Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.

Conditions Governing Access

No special access restriction applies.

Preferred Citation

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], General Store in Jefferson County, Virginia Account Ledger, A&M 3815, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Biographical / Historical

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.

Scope and Contents

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.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Account books
• Iron furnaces and iron industry.
• Jefferson County - Account books.