John McIntire farm ledger

This ledger was kept by John McIntire between 1809 and 1851 to record the accounts for his farm in New Castle County, Delaware, or Chester County, Pennsylvania.

The ledger consists of farmer John McIntire’s accounts with neighbors, family members, and business associates between 1809 and 1851. Several of the pages at the front of the volume have been torn out, leaving fragments with dates and partial accounts. McIntire utilized a double-entry system to keep accounts, recording debts and credits for a particular individual on facing pages. On one of the torn pages, McIntire noted that unknown individual accrued $11.00 in credit for making a coffin for his son Samuel in 1816. These accounts highlight the wide variety of goods McIntire exchanged with neighbors and business associates, including produce, livestock, apple whiskey, meat, and textiles. While some parties made payments to McIntire in cash, many accrued credit by working for him harvesting crops, dressing and hackling flax, spinning yarn and thread, and doing repairs. Others paid debts and earned credit by doing tailoring work or crafting farm equipment. Mary Steel earned credit by boarding McIntire’s daughter Eliza while Samuel Sharp, Jr., paid part of his debt to McIntire by training his son Allen in surveying. McIntire frequently noted that account holders were traveling to Wilmington, Delaware.

McIntire occasionally noted the race of his creditors and debtors, for instance, describing Richard Gibson as “a man of colour.” A man identified only as “Negroe Pink” received corn and a horse from McIntire in payment in exchange for his work planting and harvesting, spinning tow yarn, quarrying stone, and providing McIntire with a quart of French brandy.

McIntire kept formal accounts with several family members, including his sons Albert G. and James M. McIntire, who were described as acting “in Co.” in entries dating from 1829 to 1833. On the last page of the ledger, McIntire wrote “My son Andrew McIntire went to live with Doctor John Bay the 20th of March 1848. My son Albert G. McIntire moved from Delaware into Pennsylvania the 22nd of March 1848.” An inscription below this reads “John McIntire departed this life July 18th 1853.”

This volume is bound in brown leather over boards. There is a tooled border around the front and back covers and the initials “I.M.I.” are handwritten in black ink at the top of the front cover. There are five raised bands on the spine and a red paper label with the word “DAYBOOK” in gilt lettering. The volume contains 314 pages of laid paper with vertical columns for keeping accounts. The entries are handwritten in black ink. Many of the pages feature the watermark “J. WEBB” or the Britannia watermark.