Morris, J. C. (1864-1868) Account Book. P.E.l. PARO. Acc. 4405.

In 7996 / came across a hand-written ledger and account book for sale in a second-hand shop in Travellers Rest. It turned out to be an account book belonging to Joseph Catt/e Morris who operated a saw mill and general store at North Granville in Lot 27, and the book covered a four—year period from 1864 to 7868. J. C. Mom's was also an occasional ship-builder, as were other members of his family, and several pages contain an ’Account Against Brig’, seeming/y for an unnamed brig of 281 tons which he was having built in 7866, though it also incorporates the accounts for a brigantine called the Cyrus of 136 tons. Each of Morris ’8 customers was assigned a separate page, with the goods they received and the form of their payment being recorded. The account book shows the importance of the barter system in nineteenth century Prince Edward Island, and it is evident that wood, presumably from the settlers’ own land, was one of the materials that could be used as a form of payment for store goods. / have extracted below all of the entries for which Morris either received payment in the form of timber or wood, or bought timber for cash, or else paid individuals for cutting or sawing timber for him. A count of the number of separate mentions of the various types of wood indicates that ’hardwood’ (the species is not usually specified) is the most frequent wood-type that was used for barter: hardwood is mentioned eighteen times, and ’birch’, presumably yellow birch, three times. In comparison, ’softwood’ is recorded only once, though spruce is recorded ten times, and pine twice. This five to one ratio of spruce to pine may be an indicator of the relative availability of the two trees in the area by the 7860s. The account book is undoubtedly but one of many that once existed in the nineteenth century, and it is possible that others may be found that contain similar information on forest materials.

REFERENCES:

De Jong, N. & Moore, M. M. (1994) Shipbuilding on Prince Edward Island: Enterprise in a Maritime Setting 7 78 7- 7920. Canadian Museum of Civilization, Ottawa. p. 356.

Lake, D. J. & Peck, H. S. (1863) New Topographical Map of Prince Edward Island. Publisher: W. E. Baker & Co.

Alex Corbet 17 Aug 1866 rafting hardwood timber -/40/- May 1867 23' birch timber @ 17/ -/9/9 [p. 30l William Powell July 1867 350' spruce -/5/- [p. 33] Margate William Currie April 1864 9 tons spruce timber @ 15/ 6/15/- April 1864 6% tons hardwood timber @ 10/ 3/2/6 26 June 1866 1066' hardwood plank @ £9/M 9/11/10‘/2 [p. 601 Edward Burgoyne 12 Nov 1864 34 hardwood logs 1/10/- 1 spruce log -/1/6 [p. 63] Angus McKenzie 12 Nov 1866 168' 1‘/2" spruce @ 6/- —/10/- 98' 1" spruce @ 6/- -/6/- [p. 70] John Haslam 4 April 1865 2 M hardwood trenails 16" 1/12/- 2 M 14" & 1,000 12" 2/-/- [p. 76] Robert Haslam 23 Dec 1867 hardwood logs 2/9/- [p. 79! Alex McSwaln 1865 4 tons hardwood s'awlogs @ 11/- 2/4/- [p. 82] Neil McFadyean 22 March 1865 7 tons 11' hardwood sawlogs 3/12/6 [p. 831 John Haslam 18 July 1868 sawing 2437' pine & spruce @ 2/6 3/0/11 — sawing 260' pine 1/1/9 [p. 84] Alexander McDowell 28 March 1865 1 spar 33' 1/13/- [p.851

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