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James Madison University Libraries Special Collections
820 Madison DriveTiffany Cole
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[identification of item], [box #, folder #], Rockingham County account book, 1874-1885, SC 0400, James Madison University Special Collections, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Acquired from Tim Abbott Americana in February 2025.
Loose items were removed and placed in a sub-folder with the account book.
The creator of the account book is unknown. Contextual evidence (i.e. patron names, vendor stamp inside front cover) suggests the account book originates in Rockingham County, Virginia.
The account book, likely kept by one individual, documents payments made and received for labor and farming activities, household expenses, and other goods and services in Rockingham County.
The account book is arranged by patron name with entries listed chronologically. Entries describe the type of work completed (i.e. thrashing wheat, harvesting, shelling corn, general labor, etc.), goods bought and sold, and other services provided or paid for. The book also includes entries for laborers presumed to be in the employ of the creator of the account book. The volume also includes pages of entries labeled "Money paid out" and "Money taken in" for each year. Surnames represented in the account book include Huffman, Dungeon, Winegard, King, Stephens, Pitt, Falls, Dovel, Bowman, Carrier, Armentrout, Fridley, and others.
Of interest are several pages of account entries (1879) with John Dungeon, a local Black laborer and brother to Israel Dungeon who established Dungeon's Chapel, a historic Black church in the Pleasant Valley area of Rockingham County. Abe Dungeon and Robert (Bobb) Dungeon, sons of John Dungeon, are also listed. Additional extensive entries document money paid out toward building a barn (1880; pgs. 88, 91) and grain taken to a mill (1883, pg. 85). Two pages document an account with "Coulored Lewis" (1880, pgs. 32-33). The listing of money paid out in 1884 includes a July 1 entry for "cash pd to negroes for harvesting - $34.09."
An 1881 election ticket for the Readjuster Party, an invoice for Richard A. Stevens' subscription to the Episcopal Methodist, and other financial documents and notes are loose and placed in a sub-folder. A braided lock of hair is laid in the account book.