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[identification of Item], [box #, folder #], Virginia Hisey Myers Collection of Shenandoah County Ledgers, 1894-1900, SC 0100, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA
Gift of Mrs. Virginia Hisey Myers, through Mr. Douglas Dellinger, in November 1989.
In May 2017, this collection was renamed Virginia Hisey Myers Collection of Shenandoah County Ledgers, a change from Virginia Hisey Myers Collection. In order to streamline the process of applying collection numbers, Special Collections staff completed a large-scale renumbering campaign in the spring of 2017.
Wightman, Hisey & Co., later called L. M. Hisey & Co., was a hardware store for farm related products and implements that operated in two locations in Edinburg and Woodstock Virginia in the 1890s. In an 1892 edition of the Shenandoah Herald, partners trading as Wightman, Hisey & Co. were listed as James Staunton, C. P. Wightman, Lemuel Hisey, and M. H. Hottel. Beginning around 1898, in local newspapers as well as in the business ledgers, the store is referred to as L. M. Hisey & Co. Advertisements for the two stores published in local Shenandoah Valley newspapers from 1891 - 1900 market a variety of goods, including corn and oat phosphate, coal and coal oil, wagons, plows, and various seed, among other goods.
Lemuel. M. Hisey, proprietor of L. M. Hisey & Co., was born in 1844 and died in 1900. He served as a Confederate soldier in Captain H. H. Riddleberger's company of the 23rd Va. Calvary, Imboden's Brigade. In his obituaries, he is noted as a prominent and successful businessman, and the firm of L. M. Hisey & Co. is described as "among the leading and best known business establishments in the county."
This collection consists of ten business ledgers from L. M Hisey & Co. and Wightman, Hisey & Co. from 1894 – 1900. The ledgers document sales of and orders for agricultural and forestry items, especially phosphate, coal, wheat, bark, and lumber, as well as corn and various tools. Some ledgers also contain financial information about the companies, such as lists of notes due and bank deposit slips. Receipts and bills, inserted in a few of the ledgers, further document the businesses.
The collection is arranged in 2 boxes of 10 folders.