1879-1893 HANDWRITTEN FARM JOURNAL AND ACCOUNT BOOK KEPT BY RICHARD S. BURGARD, A PRODUCTIVE FARMER OF EAST BERLIN, PENNSYLVANIA by Burgard, Richard S - 1879

1879. Original manuscript. 130+pp of entries, written in green ink and black ink on the pages of a calf-bound account book, 7.5" x 4.5". On the cover is a two-cent stamp and a faint inscription: "Richard S. Burgard, Agent for the Heirs of Michael Burgard Dec'd." The name and East Berlin address of Michael S. Burgard are written on the front pastedown endpaper. The first entry, dated January 6, 1879, is "Paid to Samuel Miller for father's Coffin, $18.00." On the same day, "Paid to E. Spangle for Store things for Mother & funeral, $11.94." Hundreds of entries follow, including: a calf for the funeral; corn sheller; wagon; blacksmith; surveying; carriage; barn doors; tombstone; lumber for hog-stable; carpentry; paints; various vegetable seeds; coal; school tax; various building materials and hardware; posts and rails; mending barn roof; phosphate; tax on Pigeon-hill wood lot; "interest on her Dower to Hannah Livingstone, 90 dollars, coming to her yearly"; cementing smokehouse; mend the slate house roof; road tax; laying pump bed; hauling; medical aid for Mother; lumber; fencing; payouts to the seven heirs of Michael Burgard; tinsmithing; repairs to the old homestead house and farm; milling grain; taking out stumps; coffin and shroud for our dec'd Mother Rachel Burgad; funeral; &c. Frequent entries record income from crops: hay, wheat, oats, rye, corn, etc; interest on funds at Western National Bank; eggs; chickens; &c. Local surnames in Richard's journal include: Eisenhart, Livingston, Rinehart, Hildebrand, Bowser, Ziegler, Hollinger, Grove, Jacobs, Harbold, Skitmore, Stambaugh, Straley, Graff, Conrandy, Baughman, Shellenberger, Kauffman, Reber, Kraft, Kimmel, Spahn, Sprinkle, Becker, Goodenberger, Gentzler, Leibenknecht, Kellerman, Deardorff, Kindig, Berkheimer, Shaffer, Bechtel, Shireman, and others.