ANTIQUE HANDWRITTEN STORE LEDGER Epping Rockingham County Hampshire NH 1839
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:3213 | Year Printed: 1839 |
| Subject: Americana | Topic: Historical |
| Original/Facsimile: Original | Binding: Hardcover |
| Special Attributes: 1st Edition, Manuscript |
VERY RARE, ORIGINAL EARLY 19TH CENTURY MANUSCRIPT LEDGER FROM A NOTED NEW HAMPSHIRE FAMILY. This important volume dates from 1839 and was kept by Samuel Plumer (1792-1871) and George Washington Plumer (1796-1883) of Epping, New Hampshire. The pair of brothers owned a prosperous general store which was a hub of activity during this early period. The Plumers are arguably Epping's most famous family, as older brother William Plumer, Jr. (1789-1854) was for many years a prominent figure in... state politics and their father William Plumer (1759-1850) was a Federalist U.S. Senator (1802-1807) and two-time Governor of the state (1812-1813 and 1816-1819). The illustrious Plumer clan of Epping also produced California Gold Rush 49er, businessman and Wisconsin legislator Bradbury Greenleaf Plumer (1830-1886) and fellow businessman and Wisconsin law maker Daniel Longfellow Plumer (1837-1920), among others. (Scroll down below description for more pictures).
Fascinating early ledger contains about 265 pages of handwritten entries penned by the Plumer brothers as business thrived at their Epping store. The vast array of items sold and large number of transactions over a brief period of time suggest the store was a one-stop shopping destination and popular local gathering spot. Among the many items found here include a large quantity of alcoholic beverages such as rum, brandy, gin, whiskey, and wine. Some form of alcoholic beverage can be found on most every page and often in multiple transactions. New England Rum was a particularly popular beverage and appears here as "N Rum" or "New Rum". "Tied up with the unsavory market of the infamous Triangle Trade, the production of New England rum was both a turning point in transatlantic commerce and a brazen step towards liberty. Using methods handed down from our European ancestors and ingredients procured from the New World, colonists created a profitable niche in 18th century spirit sales. At the peak of its popularity, colonials supposedly consumed more than 5 gallons of rum per person each year, paying mere shillings per gallon." (see New England's Historic Rum Trade online).
Among the many other items found throughout ledger include apples, augers, biscuits, buttons, candlesticks, cashmere, cheese, coffee, combs, drilling, eggs, fish, ginger, gloves, hooks and eyes, lamp oil, leather, log wood, medicine, mill files, molasses, nails, ox hides, paper and quills, planks, plates, ribbon, rocking chairs, silk, snuff, tea, thread, tobacco, velvet, wool cloth, etc. Various activities can also be found throughout such as hauling cords of wood, casks of lime to river, carrying shoes to Haverhill, pair expenses to Portland, paid at town meeting, etc. While the vast majority of customers were from Epping, occasionally they came from other nearby communities such as Newmarket, Nottingham, Deerfield, Northwood, Strafford, and Portsmouth as evidenced by notations next to a few names. Even the town of Epping itself made an occasional purchase at the Plummer brothers store, while local preacher Rev. Carroll Barton paid his minister tax at the store. Names found throughout volume make for a treasure trove of early local history and genealogy.
In addition to several members of the Plummer family, other family names found here include Bartlett, Batcheldor, Bean, Blaisdell, Blake, Burley, Burnham, Butler, Caswell, Chase, Chesley, Cilley, Clifford, Clough, Colby, Cook, Corson, Cote, Davis, Dow, Durgin, Eaton, Edgerly, Emerson, Fogg, Folson, French, Frost, Goodrich, Gordon, Gove, Haley, Harley, Harvey, Hersey, Hill, Hills, Hoage, Hoit, Hook, Huckins, Jones, Kennison, Knowlton, Lane, Lawrence, Leach, Leavett, Lunt, Marshall, Martin, Maxwell, Morrell, Norris, Ordway, Page, Peavey, Pike, Prescott, Purington, Robinson, Rollins, Sanborn, Shaw, Simpson, Stearns, Stephens, Taylor, Tilton, Towle, Tuttle, Waldron, Webb, West, Wiggin, Wiley, Winslow, etc. When a customer was unknown to the store, a "stranger" designation was used. Various local businesses also purchased items at the Plummer brothers busy store such as the Newmarket Manufacturing Company, T.C. Foster & Company, Benjamin M. Smith & Son, etc. A fabulous manuscript artifact from a renowned New Hampshire family.
