This collection consists of four bound account books, including two ledgers and two
day books with 1,468 pages, less pages overwritten and cut. These volumes record transactions
of a store located in Tyrrell County. The business, known as F. F. Fagan and Company,
was active from 1832 to 1839. Both cash and barter systems were in use. Presumably,the
store served as a post office during Fagan's years as postmaster of Columbia.
Food staples available at the store included roe herring and corn by the barrel, spices,
coffee, and tea. Tobacco and spirits were purchased frequently. Medicines were limited
to bottled syrups and opium. Cloth was often described in terms of color and quality,
such as black cambric, super fine checks, silk vesting, black bombazine, black bombazell,
red flannel, blue-black gros de Naples, figured Marseilles, and Italian crepe. Shirting,
calico, cotton, duck, gingham, muslin, silk, Osnaburg, and Valencia were also sold.
Accessories included parasols, fur hats, kid gloves, and silk hose. Footwear was made
from a range of materials, such as morocco [leather], prunel [twill-woven worsted],
buckskin, and seal skin. Items for the household and farm included coffee pots, enamel
bowls, pitchers, forks, knives, flints, fish hooks, weeding hoes, padlocks, and trunk
locks. Rarer items were Jew's harps, spectacles, band boxes, and spelling boxes.
A separate lumber account indicates that this was a thriving part of Fagan's and Halsey's
business. Customers brought in lumber items to barter. Oak staves, juniper shingles,
and cypress shingles were shipped from the store, probably via the Pasquotank River
and Dismal Swamp Canal. Potential markets were Norfolk, Baltimore, and other port
cities to the north. Schooners doing business with the store were named
Matilda,
Rising State, and
Jovial Crew.
