TEACHER'S GUIDE TO
History and Folklife of the Kentucky Frontier
Lesson 13: 2 Household Inventories
| Following a man's death, court-appointed appraisers inventoried and listed the deceased's worldly goods and filed the list with his will. Because a woman's possessions legally belonged to her husband or father, only the estate of a widow or spinster required appraisal. Period inventories provide considerable insight about people's possessions. This lesson can also be used to illustrate the social divisions of class, gender and race. |
from the Logan County WILL Book A. (Typescript). Kentucky Library, Western Kentucky University.
[January 1805]....Agreeably to an order of Logan County Court we Matthew Alexander Jabus Townsin and Light Townsen having met at the home of Ralph Fleming deceased & being firest duty sworn for that purpose having proceeded to View and Appraised the personal estate of the said deceased as follows: 15 hogs at 20 dollars 20.00 1 old mare and colt 70 D 70.00 1 yearling filly 45 D 45.00 1 old brown horse at 30 D 30.00 1 Sorrell horse at 30 D 30.00 19 head of cattle at 88 D 88.00 1 negro man at 266 2/3 D 266.66 2/3 2 sows and 5 piggs at 3 1/2 D 3.50 16 sheep at 24 D 24.00 2 plows 2 hoes 1 mattock 1 axe 1 Drawing knife and iron wedge 13.50 1 set of Double trees & 3 clevices & 1 link 2.00 1 loom 4 sets of geers 2 reeds spooling wheel and shift 12.00 2 powdering tubbs and sundries of Coopers ware 12.00 2 bells and one reaping hook 1.25 1 pott 2 ovens 1 oven led 1 skillet and pot hooks 6.00 1 chest and table 4.00 2 flax wheels and one cotton wheel and 1 reel 6.50 1 feather bed and bedstead & a quantity of furniture 27.00 1 man's saddle and cloth 1 1/2 doll 1.50 2 pr. old cards 1.00 a quantity of wearing clothes at 12.00 1 smoothing Iron 1 dollar 1.00 5 old chairs at 1 2/3 doll 1.66 2/3 7 books of various kinds 2 A quantity of Pewter and tins & knives & forks 4.00 2 baggs 1 Doll 1.00 15 geese at 9 dollars 9.00 a quantity of corn 50.00 [January 1804]....Agreeable to an order of the Court given the August term 1803 We have proceeded to value the estate of Aquilla Puntenny Deceased as follows 1 Bull $4.00 5 cows and calves 42.00 2 year old heifers 5.00 1 horse 80.00 1 kettle 8.00 1 bausgear plow 4.00 1 chest 3.00 1 feather bed bedstead & furniture 10.00 1 Dutch oven & hooks 1.00 1 pott 1.00 1 Mattock 2.00 1 Handsaw .50 Peuter & tin ware 4.00 3 chairs 1.25 1 ax 2.00 1 flax wheel 2.00 1 side saddle 18.00
Using the Fleming and Puntenny inventories
1. Make a list of household goods and another of tools and farm equipment. Identify which items are no longer common, and determine the function of those that are unfamiliar.
2. Ask students to prepare an inventory of one or more rooms in their homes. Compare the modern inventories with those of the Fleming and Puntenny belongings. To determine price differences, compare the worth of the early 19th century items with the price of their modern versions. Why are the differences in price inconsistent? After comparing prices, discuss the impact of mass production.
hoe
axe
handsaw
3 quart pot
medium-sized table
mattress and bedframe
iron
3. Determine the total "worth" of the estates of Aquilla Puntenny and Ralph Fleming.
This lesson was adapted by Jennifer Small from A Teacher's Guide to Pioneer Life in South
Central Kentucky, by Nancy Disher Baird and Carol Crowe-Carraco.