December 12, 2023
Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry writes about a Virginia jeweler’s account book from the 1760s and the history it contains about early Virginia families. Melissa is a genealogist who has a blog, AnceStory Archives, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.
Recently I came across an article published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch written by William B. Cridlin, the secretary of the Virgina Historical Pageant Association, that features commentary about an old account book. This information may be very useful for those researching early Virginia family lines.
The account book belonged to Zachary Lewis, a jeweler in Richmond, Virginia, and contains records from the 1760s. Along with details of Lewis’s business, this account book also contains:
A compilation of statistics bearing on the population and growth of Virginia from the landing at Jamestown of the “Founders of Democracy” through the various periods as a colony and state.
This article reports:
Through the courtesy of J. M. Lewis, of Richmond, it has been the pleasure of the writer to examine an old account book of Colonel Zachary Lewis, dated 1762-1769. The book is of special interest, as it contains the names of many citizens of Richmond and vicinity of that day. Among the patrons of the jewelry store and the watchmaker (employed by Colonel Lewis), we find such familiar names as Patrick Henry, John Marshall, James Madison, and other well-known Virginians.
In the following collage, we see a portrait of Patrick Henry (1736-1799) by George Bagby Matthews. Also included is mention of an entry from Zachary Lewis’s account book about repairing and cleaning Henry’s watch, and a note about Henry’s watch fob on loan to the Council of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America.
Before I continue with Mr. Cridlin’s report, I want to inform the reader that the account book is housed at the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, in Williamsburg, Virginia.
I contacted the collection’s librarian and, after a few exchanges, the library decided the account book will be included in the next batch of archival items to be digitized. So, stay tuned!
In the meantime, I have included this link to the index of names in the account book, which can be viewed at Americana-Archives.com.
Here is more from Cridlin’s newspaper article:
Colonel Lewis was born in King and Queen County in 1731. He was the son of Zachary Lewis, a lawyer of wealth, and grandson of Zachary Lewis, of [Brecknockshire] Wales, who settled in Virginia in 1692.
Colonel Zachary Lewis was a captain of foot in Spotsylvania (1758) and later served as a colonel in the Revolutionary War. At the time the account book was opened, Zachary Lewis was 30 years of age and already engaged in numerous business enterprises of the day. Not only was he in business in Richmond, but operated a stock farm in King and Queen County. He was owner of “Valiant,” the progenitor of many noted horses of the past century.
Among the various entries found in the old account book, there are items of charge for “making” silver knee stock and shoe buckles, silver buttons, candlesticks, candle snuffers, snuff boxes, mourning and engagement rings, and many other articles not now in common use. [Also clock and watch repair.]
The significance of this account book for my research was an entry made by Lewis for a sale of three gold rings made for Mr. John Pemberton, 25 February 1764.
I have been researching the ancestral lines of Katie Crocker, who has several Mayflower passengers including Stephen Hopkins (also of Jamestown) through her paternal side.
Here is a photo of Katie’s parents: James Lauchlan Crocker (son of Merle Macdonald Crocker and Jean Hazelton); and Debra Sue Pemberton (daughter of Robert Pemberton and Shirley Joyce Smith). The photo was taken in Barnstable, Massachusetts, shortly after their wedding.
When I began to investigate her maternal side, I found many old Virginia families. Among them are Walker, Warren, Stanton, Robinson, Delaney, Pemberton, and Lewis.
It has been quite a challenge. Most of my clues have come through old wills, deeds, and family Bibles, but I believe the entry in the account book shown above provides information on her ancestor, American Revolutionary War hero Capt. John Pemberton, who married Elizabeth Stanton Delaney, daughter of John Delaney and Frances Stanton.
The gold rings were probably made for Pemberton’s wedding, purported to have taken place between 1760-1764, but there is no paper record found to date.
Capt. Pemberton was one of the heroes who fought at King’s Mountain on 7 October 1780, along with his wife’s brother Major William Thomas Delaney.
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Note on the header image: “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!” Patrick Henry delivering his great speech on the Rights of the Colonies, before the Virginia Assembly, convened at Richmond, 23 March 1775. He concluded his speech with the above sentiment, which became the war cry of the Revolution. Credit: Currier & Ives; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Wikimedia Commons.
To be continued…
