The Joseph Dow trunk archive · Document gallery 71

Lot 3F: a local register of deaths, 1798–1819

20 photographs · 8 document groups

Photographed by Whit from the recovered Joseph Dow collection. Descriptions draw on visible names, dates and subjects; uncertain readings remain provisional. Reading copies are turned upright, and each image links to the unchanged full-resolution original.

JDT-D538 · The Deaths notebook and newspaper lining

The cover is titled Deaths and introduced by the Lot 3F label. Inside, newspaper advertisements have been reused as lining. This material reuse places a chronological manuscript inside an everyday commercial print environment; it also preserves fragments of trade advertisements otherwise unrelated to the death entries.

3 photographs

JDT-D539 · Deaths recorded for 1798–1801

Annual headings organize short entries by date and name, often identifying a person through a spouse or parent. Yearly totals summarize the lists. The register is a local observer’s record and should be compared with church and civil sources before treating it as a complete count of all deaths.

3 photographs

JDT-D540 · Family losses and yearly totals, 1802–1806

The sequence continues with children, wives, widows and named adult residents. The relational descriptions can supply family connections even when a given name is omitted. Annual totals make patterns visible, but the source’s changing detail cautions against reading every variation as a population-wide mortality trend.

3 photographs

JDT-D541 · Deaths in 1807–1810 and a lightning entry

Among the dated names is an entry noting a death by lightning in July 1809. Such a brief cause-of-death remark stands out because most entries provide only a name or relationship. The photographs preserve the surrounding annual lists so the unusual event remains in chronological context.

3 photographs

JDT-D542 · The record for 1811–1814

The writer continues to use family relationships, occupational or social identifiers and year headings. The pages offer a compact network of Hampton-area families rather than biographical accounts of each person. A full transcription would make the unnamed children and spouses especially valuable to researchers.

2 photographs

JDT-D543 · Deaths in 1815–1816

Names, dates and household relationships continue, with annual totals at the foot. The changing density of each page reflects how much was recorded as well as how many entries there were. The original wording is retained in the image for checking uncertain surname readings.

2 photographs

JDT-D544 · The closing years, 1817–1819

The final written leaves include family relationships and a number of unusually specific descriptions. Some entries cross the page’s internal divisions, so the whole photograph matters. These pages close the photographed register, not necessarily every death known to its compiler.

2 photographs

JDT-D545 · Advertisement lining and back cover

The closing views return to reused newspaper advertisements and the plain worn wrapper. Together with the opening cover, they document the notebook’s inexpensive construction and help distinguish it from the adjacent sermon register.

2 photographs

Collection photographs supplied by Whit. Descriptions are finding aids, not full transcriptions. Names, dates and associations remain provisional where the handwriting is uncertain.