by Anne Motto, F.M. Kirby Curator of Collections
March 10, 2026
Ironically, sometimes what partially destroys something is also what saves it. Time and again in MCHS’s collections and archives, an item appears to have survived precisely because it was damaged beyond regular use, completely repurposed, or otherwise significantly altered. A particularly frequent example are ledgers, some as early as the 1790s, which were reused as scrapbooks in the latter 19th century. A double-edged sword, their preservation can likely be credited to a majority of their pages being pasted over and given new meaning as a personal memento. One such ledger donated this past fall, only half remade into a scrapbook, strikes a fascinating and fortuitous balance, richly documenting the multiple chapters of Absalom S. Talmadge’s life as a Morris Canal boatman, Union soldier, and Rockaway grocer.
The first half, which was remade into a scrapbook between the 1870s and 1890s captures reminiscences and current events of the day from the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge to the crime spree of Jesse James to the Centennial Exposition of 1876, albeit completely out of chronological order. However, what the scrapbook lacks in continuity, it makes up for in poignancy. Many of its assembled clippings, ephemera, and notations speak to Talmadge’s service in Company E of the 11th Regiment NJ Volunteers during the Civil War. This unit served at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg where Talmadge was severely wounded in battle. A handwritten notation under an illustration of Dr. David Kennedy of Rondout, NY notes “this doctor was the instrument in Gods hand in saving my life. While in charge of Ward I in Satterlee hospital Philadelphia… July 9 or 10 – 1863.” After his recovery, Talmadge returned to his unit and served until the close the of the war. With the 11th, he was at the Battles of the Wilderness, Cold Harbor, Spotsylvania Court House, and Appomattox Court House among many others.
Before the war, Talmadge, a native of Stanhope, had been a boatman on the Morris Canal. After his discharge in June 1865, he settled in Rockaway, still near the canal, and opened a general store that served the boatmen passing through. The unaltered ledger pages, which make up the back half of the volume, date from around 1868 to 1871. They list dozens of transactions with boatmen who census records indicate lived in Warren County near the canal’s western terminus and would likely have been in need of supplies by the time they reached his store. While the ledger ceases after December 1871, he continued business into the early 20thcentury, passing away in 1904. How the volume survived after that is unknown, but it ultimately fell into the hands of collector in Arizona who, recognizing rich history it contained, generously donated the book to MCHS so that its continued preservation would be ensured.
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