Background on Richard E. Lloyd
Born in December 13, 1833, in Festiniog, County Merioneth, Wales, Richard Ellis Lloyd migrated to Fair Haven, Vermont, in the early 1850s and by the end of the decade had opened a general store that became the basis for his future fortune. In the federal census of 1860, the 25 year-old Lloyd was listed as a boarder in town with a net personal worth of just $400, however over the next ten years, his lot in life rose rapidly. By 1869, Lloyd was the owner of three buildings on Main Street in Fair Haven, including his house, store, and a building rented out for income, and in the census of 1870, he reported a personal estate valued at $6,000 to go with $9,000 in real estate. He added a partner to his dry goods store in 1882, J. T. Hughes, reporting a stock at the time of between $12,000 and $15,000.
From this foundation in dry goods, Lloyd diversified his investments, helping found the Fairhaven Hotel Company in 1882 while venturing into the local slate business that was the source of great local wealth. As early as the fall 1865, he and his brother William E. Lloyd began leasing quarries in Fair Haven that led to the formation of the firm Lloyd, Owens, and Co. (including partners Owen Owens and Richard Ellis) that specialized in unfading green, purple, and variegated roofing slate.
Lloyd married a Welsh-born woman, Margaret, in about 1863, and raised three sons and a daughter. He died of arteriosclerosis and nephritis on August 3, 1912.
Scope of collection
The Lloyd collection consists of two daybooks covering the years 1859-1865. Made at the time of transaction, each entry lists items purchased, the price per measure, and payment. The names of most purchasers are recorded with a number corresponding to their entry in an account book (not present): account numbers as high as 533 appear in the first few pages of the first volume, indicating this was probably not Lloyd's opening ledger.
Lloyd's store offered a wide variety of goods: fabrics, ready-made clothes, cutlery and tinware, garden seeds, fresh fruits and nuts, eggs and dairy products, even jewelry. Most transactions were charges: while some customers paid in cash, Lloyd accepted both goods and services in payment, especially making clothes. Whether these clothes were for Lloyd and family or for sale in the store is uncertain.
The majority of Lloyd's customers were Welsh, with names like Lloyd, Griffith, Morgan, and Thomas, reflecting the demography of Fair Haven at the time. The growth of slate quarries in the region during the 1840s had attracted an influx of Welsh miners from Pennsylvania and from Wales. Women rarely appear by name in this ledger, although the goods or services exchanged for credit and credited to men may have been produced by women. Women sometimes earned credit under their own names by sewing or washing.
Administrative information
Search terms
Subjects
- Consumer goods--Vermont--Fair Haven--Prices--19th century
- Fair Haven (Vt.)--Economic conditions--19th century
- Fair Haven (Vt.)--History--19th century
- General stores--Vermont--Fair Haven--19th century
- Lloyd, Richard E.
- Welsh Americans--Vermont--19th century
Contributors
- Lloyd, Richard E., b. 1834 [main entry]
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