This weaver's account book was primarily kept by Benjamin Parsons (1773-1858), whose handwriting shows he began recording business transactions in 1794. The entries made by another local weaver on the first couple of pages predate Benjamin's lifespan, and were probably made by Benjamin's father, also named Benjamin. The senior Benjamin Parsons is identified as one of 49 weavers in East Hampton who signed the 1778 Loyalty Oath the British forced on residents.
The younger Benjamin's records are more detailed; he often records the duration spent on each project. The accounts reference linen, flannel, wool, and tow (a rough jute or flax weave). In later entries are more technical weaving terms like cross banded, diaper, and worsted (a type of finely knit cloth from wool).
Benjamin was typically paid through a barter of commodities or services, since coinage was rare in early America. Common payments included fish, flaxseed, rye, corn, carting, and farm work. At times Benjamin received shoes for his wife, Martha, and children, Esther and Selah.
The methods of payment used by Benjamin's clients hint at their professions. Farmers like Abraham Sherrill and Jonathan Osborn paid with crops like hay, "Indian meal," potatoes, and turnips, but also with wood and harrowing (turning soil to cultivate). Osborn also paid with cod, "flatfish," and bass.
Abraham Gardiner covered his tab for yardages of multiple types of textiles, including flannel and banded tow, with Benjamin's purchases of wine, molasses, sugar, and even cheese at the Gardiner & Parsons store. Capt. William Rysam paid off his accounts with lumber, which Cornelius Sleight, his son-in-law, may have sourced from Rysam's Honduran mahogany plantation. The craftsman Nathaniel Dominy repaired several items, among them a rake head and a wheel.
Benjamin's account book offers insight into textile production at a fascinating time; it coincides with both the dawn of the Industrial Revolution and a time when most families here had experience with home weaving and textile production.
Andrea Meyer, a librarian and archivist, is the Long Island Collection's head of collection.