Epping is located in Rockingham County, New Hampshire. According to recent census figures, the town is currently home to a population of about 6, 411. Epping today includes the primary settlement in town as well as the densely populated area centered on New Hampshire Route 27 just west of New Hampshire Route 125. Epping was originally part of Exeter, one of the four original New Hampshire townships. Starting in 1710, Exeter awarded free wood lots in the area to encourage settlement. In 1741, Epping was granted a charter and incorporated as a town. It was the last New Hampshire town chartered by Governor Jonathan Belcher before the Province of New Hampshire was granted a governor who did not also govern the neighboring Province of Massachusetts Bay. The town was named for Epping in England.
Through the 1800s, farming was a principal occupation in Epping. The town also had substantial reserves of clay, long used by local residents to make bricks, and in 1840, the first commercial brickyard was established in Epping. The village once known as East Epping gave birth in 1863 to a United Methodist camp called Camp Hedding. Hedding CMA (Camp Meeting Association) hosted Methodist revivals. Hedding also became the name of a post office and railroad station in 1896 and the place name appears on road signs. Epping was once an important junction of the Worcester, Nashua & Rochester Railroad and the Portsmouth & Concord Railroad, later both part of the Boston & Maine Railroad. The north-south WN&R line through town was abandoned in 1932, with a short segment remaining in place south to Fremont to serve a brickyard there. This left the east-west Portsmouth Branch between Manchester and Portsmouth as the only access to the national rail network. All rail service ended in the early 1980s, the Boston & Maine abandoned the track in 1982, and the rail was removed between 1983 and 1985. The railroad beds are now the Rockingham Recreational Trail. Abutments for the WN&R bridge over the Lamprey River can be seen to the west of Route 125.
Epping is home to the Leddy Center, an antique playhouse where local performers present classics such as "The Wizard of Oz" and "Anne of Green Gables". Musical lessons are also offered at this facility. There are two auto racing venues in Epping. New England Dragway, New England's only quarter-mile track, runs races Wednesday and Friday nights and all day on the weekends, including the IHRA Amalie Oil North American Nationals and, since 2013, the NHRA New England Nationals. The dragway hosts a popular Halloween display during the second half of October. Star Speedway is a NASCAR stock-car oval operating on Saturdays. An annual canoe race down the Lamprey River occurs on the last weekend in April. Camp Hedding hosts an annual camp meeting for one week in August and an "olde time fair" on the first Saturday of August every year.
Along with the town of Epping, Rockingham County today also comprises the city of Portsmouth and the towns of Atkinson, Auburn, Brentwood (county seat), Candia, Chester, Danville, Deerfield, Derry, East Kingston, Exeter, Fremont, Greenland, Hampstead, Hampton, Hampton Falls, Kensington, Kingston, Londonderry, New Castle, Newfields, Newington, Newmarket, Newton, North Hampton, Northwood, Nottingham, Plaistow, Raymond, Rye, Salem, Sandown, Seabrook, South Hampton, Stratham, and Windham; the census-designated places of Derry, Exeter, Hampton, Hampton Beach, Londonderry, Newfields, Newmarket, Raymond, and Seabrook Beach; and the villages of Candia Four Corners, East Candia, East Derry, East Hampstead, Newton Junction, North Salem, and West Nottingham.
