Small-time accounting: A 19th century meat merchant in Main

Accounting Historians Journal, The, Jun 2001 by Vollmers, Gloria, Bay, Darlene

Abstract: The journal of Amos K. Hersey, a 19th century meat merchant from Pembroke, Maine is examined in this paper. The accounting system used by Hersey is analyzed and compared with contemporary prescriptions for account keeping. The paper seeks to contribute to the emerging literature on the history of accounting among ordinary people. It shows how the accounts kept by Hersey reflect and illuminate several features of a local economy and society.

Largely missing from historical accounting literature are the accounts of ordinary people, those operating a sole proprietorship or simply keeping personal records of receipts and expenditures. Rather, we tend to explore the accounting records of large firms or the practices of entire cultures. In this respect, accounting historians mirror the concerns of accounting researchers in general, who also concentrate their efforts on understanding the role of accounting in the economy as a whole and emphasizing the relationship of accounting with big business and economics [Walker and Llewellyn, 2000]. Yet, there is a case to be made for studying the accounting practices of the small business, the family, and the home. This more mundane application of accounting practices may help to shed light on larger social and cultural issues. For example, Walker's [1999] work suggested that private (domestic) accountings may help maintain established social structures. Historical studies of micro-businesses allow us to achieve a better understanding of business and daily life in the past. For example, identifying what is accounted for reveals what was important or respectable: "In 1782, Jacob Bailey, characterized the Yankee Farmer (sic) as a person `able with his own industry to make a comfortable living, besides discharging his tax bill, paying the midwife, and providing a plentiful and greasy dinner on Thanksgiving"' [Ulrich, 1990, p. 89].

To be sure, the line differentiating the accounts of an "ordinary" person from those of a business is a fuzzy one. But it is fair to say that one is more likely to find an article on the accounting and control systems in use at General Motors in the 1950s than one about John McKay, dentist, East Washau, North Dakota, 1924-1932. We classify as "ordinary" accounts kept by a single person or family for personal reasons rather than to satisfy external users or non-family partners.

There have been some exceptions to the exclusion of the records of individuals from accounting research, including studies of the records of Quakers in Massachusetts [Fuglister and Bloom, 1991] and the ledger of Giacomo Badoer [Var, 1976]. Indeed, several academics have suggested recently that accounting research be expanded to include studies of the more everyday and small-business aspects of accounting and of its relationship to broader culture [Hopwood, 1994; Boden, 1998; Walker and Llewellyn, 2000]. Personal accounts may open a window on how a person lived and how life was organized. The frame may be crude, but it is not without significance. These accounts, supported by other sources, provide a springboard for the development of a larger history of a person and of his/her town and times, as well as insights into the individual's financial success or failure and place in wider society.

The current research was based on a journal1 kept by Amos K. Hersey of Pembroke, Maine. Hersey's journal primarily documents the years during which he was a meat merchant in Pembroke and is a record not only of his primary business but also of his increasing financial distress, reflecting the declining fortunes of Pembroke itself during the late 19th century. The journal contains accountings for several aspects of the owner's business and even of his personal life. This study builds on the transactions recorded in the journal by correlating them with information gleaned from other sources, such as history books, the U.S. census, and the knowledge of local amateur historians.

The paper begins with a review of other accounting studies that have attempted to relate the accounting records of everyday people to the economy and society in which they conducted their business. The Herset story follows, and the paper concludes with a brief assessment of what such studies have to offer.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Personal or small business accounting research is rare. The few exceptions illustrate two broad outcomes of microaccounting research. One is to learn how accounting was used in decision making and how transactions were recorded. The other is to use the accounting records to learn more about the world in which they were created. Accounts may be one of the few surviving records available for examining an entire culture or community and, as such, provide an important first step for further research into that world.

One example of relating accounting to the people who used it is a study by Fuglister and Bloom [1991] of the accounting records of the Quakers in West Falmouth, Massachusetts. The authors associated the simplicity of the Quaker's single-entry accounting with that of the Quaker lifestyle. For example, Fuglister and Bloom stated that Quakers used an "X" to indicate settlement of previously recorded debts and that non-Quakers did not. The authors believed this to be evidence of the Quakers simplicity and honesty. Though the authors' conclusion is plausible, we believe this practice was common to others besides the Quakers. For example, the day book of a blacksmith in 19th century Maine,' and the diary of Martha Ballard, a 17th century Maine midwife [Ulrich, 1991], both show that an "X" indicated the settlement in cash or in kind (barter transactions were common) of services previously rendered or debts incurred. The "X" was used among people whose business operations were so small that they did not keep formal records of cash but did need to keep track of amounts owed to them or to others. Upon settlement of a receivable or payable, the entry was simply checked or "Xed" off. Further confirmation of this can be found in the section on bookkeeping in Business Man's Adviser [1853, p. 122]: "The first book is the day book ... When an entry is made in the Day Book which is settled by cash before it is posted in the leger (sic), the posting may be omitted, and 'paid' written against the charge.. ." An "X" could easily be substituted for the word "Paid."