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: Carter, Ephraim,
1748-1817.
Title: Receipts for bills
Dates: 1798-1824
Call No.: Col. 595
Acc. No.: 00x157
Quantity: 15 items
Location: 34 J 4
BIOGRAPHICAL
STATEMENT
Deacon Ephraim Carter lived in Leominster,
Massachusetts. He was born in 1748, the
son of Beulah Wilder and Oliver Carter.
He married three times, his widow being Mary Lincoln Carter
(1758-1819). He had a number of
children. He died in Leominster on May
7, 1817. His son Wilder Carter
(1774-1848) served as executor of the estate.
Other sons mentioned in are Cephas Carter (1793-1861) and Luke Carter
(1783-1866).
SCOPE AND
CONTENT
Collection consists mostly of receipted bills to
settle the estate of Ephraim Carter. The
receipts are dated 1818-1821, but the charges date as far back as 1798. Wilder Carter was the executor of the
estate. Two of the bills were for
medical services; another was for shoeing oxen and horses and repairing tools. Two bills were for cloth and making or
cutting out clothes; another was from a woman for weaving cloth. One bill appears to be from a general store;
it includes charges for liquor, spices, sugar, tea, cloth, silk gloves, and
grass seed. Most of the bills had been
settled at least in part prior to Ephraim’s death; he paid with produce, wood,
and cash. The estate appears to have
paid all bills with cash. Two receipts
were generated by Ephraim’s death: a bill for surveying his property in order
to divide it amongst his heirs, and an acknowledgement from his widow Mary that
she had received certain goods which were left to her by his will. The final item is a list of goods bought by
Wilder Carter at an auction in 1824.
ORGANIZATION
The items are in accession number order.
LANGUAGE OF
MATERIALS
The materials are in English.
RESTRICTIONS
ON ACCESS
Collection is open to the public. Copyright restrictions may apply.
PROVENANCE
Purchased from Carmen D. Valentino.
ACCESS POINTS
People:
Carter, Wilder. 1774-1848.
Carter, Mary Lincoln, 1758-1819.
Topics:
Decedents’
estates - Massachusetts - Leominster.
Claims against
decedents’ estates.
Distribution of
decedents’ estates.
Blacksmithing -
Prices.
Clothing and
dress - Prices - 19th century.
Food prices -
Massachusetts - Leominster.
Medical care -
Massachusetts - Leominster.
Medical fees.
Surveying -
Fees.
Receipts.
Estate
records.
DETAILED
DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION
Location: 34 J 4
All accession numbers begin with 00x157.
Folder 1 of 1:
.1 bill from Jacob Fullam, 1800-1812, for
slitwork, boards, and digging a grave (in 1812); Carter was given credit for
use of a bull, hay, and carting barrels of flour.
Wilder Carter
settled the bill on Sept. 3, 1821.
Endorsed on back: Jacob
Fullam a/c
.2 bill from Abr. Haskell, 1795-1817, for
medical visits, pills, medicines; Carter had been given credit for a sow, cash,
wheat, and bricks;
Wilder Carter
settled the bill on Nov. 19, 1818.
Endorsed
on back: A. Haskell, no. 32.
[see also .12]
.3 document dated June 4, 1806: Ephraim
Carter promised to pay Luke Carter a sum of money, with interest. On May 4, 1818, someone figured how much
interest was owed.
[This is not
marked as having been settled.]
.4 bill from Luke Carter to estate of
Ephraim Carter, for charges dated 1807-1811: cotton wool, some other kind of
cotton, cambric, waistcoat pattern, bills of L. French, Thos. Tirrit, and
Elisha Clark; includes a note that Cephas Carter had paid at least part of the
bill, at his father’s request.
On back: short letter
from Luke Carter to brother Wilder Carter, written from Boston, Aug. 26, 1818:
requests Wilder to settle with Salmon Richards.
.5 bill from Calvin Hale, 1810-1817: for
gin, tallow, butting ash logs and sawing planks, slitwork, beef; with credit
for applesauce and a walnut log;
On back: receipt for
payment made by Wilder Carter, March 6, 1818; also endorsement: Calvin Hale
acct. and Rect., no. 13
.6 promissory note: Thomas Carter and
Ephraim Carter promise to pay Eleazer Houghton a sum of money, dated Nov. 15,
1809; witnessed by Abigail Richardson;
On back: receipts for
payment of interest, 1811-1817; with Houghton’s receipt for settlement of note
by Wilder Carter, March 19, 1818.
.7 bill from Mary Stearns, 1813, for
weaving cloth, and cutting and basting a gown;
with Stearns’
receipt, dated April 21, 1818, that account was settled by Wilder Carter.
Endorsed on back: Mary
Stearns rect., no. 6.
.8 bill from John Kindall, Jr., 1813-1819,
for sugar, tea, pearl ash, cambric, gin, rum, brandy, fish, silk gloves,
molasses, tobacco, grass seed, etc.; credit had been given for use of Carter’s
oxen and by wood;
Wilder Carter
settled the bill on Feb. 1, 1819;
Endorsed
on back: John Kimball Jr., no. 4
.9 bill from Zadock Lincoln, 1814-1815,
for making men’s and boy’s clothing, etc., with credit given for cash;
Wilder Carter
settled the bill on March 6, 1818;
Endorsed on back: Zadock
Lincoln acct. & rect., no. 23
.10 bill from Samuel Stearns, 1814-1817, for
shoeing horses and oxen, shoeing a sleigh, mending and sharpening shovel and
shears;
The account was settled Aug. 14,
1811;
Endorsed on back: Saml Stearns
account and receipt, 5 () 27
.11 bill
from Asa Peirce, 1815-1819, for calf skin, a tub, etc.;
Settled
by Wilder Carter, probably April 10, 1819;
.12 bill
from Haskell & Wilder, 1817: for medical visits and medications;
Settled
by Wilder Carter, Nov. 19, 1818;
Endorsed
on back: Haskell & Wilder, no. 33;
[see
also .2]
.13 bill from Bezaleel Lawrence to Wilder
Carter, executer of estate of Ephraim
Carter, May-June 1818: for appraising and dividing land between the heirs, and
making out deeds, mortgages, quitclaims, and going to the house and taking
[illegible];
Bill settled March 27,
1819
.14 receipt: Mary Carter acknowledged
receiving $182.82 from Wilder Carter, for the furniture, horse, chaise[?], cow,
&c., which she had received by her husband’s will, June 18, 1818
.15 bill from O. Adams to Wilder Carter,
April 12, 1824, for items bought at auction: bellows and tongs, straps,
bedstead and cords, jugs, bowls, saddle bags, spoons; payment received by Leo
H. Hey[?]