Manuscript Account Book of David H. Whitehouse, Cobbler

Wolfeboro, N. H., 1836. Tall Folio.  385 x 155 mm., [15 ¼ x 6 inches]. 68 pp. Contemp. marbled boards, leather spine; some minor deterioration to parts of the calf spine, a few signatures sprung, otherwise a good, sound ledger. Cobbler David H. Whitehouse (1807-1839) lived primarily in Wolfeboro, Carroll County, New Hampshire. This volume of records appears to have kept up to his death at age 33. His wife was Mary M. Giles Whitehouse (1806 - 1899) and they had two children; Joseph and Abigail. Whitehouse's customers came mostly from Carroll County, including the towns of Brookfield, Conway, Moultonborough, and Wakefield.  Whitehouse's signature appears on the front fly leaf and on the folio numbered 27. Entries include the date, cost, and job including various types of shoes; slippers, calfskin shoes, repairing boots, boots, and women's shoes. Whitehouse also purchases material for his trade including a shoemaker's seat and tools. The book also includes some household expenses and foodstuffs, etc. Customer names include Dudley Pike, Ephraim Parsons, James C. Perkins, John Chadwick, Charles Colman, Thomas W, Mordough, Joseph Malcham, John Rollins, and  Nathaniel Barker, to name a few of the local names prominent in the ledger.  The first two pages of the book has a written transcript of the first 11 stanzas of Tennyson's poem "The May Queen'; two stanzas of the "Pirate Song or, Serenade"; and a seven-stanza poem "To my Sister" dedicated at the bottom "To my sister Abby."  All the text appears to be in the same hand.   .