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No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Thomas Gill Ledger #05051, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

Microfilm copy (filmed October 2003) available.

• Reel 1: folder 1 of 1

Provenance

Purchased from Dan Casavant Rare Books of Waterville, Me., in March 2001 (Acc. 98893).

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Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

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• Account books--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Account books--Tennessee--History--19th century.
• Bertie County (N.C.)--Commerce--History--19th century.
• Gill, Thomas, fl. 1803-1846.
• Grainger County (Tenn.)--Commerce--History--19th century.
• Merchants--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Merchants--Tennessee--History--19th century.

Thomas Gill was a merchant in Bertie County, N.C., in the early 19th century. Gill primarily sold turpentine, tar, and bees wax. Gill had a business partner, William Copeland, until 1804, when he appears to have become sole proprietor of his business. The ledger indicates Gill had a prior business partnership with John Harrell and may have operated the schooner Polly. In 1808, Thomas Gill moved with his family to a farm adjacent to Bean Station, Tenn., in Grainger County. William Copeland appears to have relocated to Grainger County as well. According to Thomas Gill's will, recorded on 10 February 1846, his estate was distributed to his four children: Elizabeth Knight, Mary Shields, Martha Jarnagen, and Samuel Gill.

The collection consists of "Accounts Ledger B," 1803-1813, of merchant Thomas Gill of Bertie County, N.C. Most of the transactions are from 1803-1804 and deal with turpentine, tar, and bees wax. Accounts are recorded in pounds, shillings, and pence. An alphabetical list of customers (h, i, j, and k pages are missing) precedes the account listings. The family names of Askew, Freeman, Newsom, and Outlaw are recorded frequently. Transactions relating to the partnership of Gill and William Copeland fill the first 140 pages of the ledger. In 1804, after the partnership appears to have ended, Gill continued to enter accounts from his individual business operations for another 56 pages. The ledger also contains occasional references to an earlier partnership between Gill and John Harrell. The final two pages of the ledger appear to record loan payments and interest charges paid by Gill and William Copeland from 1808 to 1813; these seem to be the only pages written after Gill's relocation to Grainger County, Tenn.