Jacob A. Kip account book, 1742-1780

Summary

Creator:

Kip, Jacob A., 1706-

Abstract:

Jacob A. Kip, a Dutch-descended New Yorker, kept this account book between 1742 and 1780, recording his customers' purchases. Kip operated a tavern and ran a ferry across the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn. The accounts include debtors' names, goods or services, and prices. Tavern accounts contain ongoing purchases of mugs, drams, and other relatively small amounts of alcoholic beverages (such as beer, cider, rum, wine, gin, grog, sling, toddies, and punch), tobacco, occasional breakfasts, and dinners. Ferry-related charges include the number of people (e.g., transport of a man, a wife, and a servant) and horses, and/or the goods being transported. Kip wrote phonetically in English and Dutch, and a number of his clients had Dutch surnames. Rarely, Kip noted the professions of his customers (such as a schoolteacher and a clerk).

Extent:

1 volume

Language:

English
Dutch

Authors:

Collection processed and finding aid created by Meg Bossio, October 2022

Background

Scope and Content:

Jacob A. Kip, a Dutch-descended New Yorker, kept this account book between 1742 and 1780, recording his customers' purchases. Kip operated a tavern and ran a ferry across the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn. The accounts include debtors' names, goods or services, and prices. Tavern accounts contain ongoing purchases of mugs, drams, and other relatively small amounts of alcoholic beverages (such as beer, cider, rum, wine, gin, grog, sling, toddies, and punch), tobacco, occasional breakfasts, and dinners. Ferry-related charges include the number of people (e.g., transport of a man, a wife, and a servant) and horses, and/or the goods being transported.

Kip wrote phonetically in English and Dutch, and a number of his clients had Dutch surnames. Rarely, Kip noted the professions of his customers (such as a schoolteacher and a clerk).

Biographical / Historical:

Jacobus [Jacob] A. Kip II was born at Kips Bay in 1706 and died before the end of the American Revolutionary War. Jacob was a direct descendant of Hendrick Hendrickson Kip of Holland, who emigrated to America in the 1630s. The Kip family settled in New Netherlands and owned property at Kips Bay, an area that is currently a neighborhood in Manhattan.

Acquisition Information:

2022. M-7593 .

Arrangement:

The collection is a single bound volume.

Rules or Conventions:

Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Subjects

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Subjects:

Alcoholic beverages.
Beer.
Ferries--New York (State)--New York.
Gin.
Liquors.
Money.
Punches (Beverages)
Rum.
Tavernkeepers.
Taverns (Inns)--New York (State)--New York.
Wine.

Formats:

Account books.
Financial records.

Places:

Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
Kips Bay (New York, N.Y.)
Manhattan (New York, N.Y.)