Date:  1817 - 1926

Image Number:  Turner1822_DSC1122

Comments:   Shown above is the Fleming Turner Daybook, dated 1822-1827, that details the products and daily costs of Mr. Turner's farm in New Canton, Buckingham Co., VA.  This ledger is one of approximately 45 historic ledgers of local farms and businesses for the time period 1817-1926, which are preserved in Scottsville Museum's collections.  Thanks to the dedicated efforts of Sydney Morgan and Julia Spong, Institute for Public History interns at Scottsville Museum in 2012-2013, these ledgers were photographed and collection finding aids developed for 20 of these ledgers.  Each aid includes an inventory of a ledger contents, a detailed name index of business and patron names, and the research results on the farm and/or business owner who recorded transactions in that ledger. 

Regarding the Fleming Turner ledger, research determined that Fleming lived in New Canton, 12 miles southeast of Scottsville and across the James River from Bremo Bluff, Fluvanna County, VA.  Fleming was born in 1760 and was the son of Stephen Turner (1732-1827) and Sarah Spencer (1735-1827).  Fleming married Jane Madison Clark (1790-1846).  This ledger records the farm transactions by the Turner family as they produced wheat, tobacco, corn, and straw.  It also includes Fleming's harvesting and blacksmith costs, slave hire, carriage transportation of tobacco to Richmond, land purchase, and sale of Negroes. 

After Fleming died in 1826 in Buckingham Co., his wife, Jane, was the administrator of her husband's estate.  Fleming's land was divided up between his sons, John and William.  The Turner family continued using this to record certain farm events into the Civil War era.  Included in the ledger is a Registrar of Negroes on the Turner land, which contains the names and birth and death dates of 20 Negroes from 1839-1862.  One of the Civil War era transactions included in the ledger was a letter detailing the sale of 130 bales of fodder which were shipped to Richmond via the canal boat, Chantilly, in February 1863.

Fleming Turner Ledger, 1822

Benjamin Dennis Ledger, 1832-1834

John W. Tyler Ledger, 1832-1834

Robert Rives Ledger, 1846-1863

Benjamin Frye and John Tyler Ledger, 1848

John W. Tyler Ledger, 1850

Ledger "P", 1884-1887

Ledger No. 3, 1889-1893

Petersburg Savings Insurance Cashbook, 1894

Unknown Ticket Book Ledger, 1894-1898

Pitts and Dorrier Ledger No. 1, 1901-1902

Pitts and Dorrier Ledger No. 2, 1902-1903

John Staples Martin Store Cashbook, 1905-1906

Unknown Scottsville Daybook, September 1906-June 1907

Scottsville National Bank Ledger 1, 1909

Scottsville National Bank Ledger 2, 1909

Unknown Cashbook, 1910-1911

Dry Goods Ledger, 1914-1915

Unknown Ledger, August 1925-September 1926