Collections : [University of Michigan William L. Clements Library]

This journal recounts the experiences of Benneville Hiester, a native of Berks County, Pennsylvania, who traveled from Pleasant Township, Ohio, to St. Louis, Missouri, and back to Pennsylvania in the spring of 1853. Hiester recorded the odd jobs he did for local farmers around Pleasant Township and Lancaster, Ohio; his trip westward through Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois by railroad and overland roads; his return journey to Pennsylvania, taken primarily by steamboat; and the labor he did for nearby farmers after his return.

The Benneville Hiester diary contains about 50 pages of short daily entries about his travels from Pleasant Township, Ohio, to St. Louis, Missouri, and back to Pennsylvania in 1853.

In January 1853, Hiester lived in Pleasant Township, Ohio, where he chopped wood and performed other tasks for local farmers. In his journal, he mentioned the names of those for whom he worked, as well as his work at a nearby poorhouse and his labor digging graves and building pig sties. On February 19, he visited Joseph Hiester and his son Daniel in Boylston, Ohio, and on March 7, he left Lancaster for Columbus, Ohio, where he boarded a train for Cincinnati with a companion named Jacob. Hiester noted the cost of his ticket and provided brief descriptions of his journey across Ohio and Indiana, including a stop at Vandala, Indiana, to visit acquaintances. On March 20, he and Jacob traveled on the "National Road" to Illinois, and they arrived in St. Louis, Missouri, on the 22nd. Hiester set out for Pennsylvania on the same day, paying $10.50 for a steamboat ticket on the Elephant, which traveled along Ohio River to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which Hiester reached on April 4. From there, he went to Harrisburg and then to his home near Bern, which he reached by foot on April 6. The final entries, which Hiester wrote regularly until May 1 and again from June 14 to June 22, concern the daily weather and his manual labor. The entry for June 21 mentions his work with tobacco.

The collection consists of two volumes relating to the Dunwoody family of Marple Township, Pennsylvania, produced between 1807 and 1829. The first volume is a memoranda and expense book kept primarily by James Dunwoody, between 1807 and 1815. It documents financial transactions for meat and livestock, crops, and farm labor. Records also indicate when female laborers began their employment with the family, likely for domestic service, listing the wages and expenses for three of them. The second volume is a copybook kept by Jane B. Dunwoody in 1829 while attending the Marple Union Seminary, focusing on practicing forms for banking, business, legal, and real estate transactions.

The collection consists of two volumes relating to the Dunwoody family of Marple Township, Pennsylvania, produced between 1807 and 1829. The first volume is a memoranda and expense book kept primarily by James Dunwoody, but with references to his sons John, William, and Joseph, between 1807 and 1815. It documents financial transactions for meat and livestock, crops, and farm labor, with several entries with women or notes about cash being provided to wives. Records also indicate when female laborers began their employment with the family, likely for domestic service, including one under-age girl who took up work with her parents' consent and one African American woman ("Black Hariott"). It lists the wages and expenses of Hannah Griffith, Anna Griffith, and Hanah Sithers, documenting the items they were acquiring while in the employ of the family. A recipe for making pills is present, as well as a page of household expenses. The volume has paper covers with woodcut illustrations of four scenes: "Two Sturdy Bull Dogs," "The Fox and the Goat," "An Ass and His Master," and "A Dog and his Shadow."

The second volume is a copybook kept by Jane B. Dunwoody in 1829 while attending the Marple Union Seminary, focusing on banking, business, legal, and real estate transactions. She studied document forms, such as indentures for apprentices, promissory and judgement notes, property leasing, proxy votes, bonds, bills of sale, mortgages, among others. The volume has illustrated, printed covers. The front cover is labelled "The Pet Lamb" and shows a man holding a lamb in his arms with pasted-on letters "JBD Book," and the back cover is labelled "The Pheasant" and shows a pheasant accompanied by a description of the bird by Goldsmith.