Information Sheet

 

 

R         A. Buford & Son.

688                                    Account books, 1906-1928.

Thirty-six volumes.

 

MICROFILM

 

 

 

These are daybooks of the mercantile operation of A. Buford & Son at Ellington in Reynolds County, Missouri.  The firm dealt in groceries, hardware, furniture, shoes, clothing, and sundries.  Many payments on account were made in kind.

 

A. Buford appears to have been Abraham Buford, the ninth child of John and Elizabeth Bu­ford.  They were, according to James E. Bell’s Early History of Reynolds County, “progenitors of a number of Reynolds County’s most successful and talented citizens.”  The Bufords began mer­cantile operations about 1904.  Walter C. Buford and James H. Buford, sons of Abraham and America Buford, were both involved in the family business.  Walter was the manager of the firm.  From Ellington in the southern part of Reynolds County, Buford & Son carried on retail and wholesale operations which probably included parts of Shannon and Carter counties as well as Reynolds County.

 

 Groceries were the single largest category of sales in the daybooks of Buford & Son, but the firm also carried dry goods, clothing, housewares, furniture, tools, and harness.  Entries in the daybooks are in chronological order.  Notations with the transactions refer to account ledgers that are no longer extant.  Among the customers represented in the daybooks are members of the Brawley, Brewer, Buford, Casey, Chitwood, Copeland, Fears, Fox, Funk, Gastineau, Keathley, Pennington, Pogue, Pratt, Ratliff, Rayfield, and Voyles families.  Also represented are commercial firms such as A. J. Chitwood, Copeland Brothers, Crow Brothers, Dement Brothers, Clement January & Son, J. H. Morrison, Ratliff & Pritchett, and Weaver & Tripp.  Many accounts were settled in kind, with payment in labor, ties, lumber, cordwood, flour, eggs, potatoes, honey, and hay.  The number of railroad ties received as payment indicates that Buford & Son did a sizeable business in that item.

 

 

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