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: Bruce, Charles, 1805-1892
Title: Account book and other records
Dates: 1836-1846
Call No.: Doc. 1771
Acc. No.: 2018x49
Quantity: 1 volume, 1 folder
Location: 31 J 6
BIOGRAPHICAL
STATEMENT
Charles Bruce was a toolmaker and farm laborer in
Nottingham, Rockingham County, New Hampshire.
Census records of 1860, 1870, and 1880 record his occupation as house
carpenter. He was born in Marlborough, Massachusetts,
in December 1805, the son of Lydia Eager (1774-1856) and Joel Bruce. At some point, Bruce moved to Nottingham, New
Hampshire. He married Mary McDaniels
(1789-1845), and they had a daughter Angeline (1826-1911; married Edmund
Gibbs). (In the 1880 census, another
daughter and her husband, Eldora and Lorenzo Garland, are also listed as living
with him. However, Eldora was actually
his granddaughter; her parents were Angeline and Edmund Gibbs.) Charles Bruce died in 1892.
SCOPE AND
CONTENT
Account book and other miscellaneous records
documenting the work of Charles Bruce of Nottingham, Rockingham County, New
Hampshire, 1836-1846. Bruce repaired and
made cutting tools, especially axes, chisels, and knives. He also performed much farm labor, such as
haying, ploughing, planting, and shoveling manure. As well, he split rocks, built a shop and a
house, and did other work. He was often
paid with produce, but also with cash.
A number of loose items were found in the account
book, including promissory notes and receipted bills, most related to Charles
Bruce. Interestingly, found among these
loose items are receipts signed by Nottingham school teachers Abby A. Glass and
Elizabeth A. Thompson, acknowledging payment of their wages in December
1846. An undated piece of paper lists
students and number of weeks and days each attended school. A printed document lists the candidates of
the Democratic Republican party for New Hampshire state offices, headed by Noah
Martin for governor. (He served as
governor 1852-1854.) A number of the
loose papers are simple scraps of paper covered with arithmetic calculations.
ORGANIZATION
The entries are roughly in chronological 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 Dan Casavant, Rare Books.
ACCESS POINTS
Topics:
Agricultural laborers – New
Hampshire – Rockingham County.
Axes.
Chisels.
Cutting tools.
Forests and
forestry – New Hampshire.
House
construction – New Hampshire – Rockingham County.
Knives.
Political
campaigns – New Hampshire.
Schools – New
Hampshire – Rockingham County.
Women teachers –
New Hampshire – Rockingham County.
Workshops – New
Hampshire – Rockingham County.
Account books.
Daybooks.
DETAILED
DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION
Location: 31 J 6
Folder 1:
.1 account
book, 1836-1846
The volume opens with accounts for
labor, 1836-1844: digging well, hoeing, fencing, cutting grain, mowing, making
cider, planting, spreading dung and shoveling manure, picking rocks, splitting
stone, work on mill and roads, trimming trees, and cutting wood, but
occasionally Bruce recorded making a knife.
These accounts are arranged by the name of the person for whom Bruce
worked.
Next
are found undated records for building and stocking a shop, among the items
stocked were iron, steel, borax, coal (spelled cole), and a file.
Then are found
daybook entries, from Dec. 23, 1841-Jan. 10, 1843, for repairing and sometimes making
cutting tools: axes, chisels, knives, plane irons, bits; he especially recorded
new steeling or upsetting axes; also mentioned are froes, nippers, and scythes. He provided a trap spring, hardened a broad
axe, sold spring clasps and a hammer, fixed a shave, made a chip for a plough,
made an adze, etc.
After these
daybook entries, Bruce reverts to the accounts for labor, again arranged by the
name of the person for whom he worked, and covering 1845-1846. Much of this work was farm labor: haying,
ploughing, shearing sheep. He was often
paid with produce, but also with boards, planks, cash, and other goods.
Towards the end
of the volume is an account dated 1843 and headed “paid out for articles on
house.” Bruce purchased boards, nails,
lime, bricks, glass, mantle iron, door fastenings, window frame and sash, and a
door and frame, and names the men from whom he made these purchases. Several pages later, Bruce recorded the names
of those who worked on the house and cellar, tallying the number of days each
man worked, although he did not note what the men did.
The volume ends
with records of sales of timber and hemlock bark sold off the Barington [sic]
lot, and taxes paid on said lot.
Note: Loose items were
removed from the volume and placed in folder 2.
[Description of volume:
marbled paper-covered boards and a leather spine. On that part of the spine which wraps over
the front cover is written Charles Bruce, Nottingham, 1836, N.H. Pages are lined and ruled for accounts; about
one-third are blank.]
Folder 2:
loose items removed from account book
.2 List
of candidates for Democratic Republican ticket, New Hampshire, no date. Includes
Noah Martin for
governor [he served 1852-1854];
Asa P. Care for
railroad commissioner;
Moses Eaton, Jr.
for councilor;
John S. Wells,
senator;
Winthrop H.
Dudley, treasurer;
Gideon Webster,
register;
George H.
