Massachusetts, was a significant crossroads on the Boston-Albany Turnpike, belying its small size. The population in Worthington peaked at barely over 1,000 in 1810, and declined slowly thereafter, although it remained an active stopover on the road for many years.
This standard double column account book provides a concentrated record of financial and other transactions in the antebellum period, probably associated with a tavern in Worthington, Mass. Although the ledger’s keeper is unidentified, it records an assortment of odd jobs filing saws, smoking meat, lending horses, carting, pasturing cattle, and tending sheep, along with the sale of significant quantities of beer and cider and a regular stream of hard brandy and rum. There are records as well of providing meals and, in one instance, caring for prisoners and their keepers overnight (p. 21). Most of the clients who can be positively identified were residents of Worthington (e.g., Persis Knapp, Chauncy B. Rising, Nathan Searl, Shubal Parish, Elisha H. Brewster, Addison D. Perry, Merritt Hall, and Otis Boies), however others are noted as wayfarers, passing through from towns such as Whately or Hadley. Clients settled their accounts with a motley mixture of cash, goods, and labor.
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Subjects- Taverns (Inns)--Massachusetts--Worthington
- Worthington (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th century
Types of material
Call no.: MS 421 bd
View related collections: Massachusetts (West), Mercantile : : No Comments
John Wright Account Books, 1818-1859
9 vols. (3 linear feet).
Farmer, freight hauler, laborer, cider-maker, landlord, and town official who was a seventh-generation descendant of Samuel Wright, one of the first English settlers of Northampton, Massachusetts. Nine bound volumes and four folders of loose material include accounts of his businesses with his brother Samuel and son Edwin and activities, as well as letters, and miscellaneous papers and figurings.
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Subjects- Farmers--Massachusetts--Northampton
- Freight and freightage--Massachusetts
- Northampton (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th century
Types of material
Call no.: MS 162
View related collections: Massachusetts (West), Transport : : No Comments
