Campbell County (Va.) Business Records, 1846-1915

Access and use

Location of collection:
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia
800 East Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Archives Reference Services
Phone: (804) 692-3888
Restrictions:

Many of the business volumes are fragile. Please handle with extreme care.

Terms of access:

There are no restrictions.

Preferred citation:

Campbell County (Va.) Business Records, 1846-1915. Local government records collection, Campbell County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Summary

Extent:
5 volumes
Creator:
Campbell County (Va.) Circuit Court
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Campbell County (Va.) Business Records, 1846-1915. Local government records collection, Campbell County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Background

Scope and content:

Campbell County (Va.) Business Records, 1846-1915, are comprised of various records created by individuals in pursuit of documenting business activities in and around Campbell County (Va.) Represented records consist of bound volumes such as an account book, a journal and ledgers.

Historical Information:William A. Clement operated a hotel in Campbell County, Virginia, during the mid-19th century.

Scope and Content:Account book, 1862-1863, records the individual accounts of hotel patrons. Each account lists transactions in chronological order. Information found in each entry includes date of transaction, form of transaction, amount owed, form of payment, and amount paid. Transactions include renting rooms, serving meals, selling drinks, renting stables for horses, and feeding horses. Payments are made by cash and credit. This volume includes an index that lists names of customers in alphabetical order and page numbers of customer's account.

Historical Information: Samuel H. Hudnall was a physician who practiced medicine in Campbell County during the late nineteenth century.

Scope and Content:Dr. Samuel H. Hudnall Journal, 1893-1901, records the accounts of individual patients, including African Americans. The accounts list in chronological order charges and payments for visits to patients, medication, and other medical services such as extracting teeth, treating syphilis, giving vaccinations, and assisting births. Forms of payment include cash, credit, labor (ploughing fields, repairing buggies, hauling items), and barter of items (chickens, mutton, oats.) Journal also records miscellaneous accounts related to Hudnall's farm.

Historical Information: Alfred S. Reid was a lawyer and farmer who resided in Campbell County, Virginia, during the mid-nineteenth century.

Scope and Content:Alfred S. Reid Ledger, 1846-1878, includes Reid's financial transactions related to both his occupations. It records both Reid's own accounts and accounts of individuals with whom Reid conducted business. Each individual account lists date of transaction, items purchased, or services rendered, quantity of items purchased, amount owed and paid, and form of payment.

Historical Information: An Unidentified General Store operated in Campbell County during the late 19th century. As indicated by the accounts, the store served a variety of clientele--including both the white and African American (designated as colored) communities as well as companies and churches.

Scope and Content:Unidentified General Store Ledger, records individual, company and church accounts from July 1883 July to January 1891. Accounts are very itemized and detailed--noting a balance, any interest owed and how paid (by cash or check.) Accounts include different items sold from hats, candy, boots, cinnamon, cartridges, kettles, coal oil, socks, fabrics (calico and cotton), shoes, grain sacks, wash boards, cough syrup, suit clothes, towels, hoes, plow points, staples such as eggs, sugar and bacon, egg crates and even chickens. Sometimes, the items purchased were designated as "merchandise" or "sundries." Intermixed with the individual accounts were headings for cash accounts, merchandise accounts, bills receivable, machine accounts, expense accounts and interest accounts.

Scope and Content:Unidentified Tobacco Business Ledger, records individual and company accounts on random pages from October 1915 to December 1915 noting what was owed and how paid (by cash or check.) The ledger includes the amount paid farmers as well as a section on bank and expense accounts. The volume includes an index.

Biographical / historical:

Context for Record Type:Business Records, both volumes and loose records, are in some cases transferred to the Library of Virginia as components of court record transfers. These business records in some cases were simply stored in the local court building for safe keeping by business owners. In other cases, business records (particularly ledgers, account books, etc.) may have been filed in a court case as an exhibit. These business record exhibits appeared both in chancery causes and in judgments, these records serving as exhibits for business dissolution cases, debt suits, and contract disputes.

Locality History:Campbell County was named for William Campbell, a general in the militia during the Revolutionary War and one of the heroes of the Battle of Kings Mountain in 1780. The county was formed from Bedford County by an act passed on 15 December 1781. The county court first met on 7 February 1782. The county seat is Rustburg. Area: 504.5 square miles. Population: 51,078 (2000), 51,300 (2005 estimate).

Acquisition information:
Records from Series I-III came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Campbell County in 2004 under the accession number 41134. Records from Series IV and V came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Campbell County in 2005 under the accession number 41665.
Processing information:

Prior to 2024, the various business records in this collection were originally described as individual records, but they have been consolidated into one large business record for the locality.

Encoded by C. Freed, August 2024

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged

  • Series I: William A. Clement Account Book, 1862-1863
  • Series II: Dr. Samuel H. Hudnall Journal, 1893-1901
  • Series III: Alfred S. Reid Ledger, 1846-1878
  • Series IV: Unidentified General Store Ledger, 1883-1891
  • Series V: Unidentified Tobacco Business Ledger, 1915

Physical location:
Library of Virginia; State Records Center