Matthew Frame and Frame & Lock day book, 1815-1816

Archive

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Jefferson County Museum

Name/Title

Matthew Frame and Frame & Lock day book, 1815-1816

Entry/Object ID

ARC869

Scope and Content

This bound day book contains daily transactions in 1815 and 1816 of two Charles Town mercantile businesses: one operated by Matthew Frame and one, Frame & Lock, by Matthew Frame and William French Lock. (See Background below for more information on Matthew Frame and Frame & Lock.) Matthew Frame entries The first section of the book contains daily transactions in chronological order with customers of Matthew Frame from July 25, 1815, to November 17, 1816. Single pages are numbered from 1 to 253. At the top of each page are written the page number, Charles Town, and the date. The rest of the page is divided into three columns. The left column contains a number, and sometimes mem, likely indicating the page number of the ledger to which this transaction was posted. The middle column contains the name of the customer, the debts incurred for purchases or the payments made on what is owed. The right column contains the amount of the transaction. Frame & Lock entries The second section contains daily transactions in chronological order with customers of Frame & Lock from April 13 to June 13, 1816. Single pages are numbered from 1 to 93. On page 1 is written Day Book Frame & Lock April 13th_ 1816. The organization of the page is similar to that in the first section. At the top of each page are written the page number, Charles Town, the date, and the day of the week. Charles Town does not appear on all pages. The columns are used in the same way as in the Frame section. In addition in the left column, PL and a page number appear occasionally. PL refers to Petty Ledger, the second section of the ledger ARC868. The transactions from this day book are posted in the Petty Ledger at the page numbers written in the left column of the day book. Other details: On the inside front cover are written: Matthew Frame twice, Chs Town, and debt to Capt Downey saw mill and calculations concerning planks. On the last page are miscellaneous entries. Background: This ledger, along with eight others and loose papers in the J.P. Burns Family Matthew Frame Ledgers Collection, relates to mercantile businesses operated by Matthew Frame (died 1848, age 81) in Charles Town from the late 18th century to the 1830s. Matthew Frame immigrated to Charles Town from Ireland in the late 18th century, married Massa (Massey) Gibbs (died 1854, age 78), established a mercantile business, and was appointed Charles Town's first postmaster in 1799. Although it's not clear when he opened his business, entries in ARC179 date from 1791. According to the dated entries in the nine Burns Family ledgers and ARC866, Matthew Frame appears to have been the sole operator of his business until about 1815 to 1816 when he appears to have joined with William French Lock (1788-1850) to form Frame & Lock, also a mercantile business in Charles Town.Then about 1820, Frame & Lock split into two mercantile businesses: Matthew Frame & Co and W. F. Lock & Co. Around 1822 to 1824, Frame joined with his son John James Frame (died 1834, age 30) to form Matthew Frame & Son mercantile business, which appears to have operated until 1834 when John James Frame died. See Media in ARC866 for location of M. Frame's store in Charles Town.

Acquisition

Accession

486

Source or Donor

Burns, John P., Jr.

Acquisition Method

Gift

Archive Details

Date(s) of Creation

1815 - 1816

Archive Size/Extent

One bound record book: 15 1/8" x 6 3/4" x 1 3/8"

Archive Notes

Date(s) Created: 1815-1816