This is the account of a public sale held by James Roach on November 24, 1830. The heading does not say whose property it was. James Roach may have been selling as an executor or administrator of an estate, or selling his own goods; the paper does not say which, and no inventory or court order with the same date has been found in this folder.
Account of a sale of property sold by James Roach – November 24, 1830
Transcription notes: spelling, capitalization and punctuation follow the original. Words in [square brackets] are editorial notes; [?] marks an uncertain reading and [illegible] marks words that could not be read.
account of Sale of Property Sold by James Roach Nov 24th 1830
Articles | Purchasers Names | Dols. Cts.
Plow | Rowland Richards | 1.85
do [ditto] | David Addams | .80
do | do do | .50
1 Lot hoes | do | .65
2 grubbing hoes | do | .70 [?]
1 Lot wool wheels | Jno. B. Dawson [?] | .40
2 Lot [?] wheels | David Addams | .30
1 broad ax | Aron Atkinson | .90
1 box trinkets [?] | David Addams | .45
2 thumb latches | Alfred Chapman | .30
Spoke Shave & Soldering Iron | x James Clark Paid | .16 [?]
3 bells [?] | Henry [?] Anderson | .50
2 bells | Jno. B. Dawson | 1.00
3 plains [planes] | Robert Hall [?] | 1.10
1 Lot Chissels | Jacob Atkinson | .55
1 Lot [struck: chissels] trumpery [odds and ends] | Scott Spears | .35
1 Drawing knife | Aaron Atkinson | .50
1 bung borer | Lewis Laughinghouse | .25
2 Saw sets & waffle irons [?] | Furnia [?] Laughinghouse | .50 [?]
1 box locks [?] | x Osborn Clark | .50
2 Drawing knives 2 hooks & gun barrel [?] | David Addams | .25
2 Iron wedges | x Caleb Smith | 1.40
adze tap [?] & lock [?] | Lewis Laughinghouse | .30
2 pair Iron Haimes [hames, part of a horse collar] | Geo. [?] Roach | .25
2 Pans & sugar scoop [?] | David Addams | .25
Lot trumpery | Saml. Roach | .25
[Page total] 15.56 [?]
[Page 2]
1 Lot Coopers tools | Josiah Carney [?] | 5.0[?]
1 Cutting knife | Robert Walls | .70
3 [?] bod [?] augers | David Addams | .7[?]
2 Club axes | Aron Atkinson | .55
2 Cutting knives | Robert Walls | .20
2 Round Shaves | John Forns | .55
2 ” ” | Madison Roach | .30
1 Shave [?] | x [illegible] | .85 [?]
Side Saddle & Hames | Scott Spears | 3.[?]
Kit [?] & axletree [?] | + Osborn Clark | .30
one Shot Gun | Charles Kenyon | 1.15
one Loom | Saml. Roach | 3.25
one [?] yapon [yaupon, a holly whose leaves were dried for tea] | Saml. [?] Roach | .16
one barrel of yapon | Wm. Gwaltney [?] | .40 [?]
Six [?] barrels | Jacob Atkinson | 1.00
one [?] Table | [buyer illegible along the fold] | .85 [?]
one wheel barrow | John Fornes | 1.80
one Side Sole leather | Saml. Roach | 3.00
one do. | John Witherington | 2.15
one do. | Wm. Muckleroy | 2.15 [?]
one ” | James Campbell [?] | 2.35
one pot & hooks | Joseph [?] [illegible] | .55
1 Dutch Oven | Jacob Atkinson | .60
[illegible line along the fold] | [illegible] | .20 [?]
1 wire Sifter | David Addams | .25 [?]
1/2 Doz. plates | Furnia [?] Laughinghouse | .45
1/2 Doz. do | Saml. Roach | .50
1 Desk [?] | Wm. [?] Roach | 1.31 [?]
1 Saucer [?] & 4 cups | x Stephen Witherington | .15
1 tea [?] kettle [?] & 2 [?] | Robert Hall [?] | .75
[Page total] 22.65 [?]
