Restrictions to Access

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 William Britton ledgers #4809, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

Microfilm copy available.

Acquisitions Information

Received from John E. Tyler II of Roxobel, N.C., May 1996 (Acc. 96054).

Sensitive Materials Statement

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.

Processed by: Tim Pyatt, May 1996

Updated by: Laura Hart, June 2021

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

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.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Account books.
• Bertie County (N.C.)--Economic conditions.
• Bertie County (N.C.)--History--19th century.
• Britton, William.
• General stores--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Merchants--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Roxobel (N.C.)--History.

The collection consists of four ledgers from Britton's Store, which was a general store that operated near present day Roxobel, N.C., in the early 19th century. The store was next to a major crossroads that ran from Petersburg, Va., to the Roanoke River (just south of Roxobel). Located in Bertie County, Roxobel was settled about 1800. It was first known as Cotten's Cross Roads and Granberrys Cross Roads. Later, it was named for William Britton and his store, which also served as the post office, and called Brittons Cross Roads or Brittons Store.

The ledgers provide detailed accounts and records of the customers, transcations, and merchandise at Britton's Store, 1815-1818. Two of the ledgers are day books, listing detailed information about the store's daily transactions. The other two ledgers are account books, listing each customer's purchases, by customer name with account number, over a four-year period. The account book for 1815-1816 also contains an alphabetical index of customers with their corresponding account numbers.

The account book for 1815-1816 was reused by an unknown business concern to record accounts 1866-1872. The two day books are in poor physical condition; the day book for 1816-1817 has suffered some vermin damage to the spine with some loss of text.

• Microfilm reel (M-4809/1)
• Oversize volumes (SV-4809/1-4)