Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Both volumes are not available for research. They are presently being reformatted.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Marion C. Barnes General Merchandise Daybook and Ledger, 1902-1903. Local Government Records Collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

These items came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from New Kent County.

Historical Information

New Kent County may have been named either for the English county of Kent or for Kent Island, in the upper waters of the Chesapeake Bay. William Claiborne, a native of Kent who had been driven from Kent Island by Lord Baltimore, was a prominent resident of the New Kent area about 1654 when the county was formed from York County. Part of James City County was added in 1767. The county seat is New Kent.

Records were destroyed when John Posey set fire to the courthouse on 15 July 1787. Many records were lost when the courthouse was partially destroyed by fire during Civil War hostilities in 1862. Additional records were burned in Richmond on 3 April 1865, where they had been moved for safekeeping during the Civil War.

Marion C. Barnes General Merchandise was a general store that conducted business during the early twentieth century in New Kent County, Virginia.

Both volumes were used as exhibits in the chancery suit Administrator of Marion C. Barnes vs. John A. Barnes, etc.

Scope and Content

The business records of Marion C. Barnes General Merchandise consist of one ledger and one daybook.

Daybook, 1902-1903, records transactions as they occurred on a daily basis. Information found in each entry includes date of transaction, name of customer, items purchased, quantity of items purchased, form of payment, amount owed, amount paid, form of payment, and page number where transaction is found in corresponding ledger. Items sold include dry-goods, groceries, tobacco, whiskey, hardware, tinware, boots, and shoes. Volume was mislabeled as a poor house day book.

Ledger, 1902-1903, record the individual accounts of customers. Each account lists the date of transaction, page number where transaction is found in corresponding daybook, amount owed, and amount paid, and form of payment. Forms of payment include cash, credit, hauling wood, and barter of items such as corn, wood, and wine. The ledger includes an index that lists in alphabetical order the names of customers and the page numbers where their accounts can be found. Volume was mislabeled as a poor house day book.

Related Material

See also New Kent County Chancery Cause 1908-001 - Administrator of Marion C. Barnes vs. John A. Barnes, etc.

New Kent County is one of Virginia's Lost Records Localities. Additional New Kent County Records may be found in the Virginia Lost Records Localities Collection at the Library of Virginia. Search the Lost Records Localities Digital Collection available at Virginia Memory.

For more information and a listing of lost records localities see Lost Records research note .

Access Terms

• Barter - - Virginia - - New Kent County.
• Business records - - Virginia - - New Kent County.
• Consumer goods - - Virginia - - New Kent County.
• Daybooks -- Virginia -- New Kent County.
• Dry-goods - - Virginia - - New Kent County.
• General stores - - Virginia - - New Kent County.
• Ledgers (account books) - - Virginia - - New Kent County.
• Local government records - - Virginia - - New Kent County.
• Marion C. Barnes General Merchandise (New Kent County, Va.)
• New Kent County (Va.) - - History - - 20th century.

Adjunct Descriptive Data