Name/Title
Matthew Frame & Son day book, 1815-1825Entry/Object ID
ARC870Scope and Content
On the outside of the back cover of this leather-bound ledger is handwritten DAY Book for M. Frame & Son. (See Background below for information on Frame & Son.) On the spine ACCOUNTANTS CASH BOOK is stamped in gold. Underneath these words is handwritten 18 (rest missing due to hole in covering) and 1825. Writing on the front cover is illegible except for number 50.
This ledger was used for two primary purposes: recording what may be payments to Matthew Frame, 1815 to 1817 and as a day book for Matthew Frame & Son mercantile business in Charles Town, 1824 and 1825.
The first three pages, unnumbered, contain a series of entries , some dated 1824 and 1825 and others undated. Most are marked through. JJ Frame and John James Frame are handwritten on page 1.
On the following 17 unnumbered pages are recorded what may be payments to Matthew Frame from September 13, 1815, to February 8, 1817. At the top of the page are written Charles Town, the day of the week, and the date. There may be lists under several dates on a page. Under the date are entries in three columns. Column one contains the names of persons. The second appears to be the source of money, e.g., self, the name of a person, dividend, note, rent, 5th installment. The third contains the amount of money involved in the transaction.
The bulk of the ledger, pages numbered 1 to 567, is a day book for Matthew Frame & Son. The book contains daily transactions with customers in chronological order from January 1, 1824, to October 30, 1825. 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 probably 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 was owed. The right column contains the amount of the transaction. Totals for the day are written at the bottom of some pages.
The last four pages contain miscellaneous transactions, some concerning financial notes. Some entries are crossed through.
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
486Source or Donor
Burns, John P., Jr.Acquisition Method
GiftArchive Details
Date(s) of Creation
1815 - 1825Archive Size/Extent
One bound record book: 16" x 6 7/8" x 2 1/2"Archive Notes
Date(s) Created: 1815-1825