Search

These two volumes contain complementary financial records kept by Andrew Thompson, a merchant in Chester County, Pennsylvania, who traded foodstuffs and alcohol, particularly whiskey, in the early 1800s. One volume lists daily transactions and the other tracks running accounts with specific individuals. Each contains additional laid-in items such as receipts, financial records, and notes.

These two volumes contain complementary financial records kept by Andrew Thompson, a merchant in Chester County, Pennsylvania, who traded foodstuffs and alcohol in the early 1800s. The first volume holds chronological accounts of Thompson's daily transactions between April 2, 1816, and August 28, 1821. Each entry typically reflects an individual purchase, and corresponds with a running account kept in the accompanying volume. Thompson most frequently sold whiskey, which constituted the entirety of his sales on several occasions. Other entries reflect the costs of labor, including sawing work; at least one regards a "coloured man" who assisted in "diging for pipes in meadow" (February 25, 1817). Receipts and financial records laid into the volume often correspond with the dates of accounts; one loose item also contains a poem (June 10, 1820). Two pages in the back of the volume document Thompson's accounts with "Stiles," from whom he bought oats, rye, and whiskey in bulk.

The second volume contains similar accounts for the same types of goods, kept as running totals with specific individuals, as well as an index of Thompson's customers, who included several women. Entries in this volume correspond with those in the first, and some are accompanied by signed notes verifying that they had been settled. Receipts and other financial records are similarly laid into this volume, and they include an unofficial copy of a court summons, signed by Samuel Wilson of Chester County, Pennsylvania (February 28, 1818; p. 130). Every other page of this volume is numbered, and it contains in total approximately 532 total pages.