A Mystery Involving James Lincoln
One of the many valuable sources for this genealogy was Mary Earls, who has passed away. Much of her family collection has become part of the collection in the Corinth Museum under the wise watch of another valuable contributor, Rachel Clothier. Rachel advised me of the new home for the collection and I immediately began a review. Several of the items in the collection consist of old albums, books, etc. that, after they had served their usefulness; became scrapbooks. Much of the material is a hodgepodge of mostly undated newspaper clippings covering a span of over 125 years (obviously a family effort that preceded Mary’s work). Some of the discards that were used as scrapbooks included a braille book, old store ledgers, etc. Two of the ledgers spanned the time period of 1813-1815. One was from the Ashel Porter store of Porter’s Corners vicinity. The other ledger was from an unidentified store. Because of the customer names, the store was probably located in an area near NE Greenfield or S Corinth. Many pages were obscured by pasted clippings and the unidentified ledger had twenty or so pages torn out, otherwise the two ledgers remained as they were written nearly 200 years ago! Rachel and I found multiple entries for a James Lincoln (customer # 505) in the unidentified ledger. They dated from December 18, 1813 to March 2, 1814.
This discovery caused considerable interest because at that time, the only known Lincoln in Northern Saratoga County was thought to have been Henry Lincoln and his young family (As explained in Volume I, Henry arrived in Greenfield in 1795 and other family members did not arrive until 1818.) Who was this mystery Lincoln?
To open an account, he probably was at least eighteen and thus born prior to 1796. Because of the uniqueness of the name & location, it seems highly likely that he was somehow connected to Henry Lincoln. James was definitely not Henry’s sibling. A review of the family genealogy uncovered two possible James Lincoln’s; Henry’s grandfather and Henry’s uncle. The grandfather died in 1788 so only the uncle remained as a possible candidate.
Uncle James was the older brother (b 1752) of Henry’s father Nedabiah (b 1758). Both brothers had fought in the Revolutionary War. A review of James’ Revolutionary War file revealed that James did not remain in the family locale; Taunton, Massachusetts. He moved to Vermont, western New York and eventually died in Canton, NY, December 31, 1832. While no proof exists, it is most certain that the James Lincoln of the ledger is Henry’s uncle, probably visiting Henry and possibly on his way to a relocation in Canton.
James was basically a weekly customer over a ten week span and this segment of the ledger is still intact. The earliest entry found was dated December 18, 1813 and the last one was March 2, 1814. Of interest is the fact that James’ customer number of 505 was being simultaneously used by a Nathaniel Cross.
His nephew Henry (customer # 450) visited this store at least four times in the eighteen month span that is covered by the ledger, twice in January 1814 and twice in April 1814. It is possible that other visits were made and the entries were obscured by the subsequently pasted material or on the removed pages.
This discovery caused considerable interest because at that time, the only known Lincoln in Northern Saratoga County was thought to have been Henry Lincoln and his young family (As explained in Volume I, Henry arrived in Greenfield in 1795 and other family members did not arrive until 1818.) Who was this mystery Lincoln?
To open an account, he probably was at least eighteen and thus born prior to 1796. Because of the uniqueness of the name & location, it seems highly likely that he was somehow connected to Henry Lincoln. James was definitely not Henry’s sibling. A review of the family genealogy uncovered two possible James Lincoln’s; Henry’s grandfather and Henry’s uncle. The grandfather died in 1788 so only the uncle remained as a possible candidate.
Uncle James was the older brother (b 1752) of Henry’s father Nedabiah (b 1758). Both brothers had fought in the Revolutionary War. A review of James’ Revolutionary War file revealed that James did not remain in the family locale; Taunton, Massachusetts. He moved to Vermont, western New York and eventually died in Canton, NY, December 31, 1832. While no proof exists, it is most certain that the James Lincoln of the ledger is Henry’s uncle, probably visiting Henry and possibly on his way to a relocation in Canton.
James was basically a weekly customer over a ten week span and this segment of the ledger is still intact. The earliest entry found was dated December 18, 1813 and the last one was March 2, 1814. Of interest is the fact that James’ customer number of 505 was being simultaneously used by a Nathaniel Cross.
His nephew Henry (customer # 450) visited this store at least four times in the eighteen month span that is covered by the ledger, twice in January 1814 and twice in April 1814. It is possible that other visits were made and the entries were obscured by the subsequently pasted material or on the removed pages.
Updated 10/27/21