A visit to Red's for tea and some antique surprises to show me. One of her family members found some antique items and thought Red might like to have them as part of her genealogy research. As an aside, Red can trace her family to the Mayflower. Her family was given a land grant from the King in the late 1690s. The family farm is just a mile down the road from me and still being farmed by members of Red's family.
Red was given two ledgers a large one and a smaller one. Inside the smaller one, was
this Five Cent Fractional Currency Note. Yeah, I never heard of paper coins either. According to information I found at Antiquemoney.com fractional currency or postage notes were printed to counter the coin hoarding that was happening at the time of the Civil War. The paper coins were issued between 1862 and 1876.
The Five Cent Fractional Note Red had was found inside the small ledger. George Washington is pictured on the note which is extremely worn and in poor condition so is more of a cool thing to have than something of value.
Red was also given a larger ledger with a suede cover. The cover was lovely to pet.
Inside, the lovely penmanship seemed to indicate this ledger was used in a general store. We were able to read items from some of the founding families (most related to Red's family) of my little town. The ledger was dated August 15, 1818. Items were sold on credit and then marked paid. A couple of the notations:
I didn't notice until I got home that I didn't do a very good job of taking the photo as cost information in the right margin is cut off.
Capt. Asa Walker
gallon rum 80
2 yards cotton stripe 90
paid
Amounts appear to be cents
Capt. William Warren
2 quarts rum
3 can't make out quantity Hylon tea
3 pair silk shoes
3 lbs brown sugar.
The ledger was only filled about halfway and then stopped. There's no information at the front of the ledger as to the name of the proprietor or store. Why wasn't the ledger filled? Did the proprietor decide to use another notation system? Did the store go out of business? Questions that we will never know the answers to.
Red is going to ask the local historical society if they would like the items.
FABULOUS. I would LOVE to scan some of those pages to be used as backgrounds. This is a beautiful ledger, and I also enjoyed reading about the paper coins, too. New to me.
ReplyDeleteI'll see if I can get some better images for you.
DeleteWhat an amazing piece of history to find! I never heard of paper coins either ... quite cool treasure to find indeed!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
Too bad the paper coin was in such poor condition or Red might have been sitting on something worth a few pennies.
DeleteWhat fantastic finds Red has been given. Love the old cent note and those ledgers are a dream. Great penmanship, too. Thanks for sharing! Hugs, Valerie
ReplyDeleteWhoever wrote in the book had very nice penmanship
DeleteWOW! WHat a find! I bet the Historical Society will be thrilled to receive them!
ReplyDeleteYeah, especially since there were entries for a lot of the founding families.
DeleteThis was sooo interesting thank you for sharing. I love history like this-and to be able to trace your family that far back how wonderful. we had a family farm that was close to 200 years old-it ended sadly from my generation. both myself and my brother did not have children to pass it down too-and none of the cousins were interested in buying the family farm. I am always so happy to know that some families can still it pass the land on
ReplyDeleteSadly, a lot of these family run farms are no longer sustainable. Big brouhaha in town as another old family farm (not Red's family), wants to put up a solar farm on some of their acreage
DeleteHow did I miss this? This was a fascinating post CJ. I have a cousin who's dad's family still owns their land grant from the King (one of the George's) on the coast of Maine. It's fascinating how some families can go all the way back to the start of our nation. Antiques are always fun too. happy new week. Hugs-Erika
ReplyDeleteYup, one of the George's granted the land to Red's family. Red can trace both sides of her family back that far. I like to remind Red my family came over on a boat, too. =^,.^=
DeleteThis is so interesting and so cool!!
ReplyDeleteWas fun looking through the book seeing what people were buying. Rum was a top seller! :-D
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