| Repository: | Western Reserve Historical Society |
| Creator: | Chester, Nathan |
| Title: | Nathan Chester Journals |
| Dates: | 1837-1875 |
| Extent: | 0.20 linear feet (2 oversize volumes) |
| Abstract: | Nathan Chester was a blacksmith in Delaware County, Ohio, during the mid-nineteenth century. The collection consists of accounting records kept in journals by Chester to document his blacksmith business. |
| MS Number | MS 4624 |
| Location: | closed stacks |
| Language: | The records are in English |
Nathan Chester (b. 1796) was a blacksmith in Delaware County, Ohio, during the mid-1800s. Nathan Chester was born in Connecticut and moved to Ohio where he and his wife, Harriett, had several daughters and took care of an elder relative, Mary Forry. For a time, Nathan Chester hired a young man as his assistant but later operated his smithery by himself. Although he shoed horses regularly, he concentrated on making tools and other pieces of ironwork.
The Nathan Chester Journals, 1837-1875 consist of accounting records kept by Chester to document his blacksmithing business.
The collection is an interesting example of an early Ohio tradesman's records, which reveals his business practices and the economic activity in his community over a long time span. It also shows how his trade work developed over the years, from primarily horse shoeing to concentrating on crafting ironwork. The accounts list Chester's commissions, ranging from mending shovels and chains to crafting scythes and ironwork for a county jail.
None.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 4624 Nathan Chester Journals, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
Provenance unrecorded, 1987
Processed by Rebecca M. Johnson in 1992