Dwelle, Abner III

[ACCOUNT BOOK] [DIARY] [TEXTILES] [LEGAL] Abner Dwelle III's Handwritten Account Book

Greenwich, NY - Kalamazoo County, MI: H. Ivison & Co., 1820s - 1852. Hardcover. 116 pages. 15 x 10 cm. Signed by Abner Dwelle on front free end paper, stamped by H. Ivison & Co. on front free end paper. H. Ivison & Co. was a prominent nineteenth-century bookstore, bindery, and publishing house established in Auburn, New York, around 1830.

Abner Dwelle III (1805-1888) was born in Greenwich, NY, to Captain Abner Dwelle and his wife Miriam (Martin). His grandfather and father bore the same name - the former was a sea-captain - and both served in the Revolutionary war. Abner grew up on the family's Beech Hill farm in Greenwich, NY, attending the primitive common schools for about three months each winter until he was eighteen. He then entered a woolen carding and spinning establishment, an occupation he continued for sixteen years.

In 1829 he married Electa C. Lawrence, and in 1837 he removed to Kalamazoo County, Michigan. Abner was a central figure in America's westward expansion: by 1854 he had pushed further into the frontier in Minnesota, where he became the founder of Lake City, Minnesota.

This account book opens with twenty-seven pages of handwritten receipts for large quantities of dyes and textile treatments including recipes for Snuff Brown, Bottle Green, Dark Drab, Steam Cloth, Oil Finish Composition, For Making Scarlet Spirits, and many others. Abner has signed his name on the twenty-seventh page - "Jan 2nd, 1825, Salem Washington County, NY Abner Dwelle Jun." - presumably dating from his time in the woolen carding and spinning trade.

The next section, from the 1840s and '50s, reflects what appears to be a town supervisor or other legal role. Here are approximately ten pages of handwritten notes for summonses, recording the date, the names of the plaintiff and defendant, Abner's travel time, service and copy time, and the fees paid for these services. This chapter of the account book appears to date from his years in Kalamazoo County. At least three individuals recorded here can be identified as residents of the area: Norman B. Maxon, Preston J. McCray, and Spotswood A. Washington - the last a grandson of Augustine Washington Jr., the older half-brother of George Washington.

The final fifty or so pages are devoted to Abner's farm and agricultural affairs, including boarding horses, room and board for workers, wages, and harvesting schedules for threshing, cutting oats, cutting wheat, husking corn, and similar tasks.

This extensive account book traces the extraordinary life of an American pioneer from the East Coast to the Midwest at the dawn of nation's westward expansion. Dwelle followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, breaking ground and making his mark on America's history.

Front marbled paper missing, spine heavily rubbed with some loss. Marbled boards, calf spine. Good. Item #5087

Price: $1,250.00