Condition: Rare book remains in good condition (see pictures). Early volume bound in original leather-backed marbled boards with old paper label pasted to front cover; cover worn and rubbed, mild toning, scattered minor staining and ink smudging, one leaf torn, generally clean internally with ink bold and legible throughout. Ledgers contains about 265 pp. of manuscript entries; and measures approx 15" tall x 6" wide x 1" thick. Quite a find and a very worthy acquisition indeed.
Payment and Shipping: Please see our feedback and bid with confidence. Never a reserve and very low opening bid as always. Never a reserve and very low opening bid as always. For international shipping quote, please contact us. Bidders with no established feedback must contact us before bidding. Massachusetts residents must add 6.25% sales tax or include dealer tax resale number. Payment must be received within 5 days after close of auction. Thanks for your interest!
Fascinating early ledger contains about 265 pages of handwritten entries penned by the Plumer brothers as business thrived at their Epping store. The vast array of items sold and large number of transactions over a brief period of time suggest the store was a one-stop shopping destination and popular local gathering spot. Among the many items found here include a large quantity of alcoholic beverages such as rum, brandy, gin, whiskey, and wine. Some form of alcoholic beverage can be found on most every page and often in multiple transactions. New England Rum was a particularly popular beverage and appears here as "N Rum" or "New Rum". "Tied up with the unsavory market of the infamous Triangle Trade, the production of New England rum was both a turning point in transatlantic commerce and a brazen step towards liberty. Using methods handed down from our European ancestors and ingredients procured from the New World, colonists created a profitable niche in 18th century spirit sales. At the peak of its popularity, colonials supposedly consumed more than 5 gallons of rum per person each year, paying mere shillings per gallon." (see New England's Historic Rum Trade online).
Among the many other items found throughout ledger include apples, augers, biscuits, buttons, candlesticks, cashmere, cheese, coffee, combs, drilling, eggs, fish, ginger, gloves, hooks and eyes, lamp oil, leather, log wood, medicine, mill files, molasses, nails, ox hides, paper and quills, planks, plates, ribbon, rocking chairs, silk, snuff, tea, thread, tobacco, velvet, wool cloth, etc. Various activities can also be found throughout such as hauling cords of wood, casks of lime to river, carrying shoes to Haverhill, pair expenses to Portland, paid at town meeting, etc. While the vast majority of customers were from Epping, occasionally they came from other nearby communities such as Newmarket, Nottingham, Deerfield, Northwood, Strafford, and Portsmouth as evidenced by notations next to a few names. Even the town of Epping itself made an occasional purchase at the Plummer brothers store, while local preacher Rev. Carroll Barton paid his minister tax at the store. Names found throughout volume make for a treasure trove of early local history and genealogy.
In addition to several members of the Plummer family, other family names found here include Bartlett, Batcheldor, Bean, Blaisdell, Blake, Burley, Burnham, Butler, Caswell, Chase, Chesley, Cilley, Clifford, Clough, Colby, Cook, Corson, Cote, Davis, Dow, Durgin, Eaton, Edgerly, Emerson, Fogg, Folson, French, Frost, Goodrich, Gordon, Gove, Haley, Harley, Harvey, Hersey, Hill, Hills, Hoage, Hoit, Hook, Huckins, Jones, Kennison, Knowlton, Lane, Lawrence, Leach, Leavett, Lunt, Marshall, Martin, Maxwell, Morrell, Norris, Ordway, Page, Peavey, Pike, Prescott, Purington, Robinson, Rollins, Sanborn, Shaw, Simpson, Stearns, Stephens, Taylor, Tilton, Towle, Tuttle, Waldron, Webb, West, Wiggin, Wiley, Winslow, etc. When a customer was unknown to the store, a "stranger" designation was used. Various local businesses also purchased items at the Plummer brothers busy store such as the Newmarket Manufacturing Company, T.C. Foster & Company, Benjamin M. Smith & Son, etc. A fabulous manuscript artifact from a renowned New Hampshire family.
