The Huyck Bain Crandell Collection, Document BH106

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1821 Ledger, Christina Huyck's Sole Leather Sales, and Penmanship Practice Sheet of Aaron Bain

This document seems to have been the work of Christina Huyck using it to keep track of leather sales etc. in 1821 and Aaron Bain using it for penmanship practice in 1820.

Image: BH106 obv fold 1.jpg

Image: BH106 obv fold 2.jpg

Image: BH106 obv fold 3.jpg

Image: BH106 rev fold 1.jpg

Image: BH106 rev fold 2.jpg

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Transcription

Obverse Fold 1

A Memorandum of weight of Sole Leather To 22 Sides of sole Leather at 1/9 p per lb weighing 326 lb

Obverse Fold 2

{blank}

Obverse Fold 3

{Top Left Column}

1821 August

{Top Center Column}

Margaret Huyck Cr. By # of Butter By 1 # of Lard @ 1/0 - 0 : 1 : 0 By making 56 lb of Cider @ 8 p - - - 1 : 16 : 0

{Top Right Column}

1821 Margaret Huyck Dr. May To 4/2 paid on first 0 : 4 : 0 Oct'r To 17/3 paid to . Mr. warner for school . money - - - 0 : 17 : 3 . To paid 6 Dollars & . 28 Cents for Clover . seed Bought of Albany 2 : 10 : 3

{Bottom Left Column} 1821 July Entered on Book 6:25 1:22 ——— 7:50

{Bottom 2nd Column} {These entries are crossed out - jhc}

Cornelius Pulver Dr. To 2 Bushels of wheat @ 6/pc To 10-1/2 # of sole leather had by wally @ 2/pc To one Load of Punkins{sic} @ 8/pc To 4 Barrels of Cider @ 8/pc To 1 load of wood @ 10/pc

{Bottom 3rd Column}

2:37-1/2 1:75 1:62-1/2 ——— 5:75

6:6 3:3 ——— 9:9 ——— 23:90

{Bottom Right Column}

Miss Huyck - 6:28 Tobias VY - 5:75 A. V. Alstyne 16:75 P H Bain — 1:22 . Ditto — — 1:75 . Ditto — — 16:75 . Ditto — — 4:18 — — — — — ———— — — — — — 52 : 68 Tobias paid — 6 : 00 — — — — — ———— — — — — — 58 : 68

Reverse Fold 1

Philip Sours 16-1/2 # of sole Leather @ 2/0 Cash Paid Samuel Van Slyck 16-1/4 # Sole Leather @ 2/0 Ira Beckwith 16-1/2 # sole Leather @ 1/9 paid John Jones 16-1/2 # of sole Leather @ 2/0 paid Miss Huyck 19 # of sole Leather @ 2/0 John Pulver 18 # of sole Leather @ 2/0 {??} on Acct Myndert Coon 14 # of sole Leather @ 1/10 Cash paid Capt. Griffin 16-1/2 # of sole Leather @ 1/10 Cash paid {?} Bain 18-1/2 # of sole Leather @ 2/0 Margaret Huyck 19 # of sole Leather @ 2/0 {CROSSED OUT} Margaret Huyck 16 # of sole Leather @ 2/0 Peter H. Bain 16 # of sole Leather @ 2/0 Bastian Bain 12-3/4 # of sole Leather @ 1/9 paid Ab.m S Van Vleck Jun'r 18-1/2 #.18-3/4 # of Sole Leather @ 1/8 per # John S Pulver to 14-1/4 # of Sole Leather paid @ 2/0 Philip Pulver 7 # of Sole Leather @ 1/9 D & paid John Van Slyck 5 # of Sole Leather @ 1/9 D John Van Slyck 12 # of Sole Leather @ 1/10 # John Jones 11 # of sole Leather @ 2/0 paid Margaret Huyck 18-3/4 of sole Leather @ 2/0 John Coon 7 # 1/4 of sole Leather @ 2/0 paid

{Vertically in Right Margin}

Myndert Coon 11-1/4 # of sole Leather @ 1/9 Peter H Bain 10-1/2 # of sole Leather 1/9 John S. Pulver 11-3/4 # of sole Leather 2/0 Cornelius Pulver 10-1/2 # of Ditto 2/0 By Wally

Reverse Fold 2

{Repeated 13 Times Down the Page, the First Line in a Different Hand, the Instructors Perhaps?}

A man may have a thousand intimate acquaintances

{Last 2 Lines}

Aron P Bain his writing Book Kinderhook March . 1840 15 15 1820

{Vertically in Left Margin}

{Word}{word} - 6:0 to David Witlock - 0:6 to 1 Dollars - 8:0 {word}{word} - 8:0 going to Albany - 16:0

Reverse Fold 3

{Repeated 14 Times Down the Page, the First Line in a Different Hand, the Instructors Perhaps?}

Command you may your mind from play every day

{After Line 4 in another hand}

Command your may your mind from play

{After Line 5 in another hand}

Peter H. Bain his writing May 3rd 1821

{After Line 6 in another hand}

Every day Command your mind from play

{Last 2 Lines}

Aaron P Bain his writing Book March 1820 in — — — Kinderhook

Commentary

This document seems to have been the work of Christina Huyck using it to keep track of leather sales in 1821 after Aaron used it as writing practice sheets in 1820.

