E.W. Webster was a carriage maker in Plainville, Connecticut. Plainville's carriage industry, with many sales to the South, thrived in the years leading up to the Civil War. The war disrupted sales, and carriage makers such as Webster fared poorly. Webster was not able to recover from the wartime loses, and sold his business. Webster's success is evident in the first volume of this collection. He recorded sales pertaining to all aspects of carriage manufacture. In 1859 Webster took on an apprentice, John Bartholomew, at an annual rate of $125. Bartholomew would earn an additional $25 each of the next two years. He was to board and clothe himself. Transactions in the second volume start to include food, and a butter knife was sold in the third volume. Webster's records end in May 1879.
