Double entry general account ledger for Galloway & Company, firm founded by Scottish emigrants. The firm was run by members of the Galloway family, brothers Charles, James and Robert. The business was a mercantile business and engaged in land speculation among other interests. The business lasted from 1778 to 1822 with properties chiefly in Rockingham, North Carolina and Maury County, Tennessee. The ledger includes approximately 480 accounts.

        The Galloways were early and prominent settlers of Rockingham County. The family played a leading role in the early development of the county and its institutions including the establishment of the courts. James Galloway was an Anti-Federalist and a state senator (1786-1789) for North Carolina. He was a leader of opponents of ratification at the North Carolina Conventions that were held to ratify the United States Constitution. Charles Galloway became a State Senator from Rockingham County in 1791.       

       The ledger documents the various businesses and interlocking interests of the Galloways. There are accounts such as: "Waggon Account," "Tallow Account," "Tobacco Account," "Parcell Tobacco," "Tavern Account," and "Building and House Expences." This last account shows that Charles Galloway went into debt for various expenditures and that the "Tavern Account" repaid the money.

       The ledger also has other accounts which detail the family's varied property and interests: "Lands on Duck river," "Plantation at Spring Garden," "Plantation at Fall Creek," "Mayo Plantation," and "Plantation on Dann." There is also an "Interest Account" which records the various amounts of money loaned out by Galloway, apparently acting as a local banker. There are also mentions of a "Wentworth Store" and a "Pittsylvania Store," perhaps two other business ventures of the family.

        The ledger contains accounts for numerous customers of the Galloways many of them Revolutionary War veterans and prominent early settlers of the area, including: James Hunter, Samuel Henderson, George Peay, Thomas Henderrson, Adam Tate, John Leak, Joshua Smith, John May, John Hunter, Valentine Allen amongst others.

        The ledger shows that occasionally the Galloways hired "Negroes" to work at their tavern. There are instances in the ledger where the Galloway's accepted slaves as payments for debts, for instance a "negro wench" as payment in full for a debt owed the company by a "William Johnston."

       The ledger with its several hundred accounts provides an insight into the local economy of Rockingham County and the lives of its pioneer citizens in the late 18^th century.

       References:

       Rodenbough, Charles D., Governor Alexander Martin; Biography of a North Carolina Revolutionary War Statesman (McFarland: 2004)