Barrell & Company account books

Collection consists of seven volumes dated 1770-1803 recording business transactions of Boston, Massachusetts, importer Joseph Barrell (1739-1804) and his son Joseph Barrell, Jr. (1765-1801), who succeeded his father in business, in a partnership with John Box Hoskins (1768-1824?) in 1794. Barrell & Hoskins continued to operate after the death of the younger Barrell in 1801, and volumes contain both accounts for the company and personal accounts for the Barrell family. Volume one is a journal detailing accounts with individuals and firms including Thomas Symmes (-1847), painter Daniel Rea (1743-1803), Charles Sigourney, Aaron Pease, and Miles & Beach, to whom Joseph Barrell sold assorted tools, household wares, clothing, spectacles, accessories and personal care items, dating from 1770 to 1777. Volume two is a waste book, dated 1784-1803, which records transactions and expenses related to shipping voyages and trade in South America and India, as well as domestic trade in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Costs included outfitting ships, wharfage fees, commission on cargo, and wages for the crew. Joseph Barrell imported commodities like raisins, spices, rum, cotton, velvet, tea, and housewares. In October 1787, the volume records expenses of 1958 pounds, six shillings, eight pence, to launch the voyages of the ship Columbia and sloop Lady Washington, bound for the Northwest Pacific Coast and China. The vessels returned to Boston in August 1790, and entries in December note additional expenses incurred and cargo delivered, which included tea. Other entries are apparently related to his position on the board of the Bank of the United States, to which he was appointed in 1792, and loans he secured. The waste book further records family and household expenses like food, clothing, apothecary bills, servants' wages, and tuition for the Barrell children at Phillips Academy, Andover, and costs related to the upkeep of a residence on Summer Street in Boston from 1784 to 1793, and thereafter at the Barrell farm in Charlestown, called Pleasant Hill. An entry from December 1792 records the purchase of the land for Pleasant Hill, and related costs, such as 100 apple trees from New York, and labor and materials for building the house. Volume three is a ledger, dated 1784-1802, containing accounts of ships voyaging to New York, India, and Portugal, as well as adventures of the ship Columbia to China in 1787-1790, and in 1791, and records of return cargo. There are also accounts with individuals and merchants, including Joseph Robello Garcia, physician Josiah Bartlett (1729-1795), John Codman (1755-1803), Thomas Bulfinch, Wentworth & Trask, and Thomas Dickason & Co. The volume additionally contains invoices, commissions, and notes receivable, as well as bank transactions, sale of land, accounts of Barrell's Boston store, and household expenses. There are loose accounts, lists, and correspondence tipped in throughout the ledger. Volume four is a waste book with entries dating 1794-1795 for Daniel and Nathan Tufts, Joseph Barrell, Sr., and Payson & Stearns, among others. Volume five is a journal, dated 1794-1795, recording purchases from the Boston store of goods like rum, sugar, and rice. Volume six is a ledger dated 1794-1795 recording charges for merchandise and commissions, and volume seven is an invoice book for the store, dated 1794-1795.