The Winterthur Library

 The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, Winterthur, DE  19735

302-888-4600 or 800-448-3883

 

 

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

 

Creator:          Byington, Isaac.                                   

Title:               Journal

Dates:             1786-1800

Call No.:         Doc. 531

Acc. No.:         60x21.4, 74x137

Quantity:        1 volume

Location:        31 E

 

 

 

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

 

Isaac Byington was a framer from Bristol, Connecticut.  He left Bristol and spent time working in Columbia, South Carolina, and Bedford Hills, Georgia.

 

 

SCOPE AND CONTENT

 

Records financial transactions, narratives written by Byington, and several recipes.  Many of the accounts in the volume pertain to farm activities and products.  Additional accounts record Byington's work as a framer and for sawing lumber.  There is a pen and ink drawing depicting a side elevation of a two story farm house; a pencil sketch of two chickens in front of a shed; a rough pencil sketch of the interior of a house; and a sketch of a small house with a fenced yard.  Also  present are a number of lists, including "the price of things in the house," in effect making an inventory of house furnishings, china, silverware, etc.; expenses related to Byington's father's illness and funeral; "things expended for debt and family," including oxen, bulls, cows, hay, bushels of rye, etc.; cash received from the estate in 1798, and the amount of debt paid for the estate and expended in the family.

 

The volume also contains diary entries as well as several letters written by Byington to his father during his time in the south.  In the first letter, he apologizes to his father for his aberrant behavior and the argument that led to his leaving Bristol.  In subsequent pages, he describes indigo fields and his business ventures.  Journal entries describe Byington’s journey to and within Georgia.  He comments on carpentry work, saw mills, and life in the South.  Poems, including one on the solidarity of freemasons, are also included.

 

Finally, recipes for varnish, polish, paints, cherry stains, gold lacquer, varnish for machines, dying linen blue, gilding picture frames, boiling oil for rooms, japanning on wood, composition ornaments, and mixing colors are recorded in the volume.

 

Pages 89-113, containing accounts and some of the recipes in the volume, were acquired separately from the rest of the volume.  Whether they actually belong in this volume or represent a fragment of another volume kept by Byington is unclear.

           

 

LANGUAGE OF MATERIALS

 

The materials are in English.

 

 

RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS

 

The photocopy of this document must be used before access to the original will be granted.  Collection is open to the public.  Copyright restrictions may apply.

           

 

PROVENANCE

           

Accession 60x21.4 purchased from John H. Martin.

Accession 74x137 purchased from Bookworm and Silverfish.

 

 

ACCESS POINTS

 

Topics:

            Agriculture - Connecticut - Bristol.

            Architectural drawing.

            Carpentry.

            Decedents' estates - Connecticut - Bristol.

            Dyes and dyeing.

Dwellings - Designs and plans.

Farm produce.

Framing (Building)Gilding.

Freemasons.

House furnishings.

Indigo.

Kitchen utensils.

Lacquer and lacquering.

Manners and customs.

Paint materials.

Sawing.

Stains and staining.

Varnish and varnishing.

Wood finishing.

Workshop recipes.      

Georgia - Description and travel.

Accounts.

Account books.

            Journals.

            Recipes.

            Poems.

            Inventories.

            Letters.

            Carpenters.

            Farmers.

           

 

 

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

 

Location: 31 E

 

 

 

Name and object lists for Doc. 531:

 

 

Names found in Doc. 531 (acc. 74x137)

 

Bartholomew, Jacob

Bolan, Richard

Byington, Danl.

Byington, Isaac

 

Clark, Dimand

Cowles, Elijah

Cowles, Isaac

Curtis, Sarah

Danforth, Jonathan

 

Everet, Dr.

 

Grannes(?), David

 

Hadsell, James

Hart, Gilbert

Hart, John

 

Ives, Enos

 

Lee, James

Lewis, David

Lewis, Josiah

 

Merriman, Dr.

Mitchel & Barns

Mix, Ashbel

 

Navit, David

 

Peck, R.

 

Rich, Capt.

Royce, Rowland

 

Thomson, (Widow)

Tuttle, Loyal

 

Upson, Asa

Upson, Saul

 

Waring, Benjamin

Warren, Elish

Wolcott, Josiah

 

Yale, Thomas

 

 

Objects for which there are recipes mentioned in Doc. 531

 

Chair

Chair, green

Dye

Frame, picture

Gilt

Lacquer

Oil cloth

Paint

Stain

Varnish