This old business ledger book intrigued me! After all I’m a retired CPA, so the handwritten debits and credits meticulously recording each transaction from 1851-1880 mesmerized me. The old ledger was later owned, perhaps purchased at an antique store or flea market, by Stone County Ironworks, “America’s Blacksmith Shop” in Mountain View, Arkansas. In 2008 the business sold and my husband, the former general manager, brought the old ledger home. I just recently ran across the old ledger and began researching it’s origin.
The opening pages of the old ledger provided the winning clues! The left page reads “E.M. Pratt, Girard, Pa.” The second page has initials J. E. P. and within each letter, a faint pencil inscribes the rest of his name, John Edward Pratt. E.M. Pratt’s name appears again with Nov. 3rd under it. Having two names AND a location are about the best clues you can hope for in a genealogy hunt. I went to FamilySearch.org where I found John Edward Pratt, (1828-1919), and a contributor had even entered his occupation as “wagonmaker.” This line of work aligned precisely with the type of entries in the book: carriage and wagon repairs, etc. FamilySearch showed John Edward Pratt and his wife Harriet Sisson Pratt had one child, a son named Earl M. Pratt, hence the E.M. Pratt signature is identified. Perhaps the father and son were in business together. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/L2RC-ZYQ
The opening page of the ledger is dated 1851 and includes the purchase of a day book for 94 cents and one ledger (presumably this one) for $1.75. There’s an entry for Griffith Pritchet, probably the first employee, “commenced employment April 3rd at $1.00 per day.” That’s about $40 in today’s dollars. In subsequent entries, Griffith’s last name is entered as Prichards. Here’s a representative page from the ledger. Entries include “to fix harrow.” I’d at least heard this term referring to an implement that breaks up clods on plowed ground. “Whiffletree” was an unfamiliar term, but Google enlightened me that it’s the apparatus utilized when putting two beasts of burden together to pull a single load. These pages are among the last entries in the ledger, dated in the year 1880. I’m not sure if they started a new ledger, or the business closed, or the owner(s) retired. There are a few blank pages after these entries, and then the sweet surprise below:Young Mabel Pratt made an entry in the ledger too! Near the back, she has included a leaf (now about 125 years old!) Sketches of the leaf, a grid with numbers 1-27, and other sketches are on the two pages. FamilySearch shows that Mabel was born in 1891 to Earl M. Pratt and Nettie Goss Pratt. Mabel died in 1986. Her artwork was probably done about 1900 when she was about age nine. This would have been about 20 years after the old ledger was retired. This was sure confirmation of a proper match, finding three generations identified in the ledger.
The Pratt family was easily identified using FamilySearch.org. The best part of the search was when I discovered that one of the contributors to the Pratt profiles at FamilySearch is actually the granddaughter of Mabel, the great granddaughter of Earl Pratt and great-great granddaughter of John Pratt. Additionally, before I began my research into the Pratts, I had googled to find that there is an impressive museum in Girard, PA, now named the Hagen History Center. It’s Girard campus includes two historical homes built in 1858 and 1861, the same era as the ledger! I had surmised this would be a great place for the book to be sent. After finding the name of Mabel’s granddaughter, Melanie, I also found that she was, and may still be, a curator at the museum. I’ve messaged Melanie and can’t wait for her response when she sees this old family treasure, originating 175 years ago. I’m anticipating this will be a very happy return!
