Administrative Information

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Preferred Citation

Berkeley Plantation Ledger, 1839-1877, Accession # 11260, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

This ledger was purchased by the Library on October 22, 1996 from Jerry N. Showalter of Ivy, Virginia.

Biographical/Historical Information

Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1787 - January 30, 1842) was born at "Berkeley," Charles City County. He was the son of Col. Benjamin Harrison (1755-1799) and Anna Mercer, and the grandson of Benjamin Harrison (ca. 1726-1791) and Elizabeth Bassett. He married first Lucy Nelson, daughter of Col. William and Abigail (Byrd) Nelson of Hanover County, Virginia. They had one daughter, Mary Willing Harrison (1812-1876), who married Francie Howe McGuire, son of William and Mary (Little) McGuire. Benjamin Harrison married second Mary Willing Page, daughter of John and Maria H. (Byrd) Page of "Pagebrook," Clarke County, Virginia. They had two children: Henry Harrison, who was born at "Berkeley" on October 14, 1821, and died at "Huntington," Boyce, Clarke County, Virginia; and, Benjamin Harrison, who was born in 1824, and resided at "Millwood," Clarke County, Virginia.

John Minge (September 10, 1796 - January 23, 1871) was the son of John Minge and Sarah Harrison (d. February 27, 1812), the youngest daughter of Benjamin Harrison (ca. 1726-1791) and Elizabeth Bassett and sister of William Henry Harrison (1773-1841), president of the United States. The elder John Minge married second the widow of W. H. Lightfoot of "Sandy Point," Charles City County, Virginia. John Minge, M. D., married Mary Griffin Adams (d. June 24, 1869) in Richmond, Virginia on March 9, 1820. They had several children, including Anna Mercer Minge (January 19, 1809-June 5, 1863), who married David Dunlop of Beith, Ayrshire, Scotland.

Scope and Content Information

This ledger includes accounts and memoranda for Berkeley Fishery, 1839-1845; [Berkeley Plantation farm workers], 1876-1877; and accounts for the sale of corn, 1862, in Charles City County, Virginia.

The records for Berkeley Fishery contain a variety of entries including: paid accounts, monies owed, cash received at the landing [Harrison's Landing], advances for workers, workers used for the day, absentee workers, persons paid for work or services, comments on the weather and tides, records of hauls and fish caught and sold, and trips made to Richmond and Petersburg. The ledger appears to have been kept by both Benjamin Harrison and John Minge, M.D. There are at least two statements with signatures (May 6, 1840 and April 13, 1841) by Benjamin Harrison. A memorandum for April 12, 1841 mentions a daughter Anna Mercer [daughter of John Minge?].

The Fishery records begin March 1839 until August 1841, continue from March 1842 until May 1843, again from March until May 1843, and from January until July 1845. Entries for March 1843 contain notes on the hands regularly engaged to fish the entire season and memorandum re Mr. Harrison's expense in the building of two capstans and repairing of the reel. Relating to women are entries, April - May 1843, for a Richmond woman, Clarissa Holmes, and a Mrs. Poindexter. Following the entry for May 17, 1843 are notes for reference concerning the purchase of two carts at the beginning of each season for hauling fish to Richmond, Virginia every night and concerning the promise to slaves to be able to fish all season, with a note on the unworthiness of free hands with certain exceptions.

The entry for April 12, 1841 contains a memorandum on a visit to Washington, D. C. following the death of the writer's [John Minge, M. D.?] uncle, William Henry Harrison (1773-1841), president of the United States: "On the 10th I returned from Washington after an absence of one week in the performance of the last melancholy duties to my own venerated Uncle Wm. Henry Harrison; inaugurated on the 4th of March last President of these U. States and who after one brief month resigned his soul into the hands of his blessed Maker & Redeemer. My Daughter Anna Mercer has accounted for the following money received from the Fishery during my absence."

There are also harvest records, June - July 1843 and July 1844, keeping records of payment to hirelings and on thrashing wheat. Judge [Philip Norborne] Nicholas (1775-1849) is mentioned. There is also an account, October - December n.y., for barrels of meal, corn, and hominy. There are accounts, September 1862 - March 1863, for corn, chiefly with R. E. Thornton; and an account, October 1862, for corn delivered for the government.

The farm accounts, 1876-1877, are written over the pages containing the Berkeley Fishery records. Given names or complete names are listed at the top of each page, including the last names Parker, Wallace, Robinson, Washington, Ford, Powell, Holt, Williams, Brown, Gilliam, Adams, Chavas, Milby, and Artis. A wide variety of items are listed in these accounts including food, clothing, sewing material, household items, agriculture, and livestock. There is the signature Henry H. Harrison at the bottom of the first full page of the ledger. This could be Henry Huntington Harrison (October 14, 1821 - October 4, 1887), who was born at "Berkeley" and lived at "Huntington," Clarke County, Virginia, and married Frances Tabb Burwell (March 5, 1827 - August 6, 1897), daughter of George H. Burwell, of "Carter Hall," Clarke County, Virginia. This Henry Harrison had been private secretary to his great-uncle William Henry Harrison, president of the United States.

Further information on the Harrison and related families and Berkeley Plantation may be located in the following books: Benjamin Harrison of Berkeley/Walter Cocke of Surry by Pauline Pearce Warner [Rare Books CS71.H32 1962] and The Great Plantation: A Profile of Berkeley Plantation... by Clifford Dowdey [PS3507.O76G7 1957].