Editor’s Message
After the exploration of one more general store ledger (William Britton), it is now time to explore the extant small business ledgers for other types of local businesses. We’ll first consider “liquor” ledgers. Your editor’s love affair with ledgers started with Henry Reid’s surviving Burke County records.
We’ll then examine the ledger of a butcher and one for a dry goods store, a type of store often focused on textiles or related to be converted by home sewers into clothing, kitchen, and household linens, and related. These are two types of stores still found today.
Next is sartorial splendor. This category encompasses the businesses that provide goods and services for a well-dressed and groomed ancestor. Incredibly intimate details are included ranging from shoe sizes to hat sizes to clothes sizes and more. With knowledge of these attributes, researchers are better able to visualize our ancestors. Shared ledgers include a fabric store, a men’s clothing store, hatter and millinery stores (hat makers for men and women, respectively), a tannery (creating the material used by shoemakers, a business type which will be explored in Volume 50 #1) and a barber.
As always, do check out the book reviews. New, exciting, and helpful books continued to be published to aid those researching their North Carolinian ancestors.
Diane L. Richard, Editor
Table of Contents
Editor’s Message
General Store – William Britton (Daybook & Account Book), Bertie Co, 1817-18
Hope Blackford
Introduction to Liquor Ledgers
Diane L. Richard
Liquor – Henry Reed, Burke Co, 1756-99
Aaron Jarvis
Liquor – Deborah McGee, Haywood Co, c. 1865
Hope Blackford
Butcher – Crain & Capes Beef, Orange Co, 1837
Sandra Shiver
Dry Goods – J. A. Clinard, High Point, Guilford Co, c. 1902
Hope Blackford
Fabric & Related – Watts Tomlin & Co, Iredell Co, 1854 & Later
Judy Page
Introduction to Sartorial Splendor
Diane L. Richard
Barber [Daybook] – William Holmes, [maybe] Wake Co, 1820-1845
Hope Blackford
Men’s Clothing – Mellon & Shelton, Mecklenburg Co, 1895-1901
Hope Blackford
Hatter – John Cox – Edenton, Chowan Co, 1804-1808
Kathy Toavs
Millinery – W.S. Clark Store, Tarboro, Edgecombe Co, 1899
Ron Haislip-Hansberry
Tanner – David Kendall, Stanly Co, 1847-57
Hope Blackford
Book and Media Reviews
W. Becket Soule
Index
Don’t forget to check out this issue’s Journal Supplements. These materials went above and beyond what could fit within the issue.
- General Store – William Britton (Daybook & Account Book), Bertie Co, 1817-1818
- Watts Tomlin and Co (Fabric and Related)
The North Carolina Genealogical Society began publishing the NCGS Journal each quarter in 1975. Access to all issues of the NCGS Journal is available to current members of NCGS. To join, visit http://www.ncgenealogy.org/join/.