Sweet Rufus (1 results)

[288] pp. Quarto. (7-1/2" x 6-1/4"). (illustrator). [288] pp. Quarto. (7-1/2" x 6-1/4"). Nineteenth-Century Account Book of a Hudson Valley Justice of the Peace [Manuscript]. [Sweet, Rufus (1774-1860)]. [Account Book]. [Stephenville, NY, 1813-1857]. [288] pp. Quarto (7-1/2" x 6-1/4"). Three-quarter calf over marbled boards. Considerable wear, lower section of spine lacking, front board and first two signatures detached. Main text in neat hand to rectos and versos of leaves, and rear endleaves. Moderate toning and foxing, faint dampstaining to sections, some edgewear to leaves at beginning and end of text block. $750. * Stephenville is a small Upper-Hudson Valley town in Rensselaer County, New York, a few miles from the Massachusetts border. Like several rural justices of the peace, Sweet was primarily a farmer. His account book, which records both of his careers, offers a fascinating ground-level view of everyday legal and agricultural life in rural upstate New York, as well as a record of Sweet's personal expenses. (It also has two recipes for remedies to treat "salt rheumatism.") A note following the table of contents that begins the book, dated 1857, states that Sweet settled all of the recorded accounts and that he transferred the justice post to Lorenzo Chase [1840-1914].