Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

John and Richard Shelton Ellis Journals and Ledgers, 1804-1835. Local Government Records Collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

These items came to the Library of Virginia in shipments of court papers from Amherst County.

Historical Information

Richard Shelton Ellis was a large property owner and businessman who lived in the Pedlar Mills, Amherst County, Virginia. Ellis, as a sole proprietor and in partnership with his brother John, owned mercantile businesses in Pedlar Mills, Richmond, and Wheeling during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. He also owned a plantation named Red Hill.

Scope and Content

John and Richard Shelton Ellis Journals and Ledgers, 1804-1835, consist of eight journals and eight ledgers. It records the company's activities in Wheeling, West Virginia.

Journals C-H, L, and M, 1804-1814 are daybooks that record transactions on a daily basis as they occurred. Each entry includes the page number of the customer's individual account found in corresponding ledgers C and F. Ledgers E, H, L, and M are missing. Information found in each entry includes name of customer, the amount owed and paid, and merchandise purchased. Merchandise sold included whiskey, clothing, dry-goods (linen, needles, thread, buttons, etc.), spices, gunpowder, dishes, and knives.

Ledgers C, D, F, G, H, I, K, and O, 1804-1835, record the accounts of individual customers. Beside each entry is the page number of the customer's individual account found in journals C and F. Journals I, K, and O are missing. Each account lists transactions in chronological order and the amount owed and paid. Also records store's controlling accounts including cash account, property account, interest account, batteau account, distillery account, etc. Also found in ledgers is a list of debts due to and owed by John and Richard Shelton Ellis. A few ledgers include a list of wheat received by Pedlar Mills. Information found in list includes dates when mill received wheat, name of individual who delivered wheat, and amount and weight of bushels delivered. Ledgers include an index that records accounts in alphabetical order and the page number where the accounts can be found.

Related Material

Related materials may be found in Accession 21597 and 21717 which include the following: Thomas and Daniel Higginbotham and Company Business Records, Daniel and David Higginbotham and Company Business Records, Richard Shelton Ellis Business Records, Archibald Robertson and Company Business Records, Samuel Read and Company Business Records, John James London Records, Thomas Higginbotham Records, and Soldier's Joy Plantation Records.

Access Terms

Corporate Name

• John and Richard Shelton Ellis Company (Wheeling, W. Va.)

Subject Terms

• Consumer goods--West Virginia--Wheeling.
• Dry-goods--West Virginia--Wheeling.
• Wheat trade--West Virginia--Wheeling.

Geographic Terms

• Amherst County (Va.)--History--19th century.
• Wheeling (W. Va.)--History--19th century.

Record Type

• Business records--West Virginia--Wheeling.
• Daybooks--West Virginia--Wheeling.
• Journals (accounts)--West Virginia--Wheeling.
• Ledgers (account books)--West Virginia--Wheeling.
• Local government records--Virginia--Amherst County.

Occupation Terms

• Merchants--West Virginia--Wheeling.

Added Entries - Personal Names

• Ellis, John. 1768-1826.
• Ellis, Richard Shelton. 1775-1846.

Adjunct Descriptive Data