Name/Title
Index to a Frame & Lock ledgerEntry/Object ID
ARC875Scope and Content
Handwritten on the outer front cover of this soft-bound book is Frame & Lock (see below) as well as partially legible words and numbers. Inside are unnumbered pages of an alphabetical list of names followed by a number. This book is likely an index to customers and the page numbers of their accounts recorded in a separate ledger. There are no dates in the book.
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
Archive Size/Extent
One record book: 15½" x 5 5/8" x ¼"