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:         Hotchkiss, Hiram, 1805-1869.           

Title:               Account books and loose documents

Dates:             1832-1852

Call No.:         Doc. 1772

Acc. No.:        2018x50.1-.2

Quantity:        2 volumes, 1 folder

Location:        31 J 6

 

 

 

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

 

Hiram Hotchkiss (1805-1869) was a farmer in Hampton, Washington County, New York.  He was the son of Lowly A. Doolittle (1769-1855) and Rufus Hotchkiss (1769-1841), natives of Connecticut who moved to Hampton, New York.  Hiram Hotchkiss married first Lucina Pearce (1807-1857) and then Deborah A. Vredenburgh (widow of Joseph M. Stoddard).  He was an active member of the local Methodist Episcopal Church, serving as one of the trustees, and was interested in civic affairs as evidenced by his running for supervisor.   He appears to have also had a farm in Poultney, Vermont.

 

Hiram is known to have had four daughters.  Lizann or Lizana married Buel G. Streeter (1832-1900).  Candace married Marvin Orlando Stoddard (1840-1914), the son of Joseph M. Stoddard and Deborah A. Vredenburgh (whose second husband was Hiram Hotchkiss).  Maria Elizabeth (1833-1910) married Seaman Asahel Knapp (1833-1911).  Daughter Anna is mentioned in the second account book; the name Burritt Collins is found in connection with this.  Some family trees omit her, while others list her as Anna Delaney, born 1829.  In the 1850 census, Elihu B. Collins was married to a woman named Anna D., and they lived in Poultney.  In later census records, the Collins family lived elsewhere in New York, and he was a dry goods merchant.

 

Hiram Hotchkiss signed his name as Hotchkys, but the family tombstone and all other records spell the name as Hotchkiss.

 

 

SCOPE AND CONTENT

 

Two account books and some loose papers detailing the agricultural work done for and by Hiram Hotchkiss, as well as documenting the building of a parsonage for the Methodist Episcopal Church in Poultney, Vermont.  Hotchkiss hired men to work for him, and includes information about the terms of their payment (wages, plus house, garden, etc.), documents the reasons for the workers taking time off from work (going to election, attending a wedding, etc.), and in general gives details of the work done on a farm: threshing, shearing sheep, planting, haying, tending to apple trees, picking rocks out of the fields, shoveling manure, etc.   The finding aid to this small collection gives more details about the two accounts books and the loose items found in one of them.

 

           

ORGANIZATION

 

The loose items are arranged chronologically.

 

 

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

 

            People:

                        Hotchkiss family.

 

Topics:

            Absenteeism (Labor)

Agricultural laborers - New York (State) - Washington County.

            Agricultural wages.

            Agriculture - Accounting - New York (State) - Washington County.

            Apples - New York (State) - Washington County.

            Dairy farming - New York (State) - Washington County.

            Farm life - New York (State) - Washington County.

            House construction - Vermont - Poultney.

            Labor contract.

            Men’s clothing.

            Parsonages - Vermont - Poultney.

            Political campaigns - New York (State) - Washington County.

            Textile fabrics - Specimen.

            Women employees.

            Account books.

 

 

 

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

 

Location: 31 J 6

 

 

.1         Account book, Hiram Hotchkiss, 1832-1840

 

            A volume packed with information about Hiram Hotchkiss’ dealing with his neighbors, especially in farm accounts.  (One account is signed by his father Rufus Hotchkiss on Hiram’s behalf.)  The volume records transactions in produce such as hay, oats, corn, rye, veal, pork, potatoes, vinegar and cider, sheep, etc.  Farm work such as thrashing, cutting corn, using oxen and horses, working on apple trees, shearing sheep, hoeing, haying, killing hogs, working on a wall, and planting are all mentioned.  Hotchkiss hired boys or men to work for him, and recorded their wages (p. 49: Amisa paid $60 a year; p. 60: Abel Parker to get $105 a year).  Hotchkiss also recorded his employees’ reasons for lost time.  For example, found on page 118 are the following reasons for Cyrus’ lost time: camp meeting, company training, Hartford Convention, election, going to court, celebrating New Year in Poultney, attending a wedding, visiting someone, and others (more of his lost time was recorded on pages 120 and 128).

 

As well, Hotchkiss records payments of taxes, work on roads, and boarding a schoolmaster.  On page 9 are found purchases for David: coarse shoes, a hat, and tobacco; David was probably a farm hand.  Lists of men’s clothing are found on pages 29 and 49, and other clothing and shoes are mentioned elsewhere in the book.  Other expenses include a gun, cash for election, training (probably militia training), a spelling book, candles, camp meeting, a dog (6 weeks old, see p. 118); and on page 91, there are mentions of the Christian Advocate, cash for ministers, and a singing book.

