Franklin and Otego are small towns in rural New York, not far from the border with Pennsylvania. In the 1860s and 1870s, railroads began to crisscross New York state, but horses were still the main mode of transportation for many. Wagons, buggies, and carriages would have been a fairly steady business even in a small town. Throughout the latter half of the century, parts were manufactured by machine and competition drove prices down, allowing families who might otherwise not have had a vehicle to purchase one, and possibly to make them a bit showier than they otherwise might have, by painting, trimming, or adding lamps to use at night. By the lates 1910s, cars began to displace horse-drawn vehicles, and this small business would have become obsolete.

Written inside the front cover is “Rosenberg Wieden & Graf, 269 ½ Pearle Str”, which may have been the name of the business that kept this ledger. There is a Peleg Weeden listed on several censuses living in nearby Morris, New York, who was a harness maker, and perhaps he was part of this business.