Friday, August 23, 2019

David Hays Account Book, Bedford, Westchester County, NY 1770 David Ferris


Following is an excerpt from John Hays Account Book, page 10.

Purchases
1770
David Ferris

May 22: Rum, 8 pence
July 30: 2 yds Stripe @ 3 shillings ea., Rum 4 pence; the 18th: 1/2 gallon Rum 2 shillings, 9 pence
August 23: 1/2 gallon Molasses 1 shilling, 6 pence; September 7: Sugar for Styles 2 shilling, 9 pence
September 6: 1 broom 9 pence

1771
January 18: Rum 2 shillings, 5 pence

Credits to David Ferris Account:

1770
August 18 By Cash 2 shillings, 6 pence; By Wheat 7 shillings, 2-1/4 pence
December 6: By Wheat 6 sillings, 6-3/4 pence

1771
February 29: By Wheat & Cash 10 pence

Source: Hays, David. Account book. Bedford: 1770-1775, 231 pgs. Hayes Family Papers. Westchester County Historical Society. westchesterhistory.com. Photocopies, Sept., 1995.




Sunday, August 11, 2019

Hays Account Book Excerpt Abram Higgins 1770-1773 Bedford, Westchester county, NY

Excerpt from Hays Account Book, Bedford, Westchester county, New York

Purchases by Abram Higgins:

1770
March 15: Sundry, 1 £, 3 shillings, 10 pence
April 3: 1 quart rum, 1 shilling, 6 pence
May 18: ½ gallon rum, 2 shillings, 6 pence
November 12: 1 gallon rum, 4 shillings, 10 pence

1771
May 28: 1 quart rum, son Joseph, 1 shilling, 2 pence
Nov. 21: 1 Corn fan, 14 shillings
   [for a total, from 1770 and 1771, of] 2 £, 7 shillings, 10 pence


Credits to Abram Higgins account:

1771
May 28: 2 bushels corn @3/6 [for a total of] 7 shillings
[May 28] by cash: 16 shillings 3 pence
November 5 by Cash in full: 10 shillings, 7 pence

1773
February 9: by wheat & cash: 14 shillings
   [for a total, from 1771 and 1773, of] 2 £, 7 shillings, 10 pence


Source:
Hays, David. Account book. Bedford: 1770-1775, 231 pgs. Hayes Family Papers. Westchester County Historical Society. westchesterhistory.com. Photocopies, Sept., 1995.

Wednesday, July 31, 2019

David Hays Store in Bedford, John Clark Purchases 1770 and 1771

Pg. 31, Debits
John Clark, Jnr,
1770
August 27 Iron & Indigo 3 shillings, 6 pence
1771
June 22 1 quart Cyder [sic] 4 pence
July 15 1 gal Rum 4 shillings, 9 pence
August 6 1 quart Rum 1 shilling, 3 pence
19 Rum & Molasses 3 shillings, 3 pence
28 1 gal Rum 5 shillings
29 ½ gal Rum 2 shillings, 6 pence
October 24 Cloth & Mohair 33 shillings, 2 pence
December 10 Corsy & Mohair 7 shillings, 2 pence
1772
February 24 wine 3 shillings
March 20 1 gal Rum 7 shillings
[TOTAL:] £ 3, 10 shillings, 11 pence

Credits:
1771
October 24 1 calf 12 shillings
1772
March 30 Balance Carried Forward £ 2, 18 shilling, 11 pence

Note: Rum was a common beverage at the time, and was safer to drink than water. It was also cheap. I could not find any reliable sources on this topic to get a better understanding about how dilute or potent rum would have been for day-to-day family consumption.

Source:
Hays, David. Account book. Bedford: 1770-1775, 231 pgs. Hayes Family Papers. Westchester County Historical Society. westchesterhistory.com. Photocopies, Sept., 1995.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Recent Updates to Cornish Family Tree on Ancestry

Recently, I added an image of Abijah Clark (son of Ichabod and grandson of John Clark (1740-1818) to the Clark side of my family tree. He lived in Chautauqua county, New York.

I added a transcript of Warner Lake's will. He resided in Springport, Cayuga county and Mount Morris, Livingston county, New York.

I also added an annotated transcript of a letter written by Jotham Clark (grandson of John Clark) to his niece, Mary Clark in 1848.

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Rootsweb Hosted John Clark 1740-1818 Website

URL for the John Clark website: 

https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~clark49heritage/genealogy/JohnClark_Index.html

Updating Website, Ancestry tree, etc

I am updating my electronic records on the Rootsweb hosted John Clark 1740 website, my Ancestry Cornish Family tree, this blog, and purging my papers. I have many things to post, so I will post here and on Ancestry to my Cornish Family Tree under the subject of the post.

My Bedford and Pound Ridge surnames are Clark, Weed, Westcott, Scofield and many more. My goal is to eliminate my piles of loose genealogy papers and notes, and clean up my records on Ancestry.

Because the Ancestry tree was built in spurts, over time, and using Ancestry's "hints" and borrowing from other trees, some information may be inaccurate. For the past two years I have scrutinized information more carefully. I have added a lot of information, but where you find few sources, the information may have research pending.

Ancestry has recently added tags ("unverified," "actively researching," etc.) to make it obvious to the page viewer that verification may be pending.

I have spent months reviewing sources as near to original as possible. I have learned to review published accounts with skepticism where those accounts contain lineages of hundreds of people when it is obvious the author/authors could not have researched those many people. I have found that some authors make numerous assumptions about relationships within a particular surname. Most of the grossly negligent genealogies were published in the late 19th century.

There are very early historical accounts that are sure to yield pieces of the Clark puzzle. The review of which demands patience, time, and the ability to trace the various lines. I only have electronic copies available to me. There may be many early resources I do not, and will not, have available to me.

My goal is to assemble a well-sourced and most probable scenario of our earliest New England forefathers for the time period 1620-1740; the four generations in question. Two of those generations, perhaps William, Sr. and William, Jr. of Bedford and Stamford, should be focused on first. Collecting as much fact as possible should make the picture of those two generations more clear.

From there, it would be wise to study the family groups and allied families to formulate a scientifically sound hypothesis about the earliest two or three generations to determine when and where they immigrated to New England.

I find myself without a collaborative research partner, so this mission will not be a speedy one. Also interfering with my progress, is sorting through old notes and papers on the dozens of family lines I have chased over the years. Future research is focused on the Bedford Clark line only.

John Clark 1740 Website is Back

Hurray!

This week I discovered my Rootsweb site is back online. It may have been back for some time, but I had not checked in almost a year. I had given up on Rootsweb some time ago, so I was delighted to see it back.

I also was FINALLY able to recover access to this blog, which I had also given up on and started a NEW blog this week. So there are two John Clark blogs. I will transfer the post from the new one and delete it since I have this one back.