This journal (around 200 pages) contains Samuel Lightfoot's notes about surveys he conducted in southeastern Pennsylvania in the mid-18th century. An account book (30 pages), dated primarily in the late 1780s, is laid into the volume.
Samuel Lightfoot recorded information about surveys he conducted in Berks, Chester, Lancaster, and Lehigh Counties, Pennsylvania, from June 8, 1739-December 2, 1757. A 73-page section covering September 1743-March 1753 is missing. Lightfoot made detailed notes about his work, including the names of his customers and property owners and the boundaries of surveyed tracts.
The first 2 pages of the small account book pertain to "Outstanding Debts Due To Samuel Lightfoot," with a list of names and monetary amounts. The remaining 28 pages concern an anonymous author's personal finances from June 3, 1786-September 13, 1788. The accounts consist of brief notes about individual transactions, which often involved farm labor, such as haying or threshing, and the sale of potatoes. At least one laborer was a woman. A memorandum on the back of the volume concerns the sale of a tract of land by David Davis to George Davis. The account book also has a note laid inside it, indicating the extent of a lot of land owned by Thomas Lloyd.
Samuel Lightfoot was born in Ireland on February 5, 1701, the son of Thomas (ca. 1645-1725) and Sarah Lightfoot. The Lightfoot family, who were Quakers, emigrated from Ireland to New Garden, Pennsylvania, in 1716, and Samuel later moved to Pikeland Township, Pennsylvania, where he was a surveyor and justice of the peace. He married Mary Head on July 30, 1725, and they had four children: Benjamin (b. 1726), Thomas (1728-1793), Samuel Abbott (1729 or 1730-1759), and William (1732-1797). Samuel Lightfoot died on February 26, 1777.
