Translation of the Passavant Store Ledger, Page 38


1809  
  July    7    Louis Bonzon                                  Credit
       
(1)              My note for wages due                      462.24
(2)              Interest for two years at 6%                 55.44        
(3)              Wages for 1807                                 130.
(4)             Gift                                                         10.
(5)              Interest for one year at 6%                    8.40
(6)              Wages for 1808                                140.
(7)             Gift                                                        10.
(8)             4 pairs of shoes                                    8.


(9)                                                                         824._8


(10)            Deduction for supplies                      34._6
(11)            Remainder                                       790._2
(12)            Interest for 11 months                        43.45


(13)                                                                       833.47


(14)           His wages for 1809 up to July
                 11 months at $150                           137.50
        

(15)                                                                       970.97


                   Debit
(16)          Cash expenditures for various
               things with Mr. Passavant of Harmony              58._8 1/2


(17)          For 300 acres of land sold to him at 2 1/2
                dollars, an installment for Mr. Ross                300.


(18)          Cash payment to himself                                 612.89


(19)                                                                                     970.97


(20)         I certify to have received the amount here marked,
              Six hundred twelve dollars and 89 cents and that
              My account is balanced.  Bassenheim, the 7th of July, 1809.
   
(21)    Sally Swearingon (sp?)         (22)   Pierre Louis Bonzon

Notes

(1)   Billet  has several meanings including note  or  promissory note.   While gage  means pawn,   pledge,   security,   deposit,  The plural gages  is said to mean wages  or pay.   Deposits  might be considered, but when coupled with eschus  ( deposits due  ?) wages  seems much more appropriate.  It appears that Pierre Louis wages were being deposited or credited directly to this Passavant store account.

(2)   The two-years interest appears to have been applied in 1808 on the amount $462.24, which therefore would have been on deposit since 1806.  If the $462.24 does indeed primarily represent wages earned at Bassenheim, then it seems that Pierre Louis must have arrived there very soon after reaching America in the late spring of 1803.

(3)   Apparently, these are wages for 1806-1807, not a calendar year.  
      See item (13).

(4)   Cadeau  appears to mean exactly that -- gift  or present"

(5)   This is interest only on the previous $140 (6% of $140.00 = $8.40), which would have been applied in 1808, a year after the $140 was credited.  Since there is no additional interest on the $462.24, the implication is that Item (2) was applied at the same time.

(9)   Written as $824. 8  with a place-holding zero missing, this represents $824.08, the total of all entries to this point.  Likewise, note the zero after the decimal is missing in lines 10 and 11.  This entire document has to be a summary of individual transactions recorded previously and was created when Pierre Louis closed out the account.

(12)   This figure, $43.45,  is 11/12 of 6% of $790.02.  Apparently computed in July 1809 for the $790.02 and credited for the period beginning in August 1808.

(13)   $790.02 + $43.45 = $833.47.

(14)   11/12 OF $150 is $137.50  Apparently the fiscal years here are running August to August.  Or it may be an indication of the anniversary of the opening of the account.

(15)   Total credits

(16)   The second half of the translation of this entry is not completely satisfying.  It appears literally to be Mr. Passavant & Harmony.   Also, chez  can be translated as at,   to,   with.   among,  or even in the service of  or in the works of.   Notice again the missing place-holding zero in the written figure 58. 8 1/2,  that is $58.085.   Half-cent coinage existed back then.  (And no, there is no indication of what happened to the the other half-cent.)

(17)   Clearly Mr. Ross.   Compare the handwritten representation of ss  in Passavant  and Bassenheim.   James Ross, esquire, was the agent for the seller, Henry Pratt of Philadelphia, of the 300 acre parcel of land known as Camden.   The price of Camden  was $750, according to the deed.

(18)   Pierre Louis appears to withdrawing the balance and closing his account at the Passavant store on July 7, 1809.  His deed for Camden  is dated a few days later.

(19)   Total Debits, making the Balance zero.

(21)   An accountant for Mr. Passavant, who wrote this document?

(22)   It appears the middle name in the signature was written Louiy , with a  most unusual umlaut [two dots placed above a vowel - modern German punctuation] over the y.   These double-dotted yes also appear in many Swiss documents of Pierres time period.

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