This volume contains financial accounts related to the sale of goods in the 1830s and to civil court cases heard in the 1870s.
The first section of the volume contains an anonymous individual's accounts regarding the sale of various goods, including foodstuffs, household supplies, and tobacco, between 1831 and 1852; most entries are dated 1831-1833. These records are accompanied by notes about planting, a description of a flood, and a brief poem composed mostly of three-word lines (p. 81a).
The second section of the volume consists primarily of notes regarding proceedings and judgments in civil court cases in Berrien County, Michigan, between 1871 and 1873. These notes often include the names of involved parties and details about hearings. Oliver P. Miller, a justice of the peace from Lake Township, is frequently mentioned.
List of cases:
- George Washburn vs. Darwin Wrathman
- Samuel McLellan vs. Darwin Wrathman
- George Ennis vs. George Boyce
- Jacob Raas vs. Warren Nelson
- George Neidlinger vs. William Ushaw and Phillip Meyer
- Andrew Johnson vs. L. Carpenter
- People of the State of Michigan vs. Charles Sterling
- James Lewis vs. John Stiles
- George Neidlinger vs. W. H. H. Long
Other entries in this section of the journal include a "Form of Security for costs by nonresident," illustrated with the case of John Doe vs. John Jones; a "Form of Confession of Judgment;" the poem "The Vacant Chair;" and a song entitled "O come with me in my little canoe" [sic].
The following items are enclosed in the volume:
- Order for Solomon Neidlinger to surrender his residence and notes on a dispute between Joseph Beans and Melissa B[eans]
- Order for George Ennis to surrender his residence
- A poem, "Lines dedicated to H and M"
- Four pages from the Elson Grammar School Reader Book One
- A recipe for "Washing Fluid"
- A newspaper clipping featuring the following "Lost and Found Poems:"
- "Unity"
- "Hang Up the Baby's Stocking"
- "Annabel Lee"
- "I Don't Want to Play in Your Yard"
- "Kingdom Coming"
- "The Boat Song"
- "The Discovery of America"
- A cure for whooping cough
- A newspaper clipping featuring "Poetry Written at my Mother's Grave"
