Rondeau Boyd Laffitte General Store Merchandise Account Books

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: MSS 2005-012

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Rondeau Boyd Laffitte General Merchandise Account Books are significant to Southern business history researchers because they document purchases of dry goods, foods, and agricultural produce at one of several general stores in Lloyd, Florida during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.

Dates

Created: 1890-1913
Other: Majority of material found in 1902-1907

Creator

Laffitte, Rondeau Boyd. (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open to all researchers.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright has not been transferred to the Florida State University Libraries. Use of this collection is provided for non-commercial, personal, educational, and research use only. All other use, including but not limited to commercial or scholarly reproductions, redistribution, publication, websites, exhibitions, broadcasts, or other transmission, whether by electronic means or otherwise, without prior written permission of the copyright holder is strictly prohibited. For information about the copyright and reproduction rights for this item, please contact Special Collections, Florida State University Libraries, Tallahassee, Florida.

Biographical or Historical Information

According to Jean (Laffitte) Wyer, grand-daughter of Rondeau Boyd Laffitte, the Laffitte family originally came from Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina. They had five children. The oldest, Elise Laffitte, died in 2004 at the age of 102.

Rae Bond Miller, longtime resident of Lloyd, Florida, noted that Rondeau Boyd Laffitte came to Lloyd in 1890 to clerk for Henry Bond, Miller's grandfather, and became one of its principal store owners. Laffitte built a house between his store and the Lloyd train depot. In 1912, the store was destroyed by fire, but luckily his home had been moved in 1906 to Main Street. After the fire, Laffitte built a smaller store farther down Main Street, which operated until his death in 1913. It was reopened as a pharmacy.

Jerrell H. Shofner, in History of Jefferson County, noted that in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, Lloyd was the center of a large farming and lumbering area and had at least seven stores. In addition to Laffitte's business, the other stores were owned by George E. Dennis, Thomas H. Lloyd, J.B. Cromartie, Walter and Thomas H. Bond, B.L. Yon, Marion Walker, W.S. Sills, and D.B. Mills and Company.