Davis & Brothers Ledger, 1858-1868

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Summary

Title:
Davis & Brothers Ledger No. 1,
Dates:
1858-1868
Creators:
Language:
English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Davis & Brothers Ledger No. 1, Mss98, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library

Background

Scope and content:

This ledger gives evidence of both farming and commercial usage. It contains some reference to crops planted and produce sold, but it also consists of daybook records of sales to local farmers of such commodities as sugar, whiskey, tobacco, saleratus, and cheese.

The Davis brothers began their daybook on May 27, 1858. Each page of this portion of the ledger provides the following information: date, nature of sale, the dollar amount of purchase, and how much the person has paid on their account.

Below is a rough index of pages of accounts in the Davis & Brothers' ledger; pages with specific names are those of accounts that occupy more than two pages.

Biographical / historical:

G.W. and E.W. Davis were, from the mid-1850s, proprietors of several small ranches and vineyards in Bennett Valley, five miles southeast of Santa Rosa. There they grew wine grapes, plums, citrus, nuts, grain and stock. Later in the century they also produced wines for which they were widely known. The Davis brothers seem to have operated a general store throughout the 1850s and 60s.

Davis & Bros. customers biographied in Sonoma county histories include G.S. Crane. Crane was the son of Richard Crane, who, with his brother Robert, settled land south of Santa Rosa on the Petaluma Hill Road in 1852. The Cranes raised stock there throughout the 19th century. Robert was later elected Sonoma county justice of the peace and county supervisor. In the present century the Crane family became famous for their Crane melon, which is still grown on the original family farm.

Another Davis customer about whom something is known is Emmanuel Light. Light came to Santa Rosa in 1856, purchased one hundred acres and planted fruit trees. Ten years later, Light sold his land to various other ranchers--including G.W. Davis--and moved to Healdsburg. In 1868 his son, Eugene H., rented land from G.W. Davis and continued to farm in the area throughout the remainder of the century.

Physical location:
For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Physical description:
0.25 linear ft.

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Processed by Don Walker; machine-readable finding aid created by Don Walker
Date Prepared:
© 1998
Date Encoded:
Machine-readable finding aid derived from paper by means of scanning and OCR; OCR file edited for typographical errors before encoding. Date of source: 1994.

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Davis & Brothers Ledger No. 1, Mss98, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library

Location of this collection:
University of the Pacific, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University Library
Stockton, CA 95211, US
Contact:
(209) 946-2404
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