Joshua A. Ellegood account book

This ledger was kept by Joshua A. Ellegood, Justice of the Peace for Sussex County, Delaware, and members of the Ellegood family between 1816 and 1857. It consists primarily of financial transactions involving wills, warrants, judgments, and other legal matters.

Most of the transactions in this ledger relate to Ellegood’s work as Justice of the Peace for Sussex County, Delaware. An alphabetical index of his debtors and creditors has been laid into the front of the volume. Ellegood employed a double-entry form of bookkeeping, listing each individual’s debts on the left-hand page and their credit payments to him on the right-hand page. Although some of the debt and credit entries include the date of the transaction, it appears that Ellegood copied many entries from court dockets. For these transactions, Ellegood listed the corresponding court docket volume and page number. Ellegood charged individuals for a variety of legal services, including writing wills, drawing up agreements between parties, and transcribing judgments. He also occasionally sold goods, including timber for sailing vessels, bacon, and coffee. His debtors primarily paid him in cash and notes, but sometimes settled their accounts with goods and labor. There are several pieces of paper with addenda to accounts pinned to pages or laid in the volume.

Ellegood sometimes noted the race of his debtors and creditors. He also occasionally recorded why a debt had not been paid in full. Several accounts noted that the debtor was “dead & insolvent.” Ellegood stated that Charles Degnen did not pay his debt for $0.58 “being run away.”