Shopping List ca. 1765

"To Messrs Eben Backus & J Perkins

I have Inclosed a Memom of Such articles as we Shall want if you Send a Vessel this way. if you Send Cattle Send plenty of Hay as I have bought another pair of Cattle & Shall be Glad of Some Good English Hay, how Cattle will answer at Halifax is Quite unCertain if you send any that are not fat Let them be young Cows or Heifers - if Carew Comes Sooner than you ... please ... Send Some of the most material Articles by him.

10 bbl pork                Check flannel               1/2 Doz Gall measures
           Flower           yarn Stockins                   1 Doz 1/2 Gall    Do.
           Bread             8 dozn Mens Shoes         1 Dozn do Coffee pots
           Corn               4 Dozn Womens do.       1/2 Doz 3 pint    do.
           Rye                 3 Dozn boys                    1 Doz Quart pots
           Meal              6 doz. Brass Shoe            1/2 Doz Gall Tin Kittles
           Butter                      Buckles                  1 Dozn points
           Cheese           1 m. hhd Hoops               1 Doz half pints
           Hogs Lard     Some good hay               1 Doz Gill do.
           Molasses       Dryed Apples              1/2 Dozn pound cannisters
           Syder             Brown thred                1/2 Doz 1/2 pound    do.
           R                    Tow Cloath                     1 Dozn porringers
           Sugar              Oznabrigs                        1 Dozn Small Dippers
1/2 bb Linseed Oyl       Check Linin                    2 Dozn Lamps with
1/2 Ct Spanish Brown           Stuffs                                Spouts
1/2 C Spanish White      Large wooden Bowles  1 Dozn pepper Boxes
10lb White Lead             pen knifes                      1/2 Doz Lanthorns
1 Doz. Scythes midle      Shod Shovels                 2 Coopers Axes
     Size                             half Bushels                  6 Broad Axes
                                       Frying pans                     3 Doz Narrow  Do.


   In mean time I Remain

                               with Great Respect Gentln Your most Hbl Servt
                                                                              Simeon Perkins

When I left you Last by a mistake I Left a Bundle of Goods on the Counter Containing 4 yds Shalloon 6 yds Flowered Linin 8 yrds white Fustain & 10 yds Red Baize which were Charged to me June 21st and also 4 pound Tea in papers which I do not find Charged and also three potts & two Bottles of paints and oyl Pray Send those Articles and five or six pounds of Tea and Several Articles mentioned at foot p Mr Headley.

3 Gross Cod Hooks
1 m 30d Nails
6 m pump Nails
20 lbs Pepper
15 yds Bed Tick
The Bundle of Goods Left
my Pots & Bottles paints"

Excerpt from the Diary of Simeon Perkins 1804-1812, vol 5, page 394, published in Toronto by the Champlain Society in 1978.



.

Oh, dear!

"Saturday, Jan 27th - Cloudy. Wind W.N.W. The Dolphin, Capt. Collins, and Mr. Silvanus Cobb in his Schooner Sail for Halifax before Daylight or one of them, Cobb, did not go till Sunrise. The Wind Starts in to N.W. &c. Very Slippery, & Cold.
   About ten of the Clock in the morning, Capt. Ephraim Dean was taken Suddenly Ill. Supposed to be an Apoplectick fit. He Lived till about 1 O'Clock, when he expired. I understand he was as well as usual about his Business, untill he Complained his tongue was Swelld or Num, that he could not well Speak.  He was perceived to Faulter Immediately, & was only able to Answer two or three questions in a Low Voice, after which he Never Spake more, but Continued to Ly as if a Sleep till a Little before he expired he had Some Struggles. This Death is a Loud Call to the Living, & is a Great & publick Loss to the place, more especially to his Distressed Family & work men, &c."

The Diary of Simeon Perkins 1780-1789, p. 354, courtesy of The Champlain Society who makes it available through http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/.

My doctor husband said it sounds like a stroke. Ephraim Dean was born the 17th of October in 1734. His birth was recorded in the Barstable, MA Vital Records 1625-1903, (courtesy of NEHGS library). I still have to find where he is buried in Liverpool - I got a clue from Simeon where he described the corps [sic] being carried to the back of the Meeting House. Maybe he is there... he is not listed in any of the graveyards in Liverpool.

Ephraim is my 4th great grandfather on the Mack side.

Remarks on a passing

This is the passage in it's entirety:

Monday, Oct. 13th - I hear that Mr. Samuel Mack of Portmedway Dyed last Saturday. He has been a long time Sick. The water is raised So that Some of the Sawmills are like to go this day.

That's it. Samuel Mack is my 4th great grandfather Pop > Harold > Burton > John > Solomon > Samuel > Ebenezer > John).

The passage is from Simeon Perkins Diary 1780-1789, specifially 1783, page 202.

Simeon Perkins immigrated to Liverpool, Nova Scotia about 1760 from Norwich, CT. He became a magistrate for the local court; the head of the local militia during the American Revolution until age got the better of him; a keeper of accounts for all the trading that went on in Liverpool, NS and beyond; and a keeper of the comings and goings of the ships, cargo and people in the area.

His voluminous output is priceless in terms of interesting reading material, but is also genealogically important - particularly for our family, as there are so few records back then beyond births, marriages, deaths and land records.

Except for our friend Mr. Perkins, who did fortunately have business dealings with Mr. Samuel Mack, Mr. William Cahoon, Captain Ephraim Dean and many more prominent men of Liverpool, NS.

Thank you Mr. Perkins!