Search

This account book (roughly 360 pages) contains financial records for the mercantile firm Benjamin Helm & Company, which operated in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, between 1823 and 1824. Included are 179 pages of accounts with individuals (1823-1824), 6 pages of double-entry bookkeeping accounts (June 1823-December 1824, pp. 180-185), approximately 150 pages of daybook records (July 13, 1824-[December] 8, 1824), and a 25-page list of the inventory of the company upon its dissolution on December 8, 1824. Though the firm dealt primarily in cloth, other textiles, and related goods, it also sold dry goods, alcohol, coffee, tea, and other miscellaneous items.

This account book (roughly 360 pages) contains financial records for the mercantile firm Benjamin Helm & Company, which operated in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, between 1823 and 1824. Included are 179 pages of accounts with individuals (1823-1824), 6 pages of double-entry bookkeeping accounts (June 1823-December 1824, pp. 180-185), approximately 150 pages of daybook records (July 13, 1824-[December] 8, 1824), and a 25-page list of the inventory of the company upon its dissolution on December 8, 1824. Though the firm dealt primarily in cloth, other textiles, and related goods, it also sold dry goods, alcohol, coffee, tea, and other miscellaneous items.

The 179 pages of accounts record transactions between Benjamin Helm & Company and individuals between June 1823 and December 1824. Along with silk, calico, and other fabrics, the firm sold sugar, alcohol, and manufactured goods, such as handkerchiefs, buttons, and paper. Though most customers were men, the company also did business with several women. Accounts for future Kentucky governor John LaRue Helm and his mother Rebecca are included, as well as accounts with other prominent local individuals and with family members, such as John B. Helm. Individuals are recorded in an index preceding the accounts. The following 6 pages are comprised of double-bookkeeping entries for similar transactions with several individuals and firms; each account was later settled.

Approximately 150 pages consist of a daybook covering the company's sales between July 13, 1824, and [December 8], 1824. The entries are arranged chronologically, and most do not overlap with the individual accounts recorded earlier, which primarily end around May 1824. The final 25 pages contain a detailed inventory of Benjamin Helm & Company's goods, taken upon the partnership's dissolution on December 8, 1824. Each line provides a type of item, per-unit price, number of units on hand, and the total value. The items are largely arranged according to type, and include blankets, fabrics, books, and consumable goods.

The James Wilson ledger is a volume of approximately 660 pages, made up of accounts for individuals and corporations, mostly in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, between 1794 and 1816. The collection also includes about 50 small items, mostly receipts relating to Wilson's business, that were originally enclosed in the ledger.

Wilson divided the ledger into three sections, for which he hand-numbered the pages. In the third section, beginning around 1802, he not only listed the names of his customers, but also frequently recorded their residences or occupations. Women tended to be identified as "daughter of," "wife of," or "widow of" a male relative.

Wilson's customers occupied a spectrum of social statuses. Many of the patrons were listed as farmers or artisans, but the ledger also includes accounts for professionals and gentleman as well as newly freed African Americans, household servants, and apprentices. Most of these customers seemed to reside in the towns of Lebanon, Bethlehem, and Kingwood, in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, but Wilson also traded with merchants from Trenton and Philadelphia.

In the earliest entries, dating from 1794, Wilson seems to have traded mostly in wines and spirits, including whisky, spruce beer, port, sherry, rum, cider, and claret. Most of his early customers paid in cash or "bottles returned." Further in the ledger, Wilson's sales broaden to include household goods (chiefly tea, coffee, and sugar), fabric, and clothing. In return, he received services and goods, as well as cash.

This collection also consists of approximately 50 small items, mostly receipts, at one time enclosed in the ledger. Items of note include 2 contracts, dated 1807, for schoolmaster James Hill, an undated note addressed to "Mrs. Wilson" from Theodosia Coxe about household goods, and some basic sketches in the front and end papers of the ledger. An index of the approximately 100 accounts listed under women's names may be found in the control file.