1803-1806 Cincinnati Business Account Ledger

[Cincinnati]: n/a, 1803. Ledger. Fair. Stitched tall, narrow ledger. Approx. 13" x 4". [40] pages. Hundreds of account entries listed. All pages used for accounts. The first couple and last leaves are edge torn, chipped, detached, and toned. Stitching is coming loose for the remainder of leaves. Some accounts are blurred. Fair only.

Dates recorded range from 1803 to 1806. Dozens of account names listed for early Cincinnati pioneers and businesses. Multiple entries recorded for Mayor Ziegler (first Mayor of Cincinnati), M. Nimmo; Griffin Yeatman (successful Business and Tavern owner), E. S. Wheeler; Capt. Prince; Joseph Prince (second Mayor (truncated) of Cincinnati), and others. Products recorded inside include lots of wood and timber, some oats, etc. Provenance and proprietor unknown.

Cincinnati began with a little settlement in 1788 called Losantiville. Two years later the Governor of the Northwest Territories, Arthur St. Clair, named the town after the Society of the Cincinnati. Accounts recorded in the ledger include Mayor Ziegler. David Ziegler, 1748 –1811, was a German immigrant settling in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1775. He fought in the American Revolution and was seriously wounded at the Battle of Long Island 1776. He rejoined the Army for the Philadelphia campaign and wintered at Valley Forge in 1778. Ziegler was present at Yorktown when Cornwalis surrendered in 1781. After the war Ziegler settled near Cincinnati, trying his hand at farming before opening a general store in the town. In December 1799, after hearing the news of the death of President Washington, Ziegler was a pallbearer in a mock funeral held for Washington, one of many such ceremonies performed around the country. After the rapidly growing settlement of Cincinnati was incorporated as a village in 1802, Ziegler was elected as mayor, then known as "President of the Council".[4] He was unanimously reelected for a second term in 1803, but declined to run again in 1804. He was thereafter elected as commander of the local militia and held other public offices, including serving in 1807 as the adjutant general of the Ohio Militia. (wikepedia). (Inventory #: 34737)