Business lit Ante-
Bellum Days
Tlie ancient records of Valentine
Derr give some interesting side¬
lights on how business was done
in North Carolina 125 or more
years ago.
By EDGAR ARERMvTHY
IT WOULD bo surprising if you
had over hoard of Valentino Dorr,
llo wns not of tlio aristocracy; lie
novor acquired great wonllh; niul po¬
litical preferment lio never sought.
Horn in 1795, lie was a typical citi¬
zen of his day. a member of that groat
middle class of free-holders and slave¬
owners who yet were not above work¬
ing with their own bauds.
Valentine’s father. John Tarr. was
an emigrant from Germany, reach¬
ing Lincoln County hv way of Penn¬
sylvania on some unrecorded date in
tiie latter half of the eighteenth
century. In the ensuing years t bo ini¬
tial letter of the surname was changed
to “D,” and still later the vowel be¬
came an “e.” whence the present spell¬
ing. “Derr.”
Jack of all Trades
Farmer, gold-miner, merchant,
blacksmith, and first postmaster of
Stanley Creek. Valentine — usually
called “Folty”- -Derr was a compact
if somewhat choleric bundle of en¬
ergy, and always had several irons
in the fire. You may take that state¬
ment quite literally, a* he was a
master blacksmith, in a day when the
blacksmith was an essential member
of bis community to a degree unknown
to the present generation.
Felly Derr's first shop and store
was located in Lineoluton. The ear¬
liest entries in his musty old ledgers
are dated 1820. Ho did extensive re¬
pair work and also turned out many
Top picture — The Derr home, still
in an excellent state of preservation.
Center some of the tools made by
Valentine Derr in his blacksmith
shop. Below— One of the two ancient
pear trees on the farm. Well over
a hundred years old, they’re still
producing fruit.
items including hammers, frows.
hinges, hasps, gun-sights, plows, bul¬
let-ladles, 1 inch-pi us, bridle-hits — in
short, just about every metal object
needed about the homo or farm.
The iron used in making nil these
articles was the native Lincoln County
product, which was usually worth
four or five cent* per pound. A little
note, dated Xov. 19. 1833. and signed
for Jacob Forney, an iron-master of
the day, by his overseer, Richard
Л.
Rozle, reads as follows:
“hal has leaf to trade ten lb. of
1 ion to any person."
Л
notation indicates that Hal chose
to purchase brandy with his iron.
Alcoholic beverages were staple
articles of merchandise with Mr.
Derr, as with other merchants of
the day.
Prices of Various Commodities
Brandy usually retailed at the ex¬
travagant price of $1.00 per gallon,
but whiskey was
того
reasonably
priced at 75c, and sometimes was even
cheaper. Other prices were in pro¬
portion. In 1837 eggs were OVic per
“dosent”; a chicken brought 12>4c;
while wood sold for 12V&C a load. In
1838 corn meal brought 50c per
bushel; lard and cotton, each 12 '4c
per pound; flour was rather high at
4c per pound. In 1S22 beef was
priced at 4c a pound, and 23 years
later that figure was the going price
for pork. In 1838 a shout brought
$1.50, and a cow sold for $9.00
These entries are dated 1839 :
to two shirts. $0.75
to patiloons . 0.37 %
to one waistcoat . 0.50
These prices weren't so low, ex¬
pressed in terms of labor. In the
1820's the wage for n day's work,
"choping,’’ "moiling" or cutting
wheat, was 50c. By 1839 this had
