Jonathan Judd Jr. was born in Southampton, Massachusetts on October 7, 1744, and died in the town on January 30, 1819; he never married. He became a well-known figure in Southampton as a merchant and owner of three stores. Scanned copies of his ‘Daybook’, or record of his customers and their purchases, are available for viewing in the ‘Jonathan Judd Jr. Daybook’ collection on a library flash drive The following excerpts discussing the life of Jonathan Judd Jr. are taken directly from the bound book of typewritten diary copies, prepared by Theodore L. Hendrick, Gerald E. Harriman, David A. Johnson, and Atherton W. Parsons in 1978:
“Jonathan Judd Jr. was the oldest son of Southampton’s first resident minister. He graduated from Yale College in 1765 and ‘kept’ school in Hatfield [Massachusetts] from October 7, 1766 through October 20, 1769.
He then returned to Southampton and opened a store in a small room in his father’s house. This house is located on Maple Street. The location of his second store is not known exactly, but the deed described it as ‘near the Meeting House.’ Jonathan Judd Jr. did his first business in this location on November 5, 1773. His third store was in the house, which he built on East Street; the ‘moving of his goods’ into this store was completed in October, 1800. At about this same time, he moved a Cooper shop onto the premises. In the middle 1800s and up into the early 1900s, this store was known as ‘Judd’s Store.’ However, the members of the Judd family who operated this store were Jonathan N. Judd, Ard G. Judd, and lastly Frederick E. Judd, all three being descendants of Frederick Judd, who was the brother of Jonathan Judd Jr.”
Jonathan Judd, Jr. Diaries -Excerpt
Includes a sample of scanned copies of excerpts of Jonathan Judd’s Diary. Also on flash drive.
Jonathan Judd, Jr. Diaries v. 1-4
This collection contains the scanned typewritten copies of the four volumes of the diaries of Jonathan Judd Jr. The first volume spans the years of 1768 to 1773, the second volume May 1773 to April 1782, the third volume April 10, 1782 to August 14, 1795, and the fourth and final volume August 15, 1795 to July 28, 1803. Jonathan Judd Jr.’s entries convey his personal musings and comments on both public and personal events, from the mundane to the significant, including the effects of the American Revolution on the residents of Southampton and neighboring towns.
The four diaries give a good description of the life of a merchant in the late 1700s. Jonathan Judd Jr.’s trips to Boston or Hartford [Connecticut] on horseback to buy items for his store are easier to read about then to experience. Later, he made his trips to Boston by stagecoach. The items he bought were sometimes delivered to Southampton by horses and wagons from Boston and Hartford. The goods quite often came by boat up the Connecticut River to ‘Ashley’s Landing’ in West Springfield.
July 29, 1803 is the last entry in the fourth volume of the Jonathan Judd Jr. Diaries. Judd Jr. lived sixteen more years, and although it seems likely that he kept a diary after 1803, it has never been located. The first entry in the first volume of his diary was dated February 1, 1768. Jonathan Judd Jr.’s original diaries are in the custody of the Forbes Library, located in Northampton, Massachusetts. Due to the fragility of the diaries, they are not available to the public.
Includes scanned original and typed pages of the complete diary. See flash drive.
Jonathan Judd, Jr. Daybook
Includes scanned original and edited copies of the daybook. See Flash drive.
Jonathan Judd Diary Narrative Source: 2008 Springfield Technical Community College, P.O. Box 9000, Suite 1, Springfield, MA
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