Call Number:

Item 0011

Repository:

University of Delaware Library Special Collections

Extent:

1 volume

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

MSS 0096 Item 0011, Jesse Green receipt book, Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware.

Date:

1803 january 1-1830 november 20 (inclusive)

Creator:

Green, Jesse, 1766-1834

Form:

Receipt book and Account books

Abstract:

This receipt book highlights the mercantile activities of Jesse Green of Sussex County, Delaware, between 1803 and 1830. It also includes Green's financial accounts with his children Mary, Emmeline, William, and Jesse, Jr.

This receipt book was kept by Jesse Green of Sussex County, Delaware, between 1803 and 1830. Green was born on June 12, 1766, in Charles County, Maryland, the eldest son of Thomas Dudley Green and Mary (Simms) Green. Green moved to Delaware in the 1790s, where he married Elizabeth Gunby in 1797. Green and Gunby had at least four children: Mary, Emmeline, William, and Jesse, Jr. Green served as the Adjutant-General of the Delaware State Militia during the War of 1812 and was present with his troops at the bombardment of Lewes, Delaware, in 1813.

Green settled in Concord, Delaware, where he engaged in the mercantile and shipping business. This receipt book suggests that he had a partnership or other business relationship with Ignatius Peirce. Green served in the Delaware State Legislature for over thirty years. He was also the second Grand Master of the Grand Masonic Lodge of Delaware. Green died in Concord, Delaware, on August 21, 1834.

Conrad, Henry Clay. History of the State of Delaware, Volume 2. Wilmington, DE: Published by the Author, 1908: p. 738. Biographical and Genealogical History of the State of Delaware Volume II. Chambersburg, PA: J.M. Runk & Co., 1899: pp. 1324-1325. State of Delaware Public Archives website, "Sussex County Markers: Hope Lodge No. 4, Grand Lodge of Delaware, A.F. & A.M." (accessed June 5, 2018) https://archives.delaware.gov/markers/sc/SC-202A.shtmlMasons in Delaware website, "General Jesse Green" (accessed June 5, 2018) http://www.masonsindelaware.org/jesse-green.htmInformation derived from the collection.

This receipt book highlights the mercantile activities of Jesse Green of Sussex County, Delaware, between 1803 and 1830. It also includes Green's financial accounts with his children Mary, Emmeline, William, and Jesse, Jr.

This volume includes several payments by Green to individuals and firms, some of which were located in Baltimore, Maryland. Many of these payments were made on Green's behalf by Ignatius Peirce, who may have been his business partner or apprentice. In addition to payments for goods, the book also includes payments for wharf usage and wages related to the Sloop

Liberty. Near the back of the volume, there is a list of expenses Peirce incurred during his journey to Baltimore in 1803. There is also a list of goods Peirce sent to Green aboard the Sloop Eliza in June 1803. These items included coffee, molasses, soap, china, indigo, and cigars. There are a few notations in the volume regarding Green's financial holdings as well as debts he owed.

The receipt book also contains memoranda by Green dated 1822 to 1830 that pertain to his children's schooling debts and their shares of his estate following his death. On the page enumerating his daughter Emmeline's educational expenses, Green also included a newspaper clipping and note about her wedding to Henry Long of Baltimore in 1822. Green paid substantial sums to his son William, who seems to have incurred extensive debts. In a note dated November 1830, Green stated that he had given William $5785 and that this was "all I can give him of my estate and I believe more than I can give the rest of my children so that he is to have no more of my estate."

The volume is bound with marbled paper over boards and contains 64 pages of unlined laid paper. 32 of the pages contain handwritten entries in black ink.