Bela Burnett (b. 1778), lived in Granby, Massachusetts from 1801-1842, and married his first wife, Clarissa Warner, in 1801, the same year that his ledger was begun. Bela and Clarissa had two sons, Bela Jr. and Stoughton, and a daughter who lived for only a year. Clarissa died in 1807 at the age of 27 and Bela married his second wife, Sally Alden one year later. Bela had two daughters with Sally, named Clarissa and Sallena. Bela may have also had two more sons after 1810 (although they were not listed on the last page of his ledger where he kept account of his family members) because the 1830 census shows two males of the household between the ages of 10 and 15. A loose piece of paper in the ledger makes note of the death of one Jonathan Burnett who died in May of 1826. On this same piece of paper is noted the death of the widow Mary Nash in 1839 at the age of 85. Mary Nash was listed in the ledger as a boarder and in the 1810-1830 census' there is an elderly female that lived in the household.

Burnett's account book does not specify the type of store he ran, but judging from the variety of wares he sold, it seems to have been a general store which sold items produced by or made on his farm. We assume he operated a farm, as many of his customers were credited by doing work for Burnett such as hoeing, planting, picking corn, carting, threshing, mowing, and chopping wood. Among the items he sold were dairy products such as cheese, milk and butter, meat stuffs like veal, mutton, bacon and beef, fruit and vegetables like cucumbers, onions, apples, turnips, watermelons and pumpkins which were bought according to season. Odds and ends he sold were ox bows, weaving cloth, plaster, tallow, brick, bushels of oats and rye, straw and cider. Mittens, woolen shirts and feathers were sold as well as sewing materials. One Stephen Burnett seems to have been a shoemaker as his usual purchases were shoelaces and upper leather and calfskin.

Customers paid in cash as well as credit and many of his customers would work on the farm as credit. Some kept yearlings and other animals for Burnett; David Smith kept 31 hogs once. He accepted credit in the form of horse and cart transport to the neighboring towns of Ludlow or Belchertown. Some customers would make shirts, mittens and stockings as payment for their purchases. Along with the income from his store, Burnett also allowed boarders to live in the household for a while; only Mary Nash boarded for more than a year and in 1836, he paid for Dr. Ingram to see her while she was sick. Burnett and each customer signed every transaction but on several occasions there is the signature of Tim A.P. Marsh who was also a customer. Marsh may have been a trusted confidante or even a partner.

Burnett had given a number to each customer and the ledger lists up to 38 regular customers, yet there were some customers without a number who were fairly regular so we can assume that the number of customers was about 50. Although there is no mention of Burnett or his store in Granby local history books, a few of his customers were prominent men in society. Asa Robbins, listed as customer number 31, owned the first woolen mill in Granby until 1837 when it failed due to his involvement in the building of the West Church. The same David Smith that kept hogs for Burnett was also Representative of Hampshire County in 1820 and postmaster. Joseph Dickinson, Chester Smith, Joseph Mason and Giles Montague were all Selectmen of Granby sometime during the period from 1815-1835.

There are a number of loose pieces of paper that were inserted in the ledger. Most of them are papers on which Burnett had done his calculations. Others include a note from Burnett that must have been posted up as it says that there was a stray pig in his enclosure and requesting the owner to please take it away and pay damages, and a newspaper clipping from the Springfield Gazette in 1820 with lists of 'for sale' items that came from abroad such as Jamaica Spirit, Holland Gin, Souchong tea and English kettles. The reverse side is from "The Retort Romantic" that contains a note of Caution from W.M. Robinson about his 'stray' wife and an answer from her. There is also a summons by King George III to Jesse Warner of Wilbraham, who owes Charles a sum of 10 pounds. Another loose leaf seems to be a remedy for yellow jaundice that includes ingredients such as goose dung, saffron, Barbary bark and insects.

Cite as: Bela Burnett Accounts (MS 385). Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Processed by Sihla Tumkaya.