Daily AncestorBarrel
A barrel (bbl.) was a cask and also the amount it held, which varied by goods and place: a barrel of flour was 196 pounds, a barrel of wine 31 1/2 gallons.
There was never one barrel. Webster's 1913 dictionary notes that the size varied by article and by place, set by custom or by law, and gives 196 pounds for flour and 31 1/2 gallons for wine.
Federal standards still list several: many state laws fix a liquid barrel at 31 1/2 gallons, federal beer taxes use 31 gallons, and petroleum uses 42. When an inventory lists 6 bbls. pork or 10 bbls. flour, read it by the custom for that product.
As seen in a recordMerchant's estate inventory, 1830s
10 bbls. superfine flour at $5.50
Sources
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Barrel." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/money-measures/barrel. Last checked 2026-10-03.