SCARCE AND UNUSUALLY COMPREHENSIVE – THE W.C. WOODWORTH, LEDGER - 1847-1850

(Ulysses, New York) WOODWORTH, W.C. General Store. Ulysses, New York, 1847-1850

An unusually comprehensive ledger belonging to the W.C. Woodworth Company of Ulysses, New York. Now known as Trumansburg, New York the Woodworth store engaged in the shipping of fruits and vegetables across the Northeastern United States. Opening with the usual alphabetical index to the names of the hundreds of customers served by the Woodworth Company, the remainder of the book is comprised of thousands of entries recording products sold, the customers to whom they were sold, the price they were sold for, and the date that the transaction took place.

Among the numerous companies and farms that Woodworth supplied are nearly 40 accounts of local women who established credit for goods purchased. The number of transactions and amounts carried forward suggest that these women customers may have been running boarding house, worked as teachers or governesses, cooks, seamstresses, as well as homemakers.

While the Woodworth Company specialized in the sale of produce, the general store sold a remarkable array of items including molasses, sugar, ginger, alcohol, mackerel, pepper, starch, salt, codfish, tea, veal, butter, coffee, corn, eggs, rice, and raisins, to name but a portion. Selling even better than foodstuffs were household items including nails, screws, various tools, oil, shingles, candles, lead, razor straps, brushes, powder & shot, paint, knives, rawhide, pencils plus an array of various types of cloth, ribbons, buttons, and other sewing needs. Interestingly enough tobacco seemed to be the most commonly sold item.

The Woodworth store must have been a welcome outpost in a relatively unsettled area of backwoods New York, providing a selection of items rivaling the busy markets of New York City. This vast selection of products was doubtlessly enabled by the construction of the New York Canal System, with the Seneca Canal running very near to the Town of Ulysses. The canal system is also made note of with several pages devoted to sales made to various canal boats including the company canal boat the W.C. Woodworth and the barge, Ulysses.

The records show the cost of operating a canal boat and hauling fees for moving fruits and vegetable to market.  A receipt for the construction of the vessel is included in the ledger.

One of Woodworth’s important customers was James Monroe Mattison owner of the Jacksonville Nursery established in Ulysses in 1845.  It was a newly developing business during the period when the region was beginning to cultivate vast fruit orchards.  His advertisements mentioned the excellent area transportation for facilitating the prompt delivery of orders for stock. It is almost certain that the Woodworth Company was involved in this delivery process.

Among the largest wholesale produce concerns of Western New York after the Civil War was L.G. Loomis & Son of Victor, New York.  Woodworth’s ledger records early dealings with the Loomis firm, including some substantial purchases in 1847.  In 1882 Loomis would form a partnership with W.C. Woodworth, in the same line of business, the firm being called Loomis & Woodworth, with offices at the town of Victor.  On August 1st, 1907, Mr. Woodworth retired, and Mr. Loomis admitted his son, Leslie George, Jr., to membership in the firm, since known as L.G. Loomis & Son.

Folio, 13 x 8 ½ inches.  Manuscript in ink. 461 pp. Contemporary reverse sheep binding, expected wear, very legible ink handwriting.