The Nicolaus Heinrich Crist "Account Book"
I recently became aware of the "Account Book" while researching the Cartmell family of 1740-1800 Frederick County, VA.The "Account Book" refers to the marriage of three Crist sons to three Cartmell girls, all on the same day, 7 May 1763.This event never happened!Sarah Cartmell did marry Nicholas H. Crist, Jr. on this day.She also died a year later (per DAR records), which is not mentioned in the "Account Book".The other two marriages took place many years later.Rachael Ann Cartmell married Jacob Crist in 1788 and the marriage is recorded in Frederick County, VA.Regina Cartmell married Jacob Crist in 1798, also recorded in Frederick County, VA.
At the risk of offending all the true believers in the "Account Book" I would like to offer my views of the book.
After studying the "Account Book" for a while it became apparent the "Account Book" is a family history woven in the form of a "journal" or "diary" to match known events (or presumed known events).Based on the wording used to describe some of the events, my impression is that it was actually written by a woman.
There are numerous things that cast doubt on the authenticity of the "Account Book".
1.The book itself is lost but a "friend of a friend" actually saw it and copied it.Supposedly an 82 year-old man with no heirs was in possession of the book in 1958.At that time portions of the book were copied but these didn't surface until after 1980, after the person that copied the book was also deceased, also with no heirs.Thus no book and no one that has actually seen the book.
2.Nicholas Heinrich Crist was born in Germany in 1716 and left from Germany for America in 1738.Yet his "Account Book" was written from day one (March 1738) in perfect modern English.Am I the only person that thinks this odd?
3.Per the transcriber, the "Accounts Book" was a hardback book with lined paper.Lined paper didn't come into general use until well after 1840, or over 100 years after the book was supposedly written.Some research on "lined paper" turned up this:
a.March 1992, Edmond Berkeley, Jr., the director of Special Collections at the University of Virginia Library, responded to an authenticity question about an old Peruvian manuscript on lined paper.Mr. Berkeley stated that Thomas Jefferson had used a form of Graph paper in 1785 but that he himself (Mr. Berkely) had never seen lined paper dated as early as 1785.
b.FromChronology of Paper & Papermaking,by Dard Hunter
A.D. 1770. About this time came into use the first machine for the ruling of music paper and paper for account-books. An English patent was granted John Tetlow on June 15 of this year (1770).Previous to this time all music and account-book paper was ruled by hand.
4.The "Accounts Book" contains numerous decidedly modern phrases:
a.Everybody has "dysentery".
b.talked to my "wife to be".
c.We "took him up on it".(an invitation to dinner)
d."trying to keep things going".
e."we are hanging on".
f."I got word from Germany"
g.not be wounded and "mangled" for life
h.They died with "pneumonia"
i.The case between me and James Morrison was "dropped" this month.
j.We was all "banged up" and some of us "knocked out" for a while
k.We are all about to "go crazy" from pain and fright.
5.The "spoils of war" is used in the wrong context."Spoils of war" is the plunder victors take from the defeated.It does not refer to the destruction caused by war.
6.All the women throughout the book are conveniently named with their maiden names given as a middle name.i.e. Elizabeth Cartmell Crist, Anna Crist Mueller, etc.I have never seen this in other documents of the period.
7.All the children of the families are listed together and the names aren't written until right after the last child was born.How did they know which child was the last one and therefore know it was time to enter the names into the book?
Don Sticher
More Replies:
-
Re: The Nicolaus Heinrich Crist "Account Book"
Craig Davis 4/11/03
-
Re: The Nicolaus Heinrich Crist "Account Book"
Michele LaForgia 2/10/03
-
Re; George Crist's father from Germany
Pauline Campbell 7/13/03
-
Re: Re; George Crist's father from Germany
melody jenkins 7/17/08
-
Re: Re; George Crist's father from Germany
-
Re; George Crist's father from Germany
-
Re: Nicolaus Heinrich Crist "Account Book", German version
Donald Sticher 11/03/02
-
Re: Nicolaus Heinrich Crist "Account Book", German version
Schuylar Crist 2/25/11
-
Re: Nicolaus Heinrich Crist "Account Book", German version
Schuylar Crist 2/25/11
-
Re: Nicolaus Heinrich Crist "Account Book", German version
Donald Sticher 2/25/11
-
Re: Nicolaus Heinrich Crist "Account Book", German version
Schuylar Crist 2/25/11
-
Re: Nicolaus Heinrich Crist "Account Book", German version
Donald Sticher 2/26/11
-
Re: Nicolaus Heinrich Crist "Account Book", German version
-
Re: Nicolaus Heinrich Crist "Account Book", German version
-
Re: Nicolaus Heinrich Crist "Account Book", German version
-
Re: Nicolaus Heinrich Crist "Account Book", German version
-
Re: The Nicolaus Heinrich Crist "Account Book"
Donald Sticher 10/29/02
-
Re: The Nicolaus Heinrich Crist "Account Book"
William Crist 11/03/02
-
Re: The Nicolaus Heinrich Crist "Account Book"
Donald Sticher 11/03/02
-
Re: The Nicolaus Heinrich Crist "Account Book"
Schuylar Crist 6/14/11
-
Re: The Nicolaus Heinrich Crist "Account Book"
William Crist 11/04/02
-
Re: The Nicolaus Heinrich Crist "Account Book"
Schuylar Crist 9/15/11
-
Re: The Nicolaus Heinrich Crist "Account Book"
-
Re: The Nicolaus Heinrich Crist "Account Book"
-
Re: The Nicolaus Heinrich Crist "Account Book"