The Winterthur Library

 The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum

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[?]