The
The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and
Printed Ephemera
Henry Francis du Pont
5105 Kennett Pike, Winterthur,
Delaware 19735
Telephone: 302-888-4600 or 800-448-3883
OVERVIEW OF
THE COLLECTION
Creator: Sargent family
Title: Papers
Dates: 1782-1895; 1829-1861 (bulk).
Call No.: Col. 227
Acc. No.: 85x120
Quantity: 22 items (1 box)
Location: 2 B 8
BIOGRAPHICAL
STATEMENT
The Sargent family of Lynn, Massachusetts included
Nathaniel--who began to use on of the account books in this collection in
1782--and his son John Jenks--who subsequently used the book in 1829 after
receiving it from his mother.
Nathaniel Sargent (1760-1798) was a tanner,
according to his probate record. He was
the son of Sarah Jenks (1730-1808) and Nathaniel (1732-1766) Sargent. The younger Nathaniel married Sarah Massey
(1764-1833), the daughter of Sarah Hart (1741-1822) and Benjamin Massey
(1736-1787). Among their children was
John Jenks Sargent. Nathaniel Sargent
seems to have been an executor of his father-in-law’s estate and guardian to
his minor children. The Massey surname
is also found spelled Massay.
John Jenks Sargent was born in 1798. In 1812, John Jenks Sargent apprenticed with
Charles Newhall, a shoemaker in Lynn. In
May 1821, John Jenks Sargent married Eliza Lunt Morse, the daughter of Polly
Whidden and Humphrey Morse (1769-1845), and they had a number of children
(several of whom were named for Eliza’s siblings). In the
1850 census, Sargent was listed as a trader, but most of his neighbors were
cordwainers. John’s son Charles was a
machinist and executor of his father's estate after the latter’s death in March
1865. Daughter Eliza (Harriet Eliza,
1829-1892) married George W. Sheldon on June 14, 1849; she died in Weare, New
Hampshire. Daughter Sarah Jane Jenks
(1835-1903) married Henry Mortimer Lothrop on Ap;ril 14, 1853. Sarah, too, died in Weare, N.H.
Charles Henry Sargent married as his second wife
Bessie G. Armstrong. Their marriage took
place in Quincy, Mass., on March 4, 1886.
At the time, he was listed as a 49 year old engineer, and she as a 26
year old bookkeeper. She was born in
Annapolis, Nova Scotia, the daughter of Elwood and Mary Eliza Kent Armstrong. She died in May 1926 and is buried in Pine
Grove Cemetery.
SCOPE AND
CONTENT
Consists of two account books, kept primarily by
John Jenks Sargent, and related family documents. The first account book opens with 38 leaves
of accounts kept by Nathaniel Sargent, most of which record only amounts
carried over from his waste book. The
most detailed accounts deal with settling the estate of Benjamin Massay/Massey
and being guardian for the Massay children.
The remainder of the book contains accounts kept by John Jenks Sargent
on some 96 leaves. It includes personal
and business accounts including (leaf 28) the "cost of shoemakers
shop," extensive lists of repairs on his house, and on renting parts of
the house out to boarders. At the end of
the volume, on un-numbered leaves, are a list of tenants from 1794 to 1861 and
accounts of things given to his daughters previous to their marriages,
including an itemized list of ingredients for their wedding cakes. The second volume records shoes and boots
made by Sargent from 1823 to 1838. Also
found in the collection is a printed bill of wages adopted by journeymen
shoemakers of Lynn, 1860.
The collection also features a probate court record
administrator’s letter pertaining to the estate of John Jenks Sargent, papers
pertaining to the purchase of a lot by Charles H. Sargent in Pine Grove
Cemetery, and documents relating to the transfer of ownership of real estate. Loose accounts record miscellaneous financial
transactions. Several issues of a
newspaper, the Lynn Report, were kept with the estate transactions. A water bill addressed to Mrs. Bessie G.
Sargent in 1895 was found with the other papers.
ORGANIZATION
LANGUAGE OF
MATERIALS
The materials are in English.
RESTRICTIONS
ON ACCESS
Collection is open to the public. Copyright restrictions may apply.
PROVENANCE
ACCESS POINTS
People:
Massey, Benjamin, 1736-1787.
Sargent, Charles
H. (Charles Henry), 1837-
Sargent, John
Jenks, 1798-1865.
Sargent,
Nathaniel, 1760-1798.
Topics:
Business records -
Massachusetts - Lynn.
Cake.
Decedents'
estates - Massachusetts - Lynn.
Dowry -
Massachusetts - Lynn.
Dwellings -
Massachusetts – Lynn - Maintenance and repair.
