Interpret this

[John Truitt]

Looks about like my hand writing, maybe better.

I agree with Mr. Beach's interpretation.

I am curious about the time frame of this ledger. Remember that terminology was different back in the day. Cursive was the norm. Heak they are not even teaching it in school anymore these days.

The old boys used alot of different terms. For example ever look at chemicals from that time or a chemical receipt written back then. They called stuff by common names or made up names but very rarely by the elemental table listing.
There was probably some gun jargon/ slang that these guys used as well.

IMO looking back at these ledgers and books and personal memiors is some really great fun. It is a puzzle sometimes but once you break the code you really can learn some stuff.

But I can also get Mr Bishops frustation. My hat is off to you sir and thank you for all of you hard work with the letters.

John

[Pa SxS]

I think we pretty much agree that some type of damage was done to the very end of the barrels and 1/2 inch was cut off at the factory. The problem with reading their writing is that they used fountain pens which made the lines thick and couple this with the style of writing and how they formed their letters back in those days does make it a challenge. There also extraneous marks such as dots and other marks, probably dirt or something else that was then copied when the records were copied. The first word "Whole" could be read as White but it wouldn't make sense. Also note the small dash through the "o" and a small mark at the "l" which could have been interpreted as a "t", and the "e" at the end of the word could be a "r". Also note in the word "stretched", the first "e" is the old style of "e" and the last "e" is the newer style.

Thanks for everyone's help.

[Pa SxS]

I agree Jent, I handled that gun. More than 1/2" was damaged on that gun!