The ledger documents Lynch and Stoughton's mercantile business between 1783 and 1788. The firm traded extensively with Spain, Portugal, Holland, the West Indies, Florida, Ireland, and China, in the coasting trade between Pennsylvania and New England, and with the interior of New York State. Exports included grain, flour, lumber, flaxseed, tobacco, and ginseng, while imports included brandy, wine, linen, and sugar. There is one entry for the Empress of China, the first American vessel to sail in the China trade. The ledger was used as evidence in the 1816 suit of Stoughton vs. Lynch and bears the signature of Peter Jay Munro (1767-1833), who was counsel for one of the parties.

The ledger appears to have been passed down through several generations of the Stow family of New York and Michigan, who used it as a scrapbook for scrap paper and practicing penmanship. The back pages contain an extensive 1850 diary, possibly of Ira W., George W., or William P. Stow, a farmer of Fowlerville, Livingston County, Michigan. It contains daily observations on the weather and routines.