Historical Information: John R. Cary served as clerk of Gloucester County from 1837 until his death in 1867. The records were used as evidence in a chancery case heard in Gloucester County Circuit Court in 1874 entitled John S. Cooke, Executor of John R. Cary versus Widow of John R. Cary and others. The suit originated from Cary's wish in his will that an inventory on his estate not be performed to determine its value before selling it to pay off his debts. Upon assuming executorship of Cary's estate, Cooke was unable to carry out Cary's wish due to the numerous debts Cary incurred personally and as representative of both Matthew W. Kemp's estate and Thomas Cary's estate. Cooke asked the court to assist him in determining the value of Cary's estate and the debts Cary owed. The court ordered all papers and books kept by Cary related to his estate, and as representative of both Kemp's estate and Thomas Cary's estate, audited by a special commission and a report made.

Scope and Content: John R. Cary Business Records, 1832-1869 consists of three account books and two memorandum books. The records maintained by or related to John R. Cary, recorded financial, agricultural, and miscellaneous information concerning Cary's estate in Gloucester County

See also: Gloucester County Chancery Causes, 1874-004: John S. Cooke, Executor of John R. Cary versus Widow of John R. Cary and others.

Scope and Content: The business records of the R. C. Booker Company consists of a ledger which recorded the accounts of individual customers. Each account lists transactions in chronological order. Information found includes date of transaction, merchandise sold, quantity of merchandise purchased, form of payment, and amounts owed and paid. Merchandise sold includes food, lard, soap, dry goods, flour, gun shells, candy, meal, and tablets. Payments made by cash, check, credit, and barter (potatoes and eggs). Volume includes numerous loose slips of paper that record requests for merchandise by customers. Volume also includes an alphabetical index listing the names of customers and the page numbers where their accounts can be found.

Historical Information: R. C. Booker Company was a general store operated by Robert Cary Booker that conducted business in the town of Ordinary, Virginia, during the early twentieth century.

Scope and Content: The business records of the Tidewater Telephone Company include an daybook. The volume records the company's monthly collections and earnings from 1888 to 1891. Information found in volume includes name of locality; money collected and/or earned from messages, telegrams, and commissions; and miscellaneous transactions.

Historical Information: This unidentified blacksmith conducted business in Gloucester County during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Scope and Content: The daybook was used as an account book by an unidentified blacksmith. It records the accounts of individual customers. Each account lists transactions in chronological order. Information found includes date of transaction, service rendered, form of payment, and amount owed or paid. Services rendered include shoeing horses and mules, repairing ox carts and carriages, mending chains, and making crowbars and other tools. Payments made by cash, credit, barter (clover seed, pigs, beef, and sweet potatoes) and labor (hauling goods and plowing).

Scope and Content: The business records of an unidentified business consists of an account book. The business was located in the towns of Rock Landing and Weldon. Entries entered into volume similar to a daybook. It served as a daybook, recording transactions on an almost daily basis from January 1820-August 1834. Each entry contained the following information: date of transaction, name of customer or controlling account, style of transaction, amount owed and amount paid. Each entry also included page numbers where entries could be found in a missing corresponding ledger or ledgers. Merchandise sold included corn, flour, molasses, shingles, salt, and cotton. Controlling accounts included toll account, wagon account, merchandise account, expense account, and drayage account.

Scope and Content: The business records of an unidentified general store consists of a daybook located at Gloucester Court House. The volume records in chronological order, the store's transactions from January 1861-May 1862 and sporadically from June 1862-December 1863. Information found in each entry includes date of transaction, name of customer, merchandise purchased, quantity purchased, cost of items purchased, and total amount owed. Merchandise sold includes pencils, matches, violin strings, neck ties, castor oil, spices, food, and dry goods. The last hundred pages of volume records the individual accounts of customers for 1867. Each account lists transactions in chronological order. Information found in each entry includes date of transaction, items purchased, quantity purchased, form of payment, amount owed, and amount paid. Items sold include iron spoons, eggs, coconuts, dry goods, spices, quinine, and soda. Payments made by cash, credit, and barter of items such as flour, bacon, cotton, and tea.

Scope and Content: The business records of the United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company consist of two registers. The volumes record the following information: bond or policy number, date bond or policy was issued or renewed, length of term, expiration date, name of bondholder or policyholder, address, occupation, amount of bond or policy, rate of interest, type and amount of premium, total amount, name of agent or broker, date premium paid, brokerage or commission paid, return premium, date canceled, and miscellaneous remarks. Registers also include numerous loose miscellaneous papers, mostly correspondence and policies related to insurance claims.

Historical Information: The United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company was an insurance company established in 1896 and continued operations under that name until 1981, when it changed its name to USF&G. It became a subsidiary of Saint Paul Companies in 1998. The registers belonged to an agent of the United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company who worked in Gloucester County in the early twentieth century.