Taylor, Daniel Melcher, and John M. Weare, all for road commissioners
Decorated with an eagle holding a banner for Democracy,
with quotations from Andrew Jackson
.3 Promise to pay: [Charles Bruce, whose
name has been removed], no place, Jan. 3, 1835, promises to pay a sum to
William W. Stickney;
On back: Bruce note, with two
records of payments received, Jan. 1, 1839 and Jan. 26, 1841
.4 Promise to pay: [Charles Bruce, whose
name has been removed], Nottingham, May 26 1837, promises to pay a sum to
Demerett & Dame[?];
On back: Charles Bruce, May 26,
1837, the amount, and a note that a payment was made Feb. 23, 1838
.5 Promise to pay: [Charles Bruce, whose
name has been removed], Nottingham, Nov. 20, 1837, promises to pay a sum to
James Tompson [sic]
.6 Receipted bill: William B. Manning, no
place, Sept. 14, 1838-Jan. 4, 1841, was paid for setting a tire, showing two
horses (names James Thompson in these charges), and pounds of tire iron (names
Charles Bruce in this charge)
.7 B. Cilley, credit, 1840, May 4 to
August 1842, for iron and a peck of corn
.8 Receipted bill: John P. Lyman,
Portsmouth, Dec. 28, 1841, was paid by James Thompson for pounds of materials,
including cast steel, and a file
On
printed billhead: importer & dealer in bar iron, steel, nails, hoops, …
coach-springs, anvils, … coal, borax… [and a variety of other metal goods]
.9 Receipted bill: John P. Lyman,
Portsmouth, May 29, 1842, was paid by Charles Bruce for pounds of materials,
including cast steel, and a file
.10 Joseph Brown, to C. Bruce, debt, July 13,
1843, to labor done, July 13-January 1844: work on cutting grain and withe[?],
splitting stones, veal, and “3 days on cole”
[almost exact
duplicate of a page in the account book]
.11 Joseph Brown, credit, July 15, 1843, for
labor done, Aug. 12-Oct. 20: work on cellar wall, splitting stones, stone work,
cutting wood
[almost exact
duplicate of a page in the account book]
.12 Bill, James L. Clark, Nottingham, Aug. 2,
1843, to Charles Bruce, for sawing boards and “pulling and sticking up”
.13 Note about work, 1843: James Tompson
worked 67 days and his oxen 15 days
.14 B. Cilley to C. Bruce, Debt, 1844, July 1
to Aug. 13, 1845: for hoeing and cutting grain
.15 Receipt:
W. Tredick was paid for purchases made July 16, 1844: textile fabrics and
sewing
supplies: alpaca, canvas, Silesia, cambric, silk, braid[?], thread;
On
back: calculations
.16 Record of work: April 1, 1845-April 6,
1846; the 1845 records give no names, just numbers of days; the records for
1846 specify the labor was for G. Denett, and gives the days of lost time
.17 Receipt: Elizabeth A. Thompson,
Nottingham, Dec. 18, 1846, received pay for teaching school
.18 Receipt: Abby A. Glass, Nottingham, Dec.
23, 1846, received pay for teaching school
.19 Receipt: H. P. Daniels, Somerworth, Grate
Falls, April 28, 1847, received payment from Charles Bruce for his board;
Endorsed on back: H. P.
Daniels, receict for 1847
.20 Promise to pay: [Charles Bruce, whose
name has been removed], Nottingham, Aug. 14, 1847, promises to pay a sum to
Charles Cabot;
written on back:
C. Bruce note; also calculations
.21 Receipt: Jabez Green, Nottingham, April
4, 184?, was paid by Charles Bruce
.22 Receipted bill: N. W. Churchill, Dover,
N.H., May 5, 1852, received payment from Charles Bruce for feathers and yards
of something.
.23 School attendance record, no date: list
of students who attended school, the number of weeks and days each attended,
and a note that the student had paid;
Endorsed
on back: District Bill;
Paper
blind embossed with stationery company’s logo: Pro Patria, Hudson
.24 Record of days worked for C.B., oxen, and
mare, no date
.25 Sheet of paper with calculations, prices
for corn, salt fish, flour, coffee, and expenses to Portsmouth, no date;
Blind
embossed with profile of Major General William Henry Harrison
.26 At head: Wood Shead[?], list of materials
and costs; includes hemlock and pine boards, clapboards, sash, glass, putty,
nails, butts, handles, labor, hinges, lock, etc., includes a charge for Tuttle
Jr.
.27 At head: Joseph D. Weltch [sic], with
charges for new steeling an axe, making 2 chisels, and upsetting 3 axes; no
date;
On back: various
calculations
.28a-b Two printed poems, from a newspaper “Thine
Eyes,” by Mrs. Corolla H. Criswell, written for the True Flag (from marriages
on back, this is circa May 1852); and “Oh, When Wilt Thou be Mine!,” by Henry
P. Grattan
.29 Slip
of paper with name Daniel Garland, 1.1.19, with figures for credit and debit on
back
[mostly not
numbered] Many slips of paper
on which there are just calculations; one sheet is blind embossed with profile
of Major General William Henry Harrison (.30); on another sheet is written
Nottingham Rockingham NH (.31); and on a third are written dimensions of
something (.32)