The Winterthur Library

 The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

 

 

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

 

Creator:          Outten Davis                                       

Title:               Records

Dates:             1802-1813

Call No.:         Col. 23

Acc. No.:         [various – see detailed description]

Quantity:        3 boxes, 4 microfilm reels

Location:        9 A 5

 

 

 

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

 

Outten Davis was a resident of Odessa, Delaware, when it was still called Cantwell's Bridge.  In October 1806, he took over a general store there that had been in operation since at least November 1802.  The store's name under the earlier owners was Gibson & Co.

 

 

SCOPE AND CONTENT

 

The five volumes that make up this collection record the daily purchases made at the store by its customers.  Items sold by Gibson & Co. and by Davis include dry goods, food stuffs, clothing, spirits, hardware, and household goods.  The last two volumes also record the administration of three local men's estates.

 

It appears from internal evidence that towards the end of this record there was a change that took place in the store's management.  Volume 4 begins with page headings "Cantwell's Bridge."  It then starts using "Middletown," the name of a nearby community.  In volume 5 the occasional page headings that do appear read "Middletown."  The sales in this latter volume are much more for agricultural commodities than for the manufactured items so predominant in the earlier volumes.

 

Four of these volumes came to Winterthur first as microfilm.  Fifteen years later three of those four volumes were donated to the collection along with a fifth volume that had not been microfilmed. 

           

 

ORGANIZATION

 

There are four volumes in the collection (housed in three boxes), plus four reels of microfilm.  Most of the information is found in both paper and film format.  However, one volume (that covering 1803-1805, acc. no. 79x351.1) is not available on microfilm.  The volume covering 1810-1813 is available only on microfilm; the Downs Collection does not own the original of this volume. 

 

 

PROVENANCE

           

Volumes gift of Mrs. Harrison V. Davis.  Microfilm purchased from Hagley Museum.

 

 

ACCESS POINTS

 

            People:

                        Gibson, James.

                        Sorden, William, d. 1808 - Estate.

                        Reynolds, William, d. 1810 - Estate.

                        Reynolds, Jeremiah, d. 1811 - Estate.

                       

Topics:

            Gibson & Co.

            General stores - Delaware - Odessa.

            General stores - Delaware - Middletown.

            Decedents' estates.

            Business records - Delaware - Odessa.

            Business records - Delaware - Middletown.

            Journals (bookkeeping).

            Shopkeepers.

           

 

 

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

 

Location: 9 A 5

 

                                                                             

Vol #    Dates                           Accn #                                     Film # 

                                                                                                                                   

I           11/1802-10/1803        80x264 (1st half)                      M-749.1

 

II          12/1803-09/1805        79x351.1                                 (not on microfilm)                    

 

III        09/1805-09/1806        79x350                                                M-749.2         

 

{I}       10/1806-06/1807        80x264 (2nd half)                     M-749.1         

 

IV        06/1807-06/1810        79x351.2                                 M-750,  M-751.1         

 

V         07/1810-06/1811        (only on microfilm)                    M-751.2, M-752        

            07/1811-07/1813