[This is a WIP - works in progress - being edited and coded into html by Sandra N. Ratledge for Tennessee Ties website only. Do not attach to family trees or copy and upload on any other websites. The entire transcription project was given to me by Claude Ferguson, for which I am deeply appreciative. Claude's transcription is painstakingly meticulous, indicative of a devoted researcher. He relates to my husband, Stephen Ratledge, through the Clowers family mentioned in this ledger. Links to the various pages will be provided at the bottom of the index page.]

• a/c - account
• allum (alum) - a double sulfate of potassium and aluminum, used in manufacture of dyes, paper, etc.
• amt. - amount
• And., And.w - Andrew
• ax helve - act of putting ax head on wooden handle
• awels - awls, small pointed handtool for making holes in leather or wood
• back plait - sheet of cast iron to form the back of a fireplace
• bal.e - balance
• Ball Bass Thread - (brand of manufactured thread?)
• bark mill - machine to grind bark of chestnut and oak trees, bark to be mixed with water to produce tanic acid which was used to tan hides into leather
• bead cord - (string used for "stringing" beads?)
• bellis, bellowes - bellows, device used to force air into a fire to increase the combustion and heat
• Ben. - Benjamin
• bend, bind (of fodder) - unit of measure of corn stalks used as animal feed (fodder)
• blacking - material for giving cast iron a permanent black finish; act of putting the blacking material on the cast iron
• bole - bowl
• book muslin – (a type of cloth?)
• brass - brace
• breaching - that part of horse harness that goes over and around the rear of the horse
• brimstone - sulphur
• bromb - broom
• brot, brout - brought
• buffaloe head -
• bull tongue - part of a plow to which the oxen or horses are hitched
• bulls head -
• Bumbaset – bombazine, a silk twill
• bush.l - bushel measure
• cambrick (cambric) - very fine and thin linen
• campfur, campfire (camphor) - medicinal extract of the camphor tree, oriental laurel
• Carolina oven - a heavy cast iron skillet-like pan with lid that could be used in cooking somewhat as an oven
• casting - product of liquid metal after pouring and hardening in a mould
• Cawby steel – a surname in the community
• ch.a - charge
• Chamber pot – a bucket-like container used as a nighttime indoor toilet
• Charg.d – charged
• Chestnuts – chestnuts, fruit of the chestnut tree
• Chickings – chickens
• Chimney plait – sheet of cast iron to form part of a chimney
• Churries – cherries
• coaling - work at making charcoal
• copperus - ferrous sulfate, iron salt of sulfuric acid; used to dye fabrics black, make ink, and to purify water
• cord - unit of measure of pole wood that was used to make charcoal
• cotton cards - brush-like hand tools for brushing raw cotton into a form that can be hand-fed into the form of thread onto the spool of a spinning wheel
• cr. - credit
• cradling - to cut standing stalks of grain with a cradle (a long handle scythe with a rack for holding the stalks) to form a bunch that could be made into a shock
• cravat stiffer - [perhaps something to stiffen a cravat (necktie)?]
• cupola - furnace at a foundry for remelting pig iron for pouring into moulds for forming various cast iron products
• curry comb - a comb with metal teeth used to curry (comb) a horse
• cut (of thread) - unit of measure of thread
• cut (of flax) - unit of measure of flax
• damag.d - damaged
• Dan.l - Daniel
• Dav.d - David
• do - repeat item(s) in preceeding, used as ditto mark
• dock - reduce amount
• dogs - andiron for a fireplace; also a tool used for grappling or holding
• domestic (cloth) - a cloth made in the home
• dr. - debtor
• dri.d - dried
• due berries - dewberries
• Esq.r - brief of honorary title, Esquire, for Justice of the Peace, addressed as "Squire"
• extrary - extra
• fallon skillit - a type of skillet
• flints - flint rock chips used in flintlock guns to strike a piece of metal to generate a spark to ignite primer powder and fire the gun
• fodder - rough feed for livestock such as corn stalks
• forw.d - forward
• Franklin stove - stove made mostly of cast iron that was invented by Benjamin Franklin
• frizzen - part of a flintlock covering the priming pan and is struck by the cock when rifle is fired
• Geo. - George
• Germin (German) linin - a fine grade of linen cloth made from flax
• Germin steel -
• gimblets (gimlets) - an auger-like hand tool for boring holes
• gunlock - part of a gun by which the charge is set off
• gunnels, gunnelz -
• handage - scrap iron pieces resulting from pouring and cleaning of cast iron articles
• hemstring (leather) -
• hearth - floor in front of fireplace or furnace
• H.D.Kf - handkerchief
• hollowware, hollowere (hollowwear) - iron and / or pottery utensils such as pots, pans, dishes, skillets, etc.
