1840's Account Ledger from AETNA Fire Insurance Company Representative D. W. Norton

[Connecticut]: n.p., 1850. Ledger. Good. Ledger. Approx. 8.25" x 13". 87 plus pages of handwritten contents. One folded leave (2 pages) laid inside. Marbled paper soft covers with visible stitched repairs to the spine. A small tear repair upper edge inside back cover. Covers are starting to detach. Interior contents clean.

Ledger contains names of insured customers, premiums, dates, and items covered. Insured items includes homes, wagons, tools, cotton, clothing, foods, wood, barn structures, tobacco, and much more. Business and customer account names include Col. Jabez King; Congressman Charles Pomeroy; Enfield School House; Eagle Mills (truncated) Company; Charles Dexter Company; Hazard Powder Company; Southworth Company; Agaman Canal Company and more. Personal accounts last names include Adams, Loomis, Clark, Brough, Austin, Clapp, Brown, Sanford, Holmes, Holcomb, Morgan, Cornwell, Ellis, Butler, Woodruff, Alexander, Thomas, Flagg, Smith, Butler, Bright, Mather, Bonnell, Moseley, and more. Ledger is almost completely filled. A good source of primary information. This ledger predates the Aetna Life Insurance Company founded in Hartford, 1853. Some early information obtained from wikipedia regarding the Aetna Fire Insurance Company starts out with the year 1819 - "Henry Leavitt Ellsworth, Yale graduate and attorney, became the second president of Aetna (Fire) Insurance Company, succeeding Thomas Kimberly Brace. Ellsworth, who later became the first U.S. Patent Commissioner, served as Aetna's president until 1821, when he resigned. He continued as a director at the company for another 16 years. Ellsworth's brother, William Wolcott Ellsworth, also served as a director, as well as the company's first general counsel.[8] On May 28, 1853, the Annuity department separated from Aetna Insurance to be incorporated as the Aetna Life Insurance Company, with Eliphalet Bulkeley as president.[7][9][10] The fire insurance company went on to become part of Connecticut General, which merged into Cigna. (Inventory #: 34695)