Founding-Era Purchase Receipt

JACOB BIXLER 1789 PURCHASE RECEIPT

One truly feels they have touched a piece of history when they have inherited a family item so fragile yet so enduring to have lasted over 220 years. Especially considering it is an ephemera object that predates the Presidential Inauguration of George Washington on April 30, 1789.

My treasured heirloom is the receipt for a wagon purchase made by my 4th great grandfather, Jacob Bixler of Maryland. The receipt is handwritten on 18th century rag paper, clearly dated January 13, 1789 with his name, the wagon and its cost of ten pounds, ten shills. The size of the paper is only about 5 ½ by 4 inches.

There are other receipts and documents from Jacob's son and grandson handed down through the generations but this 1789 paper is the oldest and most precious.

During most of its history the receipt was with Bixler family members in Carroll and Frederick Counties of Maryland but came into my mother's possession around 1979 and then to me in 1994.