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Lemuel Durfee account book

 File — Folder: 1
Identifier: MSS 3943

Scope and Contents note

Lemuel Durfee’s account book is forty-six pages long (two pages are on each photocopied sheet). It covers transactions from May 10, 1817 to December 29, 1829. Transactions involve calf hides, cider, apples, beef, butter, cheese and corn. Lemuel Durfee was very generous with the poor of the Palmyra, New York.

There is a typescript of the book’s contents from August 3, 1825 - July 10, 1829. Joseph, Hyrum and Harrison Smith work for Lemuel Durfee; they mow, bind wheat, hoe, and do other farm work. Durfee pays the Smiths in cider. The typescript is 13 pages long.

The collection also contains lyrics to a song about cider. Handwritten, 1 page.

Dates

  • 1817-1829

Creator

Conditions Governing Access note

Open for public research.

Conditions Governing Use note

It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances. Permission to publish material from the Lemuel Durfee account book must be obtained from the Supervisor of Reference Services and/or the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Board of Curators.

Biographical History

Lemuel Durfeen (1801-1871) married Amanda M. Smith.

Lemuel Durfee was born to Lemuel Durfee and Prudence Hathaway on March 1, 1801, in Palmyra, New York. He married Amanda M. Smith on June 4, 1823, in Farmington, Ontario County, New York. On major genealogy web sites, no children are recorded for Lemuel and Amanda. He was living in Macedon, Wayne County, New York, by 1840. In 1860, the census shows that he and Amanda had an 18 year old named Cate Goggin in their household, possibly a maid. Durfee passed away in Macedon on April 7, 1871.

Extent

1 folder (0.01 linear ft.)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Lemuel Durfee's account book, its typescript, and lyrics to a song, 1817-1829.

Custodial History note

A letter by this account book’s donor, Rev. Wesley P. Walters, October 23, 1988, explains that he made this photocopy from the book in the early 1970s, in the Library at Palmyra, New York. He returned the next year to make a better photocopy but the library had accidentally discarded the original. Reverend Walters writes, "Someone took the wrong boxes to the landfill, much to the regret of the [Historical] Society. . .Consequently I have been generous in allowing copies to be made from my copy in the hope that this piece of local color which mentions the Smith’s employment by Durfee and their payment in 'cider the liquor' might prove of some historical value".

Donated by Reverend Wesley P. Walters in 2007.

Immediate Source of Acquisition note

Donated; Reverend Wesley P. Walters; 2007.

Appraisal note

19th Century Mormon and Western Manuscripts.

Processing Information note

Processed; H. Christine Broomhead; 24 May 2007.

Title
Register of Lemuel Durfee account book
Status
Completed
Author
Benjamin Sipes
Date
2011 June 14
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English in Latin script.

Repository Details

Part of the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Repository

Contact:
1130 HBLL
Brigham Young University
Provo Utah 84602 United States