The store ledger account featured here was William Longmire’s own. And what an active account it was! Note the year 1743 and that the account is already quite robust and ongoing from previous entries. William has had this account for some indeterminate time prior and a balance is carried over – which you can see at top left of the debit side of the account. Hmmm, 2 levies are recorded. William may have escaped the gallows but the taxman, that’s another story. Nonetheless this could speak of a certain level of success for William that he was even taxed in the first place. What could be more comforting? Actually, in William’s case I’m sure he did not mind not having to work the fields or the iron mines at the lower end of the county. That he even had a position — as a free man – working indoors as a clerk, handling money, silver and gold, pistoles, and what have you was surely a minor miracle – for a convicted felon. Pay a few taxes to the county cofers and the church parish? No problem.

As can be seen elsewhere in this blog William not only worked for the Clerk of the Court, Col Thomas Turner, at court, but also at Turner’s store nearby. William was not only employed but gainfully so. A look at the items he purchased over the years puts him in the upper rungs of the consumer class. Not many common citizens of his day had half a dozen knives and forks, quires of paper, or books for that matter. Yet we see here that once William gained his position with Col Turner he fully exploited it by not only purchasing items of comfort but also large amounts of cloth – probably for his wife to make clothes for the family and others as supplemental income. And William no doubt had use for the paper, probably writing deeds and wills and other documents on the side. In later posts I will look more into his accounts and relationships with others whose names appear on William’s accounts and how and why his appear on others.