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, including a great family picture of everybody circa 1886!They start to sort potatoes and take them to Bloods to fulfill the deal they made on Thursday to supply potatoes by 10AM Monday. Henry goes to visit the Terneys, and Bart goes to Litterary? I assume this might have been some sort of book club - discussion group?
The next item is of great interest to me! Henry goes to visit Leicester Fox to discuss hiring Bart (my great grandfather - age 17) to work for him. Mr. Fox promises an answer by Saturday evening.
Saturday, they take more potatoes to Bloods. Bart and Mills cut wood. Sarah takes eggs to the store in Ingleside. Henry goes to Ingleside later, and they go to the Christian Church meeting in the afternoon, then to Grange meeting, followed by meeting at their church. Henry complains of a bad cold, and almost as an after thought, he says "I hire Bart". Leicester Fox has agreed to hire Bart to work for him for 7 1/2 months at $15 per month - see small note at end of Monday's entry.... I think the line indicates that this little note goes with Saturday's entry. Below is the Memorandum from the back of the diary that lists the terms of Bart's employment. Picture below.
Henry had asked for $16 per month, but Mr. Fox has countered with a lighter work load, including letting Bart cut the grain with a reaper? I'm thinking that perhaps Bart worked for Mr. Fox last year - 1885? Perhaps Bart had to harvest grain with a scythe and cradle last summer, and now Liecester Fox has a mechanical reaper of some sort? Henry has negotiated for Mrs. Fox to do Bart's laundry and mending... final deal is for $15 per month with Henry getting all Bart's wages within 3 weeks of the end of the 7 and one half months. It looks like all the money goes to Henry.Henry continues to fight his cold on Sunday and stays home from church. The rest of the family goes to church.
Monday Bart and Jen go to Wallace. Omar and Mills cut wood. Henry also has them fill the "leech" and they find the chaldron kettle broken? My first thought was that the "leech" might have to do with the outhouse -- we currently refer to a leach field where the liquid drains from a septic system. Filling the leech might have referred to moving the outhouse, and filling the old hole??? The reference to the kettle, might refer to leaching lye (alkali) from ashes. Omar goes to Naples in the afternoon to get Bart a pair of overalls and some rubber boots -- preperation for his new job? It will be interesting to see if Bart dissappears from daily enties soon? Not sure if he will be staying with the Fox family, or if he just goes there to work each day?
