Chasing the Past

$20.00 One day after date I promise to

pay John A Tyson or ??? twenty dollars

balance said of 8% interest per annum until

paid Dec 29th 1888

DJ Allen {Seal}

What was DJ Allen paying $20 for in 1888? That would be just over $3000 in today’s money. Let’s see…

This is to certify that I do

this day release the Mortgage

on W. F. Caudle so for

as it affects the horse

(Bay Mare) 12/29/88

John A. Tyson

Why would DJ Allen be interested in paying such an amount for WF Caudle? William F Caudle was DJ’s brother in law. He must have gotten himself in quite a mess over a bay mare. As we can see below, he didn’t pay it off completely until 4 years later!

Rec’d 12-28-89

Six 60/100 Dollars

Rec’d 11-4-90

Ten Dollars

11-5-92

$6.98

It appears in total, DJ paid 23.58.

This post is part of a series of transcriptions of letters, papers, receipts, and other ephemera that are held in the Smith Family Collection.  All originals are held in this collection, unless otherwise stated.