[Page 3]
Waiter [?] Sugar dish & teapot | Scott Spears | .20
Waiter [tray] & Glasses | Turny [?] Laughinghouse | .63
one pitcher | Allen Jackson | .40
2 waiters | David Adams | .35
mug & coffee pot | Aron Atkinson | .25
2 tea pots | x Stephen Witherington | .25
Coffee [?] pot castors [?] | Caleb Smith | .45
one Decanter | Rowland Richards | .15
2 Stone pitchers | Rowland Richards | .55
one Coffee mill | David Addams | 1.15 [?]
one large chest | x Osborn Clark | 1.10
one large Case & bottles | Madison Roach | 5.00
one Small [?] Case & bottles | Saml. J. Roach | .75
3 Stocks bees [three hives of bees] | x Osborn Clark | 3.00
one Red cow | Lewis [?] Laughinghouse | 4.4[?]
Brindle cow white face | Joel Tucker | 6.57
Pieded [pied] cow | Joel Tucker | 7.0[?]
white back steer | James Anderson | 2.55
Black yearling white face | Muckleroy | 1.45
Red no Horned [without horns] yearling | do | 1.85
Dark brindle steer | Saml. W. [?] Jones | 3.3[?]
Red no horned cow | David McKinny | 6.0[?]
Brindle cow & calf | John Fornes [?] | 5.10 [?]
Red heifer | William Addams | 4.9[0?]
white heifer with red head | do do | 4.80
Big cow & yearling | David McKinny | 9.20
10 head Geese | John Fornes 26 cts [each] |
10 ” ” | Wm. B. Dawson 26 cts |
10 ” ” | do 26 |
[Page total, partly faded] 5[?].9[?]
[Page 4]
[struck: Account of]
6 Chairs | Lewis Laughinghouse | 1.85
1 Large Looking Glass | Saml. J. Roach | 3.00
5 bbls. [barrels] Corn | Wm. Dawson [?] @ 2.50 [?] | 12.50 [?]
5 do | Ameriah [?] Chapman @ 2.35 [?] | 11.75 [?]
5 do | Alfred Chapman @ 2.56 [?] | 12.80 [?]
[Written sideways in the lower corner:]
Jacob & Aaron Atkinson $4.58
Furnia [?] Laughinghouse 1.65 [?]
About the original
The sale offers a close look at a working farm household of the Swift Creek neighborhood in 1830 (most of the buyers were Craven County people): carpenter’s and cooper’s tools (planes, chisels, drawing knives, a bung borer, an adze), spinning wheels and a loom, a side saddle, a shot gun, kitchen goods (a Dutch oven, plates, tea pots, a coffee mill, decanters and “case & bottles”), hives of bees, cattle, geese, and fifteen barrels of corn. Two lots of “yapon” were sold. Yaupon is a native holly whose dried leaves were used in eastern North Carolina as a tea, and it was sold by the barrel.
Many neighbors and relatives bought at the sale: Samuel Roach, Samuel J. Roach, Madison Roach, George [?] Roach and William [?] Roach; John Fornes; William Muckleroy; the Atkinsons, Laughinghouses, Chapmans, Addamses, Witheringtons, Dawsons and others. Purchasers marked with an “x” or “+” in the left margin (Osborn Clark, James Clark, Caleb Smith, Stephen Witherington) may have been those who paid at once or gave notes; the meaning of the marks is not stated.
No slaves are listed in this sale.
The ink is very faded, and the paper is water-stained and creased along the folds. Several prices and a few names along the folds could not be read with certainty, and the page totals do not quite match the sums of the readable entries (page 1 adds to about $14.96 against a written total of about $15.56). The Laughinghouse first name written “Furnia” or “Turny” is uncertain.
Source: Account of a sale of property sold by James Roach. Roach Family Papers (#346), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, Box 1, Folder b (Inventories, Wills, and Estates, 1783–1868). Collection guide. Digitized folder: ECU Digital Collections, 0346-b1-fb.
Images courtesy of East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University. View in ECU Digital Collections: 35995.
Part of the Roach Family Papers collection on East Carolina Roots.
