42x35 cm (16½x13¾") or a bit smaller, leather or canvas covers.
Four large manuscript ledger books recording the financial activities of Frank Spencer Witherbee (1852-1917) and the daily management of the considerable estate of his father Jonathan Gilman Witherbee (1821-1875). The ledgers offer detailed insight into the business interests of this prominent and financially influential family of Port Henry, in upstate New York, important in the iron ore industry.
Jonathan Gilman Witherbee was one of the principal pioneers of the iron ore industry of Lake Champlain, and one of the founders of the firm of Lee, Sherman & Witherbee, established in 1849, and merged into the firm of Witherbee, Sherman & Company in 1862, which was incorporated under the same name in 1900. The firm grew to become one of the largest producers of iron ore in the U.S.
Jonathan Gilman Witherbee was considered "a man of wide influence in both business and political circles."
His son Frank Spencer Witherbee was educated at various private schools and at Yale University, from which he was graduated in the class of 1874. From 1875 he devoted himself chiefly to iron mining at Port Henry, New York, having succeeded his father in the co-partnership of Witherbee, Sherman & Company in that year. Upon the incorporation of that company in 1900 he was elected its first president. (see New England Families Genealogical and Memorial by William Richard Cutter, 1913, Vol. 1, p. 14).
The innumerable manuscript entries appearing throughout these four folios include entries for Tiffany & Co., Brooks Brothers, annual dues for Mining Engineer and Yale University Club, Yale Boat Club expenses, yacht inspection, Union League club fees, Witherbee, Sherman & Company, legal notice regarding mineral rights and partition sales, stock dividends and interest from bonds, insurance premiums, political campaign contributions, traveling expenses and hotel bills, "rolling stock" (buggies, sleighs, etc.), encyclopedia purchases, repair of jewelry and watch, Republican Committee, Brooklyn theater and supper, billiard table, boarding horses, stable fees, American Jockey Club, Kennel Club dues, fishing rods and tackle, hunting outfit, Remington rifle, shot gun, trunk maker, gift to Japanese Missionary, wedding and birthday presents, china vase, opera glasses, church donations, etc.
The names of several other members of the Witherbee family can also be found within this substantial archive of volumes.
Ledgers all with manuscript entries and ranging in date as follows: 1876-1886, 437 pp.; 1890-1906, 500 pp.; 1875-1890, 278 pp.; and 1875-1892, 338 pp.
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