Farm Records, 1784-1945

This series contains records related to the financial activities, insurance, farm operations, and acquisition of lands of the Davis family farm. These farm materials comprise the bulk of the Davis family collection.

Three account books belonging to William Morsell, Sr., covering the years 1796-1797, 1797, and 1799-1800, track transactions, credits and debits, and detailed household expenses. Within the listings of household expenses are records of wages paid to several servants. Farm ledgers belonging to R. Lee Davis and his son Aubrey G. Davis consist mostly of figures, credits, and debits, but the farm ledgers belonging to Aubrey alone are quite detailed. These five ledgers cover 1908 to 1944, and they record milk and cream accounts, notes recording when dairy cows are "fresh," and accounts with laborers paid by day or by task.

The collection illuminates dairy activities on the Davis farm including the purchase of cows, milk distribution records, and blueprints for a new barn. The purchase materials consist of correspondence with cow breeders, a Maryland Holstein-Friesian Breeders' Club Membership Card (1913), and cow registry certificates. Distribution records include Baltimore and Ohio Railroad shipping records and correspondence with the Baltrimore and Ohio Railroad milk agent. Of particular note is the extensive correspondence with various Baltimore retailers, especially E. Donnelly, who complained of sour milk.

Records of farm operations include bills and receipts for purchases made for the farm, primarily supplies such as fertilizer, seed, horse harnesses, and barn repairs. There are bills for vehicle expenses, including buggy and wagon parts and, later, automobile repairs. Of special note are hand-drawn sketches of crop acreage use in the late 1930s and a draft copy of the 1935 U. S. Census of Agriculture Farm and Ranch schedule filled out in detail by R. Lee Davis.

Estate records contain land deeds, land surveys and maps, indentures, mortgages, sale agreements, and tenant contracts. William Morsell, Sr., William Morsell, Jr., and Eli Davis made the majority of land purchases. Later land records concern inheritance of the farm lands. Of particular interest is William Morsell, Sr.'s 1808 will and testament in which he expresses his intention to free Abraham from his enslavement, although it is not known if the intention was fulfilled. Three deeds of sale from 1822 indicate women's indirect rights to property. Aubrey G. Davis's 1945 farm ledger records the sale of the Davis farm.

Newspaper clippings and promotional advertisements from the 1890s relate to agriculture, especially dairy management, fertilizers, and machinery.

Arrangement is alphabetical by topic and then chronological.