SKINS & FURS --
THE HUNTER-TRAPPER

For most folk, a trip to Dupui's general store wasn't exactly convenient -- most lived at quite a distance from Dupui's establishment at Shawnee-on-Delaware.  In fact, for most it could take several hours just to arrive at his place of business...

So when area residents caught sight of Edwart Boyles laying out his trap lines along and through their properties, they all seized upon an opportunity to ask the trapper for a favor.  They all knew that Boyles would be back through the area at some later point to check on his traps, so they asked him if he wouldn't mind stopping, in his back-and-forth travels, at merchant Dupui's store to pick up a certain "necessity".

And so we see in Edwart Boyles account page, the following entries:

-- To 1/2 a Gallon of Rum for Edwart Kerrady
-- To 1/2 a Gallon of Rum for John Burk
-- To 1 Quart of Rum for Robert Hanna
-- To 1 Quart of Rum for John Schooly
-- To 1 1/2 Gallons of Rum for Youromus VanFlera
-- To a pint of Rum for Anky Moore
-- To a Quart of Rum for Henry Hover
-- To 1 Pint of Rum for Edwart Cherry

Edwart Boyles, in the finest of Pennsylvania traditions, had established a side-hustle, a rum delivery service.  Trapper Boyles would check his trap lines, redeem his raccoon and beaver skins at Dupui's store and then return to the wilderness laden with bottles of the finest rum for his neighbors.  A trapper's life may have been harsh, but Edwart Boyles had made the most of it.