Epping is located in Rockingham County, New Hampshire. According to recent census figures, the town is currently home to a population of about 6, 411. Epping today includes the primary settlement in town as well as the densely populated area centered on New Hampshire Route 27 just west of New Hampshire Route 125. Epping was originally part of Exeter, one of the four original New Hampshire townships. Starting in 1710, Exeter awarded free wood lots in the area to encourage settlement. In 1741, Epping was granted a charter and incorporated as a town. It was the last New Hampshire town chartered by Governor Jonathan Belcher before the Province of New Hampshire was granted a governor who did not also govern the neighboring Province of Massachusetts Bay. The town was named for Epping in England.
Through the 1800s, farming was a principal occupation in Epping. The town also had substantial reserves of clay, long used by local residents to make bricks, and in 1840, the first commercial brickyard was established in Epping. The village once known as East Epping gave birth in 1863 to a United Methodist camp called Camp Hedding. Hedding CMA (Camp Meeting Association) hosted Methodist revivals. Hedding also became the name of a post office and railroad station in 1896 and the place name appears on road signs. Epping was once an important junction of the Worcester, Nashua & Rochester Railroad and the Portsmouth & Concord Railroad, later both part of the Boston & Maine Railroad. The north-south WN&R line through town was abandoned in 1932, with a short segment remaining in place south to Fremont to serve a brickyard there. This left the east-west Portsmouth Branch between Manchester and Portsmouth as the only access to the national rail network. All rail service ended in the early 1980s, the Boston & Maine abandoned the track in 1982, and the rail was removed between 1983 and 1985. The railroad beds are now the Rockingham Recreational Trail. Abutments for the WN&R bridge over the Lamprey River can be seen to the west of Route 125.
Epping is home to the Leddy Center, an antique playhouse where local performers present classics such as "The Wizard of Oz" and "Anne of Green Gables". Musical lessons are also offered at this facility. There are two auto racing venues in Epping. New England Dragway, New England's only quarter-mile track, runs races Wednesday and Friday nights and all day on the weekends, including the IHRA Amalie Oil North American Nationals and, since 2013, the NHRA New England Nationals. The dragway hosts a popular Halloween display during the second half of October. Star Speedway is a NASCAR stock-car oval operating on Saturdays. An annual canoe race down the Lamprey River occurs on the last weekend in April. Camp Hedding hosts an annual camp meeting for one week in August and an "olde time fair" on the first Saturday of August every year.
Along with the town of Epping, Rockingham County today also comprises the city of Portsmouth and the towns of Atkinson, Auburn, Brentwood (county seat), Candia, Chester, Danville, Deerfield, Derry, East Kingston, Exeter, Fremont, Greenland, Hampstead, Hampton, Hampton Falls, Kensington, Kingston, Londonderry, New Castle, Newfields, Newington, Newmarket, Newton, North Hampton, Northwood, Nottingham, Plaistow, Raymond, Rye, Salem, Sandown, Seabrook, South Hampton, Stratham, and Windham; the census-designated places of Derry, Exeter, Hampton, Hampton Beach, Londonderry, Newfields, Newmarket, Raymond, and Seabrook Beach; and the villages of Candia Four Corners, East Candia, East Derry, East Hampstead, Newton Junction, North Salem, and West Nottingham.
Condition: Rare book remains in good condition (see pictures). Early volume bound in original leather-backed marbled boards with old paper label pasted to front cover; cover worn and rubbed, mild toning, scattered minor staining and ink smudging, one leaf torn, generally clean internally with ink bold and legible throughout. Ledgers contains about 265 pp. of manuscript entries; and measures approx 15" tall x 6" wide x 1" thick. Quite a find and a very worthy acquisition indeed.
Payment and Shipping: Please see our feedback and bid with confidence. Never a reserve and very low opening bid as always. Never a reserve and very low opening bid as always. For international shipping quote, please contact us. Bidders with no established feedback must contact us before bidding. Massachusetts residents must add 6.25% sales tax or include dealer tax resale number. Payment must be received within 5 days after close of auction. Thanks for your interest!
