Money Renters and Stock Keepers 1862
Upon starting much care had to be given to this book in particular as its pages were very brittle, torn and falling apart. On many occasions two persons had to be on hand to turn pages and also to help in deciphering the writing.
After analyzing the document Harriet and I realized that this was in fact two books contained in one. One book/section detailed the rents and wages of Stock keepers and watchmen and the other looked at what was described as money renters.
What was particularly interesting was to see a detailed account of the wages of the persons who worked as stock keepers and watchmen, the deductions for rent and their earnings after deductions. It was also amazing to see the book-keeping skills. The plantation owners/managers of Newton plantation kept such meticulous records.
Since a single physical book contained two separate sets of information/books one may ask why one book is being used for two separate areas. The plantation owner/manager appears to have a style of flipping the book to make sure that he utilizes all of the pages. Was it a case of the journals being expensive or was it a case where they difficult to obtain?
It is evident that doing this collection is going to be a very interesting one and I am eager to move onto the next journal.