Information Sheet

 

 

R            Copeland store.

163                  Ledger, 1857-1860.

                                    One volume.

 

MICROFILM

 

 

 

This is an account ledger of a general store operated by William Copeland (ca. 1789-1877) at Logan Creek in Reynolds County, Missouri.  The area, also known as Barnesville, was re-named El­lington in 1877.

 

William Copeland, great-great-grandfather of the donor of this volume, was a native of Surry County, North Carolina.  He was first noted in southern Missouri in the 1840 census for Ripley County, in an area that became part of Reynolds County upon its organization in 1846.  He married Mary Ellington, of another pioneer family.  He operated what was possibly the first sawmill in the area, and opened the first store in 1856.  He operated the store until the out­break of the Civil War, when he moved his family to Pilot Knob for safety.  Mary Ellington Copeland died there during the war, and William married Elizabeth Tubbs.  Returning to Lo­gan Creek af­ter the war, he re-es­tablished his business, then built grist and saw mills.  He died in 1877 at Lo­gan Creek, which by then was known as Ellington.

 

This account book from William Copeland’s store is marked “Book A” inside the front cover.  Its entries start in 1857, which might indicate that the store was begun in that year rather than in 1856, the commonly accepted date.  He carried the usual assortment of dry goods and clothing, and also traded in medicine, whiskey, shoe leather, firearms, and ammuni­tion.  Pay­ment for goods, where noted in the volume, was often in trade for hides and small tracts of land.  The store served as a focal point for the community, and included among its customers the Barnes, Bu­ford, Ellington, and other Copeland families, all of whom were early settlers on Logan Creek.

 

Index cards for this collection
Questions? Use our Researcher Registration Form
Return to WHMC-Rolla's home page.