Treasure in the Archives: The Barter Book
By Carolyn Good
Throughout the spring and summer of 1820, Mr. Charles Dana of Woodstock advertised in the Woodstock Observer that he was offering two harnesses and a wagon in exchange for a horse. It is not revealed whether he ever procured his horse, but Mr. Dana, a prosperous dry-goods merchant in town, joined many of his colleagues in the business of commercial bartering. For example, in November of the same year, a local leather dealer offered shoes and boots, wanting to receive cords of hemlock bark in exchange. In another notice, Benjamin Metcalf advertises that he will sell his cabinet furniture, receiving “most kinds of country produce” as payment. Every edition of the newspaper during the early to mid-1800s includes notices of trade and barter.
The American Colonies had no banking system and no common currency. England did not supply its colonies with sufficient coinage and prohibited them from making their own, which required the colonists to rely on foreign coins brought into the colonies by settlers. These coins in turn quickly returned to Europe to pay for supplies. Since actual coins, or bank notes for that matter, were scarce or nonexistent, the colonists were forced to barter for goods or use primitive currency such as wampum, nails, and tobacco. In Vermont, grain was usually a reliable staple, and soon became the “coin of the realm.” Everyone needed it and not everyone had it, and settlers often bought the grain with their labor, usually by helping harvest hay.
After the Revolution, the new United States turned its attention to its war-ravaged finances, and a national coinage system took on great importance. In the meantime, Vermont, not yet admitted into the country as a state but having declared itself an independent republic, enacted a law recognizing cattle, beef, pork, sheep, wheat, rye and corn as legal tender, with their value determined by an appraisal of "competent men under oath." Seven Days online blog writer Ken Pickard, in his April 2014 article, observed, “Swapping pork loins for liquor and gunpowder may have been the standard modus operandi in the 18th century, but Vermont's early lawmakers quickly recognized the limits of a livestock-and-produce-based currency. Simply put, it was hard to ensure the safety of deposits of heifers or bushels of corn when the former were liable to eat the latter.” So in June 1785, the Vermont Republic authorized Reuben Harmon Jr., of East Dorset, to mint the first Vermont coppers. The Vermont Republic printed its own coinage and currency until it joined the Union in 1791.
Although a new national coinage system, including a mint in Philadelphia, was in place by 1792, there was a shortage of actual circulating currency, and the ongoing lack of cash was a persistent problem for small businesses. As a result, New England's economy in the early 19th century was largely based on credit. Cash values were assigned to all goods and services, including labor, and were exchanged for other goods and services. This allowed a delayed exchange of dissimilar goods and services, and became a working credit system. New Englanders, being a literate and numerate people, generally kept written accounts to conduct their business. The History Center’s Archive has quite a collection of these written accounts from local establishments in the early to mid 1800s, which include accounts from a tavern and an iron-works, as well as stores run by grocers, cobblers, and millineries, among others. Individuals also kept personal day books for managing their own finances.
Initially debits (purchases) were chronologically recorded in a running "day book,” or sometimes just on a scrap of paper, and later entered into a ledger. This allowed the accounts to be settled at a later date. There were variations, but the basic account book form was usually to write the trading partner's name at the top of the left-hand page, followed by "Dr" for "debtor." Below this were written dates, and the goods received, prefixed by the words "for" or "to," followed by a price. On the right hand page, the same trading partner’s name was written, with the letters "Cr" for "credit." Here were recorded the goods or services rendered from the debtor to the merchant, preceded by the word "by,” and the dates and prices. These accounts were generally not settled at any one time, or even at regular intervals. To settle the account, the difference between debit amount and credit amount would be tallied, and paid in cash, or rolled over for another year. Often accounts ran for years or appear never to have been balanced.
So, let’s imagine, on August 1st Mr. Charles Dana came to us needing shoes for his new horse, which, as proficient blacksmiths, we provided him. We record his “purchase” of shoes and labor for $1.25 in our day book as a debt that he owes to us. On September 1st, we find we are in need of 3 ½ yards of flannel at 20¢ per yard, so we step into Mr. Dana’s store and walk out with our flannel, duly recording in our day book a credit to Mr. Dana of 70 cents. Assuming we do no more business with Mr. Dana, at the end of the year he still owes us 55 cents. Let’s pretend he cordially settles the account, and we wish Mr. Dana a very happy new year.
In addition to the “day book” credit system of book-keeping, bartering in trade was a common financial practice within a community. We find bartering frequently mentioned in newspaper advertisements in the early 1800s. At least one business establishment in Woodstock in 1834 engaged in a well-used daily barter system. The large, handsome, hand-bound “Barter Book” in the History Center’s Archive doesn’t reveal the name of the mercantile, but we can recognize many local family names doing business here. For instance, Mr. Lyman Mower, who, according to the Mower Family History was “a tall man and fine looking,” and himself a well-to-do mill owner and merchant with a store on The Green, popped in on September 26, 1834, with an offer of white rags and brown rags, worth 53¢. He walked out with 53¢ worth of black snuff.
Mr. and Mrs. Levi Shurtleff both did business here as well. Mr. Shurtleff, a local farmer, came in to the shop one day in March of 1835, and sold 3 ½ pounds of lard at 10¢/ lb for 35¢. He also sold 10 ¼ pounds of butter at 15¢/lb for $1.54, all totaling $1.89. He then bought from the shop ½ yd of lace, 3 yds of footing, ¼ yd of lace, 1 yd of cambric, 1 oz of indigo (dye) and ¾ lb of tea, all totaling $1.89. An equal exchange. In another entry, we see that Mrs. Shurtleff came into the store on May 29, 1834, to buy 15 ½ yards of cotton shirting at 9¢ per yard, which came to a total of $1.40. She paid for her purchase by selling the shop keeper seven yards of “tow cloth” at 20¢ per yard. Again, an equal exchange. I was interested to learn, from the Hartland (Vermont) Historical Society Newsletter, Winter 2012, that tow cloth, a simple, coarse cloth woven from the short ends of linen (flax) fiber, was commonly traded for store credits, and then shipped south for use in slave clothing. There are many entries in our “Barter Book” trading for tow cloth.
By the middle of the 19th century, America’s economy began to expand, along with the canals, roads and railroads that were spreading out across the country, opening the way for the growth of domestic commerce. This burgeoning cash economy eclipsed the old, local, informal systems of trade and barter, and by the turn of the century, banking had become commonplace. Cash also facilitated new impersonal economic relationships. Young workers might simply earn wages, for instance, rather than receiving room and board and training as part of apprenticeships. Income became the measure of economic worth.
The grand “Barter Book” and the rest of the day books in the History Center’s collection are fascinating records of daily commerce within a community. Together, they tell a rich story that is part of our Woodstock culture and history.