MS 247
Record Book and Journal, 1809-1840.
1 item.

Franklin Buss (Feb 5, 1792-Jan 22, 1812) was the son of Samuel and Lydia Buss (nee Lincoln) of Jaffrey, N.H. He was the youngest of eight children. Buss began an apprenticeship in J. Parker & Co.’s Keene store in June of 1809 at the age of seventeen. The apprenticeship was to continue until he was twenty-one, but was cut short by his death at the age of nineteen.

Lydia Buss (Aug 19, 1787-Aug 1, 1836) was Franklin’s older sister, and the next to youngest of the eight children. She became a schoolteacher in Potsdam, ME for at least one academic year (1821-1822). On Feb 25, 1825 she married Aaron E. Glasier and moved from Jaffrey to Vergennes, VT where she became a member of that town’s congregationalist church. She died in Vergennes, eleven years after her wedding, at the age of forty-nine.

The pocket book was kept mainly by Franklin Buss and Lydia Buss and has several distinct parts. In order from front to back, there are twelve pages of Franklin’s record of his expenses between 1809-1811, twenty-one pages of Lydia’s journal (1821-1825), a record of family births and deaths (4 pages), and Lydia’s accounts (1 page). Also included in various places throughout the book are notes in memory of Franklin after his death, a poem about Lydia, and a letter draft to an aunt that appears to be in Lydia’s handwriting. Franklin’s account includes an introductory note explaining the details of his apprenticeship and are detailed enough to give some picture of common life at the time for a young man in his position. Lydia’s journal tells of travels in New Hampshire and Maine, a visit to her brother and sister-in-law, her experience with various accommodations on her travels, her health and sickness as well as doctors’ attempts at helping her, two weddings she attends, and sermons she hears.