Volumes 20 and 21 (box 14), and 22 (box 15): Jacob Hornbrook, Merchant and Businessman, Wheeling, WV. Account Books., 1845-1874

Jacob Hornbrook was born in Tavistock, England, in 1812 and moved with his parents to Wheeling when he was a small child. Jacob's father ran a small [business?] in Wheeling. As a young man, Jacob began a mercantile business buying and selling produce on the flatboats travelling on the Ohio River. He later started a notions store, purchased interest in a steamship line and the First National Bank, and was president and owned stock in the Wheeling Gas Company. These three books, a journal (volume 20; 1847-1874), a ledger (volume 21; 1847-1874), and a cash book (volume 22; 1845-1874), document his business interests, investments, and personal expenses during the last three decades of his life. Although he remained an active investor, Hornbrook retired from his mercantile business in 1855 with an estate valued at more than $30,000. In 1852, he moved to what he called "Forest Home" near Wheeling Park, and he served in the West Virginia legislature during the Civil War.