Frame & Lock and Frame & Son invoice book, 1816-1826

Name/Title

Entry/Object ID

ARC871

Scope and Content

This bound ledger contains invoices for transactions with Baltimore merchants from whom Frame & Lock and Matthew Frame & Son purchased goods for their mercantile businesses.(See Background below for information on Frame & Lock and Frame & Son.) On the front cover is handwritten Invoice book 1816. Handwriting on the back cover is illegible. Frame & Lock invoices The first section is an invoice book for 1816-1820 for transactions between Baltimore merchants and Frame & Lock, operated by Matthew Frame and William French Lock. On page 1 are handwritten Frame & Locks Invoice Book, April 15, 1816, and John James Frame (twice). The next four pages are an alphabetical index to the Baltimore merchants. Each name is associated with a folio page where transactions with the merchant are recorded. The following 39 folio pages record purchases from and payments to the Baltimore merchants between April 4, 1816, and May 1, 1820. A few of the loose bills in ARC935 are copied into this portion of the ledger. Matthew Frame & Son invoices On the 38th and penultimate Frame & Lock folio page is written Matthew Frame's & Son's Invoice Book January 22, 1824. The following nearly 75 unnumbered single pages record transactions with Baltimore merchants between November 26, 1823, and October 21, 1826. 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 likely was 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 for digital scans (PDF) of the ledger. To view, contact the Jefferson County Museum. 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

1816 - 1826

Archive Size/Extent

One bound record book: 15" x 6 1/4" x ¾"

Archive Notes

Date(s) Created: 1816-1826