Guide to the Arthur Lefferson (1739-ca. 1802), Tanner and Currier Account Book 1775-1792 MG 120

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Descriptive Summary
Biographical Note
Scope and Content Note
Restrictions
Access Points
Related Material
Administrative Information
Bibliography

Container List

Account Book


Guide to the Arthur Lefferson (1739-ca. 1802), Tanner and Currier Account Book
1775-1792
MG 120
The New Jersey Historical Society
52 Park Place
Newark, New Jersey 07102
Contact: NJHS Library
(973) 596-8500 x249
library@jerseyhistory.org
https://www.jerseyhistory.org
© 2006 All rights reserved.
The New Jersey Historical Society, Publisher
Inventory prepared by Jeff McMillan as part of the “Farm to City” project funded by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

Finding aid encoded by Julia Telonidis. January 2006. Production of the EAD 2002 version of this finding aid was made possible by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Finding aid written in English.


Descriptive Summary

Creator: Lefferson, Arthur, 1739-ca. 1802.
Title: Arthur Lefferson (1739-ca. 1802), Tanner and Currier

Account Book

Dates: 1775-1792
Abstract: Financial records kept by Arthur Lefferson (1739-1802/03), a tanner, currier, shoemaker, and repairman in Upper Freehold Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey.
Quantity: .2 linear feet
Collection Number: MG 120

Biographical Note

Arthur Lefferson, born April 22, 1739, was a tanner, currier, shoemaker, and repairman in Upper Freehold Township in Monmouth County, New Jersey. A son of Leffert Lefferson (1711-1755) and Janetje Williamson, Arthur’s siblings included Oukey Lefferson (1747-1809), Anna Van Cleef (b. 1741), Jane Lefferson (1745-1818), and Mary Polhemus (fl. 1739-1781). Prior to the General Militia Muster of 1776, Lefferson volunteered for the local militia. When he died sometime after December 15, 1802 but before January 9, 1803, Arthur Lefferson was unmarried and without children.

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Scope and Content Note

The records consist of an account book dating from 1775-1792 that was kept by Arthur Lefferson. The volume tracks the sale of skins, hides, shoes and other transactions such as charges for shoe repair and labor (both personal and slave labor costs). The accounts are indexed. The volume also contains a small number of notes including two subpoenas, a few receipts, and an estate record.

The first subpoena (July 29, 1784), issued by the court in Freehold, calls for Mr. Lefferson’s testimony in a “plea for partition” case between William Hendrickson and William Grover. Grover, an English sympathizer, was one of many loyalists who were forced to forfeit their land for redistribution in an act of April 18, 1778, an act which probably precipitated the above land dispute. The second subpoena (September 9, 1784), issued by the Supreme Court in Trenton, concerns the same case and parties. Both notices were signed “Houston,” who was probably the Trenton based Supreme Court clerk, William C. Houston (clerk from 1781 until his death in 1788).

The estate record (December 6, 1804), which establishes payment procedures for the procurement of Mr. Lefferson’s “real and personal estate,” bears the signatures of Robert Montgomery and James Bruere, the executers of Mr. Lefferson’s will in 1803. The latter were also trustees of the Allentown Presbyterian Church, an institution that was built on land acquired from, among others, Lefferts Lefferson, Arthur Lefferson’s father.

The remaining interleafed items include an account of wagon building expenses of Mr. Lefferson, a note from William Hendrickson regarding money to be sent him by his “Negro boy,” and an advertisement of items at a vendor’s market.

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions on this collection.

Photocopying of materials is limited and no materials may be photocopied without permission from library staff.

Use Restrictions

Researchers wishing to publish, reproduce, or reprint materials from this collection must obtain permission.

The New Jersey Historical Society complies with the copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code), which governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions and protects unpublished materials as well as published materials.

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Access Points

The entries below represent persons, organizations, topics, forms, and occupations documented in this collection.
Subject Names:
Grover, William.
Hendrickson, William.
Houston, William C.
Lefferson, Arthur, 1739-ca. 1802.
Subject Topics:
Leather goods–New Jersey–Upper Freehold.
Loyalists–New Jersey–Upper Freehold.
Shoemakers–New Jersey–Upper Freehold.
Tanners–New Jersey–Upper Freehold.
Subject Places:
Freehold (N.J.)
Monmouth County (N.J.)
Upper Freehold (N.J. : Township)
Document Types:
Account books.
Financial records.
Receipts.
Subpoenas.

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Related Material

Manuscript Group 129, William Leddel (1747-1827) Papers

Manuscript Group 562, M. M. Leddel (fl. 1875-1879) Account book

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

This collection should be cited as: Manuscript Group 120, Arthur Lefferson (1739-ca. 1802), Tanner and Currier

Account Book, The New Jersey Historical Society.

Acquisition Information

The account book was purchased by The New Jersey Historical Society in 1928.

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Bibliography

Abstracts of Wills Vol. 10: 1801-1805. New Jersey Archives: First Series Vol. 39.

Adelberg, Michael S. Roster of the People of Revolutionary Monmouth County, New Jersey. Clearfield Company, Inc: Baltimore, Maryland, 1997.

Ellis, Franklin. History of Monmouth County, New Jersey. Philadelphia: R.T. Peck & Co., 1885.

Miles, Ann Pette. Monmouth Families. King William, Virginia: Anne Pette Miles, 1980.

Storms, F. Dean. History of Allentown Presbyterian Church 1720-1970. Allentown, New Jersey, 1970.

Weiss, Henry Bischoff. Early Tanning and Currying in New Jersey. Trenton, New Jersey Agricultural Society, 1959 (pamphlet).

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Container List

Account Book

Box Title Date
1 Lefferson account book and other documents 1775-1792

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