 

The accounts for each person jump from page to page but are clearly marked so it is possible to follow one particular person throughout the book.  The pages are also clearly marked whether the accounts on that page are debits or credits.

 

            [Description of volume: boards covered with marbled paper, leather spine.  “Hiram Hotchkys” is written twice inside the front cover, along with many other notes inside front and back covers.  Pages are lined and ruled for accounts; pages at beginning, end, and pages 95-104 were removed at some point.]

 

           

 

.2         Account book, Hiram Hotchkiss, 1849-1852

 

            Contents and format of this volume are very similar to the first volume.  Special to this volume are records for building a parsonage for the Methodist Episcopal (M.E.) Church in Poultney, Vermont.  On pages 15-16 is found a list of the materials for building the home: boards, shingles, white lead, putty, lights and window sash, nails, etc.  On page 24 is found a record of Clark Searles’ work on the parsonage.  Later records for plaster, nails and such are also probably related to building the parsonage, although possibly for another building.

           

Several times in this volume, Hotchkiss recorded the terms of employment for men he hired.  On page 25 are found the terms for Cyrus Streeter: wages, house rent, apples, plot for growing potatoes, etc.  On page 94 are the terms of employment for Hiram Colvin, and there are records for others as well.   Girls or women also worked for Hotchkiss, and are found in both volume, but he never gave details of their employment. 

 

            Within the accounts, Hotchkiss would mention things like making purchases at Shaw’s store or list a charge for Hiram Willis tapping boots, thus giving the names of other workers in the community.   An interesting record is found on page 100, an account of what “I have don … for my daughter Anna,” mentioning a farm at Poultney.  Burritt is also mentioned in this, not specifically as Anna’s husband but presumably he is so, and Burritt sometimes boarded Hotchkiss’ daughters Candace and Maria. 

 

            [Description of volume: boards covered with marbled paper, leather spine.  The date 1850 is written twice on front cover; a note is written on back cover.  Written on front flyleaf: Hiram Hotchkys Book Hampton.  A number of notes are written inside front and back covers and on first and last flyleaves.  Pages have light lines.]

 

 

 

Folder 3: Loose items from 2018x50.2

 

.3a-b    printed ballots for town officers (2 copies), including

                        Hiram Hotchkiss, supervisor;

                        Peter Farnam for town clerk;

                        Levi W. Manchester for Justice of the Peace;

                        And other men for assessor, commissioner of highways, overseer of the poor, inspectors of election (2 names), collector, constables (2 names), and sealer of weights and measures

 

.4         “We the subscribers do agree to pay the sum … during the present conference year of 1849-50 for the purpose of supporting the preaching of the gospel in Hampton Station, Troy Conference of the M.E. Church.”  Hampton, N.H., June 12, 1849.  Hiram Hotchkiss, Edmund H. Clark, Ira Falkenbery, Hiram Willis, and Orson Woodard signed their names, with Hotchkiss promising to pay the most. 

This is a small booklet made by folding a piece of paper; calculations on last page.

 

.5         Bill: Mrs. H. Hotchkiss bought shoes and a hat from J. J. Joslin, W. Poultney, Aug. 14?, 1852, with writing samples written over the bill, and calculations on the back

 

.6         Note about cider and wood, dated 1852; with calculations on back

 

.7         A prose piece about sleighing on New Year’s day, not dated, signed Peggy;

            Endorsed on back: Peggy, Hampton, N.Y., Comp. No. 20th, with an account dated April 1, 1853, and some calculations

 

.8         July 10th, “ 4th: note about potatoes, no names, no year

 

.9         List of names, with Hiram Hotchkiss at the top and David Willis at the bottom, and various other notes in pencil and pen

 

.10       List of names, written in pencil, L.E.  Prouty at top, H. Hotchkiss at bottom, and calculations

 

.11       A page headed E.B. Collins, with accounts and calculations; on back: notes about people working on house, farm, and fence

 

.12       Slip of paper: “We find our deal all correct … and we will allow the $1.32 cts to Aunt Martha.”  Not signed, not dated, with calculations on front and back

 

.13       Torn fragment of a letter, with part of address: Hotchkiss, Hampton, Washington Co., NY; has initials and tally marks and calculations

 

.14       Slip of paper with notes about produce written in pencil, and calculations

 

.15       slip of paper with calculations on one side, and a note in pencil on the other: This Paper is [illegible] with H. Colvin”

 

.16       one slip of paper, possibly part of a bill, “The above / as folows [sic] / For teach…”

 

.17a-d  Four slips with calculations and sometimes some other words

 

.18       slip of paper mentioning silk, spools of thread, cambric, and brown for linings, which was wrapped around a sample of maroon wool cloth

 

.19       slip of paper headed “Dairy of 1849,” listing quantities of some dairy product (cheese and butter are specified only a few times) traded to Bates and Shaw’s store