Hebron | inside the CHS

Charles H. Post ran a well established general store in the center of Hebron, Connecticut. Recently, his fourth day book made its way back to Connecticut from Savannah, Georgia, thanks to a gracious donor. We have a large collection of account books, but it never fails to amaze me what people had available in the 1830s in a relatively small town. On one day, May 7, 1829, Post sold:

4 small combs, 1- 1/2 yards broad cloth, 11- 1/2 yards of cotton stripe,2 silk handkerchiefs, 1 pound of tea, 1 yard of fillet, 1/2 yard of padding, 1 yard brown linen, 1-4/12 dozen coat buttons, 2 skeins of silk, 1/4 gallon of rum, one palmetto hat, 1/4 gallon of whiskey, 2-1/2 yards of ribbon, 4 yards of calico, 5 yards of gingham, 4 pounds of flour, 16 pairs of stockings, 5 yards of gingham, 3 cotton handkerchiefs, 1 belt ribbon, 1/2 pound of tea, another 5-3/4 yards of gingham, and 1 peck of peas.

This account book is actually a day book in which Post entered transactions on a daily basis and later transferred the data into a ledger arranged by person, listing all debts and credits. You can sometimes tell what a person was planning by looking at the types of materials purchased over the course of a month or so. With a day book, one can only surmise. For example, why did someone need 16 pairs of stockings? Was he the keeper of the alms house or of a school? Or did he have a large family? To find the answers, you could do some research on the purchaser and build a more complete story. That is what makes research fun–putting pieces together and solving riddles. Anyone up for a challenge?

If you would like to see Mr. Post’s day book, ask for Ms 101681 when you come to the Research Center.

Items sold on a day in December at Charles Post’s general store in Hebron, Connecticut, 1829. Ms 101681.

One of the aspects of my job that I truly enjoy is the unpredictable nature of the materials I work with. The other day I was skimming through the Hendee Family correspondence (Ms 69688). Though in a relatively new box, the folders were old, and I knew it had been some time since the collection was processed. Whoever started processing had also not finished.

As I skimmed through the unprocessed portion, I learned bits and pieces about Lucius J. Hendee’s life and career. A resident of Hebron, Connecticut, he worked with Abner Hendee until Abner’s death; was interested in politics; and for some time worked as a merchant, selling items such as wool socks.

From the 1850 Federal Census (click to enlarge)

The 1850 census confirmed that Hendee was a merchant in Hebron. According to the 1870 Federal Census, though, he lived in Hartford and was the President of Aetna Fire Insurance Company. Hendee was not a name I recognized, and from what I had seen, there was little indication that this man would have gone from selling socks to leading an insurance company.

From the 1870 Federal Census (Click to enlarge)

However, he did! A Google search led me to an August 1888 New York Times article about Hendee’s failing health. I then searched the Hartford Courant and found his obituary, printed on September 5, 1888. The scattered information I had about Hendee’s life became more coherent. Lucius J. Hendee was born in Andover, Connecticut in 1818. He worked with his uncle, Abner Hendee, an insurance agent for Aetna. According to the Courant, Lucius Hendee’s “faithfulness and success in the discharge of his duties in this agency attracted the attention of the officers of the company, and in 1861, when the secretaryship of the Aetna became vacant, he was elected to fill that responsible position.” Five years later he became Aetna’s president (both papers also mention that Hendee served in the Connecticut Senate and as Treasurer under Governor William A. Buckingham).

I never cease to be amazed how a few minutes of research can alter the value I place on a single sheet of paper.