Landlord and
tenant - Massachusetts - Lynn.
Marriage customs
and rites.
Paste papers –
Specimens.
Real property -
Massachusetts - Lynn.
Rental housing -
Massachusetts - Lynn.
Shoe industry -
History - 19th century.
Shoes -
Massachusetts - Lynn.
Wages -
Shoemakers.
Weddings.
Lynn (Mass.) -
History - Sources.
Account books.
Clippings.
Deeds.
Lists.
Estate records.
Landlords.
Shoemakers.
DETAILED
DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION
Location: 2 B
8
Acc. 85x220.1 Account
book of Nathaniel and John Jenks Sargent, 1782-1799, 1829-1868.
Two sets of numbered pages,
p. 1-38 (1782-1799) and p. 1-96, plus unnumbered pages (chiefly
1829-1868).
The first set of numbered pages,
covering 1782-1799, were used by Nathaniel Sargent, a tanner and guardian of
his wife’s siblings who were still minors when their father Benjamin Massey
died in 1787: Nathaniel (1769-1801), John (1772-1802), and Samuel. [Genealogy web site did not list Samuel among
Benjamin’s children.] Most of the senior
Sargent’s accounts mention food or some clothing, or simply “acc’t from pocket
book,” or “amt from waste [book],” but there are mentions of sole leather,
hides, and work on the tan house, giving small glimpses into his occupation of
tanner. Some of the accounts are clearly
dated 1799 and it is not known whose those are.
On May 18, 1829, John J. Sargent was
given the book by his mother. On the
spine, he labeled this as Day Book B, although the records are not in usual
daybook format. At the front of the
volume, on pages left blank by his father, John Jenks noted that he lived on
Boston Street in Lynn. He glued some
newspaper articles inside the front cover, including one pertaining to the
widening of Boston Street (which was done in autumn 1834), and a picture of
William Henry Harrison and his log cabin.
In 1852, John J. recorded that his son James M. went to Carroll from
July 9-Nov. 11, and in 1853, he recorded that his son Charles Henry began work
in E. Holmes’ factory on Feb. 9.
Importantly, he recorded that he himself was apprenticed to Charles
Newhall of Lynn on March 23, 1812, for a period of 7 years, to learn “the art
and mystery of making shoes.” He also pasted
a blank form, dated Feb. 7, 1862, which he signed on behalf of the Committee
for the Disbursement of the Relief Fund, which entitled a soldier’s family to
some cash. Then follows a note about
giving a note to Childs & Sweetser for the “shoe-makers shop now standing
in my yard.” After this, one must pick
up the second numbering scheme to get to John Jenks’ accounts.
The accounts cover 1829-1859, with
scattered records to 1868. Although the
making and mending of shoes and boots are mentioned, there is more about repairs
to and renting of houses. On pages 8 and
10-11 are found a long list of “repairs on the house,” 1830-1841, including
repairs to chimney and windows, painting, plastering, and papering. On page 19-20 are accounts pertaining to the
estate of his father-in-law Humphrey Morse in Hampstead, New Hampshire. Sargent noted several times that he lost
money from these transactions. On page
28 is found “cost of shoemakers shop,” built in 1840 and “repairs on barn &
shed”; the shed had been built in 1804 using materials from his father’s old
bark house. Laid into the volume at p.
63-64 are two printed forms saying ”NO City Charter,” with the date April 19,
1850 written on them. Presumably, there
was to be a vote taken that day on adopting a city charter. On pages 67-68 are records of son Charles
Henry’s work with machinist Elijah Holmes, 1853-1854; on pages 85-86 are
records of Charles Henry’s work with Mr. Holladay, 1856-1857. After some blank pages are found a few
accounts pertaining to the settling of John Jenk’s estate, dated 1868. Of more interest are the accounts of things
given to daughters Eliza and Sarah previous to their marriages in 1849 and
1853. Eliza received dishes, and Sarah
received changeable silk for her wedding dress.
The ingredients for their wedding cakes are listed; Eliza had a larger
cake. At the end of the volume is a list
of the tenants who lived in a particular house from 1799-1861. On the back flyleaf are records about the
cellar drain, first installed in 1837 and repaired several times. Inside the back cover is pasted a list of tax
payers in Lynn for 1847 and a notice about a fair to raise money for a fence.
Laid inside the front of this volume
is a separate volume which is an index to the names in John Jenks Sargent’s day
book B. A textile label is found inside
this slim volume. The volume has paste
paper covers.
Folder 1:
accounts, etc.
