The University of Massachusetts Amherst
Robert S. Cox Special Collections & University Archives Research Center
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Belcher Family

Belcher Family Account Books

1847-1858
2 vols. 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 208 bd

Owners of a butcher shop in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Includes customer names, prices of meat, form of payment (principally cash), and Belcher family information.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Belcher family owned a butcher shop in Foxboro, Massachusetts, supplying the needs of local residents. The two account books, totaling 820 pages, are arranged by customer name and are principally cash transactions for meat. As such, they are particularly revealing for charting the price of meats and the consumption patterns of the local customers over a significant period of time.

The first account book is the property of Lewis T. Belcher (born 1798) in Foxboro. He married Almira Kidder in 1824 and they had three children. At the close of the earlier account book in 1850, Belcher had two children living at home, one of whom was also a butcher, and his shop was worth approximately $2000.

In close proximity lived his recently married eldest son, Lewis W. (born 1826) who was soon to become the proprietor of the shop. Indeed, the second account book, beginning January 1851, was listed under the son’s name, but most of the customers continued from the father’s accounts. By 1860, Lewis W. Belcher employed one other butcher in his shop worth at that point about $2500, and resided with his wife and three daughters.


Information on Use
Terms of Access and Use
Restrictions on access:

The collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation

Cite as: Belcher Family Accounts (MS 208). Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

History of the Collection

Acquired from Charles Apfelbaum, 1987.

Processing Information

Processed by Ken Fones-Wolf, September 1988.


Additional Information

Sponsor
Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Language
English.


Subjects

Belcher familyButchers--Massachusetts--FoxboroughConsumers--Massachusetts--FoxboroughDiet--Massachusetts--FoxboroughFoxborough (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th centuryMeat--Prices--Massachusetts--FoxboroughShopping--Massachusetts--Foxborough

Contributors

Belcher, Lewis T., b. 1798Belcher, Lewis W., b. 1826

Types of material

Account books