Nathaniel Maynard Exercise and Account Book

Scope of collection

This small volume is a hybrid production. Roughly the first half of the volume consists of relatively standard exercises for learning arithmetic and business activities, including calculating weights, measures, currencies, finances, and interest rates. The remainder consists of accounts, recording a variety of work performed by Maynard, ranging from farm labor (sale of potatoes, plowing and planting, working with oxen, slaughtering, and chopping wood) to weaving ("sheeting") and especially mending or making shoes.

Although there is no clear attribution in the volume, the weight of evidence points to it having been kept by Nathaniel Maynard. In addition to appearing as a signatory in a copy of a document related to the estate of Asa Moore, the entries bracket Maynard's life quite distinctively. The earliest date (1801) was recorded in the town of Berlin, adjacent to Maynard's childhood home of Marlborough; the earliest Leverett entries date from 1803, shadowing what is known of Maynard's movements; and the latest dates (1862) record work performed by Nathaniel's son, J.B. Maynard, who lived on Rattlesnake Gutter Road in Leverett. Supporting the attribution, the names of the account holders can all be located in Leverett, with several appearing in the 1830 federal census as living near Maynard, including Charles Emes, John Comins, Enos Broad, and Dexter Stockwell. Broad, Emes, and Comins are buried in the East Leverett Cemetery, with Aaron Pike in Moore's Corner.