.2 Day book, 1823, John Jenks Sargent, Lynn, Boston Street
A
small memorandum book recording shoe and boot making and mending done
1823-1833, with records of moving in and out of a shop in 1836-1838. The customers are few: Levi Robinson, Carey
Libbey, Ezra Rand, and Robert Rogers.
Although called a day book, the accounts are under customers’ names, not
strictly by date.
Two pieces
of paper are laid inside the pamphlet, a small slip reading “Please to excuse
Charles for being late, [signed] E. Sargent,” and a printed form about the
delivery of fodder, dated March 12, 1839 [or 1834].
.3 “Bill
of wages, adopted by the Journeymen Shoemakers of Lynn, at their meeting held
at Lyceum Hall, February 21st, 1860.” Printed by the Lynn News Office.
Lists work
to be done, such as ladies’ first quality double and single soled heeled welts
(also second and third quality), hell pumps, heel gaiters, spring imitations,
spring pumps, ladies’ and misses’ turns, slippers, slap gaiters, heeled cacks,
white kid and satin slippers, men’s toilet slippers, men’s and boys’ heeled
turn pumps, etc. “Extras to be agreed
upon between boss and jour.”
.4 fake
promissory note: “For value received, I [written using rebus of an eye] promis
to pay $100,000 on demand to anybody, signed, seald, delivered in our presence,
Latham[?], esq., X his mark.”
.5 printed
diagram for a fish cloth, for embroidery?
.9 quit
claim given to John Jenks Sargent by Lydia Morse (a seamstress of Chester, New
Hampshire), James Morse (a butcher of Derry County, N.H.) and his wife Eliza,
John Thacker (a tailor in Amesbury, Mass.) and his wife Harriet, Martha Morse (a
seamstress of Amesbury), and Daniel Collins (a tanner of Chelsea, Mass.) and
his wife Mary, for land in Hampstead, Rockingham County, New Hampshire.
Printed
form, not dated, not signed, not witnessed.
[Lydia, James, and
Martha Morse and Mary Morse Collins were siblings of Eliza Lunt Morse Sargent,
the wife of John Jenks Sargent. One
printed family history lists a sister named Hannah, and presumably that is the
same person as Harriet, but which is correct is not known.]
.11 mortgage
deed, John J. Sargent sold a house and land to Charles W. Upham, trustee of the
estate of Elizabeth R. Orne (of Salem, Mass.), May 1, 1863. Signed by John J. Sargent and his wife Eliza
M. Sargent.
Printed
form.
On back:
Charles W. Upham received payment and cancels the mortgage, Jun 10, 1868.
.15 account
between Elijah Holmes and John J. Sargent, 1854-1855; records labor of Charles
[Sargent], and credit for orders on Daniel Moulton and R. G. Usher.
.16 printed
multiplication table, probably removed from the cover of an exercise book. Written on reverse: Nathl. Sam Charles Henry
Sargent, Lynn, Mass., 1851.
[John Jenks
had sons named Nathaniel, Samuel, and Charles Henry.]
Folder 2: legal documents, miscellaneous documents
.6 Administrator’s
letter from Probate Court, Salem, Mass., appointing Charles H. Sargent as
administrator of estate of John J. Sargent, shoe-cutter of Lynn, March 3, 1868.
Printed
form.
.7-.8 deed and bond of perpetual care to Charles
H. Sargent for lot in Pine Grove Cemetery, City of Lynn, Mass., Nov. 21 and
Dec. 3, 1888.
Printed forms.
.10 warranty deed, Nathaniel M. Sargent to
Charles H. Sargent.
Nathaniel
sold land to his brother Charles Henry, Sept. 20, 1882. Also signed by Nathaniel’s wife Elizabeth H.
Sargent.
Printed
form, sold by M.R. Warren, Boston.
.12 envelope
addressed to Wm. B. Orcutt, 89 State St., Boston, Mass., with printed return
address of J.H. Burdakin, register of deeds, Dedham, Mass. Postmarked Dedham, Mass., Aug. 10, 1896.
.13 bill
to Mrs. Bessie G. Sargent, Arlington St., from City of Quincy, Mass., for use
of water, July 1-Dec. 31, 1895; paid Sept. 17, 1895. The bill notes that it is for two families, and they have two
sinks, 1 basin, 1 bath, and 1 water closet.
.14 scrap
of paper used for calculations.
Folder 3: newspapers
.17-.19 The Lynn Reporter, March 7, May 23, and July 18, 1868.
.20 newspaper
clipping: “to raise giant asparagus” and “The Punctual Man,” at the bottom of
which someone wrote “good”;
Other side:
various advertisements
.21 newspaper
clipping: one side: several poems;
Other side:
market prices of livestock and produce
.22 pages
7-10 from unknown religious publication