Item #882 Farmer’s Accounts. James Ruggles.
Farmer’s Accounts
Ways of Making a Living in Rochester, Ma.

Farmer’s Accounts

Rochester, Massachusetts. 1843-1856. Item #882

Folio.  330 x 210 mm., [13 x 9 inches]. Manuscript in ink and pencil.  5 pp. Bound in paper wrappers; a few loose receipts. Index of customer names at front of ledger.  Paper stock brown with age and with some  light foxing, but sound. 


Rare account book from the small town of Rochester which dates to 1638 and was known mostly for logging and farming having lost its coastline to the establishment of Marion town in 1852.


James Ruggles (1795-1877) was a farmer, store keeper, and merchant in Rochester, near Mattapoiset, Massachusetts. At one time he was elected the town clerk of Rochester. His name is derived from a loose receipt he signed.


Accounts are set up as "by and to" on opposing pages and include the sale of molasses, fabric, saleratus, thread, tobacco, sugar and so on. On the purchase side are listed board and plank to make a boat, expenses of horses to Mattapoisett and New Bedford, and include foodstuffs. At the end of the book are pages noting that April 28, 1856, "Commenced carrying chests to Taber Read & Co."  This company was a group of merchant tailors in New Bedford and these are listed as being either large or small chests at seven or twenty-one dollars in price.  (882)


 

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Price: $150.00

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