The Dupui General Store Ledger: 1743-1793HOME • HISTORY • COMMODITIES • CUSTOMERS • RUM & WHISKEY • SLAVERY • WAR • ACCOUNTS • MAPS • ESSAYS
|
____________ History  The Dupui Ledger covers a full fifty years of history in what was then Pennsylvania's Northampton County. That history begins with a reminiscence from Moravian Count Zinzendorf that serves to illustrate the nature of merchant Dupui's character: "In the evening we reached the bank of the Delaware, and came to Mr. De Pui's, who is a large landholder, and wealthy. While at his house, he had some Indians arrested for robbing his orchard." |
|||
 |
1727 -- INDIAN TRADING POST AT With a large coterie of slaves brought from New York's Ulster County, Nicholas Dupui set about establishing his frontier Indian trading post and gristmill operation. To accomplish this task, the merchant first needed to negotiate for a 3000-acre parcel of land owned by the resident Shawnee tribe. Let's have a look at his deed... |
||
 |
1728 -- DEPARTURE OF After just one year of engaging in trading activities with merchant Nicholas Dupui, the Shawnee tribe suddenly decides to relocate their entire populace to the shores of the Susquehanna River! So what went wrong? How does one explain this unprecedented departure? The answer is more intriguing than you might imagine... |
||
 |
1730 -- PROPERTY Nicholas Dupui could have set up shop just about anywhere, so why did he choose this particular location? ...and where did he set up his mill? What can we learn by taking a deep dive into colonial-era survey maps? Further, is there a reason why this particular survey map contains an icon? |
||
 |
1736 -- DELAWARE RIVER FERRY Most folk have never heard about New Jersey entrepeneur James Gould, but he was a man that spotted a highly lucrative business opportunity -- setting up a ferry service to transport customers from the Jersies across the Delaware River to partake of merchant Dupui's trading post wares. For the story of the river ferries... |
||
 |
1737 -- WALKING Were you aware that Nicholas Dupui
played a highly significant role in the infamous walking
purchase? Many view this transaction as the most
fraudulent land deal ever prepetrated upon an indigenous
population. But was it truly a fraud, or has folklore
grievously perverted our history? Answers will be
revealed... |
||
 |
1741 -- DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH The first sign of true colonial
civilization in the wilderness was often the local church.
Owing to the efforts of merchant Dupui, our area saw the
establishment of a Dutch Reformed Church officiated by the
Reverend John Casparus Fryenmuth, a minister whose tenure was to
be marked with certain difficulties... |
||
 |
1743 -- GRAND OPENING Tuesday, the 10th of December marked the grand opening ceremonies for Nicholas Dupui's general store. But why open in December? ...and why on a Tuesday, especially if you're planning on being closed on Friday the 13th? Opening day -- what was it like? What was sold that day? ...and how many customers were in his shop? |
||
 |
1750 -- SECOND WAVE OF Immigrants to the area didn't arrive in a steady flow. They came in waves. So what was different about this second wave of immigration that set it apart from the first? Were they more ethnically and religiously diverse? Most importantly for merchant Dupui, would they spend more money? |
||
 |
1755 -- START OF THE The brutality of this war was almost beyond description, and no place saw more devastation than did Dupui's own immediate neighborhood. So what happened to Dupui's business when the war was literally at his doorstep? How did he protect his life and wares? What can the ledger and other sources tell us? |
||
 |
1756 -- DUPUI'S STORE Stoccaded under the command of Capt. Nicholas Wetterholt, tensions soon developed between merchant Dupui and the military garrisoned at his establishment. What did the militia think of Dupui? What did he think of them? Can we find evidence of wartime profiteering? |
||
 |
1760 -- DUPUI'S STORE With the French & Indian War finally at an end, Dupui's store theoretically could have been aggressively back in business, but how many of Dupui's customers had fallen to the hatchet? How many of his accounts on credit were now uncollectable? Was it even possible to achieve a post-war normalization? |
||
 |
1763 -- PONTIAC'S ...and devastation reared its ugly head
again. Yet another conflict with the natives. At
issue: how would Dupui's business survive this newest
onslought? What actions would be taken? Would Dupui
lose his entire customer base and have to start over? What
indeed would this war bode? |
||
 |
1776 -- AMERICAN We all speak of our revolutionary war in glorious terms, but how did this war of independence play out at the local level? Did customers stock up on provisions in anticipation of the returning horrors of war? Were there severe shortages of supplies? ...and what were Dupui's political sympathies? Might he have been a Tory? |
||
 |
1780 -- THIRD IMMIGRATION After the Revolutionary War, area settlement was renewed with a vigor. What can Dupui's ledger tell us about this rapid new influx of homesteaders? What type of commodities did they purchase? How did they pay their bills? What new skill sets did they bring to the neighborhood? |
||
 |
1791 -- WHISKEY Known as an uprising of farmers and distillers in western Pennsylvania protesting a tax on whiskey, could the effects of the Whiskey Rebellion be felt in the eastern part of the state? Whiskey had long been sold at Dupui's store; the area grew plenty of rye. Did this insurrection once again reek havoc at merchant Dupui's store? |
||