Notes:

The Commercial Accounts:

Sole leather sales — Christina Huyck was selling sole leather by the pound to neighbors, consistent with James Huyck’s currying trade in Great Barrington and the leather thread running through the entire archive.

The customer list is a perfect snapshot of the Pomponick community in the early 1820s — Samuel Van Slyck, John Van Slyck (Christina’s family), Myndert Coon, John Coon (Elizabeth Coon’s family), John Pulver, Cornelius Pulver, Philip Pulver, John S. Pulver (the Pulver family bounding the farm on multiple sides in the deed), Peter H. Bain, Bastian Bain (Peter’s relative), Abraham S. Van Vleck Junior (the Van Vleck family from Elizabeth’s account book), Tobias (likely Tobias Huyck, son of Burger J.), A.V. Alstyne (Van Alstyn family running through the entire archive).

“Tobias paid £6:00” in the account summary suggests Tobias was settling a commercial account with Christina — leather or farm produce — the next generation of the Huyck family continuing to trade among themselves and their neighbors exactly as their ancestors did going back to the 1720s.

Margaret Huyck — appearing multiple times as both debtor and creditor, buying sole leather and selling butter and lard. Almost certainly Burger J. Huyck’s wife — James’s mother — still in the Kinderhook community, her account showing a domestic farm operation selling dairy products and making cider.

“Miss Huyck” — possibly another unmarried Huyck woman still in the area.

“By making 56 lb of Cider @ 8” — Margaret credited for making cider, possibly at the Bain farm, paid for her labor.

“Wally” — appearing as a delivery person in the Cornelius Pulver account — possibly an enslaved or indentured worker, or a nickname for a family member.

The summary column at bottom right — Miss Huyck £6:28, Tobias VY £5:75, A.V. Alstyne £16:75, P.H. Bain £1:22, Ditto £1:75, Ditto £16:75, Ditto £4:18 — Total £52:68, Tobias paid £6:00 — Grand total £58:68 — a summary of outstanding accounts, now in dollars and cents rather than pounds and shillings, reflecting New York’s adoption of decimal currency after independence.

The Writing Exercises:

“A man may have a thousand intimate acquaintances” — copied 13 times by a child learning penmanship, the first line in a teacher’s hand as the model.

“Command you may your mind from play every day” — another copybook sentence, similarly repeated.

Aaron P. Bain — Aaron Peter Bain, son of Peter H. Bain and Lydia Huyck, practicing his penmanship in March 1820 at Kinderhook. Named Aaron after his grandfather Arent/Aaron Huyck — the Dutch naming tradition continuing into the next generation in its anglicized form.

Peter H. Bain — the father himself practicing penmanship on May 3rd, 1821 — or supervising his son’s practice, his name written as the model line.

“Aron P Bain his writing Book Kinderhook March 1840 15 15 1820” — the date confusion suggesting either 1820 or 1840, with Aaron practicing at different ages. If 1820 Aaron would be a young child; if 1840 he would be in his 20s.

The transition from pounds/shillings/pence to dollars/cents is the most visible marker of the new American era — everything else, the leather trade, the farm produce, the neighbor relationships, the family names — remains remarkably continuous with what we’ve seen since 1679.

— Notes by Claude.ai 4.6 2026-05-10 - jhc

Metadata

Document: BH106

Date: 1821

Language: English

Type: Ledger, Note, School exercise

Subject: Commerce, Education

Principals: Christina Huyck, Aaron/Aron Bain

Other Persons Mentioned: Margaret Huyck, Mr. Warner, Cornelius Pulver, Tobias VY, A. V. Alstyne, P. H. Bain, Philip {Sours?}, Samuel Van Slyck, Ira Beckwith, John Jones, Myndert Coon, Capt. Griffin, Abraham Van Vleck, John S Pulver, Philip Pulver, John Van Slyck, John Coon, Bastian Bain, David Bullock

Places Mentioned: Albany, Kinderhook

— page revised 2026-06-15 - jhc

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