Dr. David B., an uncle of the Manchester Bridge resident, studied medicine at Omaha Medical College, Omaha, Nebraska, and Columbia Medical School in New York City. He returned to Dutchess County to practice medicine from the Route 55 family homestead until his death in 1926. Edmund's late brother, Paul, a graduate of Eastman Business College, worked for the New Haven Railroad. He lived in Hartford during most of his working career. He died in 1955. PRICES IN THE "GOOD OLD DAYS" by Edmund Van Wyck*
Here are some items taken from an old account book in which the very first line reads "Peter Cornwell's Act. Book, 1830". Some of the price columns are headed "$-C" and some S D", indicating that the influence of the English monetary system had not entirely died out. Our shilling equaled 1212/ cents and were known as "bits"; 2 bits equaled 25 cents, 6 bits equaled 75 cents, and so on. The Cornwell farm was situated on today's Smith Crossing Road between Maloney and Didell Roads and the family was there until about 1920. The book itself is 612/ " x 8" and contains about forty pages crowded with entries dated 1830 through 1832, and in addition is literally stuffed with memoranda on loose slips of paper of all shapes and sizes. These carry dates to 1861. The 1861 entry reads: Received of Peter Cornwell four Dollars for visit to his Brother in consultation with Dr. Underhill September 12, 1861 ( signed) John Cooper Most entries of the first three pages consist of butter sales, amounts ranging from 112/ to 34 pounds, but no prices are recorded. Other items: 20 bu oats at 30 cents 4 bu Rie at 5S bu corn at 45 15 gees at 16 turkeys at Pork at $5-s3 2 pigs sold Roe 1 pig sold Stant
6.00 2.50 2.1212/ 26.00 8.00 33.20 02.00 3.1212/
In 1831 the price of oats was a little better, ranging from 2/8 to 3/7 and pork was sold for $4.75 per cwt. Flax, a rare commodity for this area, sold for 8 to 812/ cents a pound. Another entry: 3 hogs sold to Harvey E. Everitt valued 18.00 7 Turkeys sold to Harvey E. Everitt for 4.3712/
In 1833 he recorded twenty sales of butter and this time he entered the prices. The prices vary from a low of twelve and a half to eighteen cents a pound, and quantities from eleven to thirty-three pounds. But the man's arithmetic was atrocious! Checking at random, I only found one 105