• indigo - a blue dye obtained from a plant; indigo blue
• int. - interest
• Irish linin - a very fine grade of linen cloth made from flax
• jains (jeans) - a very durable cotton cloth long used in work clothes
• Jas. - James
• Jno. - John
• Jnr., Jun.r - Junior
• juge - jug
• juse (Jew's) harp - a small metal musical instrument held between the teeth and played by plucking a projecting bent piece of metal with a finger while humming a tune
• keeping furnace - tending the iron furnace while making a "blast" of ore and limestone to produce liquid iron
• lamp black - fine soot produced by the incomplete combustion of tars, oils, and other forms of carbon used as a dye pigment
• lead - metal lead used for moulding bullets for guns
• life frankling - book about the life of Benjamin Franklin
• linsey - a coarse cloth made of linen and wool or cotton and wool
• madder - a red dye made from the root of the madder plant
• mdz. - merchandise
• mandrill - a spindle or bar inserted into something to hold it while it is being cast, molded or shaped
• milch - milk
• mill gudgeon - metallic journal piece let into the end of a wooden shaft, the journal or bearing of a waterwheel
• mill ink -
• million - melon, (water millions = watermelons)
• Missouri (Messoury, Messourie) Harmony - a song book of the day authored by Allen D. Carden entitled "The Missouri Harmony; or, a collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes, and Anthems, from eminent authors, with an introduction to the grounds and rudiments of music; in four parts." One song from the publication, "The Pastoral Elegy," included the lament for the death of a young shepherd, Corydon. This was a favorite song of General William Henry Harrison as sung by a friend's daughter in southern Indiana. He gave the name Corydon to the first capital city of Indiana (source DAR Magazine, issue June 1992, page 527).
• mortar (& pestle) - a very hard bowl in which a substance can be ground into a fine powder by use of a pestle
• mould board - a curved plate of cast iron attached to a plowshare of a low for turning the soil
• mustmillions - muskmelons, cantaloupes
• nales - nails
• opeldeldock, opedildock (opodeldock) - one of the earliest American medicines
• pailing (paling) - (probably material for making a fence or railing)
• past ( paist, paste) board - (might have had to do with making ceramics out of clay "paste" ?)
• pattapants -
• pattron (pattern) - the required amount of material to make a specific garment, sometimes cut and ready for assembly
• paregoric - medicine made from powdered opium, anise oil, benzoic acid and camphor; first made in 1700s
• pestle (& morter) - a small hand tool used to grind a substance into a fine powder in a bowl which is called a mortar
• pig meatal - pig metal, units of iron after it is drawn from the furnace and allowed to cool and harden in the sand moulds on the furnace room floor
• Pilgrim’s Progress - book written by John Bunyan, Part 1 in 1678 & Part 2 in 1684; Bunyan, a preacher in England, wrote Pilgrim’s Progress while in prison
• Plaits - plates
• powder - explosive used as gunpowder and for blasting purposes
• quire (of paper) - 25 sheets of paper
• race - channel dug to divert water from a stream to the waterwheel at a mill using water as the power source
• remov.d - removed
• ribband - ribbon
• saddles & inks -
• Sam.l - Samuel
• Sn.r - Senior
• schooling - teaching
• Sessouery Harmony - See "Missouri Harmony"
• sider - cider made from apples
• sharp.d - sharpened, act of sharpening
• shaving box - metal box for holding razor and shaving material
• sheep shairs - sheep shears, scissors for cutting wool from sheep
• shucks - leaf-like covering of an ear of corn
• shugar - sugar
• skane (skein) - a measure of thread wound in a coil
• smith work - work of a blacksmith
• sole leather - hardened leather for soles of shoes
• spider - a skillet or frying pan with legs to hold it above the fire or heat source
• stearing - controlling the direction of movement of a boat on the river
• steeling - process of heating and hammering iron to convert it into hammered steel
• strain - strainer
• strip.d - stripped
• sundaries - a listing of various items
• sundry - various
• tare - tar
• th.d - thread
• Thos. - Thomas
• tick - cloth sack to be filled with cotton, feathers, or other soft material to make a mattress or pillow
• ticking - strong heavy cotton or linen cloth from which ticks were made
• tirkey - turkey
• tow linin - a very coarse cloth made from the coarse and broken fibers (tow) of hemp
• trace chains - harness chains from horse collar to singletree attached to implement being pulled
• tyres - tires
• upper leather - pliable leather for upper part of shoes
• viol - small bottle usually for holding medicine
• wafful - waffle
• ware (were) - iron and / or pottery utensils; pots, pans, dishes, skillets, etc. called hollowware
• wallower - the first driven wheel (gear) of a water mill, gears that change the direction of the drive
• water million - watermelon
• wautch - watch
• whilst - while
• Wm. - William