Collection Overview
Stetson, William B.
William B. Stetson Account Book
1856-1870
MS 348 bd
1 volume
(0.1 linear ft.)
Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst
As a young man in Shutesbury, Massachusetts, William B. Stetson (b. ca.1836) earned a living by performing manual labor for local residents. Most of his work, and increasingly so, was found in the range of tasks associated with lumbering: chopping wood, sawing boards, making shingles and fence boards. By 1870, Stetson was listed in the federal census as a lumberman in the adjacent town of Leverett.
Stetson's rough-hewn book of accounts provides detail on the work and expenditures of a young man from Shutesbury, Massachusetts, in the years just prior to the Civil War. Carefully kept, but idiosyncratic, they document a working class mans efforts to earn a living by whatever means possible, largely in lumber-related tasks. His accounts list a number of familiar local names, including Albert Pratt, Sylvanus Pratt, Charles Pratt, Charles Nutting, E. Cushman, John Haskins, and J. Stockwell. Set into the front of the volume are a set of work records dated in Leverett in 1870, by which time Stetson had apparently focused his full energies on lumbering.
English
Historical Note
As a young man in Shutesbury, Massachusetts, William B. Stetson (b. ca.1836) earned a living by performing manual labor for local residents. Most of his work, and increasingly so, was found in the range of tasks associated with lumbering: chopping wood, sawing boards, making shingles and fence boards. By 1870, Stetson was listed in the federal census as a lumberman in the adjacent town of Leverett.
Scope and Contents of the Collection
Stetsons rough-hewn book of accounts provides detail on the work and expenditures of a young man from Shutesbury, Massachusetts, in the years just prior to the Civil War. Carefully kept, but idiosyncratic, they document a working class mans efforts to earn a living by whatever means possible, largely in lumber-related tasks. His accounts list a number of familiar local names, including Albert Pratt, Sylvanus Pratt, Charles Pratt, Charles Nutting, E. Cushman, John Haskins, and J. Stockwell. Set into the front of the volume are a set of work records dated in Leverett in 1870, by which time Stetson had apparently focused his full energies on lumbering.
The collection is open for research.
Preferred Citation
Cite as: William B. Stetson Account Book (MS 348 bd). Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Purchased for SCUA by Robert W. Hugo for the Friends of the Library.
Processed by Dex Haven, August 2010.
Search Terms
Stetson, William B.
Lumber trade--Massachusetts--Leverett.
Lumber trade--Massachusetts--Shutesbury.
Leverett (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th century.
Shutesbury (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th century.
Account books.