Edward Taylor, 1741-1789, was a planter who lived in upper Accomack County
on the Eastern Shore.  His ledger, 1775-1786, is a rich vein for research in
crops and markets, plantation management, maritime occupations, slavery, and
other aspects of daily life on the Eastern Shore.  Happily, Taylor sprinkled
the ledger with asides that enliven and humanize the accounts.

"Samuel Ramsey," Taylor wrote, "was as Grand an old schandel as ever was Born."

Under the accounts of George Letchum and John Abbott, Taylor remarks that
"This man [Abbott] was as good a fisherman as Ever went down the narrows
Except the man above [Letchum] which was a good Deal better for he would goe
out over the Bar in a small punt by himself & goe to sea as far out as any
of the Boats git more fish than any of them & when he died it was at Home by
a cancer eating to his Eye and noes."

Skin cancer, the waterman's plague.

And this: "Elias Tunnell as good an old Farmer as ever stuck plough into
Earth, died at Alex. Stokleys Plantation on Assawoman."

"As good an old Farmer as ever stock plough into Earth."  For that time and
place, I cannot imagine higher praise.

The Edward Taylor Ledger, 1775-1786, is available on microfilm at the
Library of Virginia, at the Eastern Shore Public Library, Accomac, and at
the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, Winston-Salem.

Brooks Miles Barnes
Librarian 
Eastern Shore Public Library

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