Taking Care of Business - 1838

Dear Diary,

In the same package I received last Thursday that contained a scrapbook from my grandmother, there was this accounts book kept by my great-great grandfather.  This is the first page of it, dated 1838.  My  great-great grandfather was just 21 years old.  He went to work as a hired farm hand for 10 months and made $110.  Beneath, he carefully recorded expenses.  It has also given me a clue to why I may be having trouble tracing this line further back.  At the time he wrote his last name as "Shearman".  That is the old English variation of "Sherman".  I will try to explore that name now and see what I find.

Now, Richard wasn't much of a speller and I chuckled at the "creative" ways he rendered words but I don't suppose it was that important at the time.  What was important was recording every cent. "Take care of the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves." The last day recorded was 1863.  It is a great primary source for looking at the day to day life of a farmer in the mid-1800's and a window into his world for me.

Grandpa Richard also pasted in some newspaper clippings and I found one particularly interesting. (Extra photo) It lists the presidents...all 8 of them!  When I was 21 there had been 37 presidents!  This little scrap of paper really put things in perspective for me.  How great a gulf of time separates us but seeing his carefully penned notes draws me closer to this man.  Perhaps this journal will do the same for some distant descendant of mine one day.