HE WAS A MAN OF FINE CHARACTER AND GREAT WEALTH... A GREAT RESEARCH SOURCE

HE WAS A MAN OF FINE CHARACTER AND GREAT WEALTH... A GREAT RESEARCH SOURCE

(Pennsylvania) Hellen, B.J. Small-sized account book with 238 pages primarily detailing payments made by B.J. Hellen, a general merchandiser in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, for goods and services rendered by others between 1846 and 1857, followed by pages of entries regarding mailing of letters and other expenses between 1858 and January 23, 1865, the date of the last entry.

Tooled leather covers with a cloth spine; 238 pp (146 numbered & 82 unnumbered), all filled; measures 8 x 5 inches. Written in ink on the front leather cover, but hard to read because of surface wear and rubbing, is the ‘title’ of the account book: B. J. Hellen Accounts 184[6] / … Union Town / Fayette Co / Pennsyla [?]. Evidence of a metal clasp (now missing); leather covers are rubbed along the edges down to the boards; chipping to cloth spine; last page of entries has been torn in half. Quite readable.

Benjamin Franklin Hellen (1820-1866) was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, a community around 50 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. Uniontown is the seat of government for Fayette County. A 1913 history of Fayette County says, “He grew to manhood in Uniontown, where he was educated and in business for several years. He was proprietor of a general store and broke in health from confinement indoors. He purchased a farm of three hundred and sixty acres in South Union township lying along the Morgantown road, where he died in 1866, aged forty-six years. He was a justice of the peace, and well known as “Squire” Hellen. He was a Republican in politics, and an attendant of the Presbyterian church. In 1854 he was burgess of Uniontown. He was a man of fine character and great wealth which he both inherited and acquired through his own activities. He married Sarah Jane Struble, born in German township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, July 29, 1832…” Another regional history, detailing early business locations in Uniontown, stated that Benjamin Franklin Hellen began to operate a dry goods store around 1846 which he named “The Farmers Exchange” and carried on business there for at least ten years. Those dates coincide with this account book which contains 146 numbered pages of entries running primarily from April 3, 1846 through 1857, a time span that fits the mention of him being in business in Uniontown for about ten years before retiring to a farm due to health reasons. There is also mention in the regional histories of Hellen having two other general stores in the region at Morris’ X Roads and Masontown during that same time period.

Most of the entries include the location Uniontown, the date, the dollar amount “received of Mr. B. F. Heller”, the goods and services being paid for, and the name of the person who received payment. Payments made by Hellen include the hauling and delivering goods, such as barrels of flour and fish, herring, shad, bales of muslin, coffee, bushels of wheat and oats, apples and peaches, hogs, wool twine, salt, corn, wooden bowls, 6-year-old gray horse, groceries from Pittsburgh, 13 cradles, Dr. Bennets Pills left on commission, 816 pounds of leather, two hose wagons and gear, tobacco, and pork. He also paid for a burial. Most of the accounting entries appear to be signed by the person being paid. Besides detailing the purchases made by an early general store, this account book is a great research source for names of haulers, freighters, and providers of goods operating and living in the Fayette County area of Pennsylvania prior to and during the Civil War.