Provenance: Purchased by the Portsmouth Athenaeum in 2019.
Citation: CM Prince Store Records (MS136), Manuscript Collections, Portsmouth Athenaeum
Size: 1 Hollinger Box and 2 Flat Box
Processed by: Susan Stowe Kindstedt in 2019.
Scope and Content:
The collection consists of records dated 1910-1911. The large bound volume includes an index of customers (some business, hotels, etc. but primarily individuals) at the front and detailed listed of their purchases made on account. There is also a folder of loose receipts that had been inserted in this volume and correspond to entries made in the record. The second volume is a large receipt book [disassembled for conservation of contents] where receipts for product purchased by the store had been pasted onto sheets of paper. The volume includes the names of farmers and other local and regional suppliers of grocery items.
Biographical and historical note:
Clarence Morgan Prince was born in Bath, Maine in 1856, the son of Catharine McLean and Charles Morgan Prince. He married Elizabeth Frazier McIntire (1855-1921). The two had three children: Charles Edward Prince (1885-1965), Ralph Nelson Prince (1890-1908) and Annie McIntire Prince (1892-1982). Clarence lived on Prince Street and operated a grocery store on Government Street. According to several photos in the collection of Rice Public Library (P49_160 and P49_159) Elizabeth and daughter Annie worked at the Grocery Store. The store was present in Kittery as early as 1899, but probably earlier and appears to have been operated by Clarence until about 1922. Clarence is listed no longer as a merchant in the 1923 City Directory but as Town Clerk. Clarence died in Kittery 28 Feb 1935 and is buried in Orchard Grove Cemetery in Kittery.
Folder list:
Box 1: Account Book, ca. 1910-1911
“CM Prince Store Choice Meats, Provisions, Flour, Groceries, Canned Goods, Flavoring Extracts, Etc.” – loose receipt
Customers include: Hotels in York, many Kittery residents, some with Portsmouth connections (Isaac Henry Mead Pray, 1843-1932)
Perhaps some Portsmouth businesses, but primarily Kittery.
OV Folder: Receipts from Account Book above (on top of box)
Box 2: Receipts, June 1913-Nov 1913
F1: July 1913
F2: July 1913
F3: July/Aug 1913
F4: Aug 1913
F5: Aug 1913
F6: Sept 1913
F7: Sept/Oct 1913
F8: Oct 1913
F9: Oct/Nov 1913
F10: Nov 1913
Box 3: Receipts, Dec 1913-May 1914
F1: Dec 1913
F2: Dec 1913
F3: Jan 1914
F4: Jan 1914
F5: Feb 1914
F6: Feb/Mar 1914
F7: Mar 1914
F8: Apr 1914
F9: May 1914
F10: May 1910