Manuscript Account Book, written in both German & English
Lancaster County, Pa. 1825-1838. Item #532
Folio. 320 x 200 mm., [12 ¾ x 7 ¾ inches]. 36pp. Contemporary decorative wallpaper cover with showing wear at edges and spine; large piece of decorative paper worn away on upper wrappers. Paper stock brown with age, first two preliminary pages torn with loss of paper and text. Inside flyleaf in pencil "Samuel Weaver". Inside back cover is written the names of towns near Lancaster and arithmetic calculations. With faults a sound and legible manuscript account book. Isaac Weaver, 1800-1866 (probably of Isaac Weaver and Abigail Price), kept accounts for his farm near Adamstown in Lancaster that showed dealings in cotton, wool, half-linen, ticking, and yarn. He also worked in the fields, made hay, cut fruit, and baked bread, etc.
The ledger includes many local women who had accounts with the general store. Mary Norden, Susanna Grub, Mary Hilhefner, Anny Bair, Mary High, Susanna Showalter, Katherine High, and Magdalena Shirke all held accounts and paid balances due to Isaac Weaver. Also mentioned, among others, are Samuel Martin, Francis Weaver, Henry Martin the Miller, Christian Wenger, John Showalter, and John Houder, The names indicate that this account book may refer to the settlement known as ‘Weaverland’ in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. A cemetery there contains "the mortal remains of the first white settlers of the beautiful vale known and remembered as ‘Weber's Thal,’ ‘Weaver's Dale,’ now Weaverland after the organization of the first Mennonite congregation by that name in 1730.”
The ledger includes personal expenses for foodstuffs, butter, lard, etc. The Weaver families occupied more than 400 acres much of which remained vested in the lineal family members well into the 20th century. Names of customers include John Shirk, David Shirk and other members of the Shirk family, relatives of Peter Shirk, the first known resident preacher at Weaverland.
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Price: $750.00