The collection is open for research.
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Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], James E. Yates Account Book, Ms1940-032, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
The James E. Yates Account Book was acquired by the university in 1939 or 1940 and transferred to Special Collections and University Archives.
The processing, arrangement, and description of the James E. Yates Account Book commenced and was completed in September 2011. Initial description was completed in or prior to May 1970.
This collection has been digitized and is available online.
James Edward Yates was born to Benjamin and Mary Yates in Culpeper County, Virginia, on January 24, 1826. By 1860, Yates was living in Rappahannock County, Virginia, where he worked as a cattle dealer. He married Mary Elizabeth Moore in Rappahnnock County on March 19, 1868. The marriage record notes that Yates, a widower, was working as a cattle trader. A 50-year-old J. E. Yates is listed as a stock dealer living in Flint Hill (Rappahannock County) in the 1880 census. Among others in the household is Yates's wife, Betty; children Charlie, Edward M., and Lizzie; and Yates's mother-in-law, Betsy Moore. James E. Yates died on January 21, 1918, and is buried in Rappahannock County's Flint Hill Methodist Cemetery. (Mrs. A. A. Yates (1829-1867), also buried in this cemetery, was likely Yates's first wife, as a stock dealer named James Yates married Adaline Amanda Swain in Rappahannock County in 1859; in the 1880 census, Harriett Swain, Yates's mother-in-law, is listed among the inhabitants of his household.)
This collection consists of an account book maintained by James E. Yates, a livestock trader in Rappahannock County, Virginia, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Included are names of customers, as well as dates, descriptions, and amounts of transactions, largely relating to sales of cattle and other livestock. The collection also includes loose documents that had been inserted in the front of the ledger. Among these are account statements, receipts, checks, promissory notes, and business correspondence.
The collection is arranged by item type, with unbound financial documents preceding the account book.
The guide to the James E. Yates Account Book by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/share-your- work/public-domain/cc0/).