The proprietor of a general store and postmaster in Wendell Depot, Mass., W. W. Hunt carried on a thriving business for a small Franklin County town during the 1880s and 1890s. Selling a range of dry goods, foodstuffs, and other goods, Hunt catered to residents in Wendell and neighboring communities up and down the Miller River.

An extensive ledger, marked No. 5, the W.W. Hunt account book contains records of sales of a surprising range of dry goods and foodstuffs, snaths and scythes, stamps and envelopes, and other goods useful to a rural community. Although most of Hunt’s customers were individuals seemingly purchasing for personal consumption, he also sold goods to the Farley and Goddard Wood Paper Companies, the Ladies Aid Society, and the town of Wendell, with some accounts marked “Town Farm.”

Ebenezer Akin, Jr. (born 1816), was a Massachusetts-born businessman, the great-grandson of the tanner Benjamin Akin (See MS 204). In the 1850 census, Akin was still in the home of his father and was listed as the town clerk. Pages 5, 36 and 37 detail many of his activities in that position from 1850 to 1855. Akin was also the owner or part-owner of a number of ships, Fairhaven being a maritime town. Accounts for the Napoleon, the William Rotch, and two barks – the Hesper and the Winthrop – are included, covering the years 1848 to 1862. By 1860 Akin was listed in the census as a merchant; he had married and had a four-year-old son. In the 1871 Beer’s County Atlas, Akin lived in the village of Oxford in Fairhaven.

Of particular interest are the various personal accounts of Akin, shedding light on the activities and lifestyle of a prominent local citizen of the mid-19th century. Among items included are his purchase of several lots which he rented, his payments for his pew rental, in the Methodist Episcopal Church, his involvement as a trustee for the Riverside Cemetery, his evaluations of Fairhaven’s schools as a member of the committee to investigate schoolhouses, and his accounts of money he loaned to other Fairhaven citizens, some amounting to substantial sums. There is also a detailed accounting of Akin’s expenditures for clothing and incidentals, spanning more than a decade.

Akin may also have been a lawyer. In his accounts are entries he was made the executor of several estates. There are inventories of the estates of Bartholomew Akin and Capt. James Allen, along with an accounting of Akin’s expenses administering the estates.

Also included in the rear of the book is genealogical information of the Blossom family of Bridgewater (perhaps the family of his mother or wife) and the family of Benjamin and Eunice Akin.

William Weatherby kept this twelve-page volume of personal accounts from April 1835 to April 1837. The owner used ledger style, placing debits and credits, entitled “Contra,” on separate pages. The volume shows that Weatherby “labored” for Seth Porter and Co. of Cummington, Massachusetts and for Wells, Blackinton, and White of North Adams, Massachusetts. Probably a transient worker, the accounts show that he also provided room and board for other workers. Credit accounts indicate a running account with a general store for the purchase of clothing and foodstuffs, likely paid by the companies at year’s end.

Cotton mill operator Seth Porter Jr. held partnership with three other men, two of whom, Elisha Carpenter and Edmund Dawes, appear in this volume. Carpenter and Dawes settled their mill’s accounts with Weatherby in April of 1836. Debits here included: “labor and board to date” and “boarding S. Parker and Elisha Mason”. Credits included: sundries, 1 pt. oil, calico, shirting, yarn, flour, rice, corn, beef, a broom and “to note $500.00 signed by Elisha Carpenter and Edmund Dawes.”

Wells, (Otis) Blackinton and (Joseph L.) White began business in North Adams in March of 1822. According to histories, they “manufactured satinet for pantaloon ware”. Debits here included: “boarding L. Butler, Henry W. Cole, S. Parker, Solomon Alden and Charles Goodell”, as well as labor, 30 lbs. meal, and “1 bushel potatoes to Humphrey Anthony”. Credits included: Foodstuffs–butter, eggs, ham, and fresh pork, H.S. tea, saleratus (a leavening agent), molasses, wintergreen, candy, oysters, wine, salt, raisins, beans, crackers, codfish, peppermint, and cheese. Cloth–velveteen, cotton flannel, silk, brown linen, bleached cotton, “4 yrds. trimming” and cambrick (a fine white linen). Other goods mentioned included: “2 silk hankerchiefs”, elastic buttons, thread, cords of wood, house rent, postage on letter, 1 hoe, 3 papers of G. seeds, 1 bottle blackening, saltpetre, matches, tin, and a box of pills.