Nancy W. Burton copybook

This copybook of mathematical exercises was created by Ann “Nancy” W. Burton, likely a resident of Sussex County, Delaware, between 1815 and 1820. The volume contains rules, examples, tables, and applications of mathematical principles.

On the first page of the volume is a multiplication table, which Burton was instructed to learn by heart. She dated her first set of mathematical exercises February 20, 1815. In the book, Burton practiced addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division with integers as well as compound numbers. She practiced some basic algebra using the rule of three, in which she solved for the variable using equal proportions. Burton frequently calculated the relative value of Delaware currency, “federal money,” and foreign coinage. She worked in Troy, Avoirdupois, and apothecary systems of weights, and used numerous units of measure, including cloth measures, land measurements, and liquid and dry measures. She often used word problems to practice the principles she learned. Her last set of exercises was dated April 17, 1819.

In addition to her mathematical exercises, Burton copied her name and initials throughout the book. Although she typically identified herself as “Nancy W. Burton” or “N.W.B.” at the start of the book, by 1819 she stopped using the nickname “Nancy” and began identifying herself as “Ann W. Burton” or “A.W.B.” Burton included small drawings and scribbles throughout her book. On two pages in the middle of the volume, she copied out an excerpt of the “Sailors’ Hymn,” which she dated March 13, 1819. She also copied excerpts of poems by Mary Robinson and Oliver Goldsmith.

At the end of the volume, there is a record of the deaths of three members of the Paynter family. Burton described the passing of seventeen-year-old Sarah Paynter in August 1820, noting that her “mother [Elizabeth Paynter] and elder sister [Mary Paynter Wilson] were worn down by grief” and “soon fell a prey to the prevailing fever of the Southern climate” in November of the same year.

There are several loose items in this volume, including three geometrical patterns, a small ink drawing of a flower, and a newspaper clipping about drinking cold water mounted on a piece of blue paper. There are also two pieces of paper with charts listing names, dates, and days of the week. Two charts are from February and April 1817 and a third is undated. It is possible that these were school attendance records. Although Nancy W. Burton’s name is not included, the charts list several other members of the Burton family.

This volume consists of 63 leaves of unlined, laid paper bound in brown paper. It contains handwritten text in black ink. There are 6 blank leaves in the volume.