Coldengham, New York
Store of Cadwallader Colden, Jr.
Joel Campbell
Cadwallader Colden Jr. opened his Day Book to make the entry for Joel Campbell. There were only four unfinished pages remaining. At the bottom of the fifth page from the end was room to enter Joel's three purchases: Nails, Rum, and Shot.
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| October 28, 1768 entry for Joel Campbell in Colden Day Book. Collections of New-York Historical Society. |
Only three more days of store transactions would be entered into this book. Joel's entry was the last Campbell surname to appear in this DayBook.
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This article is one in a series of a daily accountings of Colden Store transactions. Be sure you read the first installment for an introduction to the store. You should also read this article which appeared in the Journal of the Orange County Historical Society.
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Ancestors from the 18th century frequently have very thin contemporary documentation. So is it with my ancestor, Joel Campbell. Every contemporary mention of him is precious. The few words on this page are parsed to try and understand him better.
For example, did Joel instruct Colden on how to spell his name? The first entry in the Day Book for Joel in 1767 has his given name as 'Joall.' All of the subsequent entries have the spelling as in most other contemporary records of him.
And what about Joel's last name? Two weeks earlier, Colden spelled Joel's brothers' surname as 'Cambel.' Did Joel instruct him that there was a 'p' in the spelling? Being the son of a Scotsman, Colden should have known of Campbells and the normal spelling?
Why did Joel need so many nails? Was he building a structure? Or was he employed by another person in the process of building? There is no record of Joel being a carpenter and he was often described as a yeoman, which means he was likely building something for himself.
Joel bought gun shot but no gun powder. This was unusual. He had purchased powder a few weeks earlier, October 7, so that must have lasted him. Was the shot and powder for militia drills or for hunting? At thirty-three years of age he was a bit older than the prime age for militia duty and these were relatively peaceful times. Most likely he was hunting game.
I could go on, but one can see that the tiniest information can be parsed for clues about who these people were who lived close to the Colden Store. Sometimes the conclusions are questionable, but just asking the questions starts conversations with fellow researchers. Somehow I managed to fill a 400-page book with the scarce records (parsed for deeper meaning and probabilities) of my ancestor, Joel Campbell. The paperback and e-Book are available at lulu.com.
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