General Store in Jefferson County, Virginia Account Ledger
Collection
Collection Number: A&M 3815
The first 80 pages of the ledger document sales of meat and grain items to various customers from 1800-1801. Names of customers are recorded, and each customer account includes a chronological record of transactions. The last page contains a table showing the changes in price of store goods during that period. Starting on the second to last page and continuing backwards are eight pages recording the items sold at a public sale, purchaser names, and prices. This is believed to be the public sale of the assets of Keep Triste Furnace (also spelled Keep Tryste and Keep Tryst) located near Harpers Ferry, in or after 1801. Although the creator of the album is unknown, some individuals listed as customers or purchasers have been verified as residents of Jefferson County, Virginia (now West Virginia) through the 1810 census.
The inside of the front cover contains an account of wood delivered to the 8th Regiment, believed to have been at the United States Armory and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry during winter 1800-1801.
English
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Original research into the history of the ledger was carried out by Jane Donovan, Professor of Religious Studies at WVU. This ledger once belonged to Henry Foxall, who had contracted with Samuel Dexter, U.S. Secretary of War, to produce and deliver cannon on December 20, 1800 (see link in External Documents). The iron was expected to be mined and turned into bar iron at U.S.-owned Keep Triste Furnace (also spelled Keep Tryste and Keep Tryst) before being shipped down the Potomac River to be turned into cannon at Foxall's foundry in Georgetown, Washington, DC. This plan was abandoned after a few years, and Foxall ran both furnace and foundry at Georgetown. Presumably, this is when the public sale of assets recorded in the ledger took place.
0.1 Linear Feet (Summary: 1/2 in. (1 folder))
A ledger of an unknown store or individual in or near Jefferson County, Virginia (now West Virginia) showing the accounts of customers who purchased meat and grain items in 1800-1801. Also includes an account of wood deliveries to the 8th Regiment at the United States Armory and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry during winter 1800-1801, and the public sale of the assets of Keep Triste Furnace (also spelled Keep Tryste and Keep Tryst), located near Harpers Ferry, in or after 1801.
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Part of the West Virginia and Regional History Center Repository