Friday, August 7, 2009

August 7 thru August 10, 1886

As always, click on the picture to enlarge for easier reading of original. Feel free to contact me with corrections, additional information, or comments. Click on the map link to the right of this entry to see more about where places are. Other information can be checked out with the links to the right. My most recent added information is a link to the financial ledger entries in the back of the diary - links to the right of this. Some of the information just confirms diary entries, but sometimes additional information can be gleaned.

Saturday ---- Sarah picks more raspberries. Henry rakes and binds oats. I'm assuming that the oats had been cut with a cradle - see previous entry - The cut oats would be lying fairly neatly lined up on the ground. They would be raked into small bundles, and tied -with a few strands of oats - and then several bundles stacked on end in a shock with the grain end up to facilitate drying. The bundles were called sheaves.

Henry's field would not have been this large!

Henry takes Old Molly to the blacksmith ? and finds her foot and ankle not well. He puts a poultice on her ankle. Sarah and Henry go to Fellowship meeting in Ingleside in the afternoon, and Grange in the evening.

Sunday ---- They go to church as always, and see Henry's sister Prudence and her husband Fowler there. They call on Abigail Polmateer after church - she is evidently still not doing well. They go home for dinner, and then to visit the Terney's. Jane Terney is not well, so they don't stay long. When they get home, they find Prudence and Fowler there, and they stay till evening. Omar and Bart go to Camp Meeting. I'm not sure where the Camp Meeting was, but Camp Meetings were outdoor religious gatherings with a series of people preaching, leading songs, etc. Often they were several days long with people coming from a wide area, and "camping" out for the duration?

Monday --- Henry takes grist to Lyons and Woodruff mill, and gets feed for the animals, and some flour. He also goes to Stoddard and Sons and gets some medicine to treat his lame horse, and pays $5 on his account with them. He also settles accounts with Storey Brothers, Polmateers, and Jordan Brothers, and goes to the Post Office for stationery.

Tuesday --- Omar does some plowing. Henry works in the berries, and Sarah does the washing. Henry rakes and binds some oats after dinner (noon meal) and draws a couple of loads, but finds them too green (not fully seasoned and dry). Jane sends the Polmateer boys to Henry and Sarah's for some "Cedar hemlore oil". Probably something used for medicine for Abigail Polmateer who is sick. Another young man calls on Jen..... F. Clark.

Monday, August 3, 2009

August 3 thru August 6, 1886

As always, click on the picture to enlarge for easier reading of original. Feel free to contact me with corrections, additional information, or comments. Click on the map link to the right of this entry to see more about where places are. Other information can be checked out with the links to the right. My most recent added information is a link to the financial ledger entries in the back of the diary - links to the right of this. Some of the information just confirms diary entries, but sometimes additional information can be gleaned.

Tuesday ---- They draw 7 loads of barley. Sarah goes to Naples, and brings home Aunt Dence home to visit for a few days. I'm not sure who this is? Note --- Henry's sister is Prudence, so maybe it is her? Henry's sister Prudence is married to Arnold Fowler. Weld Waite calls to see Jen. (a date?) Henry puts the cows into the wheat field to browse on the stubble.

Wednesday --- Henry finishes drawing the barley. He records that this makes a total of 19 loads. Bart is back home briefly. He evidently came home last night, and is going to Niagara Falls tomorrow.

Thursday --- Omar cradles some grain in the morning.
The cradle was the most efficient means of cutting grain before McCormick's invention of the reaper. The cradle consisted of a broad scythe with a light frame of four wood fingers attached to it. The advantage of the cradle was that by a turn to the left the operator could throw the grain into a swath, ready to be raked and bound into sheaves. This improvement was introduced in America about 1776, according to Professor Brewer of Yale, and was the common instrument of grain harvesting as late as 1840. For cradling grain, two acres was considered a day's work.

Note -- later in life Bart was evidently some sort of champion at cradling... somewhere we have 8mm film of him cradling?

Henry cuts brush growing in the berry patch, and also trims out extra berry canes. Bart and Mills have gone to Niagara Falls for the day... definitely on the train.... they return the same day. Omar picks them up in the evening in Bloods at the train station. The train station in Bloods (modern day Atlanta, NY) has been mentioned before, but below is a picture of the station as it looked yesterday when I was in the area.......Omar spent the afternoon shelling corn. Henry and Sarah go to prayer meeting in the evening.

Friday ---- Not sure what the process is, but they breed one of the cows today. Something about taking the cow to the neighbors for the day (Blodgetts), shutting the bull up all day, and then getting them together at night? Omar cuts oats all day. Henry, Mills and Cad spend another day gathering potato bugs! Aunt Dence is still visiting them, and "seems to enjoy herself".