Finding Aid: Thomas Ballance Family Account Books, 1845-1851, PC.AB.70

[Identification of item], Private Collections: Account Books, PC.AB.70, Thomas Ballance Family Account Books, 1846-1851, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, NC, USA.

These account books record transactions of stores located in Hyde County. The businesses are known as the Middletown and Far Creek stores [variant spellings: Middleton and Fair Creek].
Foodstuffs available at the two stores included salt, sugar, molasses, honey, spices, flour, vinegar, eggs, cheese, corn, potatoes, and lettuce. An assortment of fruits, such as muskmelons, tamarinds, oranges, lemons, figs, apples, and raisins were offered. Treats included nuts, especially filberts, and crackers, sugar biscuits, ginger cake, and candy.

Cloth, ready-made clothing, and personal grooming items were often described in some detail. Shoes varied from "coarse shoes" to "fine shoes", e. g. "Morroca shoes for wife," "calfskin shoes for wife," and "fine calf boots." Silk hats, panama hats, bonnet ribbons, cloth caps, and fur hats were popular items. Cologne, hair comb sets, razor strops, toothbrushes, cakes of soap, umbrellas, coats, vests, and money purses were all available.

Regular trade with Wilmington, New York, and Charleston seems to have increased the variety of items available in the two stores, when compared with other stores in North Carolina during this time period. Some of the more unusual items were destined for the home or for family conveyances. These included oil cloth carpeting, waffle irons, looking glasses, coffee mills, willow cradles, buggy topping, and buggy carpeting.

General merchandise. Ledger, daybooks, and accounts.

The two ledgers have entries for debits and credits, arranged first by name and then by date. The four day books are arranged by date, then name.

The Ballance Stores operated in Hyde County, North Carolina in the thriving antebellum communities of Far Creek and Middletown, often called Fair Creek and Middleton. The stores appear to have been active between 1845 and 1851.
Thomas Ballance Sr. (approximately 1798-1853) owned a warehouse and shipping business in Middletown. He owned the schooner Walter Merchant from at least 1845 to 1847; he employed several other schooners as needed. Thomas and his wife, Dinah Elizabeth Spencer Ballance (approximately 1800-) had seven children by the time the 1850 Census was taken. Five of the children were blind, including the three oldest sons. The eldest son, William P. Ballance (approximately 1825-), was described as a merchant, while his next youngest brothers, Thomas P. Ballance Jr. (approximately 1827-) and Caleb S. Ballance (approximately 1828-1890) were both listed as clerks. Some of the account books indicate that William had the primary responsibility for the stores under the guidance of his father. Given the clerical employment of Thomas and Caleb, it seems likely that they had some hand in the family businesses as well.

Also listed in the Ballance household were two Spencer men: a son-in-law, Pelege P. Spencer (approximately 1821-) who was married to the eldest daughter, Mary Ann Ballance (approximately1821-) and Frederick Spencer (approximately 1827-). Frederick's exact relationship is unknown but given the Spencer name, he may have been related to the family either through the wife or son-in-law of Thomas Ballance Sr. Pelege was a mechanic, which probably meant that he repaired wagons, while Frederick was a clerk. It is not clear whether these men participated in the family businesses but their occupations make it a distinct possibility.

William Balance's inexperience appears to have caused friction between his father and him. Volume 70.5 records a settlement between William Ballance and Thomas Ballance Sr. [?] when William was just twenty-one years old. On 10 March 1846, the Far Creek store and its contents were valued at $3,441.44. Thomas Ballance Sr. [?] agreed to pay all of William Ballance's debts accumulated in New York and elsewhere. In exchange, William was required to sacrifice the value of his services and profits in the store, estimated at $2,000, along with a note for the remaining $1,441.44. On 12 June 1846, it was recorded in Volume 70.6 that William P. Ballance "removed his washing to Middleton," which implied that he had packed all his belongings and moved. Thomas Ballance, presumably the father, acquired the store's scales and weights at that time. Although records show that William worked in the Middleton store, he seems to have had difficulties there also, as evidenced by the note in Volume 70.2 that "Wm P. Ballance commenced in Seth Gibbs Store House 17 June 1848 per Thomas Ballance's orders."

Little is known about the three brothers in their later years. William P. Ballance was described as a retail dealer in the New Bern district about 1865 but seemed to vanish from public record after this date. Thomas P. Ballance Jr. and Caleb S. Ballance lived and farmed together as adults, according to the 1870 and 1880 Censuses. Caleb was also assessed taxes for distilling cider brandy. In his 1890 will, Caleb left half of his estate to his nephew, Thomas B. Spencer (1849-1936?) and the other half in trust to his nephew, Thomas D. Davis (1878-1933).

At some point, local inhabitants began referring to the Thomas Balance Sr. family as the "blind Ballances," perhaps to distinguish them from the many other Ballance families living in the area. In the late twentieth century, Huron Jefferson Gibbs (1903-1999) and his wife, Mildred Lee Burrus Gibbs (1908-2005) operated the Gibbs-Spencer store in Middletown. They believed it was one of the original Ballance store buildings, which had been re-located about a quarter of a mile from its antebellum site. There is some architectural and genealogical evidence to support this claim. The Gibbs family and others continued to refer to this historic building as the "blind Ballance store" throughout the twentieth century.

Collection Contents

Ballance, William P.

William P. Ballance

Account books

General stores--North Carolina--Hyde County

General stores--North Carolina--Valuation

Grocery trade--North Carolina--Far Creek

Grocery trade--North Carolina--Middletown

Retail trade--North Carolina--Far Creek

Retail trade--North Carolina--Middletown

Merchants

Business

Stores, Mercantile

Consumer Goods

Fair Creek (N.C.)

Far Creek (N.C.)

Hyde County (N.C.)

Lake Landing Historic District (N.C.)

Middleton (N.C.)

Middletown (N.C.)

Hyde County (N.C.)

Far Creek (N.C.)

Grocers--North Carolina--Far Creek

Grocers--North Carolina--Middletown

Unknown

Finding Aid prepared by Lea Walker, August 2013