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Home : Quarterly Archives : Volume 20 |
Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society |
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Source: July 1982 Volume 20 Number 3, Pages 95–100 An Account Book of a Tredyffrin Shoemaker On the following pages axe excerpts from the account book of a shoemaker in Tredyffrin Township in the early nineteenth century. The entries in the book, the original of which is in the collections of the Chester County Historical Society in West Chester, are for the years 1807 to 1816. The name of the shoemaker is not known. However, he apparently either lived in or had his shop in (or both) a building owned by a man named John Elliott, for included in the latter's account is a credit of $45 for "1 years' Rent". The price for making a pair of men's shoes ranged from 75 cents to $2.25; for women's shoes, the price ranged from 75 cents to $1.67. Children's shoes cost less. The cost for mending shoes ran from nine cents up; the charge for soling a pair of shoes ranged from 20 cents to 50 cents. Nonetheless, as the account, book shows, much of the shoemaker's trade was still conducted on a barter basis. To pay him for his services, recorded as credits (or "contra" the debits) in the account book, in addition to rent, are "cords of wood" (at $1.25 a half cord), "hauling wood", sheepskins, "sides of sole" or "upper" leather, bacon (at 11 cents a pound), flax, potatoes, and "corne". Occasionally, he also received cash!
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