alan polk
1st Lieutenant
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2012
My aunt and I have inherited items from my great grandmother’s old home, now abandoned, dating from the 1840s to 1960s. There is so much stuff, it will take years to go through.
Nonetheless, I wanted to get ideas of what these things might represent.
Some of the items appear to be ledgers from mercantile stores or plantations our family
owned before the Civil War. Here are a few:
The first one I picked up this past weekend is some sort of ledger with expense reports or items sold. Not really sure. I believe it is from a branch of our ancestors whose last names were Jackson, but not 100% sure.
Nevertheless, this particular ledger begins in early 1849 and lists things like candles, tobacco, pistols, whiskey, etc, with names along with them and price.
I figured they must have owned and operated a mercantile store or something.
But then I started coming across things like the below:
The above page has mundane listings but mentions “days sailed,” with corresponding prices.
When I moved beyond this page, I found this:
The above is an example of one of the pages. At the top it reads: “1849 June expenses for day 8/49,” then goes on to list expenses.
This page, along with the others around it, also contains a notation for “days sailed.” For example, this page lists “8 days sailed” and “9 days sailed,” along with what looks like expenses for a “bar” - and other items I just can’t make out too well.
The ledger continues until the notations regarding “days sailed” end. But at the top of the next pages, see below, the notations are “Jacksonport”
Of interest is of this page listing numerous items, including what looks like a notation at the very bottom for a “Negro boy.”
Continued -
Nonetheless, I wanted to get ideas of what these things might represent.
Some of the items appear to be ledgers from mercantile stores or plantations our family
owned before the Civil War. Here are a few:
The first one I picked up this past weekend is some sort of ledger with expense reports or items sold. Not really sure. I believe it is from a branch of our ancestors whose last names were Jackson, but not 100% sure.
Nevertheless, this particular ledger begins in early 1849 and lists things like candles, tobacco, pistols, whiskey, etc, with names along with them and price.
I figured they must have owned and operated a mercantile store or something.
But then I started coming across things like the below:
The above page has mundane listings but mentions “days sailed,” with corresponding prices.
When I moved beyond this page, I found this:
The above is an example of one of the pages. At the top it reads: “1849 June expenses for day 8/49,” then goes on to list expenses.
This page, along with the others around it, also contains a notation for “days sailed.” For example, this page lists “8 days sailed” and “9 days sailed,” along with what looks like expenses for a “bar” - and other items I just can’t make out too well.
The ledger continues until the notations regarding “days sailed” end. But at the top of the next pages, see below, the notations are “Jacksonport”
Of interest is of this page listing numerous items, including what looks like a notation at the very bottom for a “Negro boy.”
Continued -