A hearty thank you to John Newmark at Transylvanian Dutch, creator of Amanuensis Monday, for the gentle nudge to keep transcribing those family documents.

From my Minor Satchel Collection I gently extract a scrap of paper.  Another receipt. Sigh.  I am bored with these receipts; I want letters, wills, newspaper clippings.  Sigh.  Diligently I begin the annotation which will tag the receipt’s storage sleeve.

Date:  December 16, 1830

Place:  Baltimore

Names:  John P. Minor

Now this scrap is piquing my interest!  What would Greene County, Pennsylvania resident John P. Minor be doing in Baltimore?

This paper doesn’t detail how my great³ grandfather came by the money, but it does detail how he SPENT $11.92 at the wholesale grocers, Erskine and Eichelberger, at the southwest corner of Baltimore and Howard Streets in Baltimore, Maryland.¹  John P. Minor bot (sic) ½ barrel of Coffee for $9.30, 2 units of T. Y. C. tea for $2.00, 2 units of Black Pepper for 37 cents and 1 unit of allspice for 25 cents. I can’t help but wonder if my great³grandmother enjoyed the tea for Christmas!

accessed from http://www.archive.org/details/matchettsbaltimo1833balt July 28, 2011