White and Doharty account book

This account book records financial judgments awarded to the firm of White and Doharty of Sussex County, Delaware, dating between 1810 and 1822. It also contains information related to the administration of Alexander White’s estate and the collection of debts on behalf of the Doharty family by Joshua A. Ellegood, dated 1822 to 1834.

Most of the entries in this account book relate to financial judgments awarded to the firm of White and Doharty from 1810 to 1822. Many entries consist of a brief note on the judgment, including the amount awarded to the firm and the cost of legal proceedings. Some of the entries include notations regarding the payment of these judgments, which often happened months or years later. While some litigants chose to pay White and Doharty in cash or notes on other individuals, others paid in livestock, foodstuffs, cords of wood, textiles, or even labor. It appears that some individuals’ belongings were seized and sold to cover their debts. The bookkeeper often included the sundry costs associated with recovering the debt, including payments to constables, witnesses, and collectors. White and Doharty sought judgments against a large number of local residents, including women and African Americans. African American litigants’ names were followed by the word “Negro” in these entries. An alphabetical index of the debtors pursued by White and Doharty was laid into the front of this volume.

Following these judgments in this volume, there are accounts regarding the “Estate of White & Doharty dec’d,” presumably recorded following Alexander White’s death around 1822. These accounts were settled by John Doharty, who later in the volume recorded a statement transferring the power to collect debts on behalf of the Doharty family to Joshua A. Ellegood on May 23, 1834. Entries following this statement indicate that Ellegood settled many of the Doharty family’s debts in 1834.

The back of the volume contains the accounts of the Estate of Alexander White, dated October 21, 1822, to March 6, 1827. An alphabetical list of debtors to White’s estate has been laid into the front of the volume.

Near the back of the volume, there is a list of plants and herbs thought to treat various physical ailments, including sumac bark, ginger root, and red raspberry leaves. Two recipes are noted as coming “from a news paper.”

The volume is bound with paper over boards and has a brown leather spine. The paper on the front and back cover is printed with stylized blue eyes. The volume contains 164 pages of wove paper with vertical lines forming columns. 56 of these pages contain handwritten notations in black ink. The alphabetical index laid into the front of the volume is enclosed in a paper wrapper decorated with blue and yellow vertical stripes.