Description

This volume is the twenty-first in a series devoted to presenting a transcription of the surviving serial manuscript records for the town of Wilmington, Essex County, New York, in the High Peaks region of the Adirondack Mountains. The blacksmith ledger transcribed herein was found in the old Warren/Haselton house located in the hamlet of Haselton (formerly known as Markhamville), in the town of Wilmington, when it was put up for sale by George Warren in 2006. The house had been in the Haselton and Warren families since the mid-1800s. The provenance of the ledger is not clear; initially, it was most likely to have been the ledger of Timothy Haselton, and then of his son, Daniel. It is also possible that the initial forty-eight pages involved Nathan B. Markham. Genealogists and family historians should find the Haselton blacksmith ledger of considerable value. It captures a somewhat different population than that of the village of Wilmington's general store ledger, 1852-1854. A prime example will be the very large number of entries for Chancey Wilcox. The ledger reveals a complex web of commercial relations and transactions at the sub-town level, and specifically for a hamlet located between the villages of Wilmington and Black Brook. And the entries for government service and non-farm labor will significantly add to an understanding of economic activities at the personal level. Although the ledger primarily concerns blacksmithing tasks and equipment, it also mentions a great variety of goods and tasks, ranging from traditional blacksmith work to grocery store goods. Another significant part of the ledger's contents was the important role of the iron ore industry. To aid the reader, a glossary of unfamiliar terms follows the introduction. A full name index adds to the value of this work.