April 25 thru April 28, 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, including a great family picture of everybody circa 1886!

Sunday - Henry and Sarah have stayed over night with the Aaron Putnam family. They all go to the funeral of Mrs. William Johnson, and then stay for Sunday school. Omar and Jen go to visit the Conleys. Bart comes home and gets his new hat. Mills is sick again! (according to my info, today is Sarah Esther's birthday - but no mention of it in the diary?)

Monday - Omar plows with three horses. I think they now have 4 horses - Molly - used for buggy more? Kitt -(old Kitt) John, and the new horse they got last week. Omar plants all but one and a half acres of the oats. Mills get sicker, and Sarah is not feeling well now.

Tuesday - Omar works on the oats, but it rains, and he and Henry build a "stone boat".... see picture below. A "stone boat" is sort of a skid thing made of wood - possibly metal layer on bottom of runners? This tool was used basically for hauling stones out of the fields. They were also used to haul other things too heavy to lift into a normal wagon. Henry sells $9.00 worth of wheat to Mrs. S. Stanton.. the Terney's come to vist with Mrs. Stanton. Henry sows some oats late in the day, but now he has the family illness too!
Wednesday - Omar finishes the oats, and also finishes a field for barley. Henry Terney buys a half a ton of hay - does not pay the $5.00 due. Omar gets the "drill" ready for sowing the barley. Sarah works in the strawberry bed, and sets out Jumbo and Kentucky strawberries.

I'm not sure if the drill below is from the right era, but a drill is a device that spreads or plants seeds mechanically.

April 21 thru April 24, 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, including a great family picture of everybody circa 1886!

Wednesday -- Another warm day! Henry uses a double "rr" in the "verry warm" weather comment for the day! Omar spreads manure on the barley field, and plows with their new horse. Mr. Dutcher comes by and gets 1550 pounds of hay for $7.75 -- Henry figures the price wrong - should have been $8.52. He rents 6 acres of land from Mr. Terney. The rent is 1/2 of the crop - "in the field" - i.e. Henry only needs to harvest his half, and Mr. Terney will harvest his part.... seems like a pretty good deal for Henry.

Thursday - They plant the barley on the field Omar had plowed. Henry grafts a Bellflower apple onto a Tolman Sweet apple root stock.

Bellflower apples in a graphic above - Tolman Sweet below.

Henry gets a book in the mail.

Friday Henry and Sarah go to Naples. They have 8 bushels of grist for feed, and they go to Reed and Tobey and get hats for Bart and Cad. This is the first mention of my great grandfather Bart in a while. He is off working for Leicester Fox. His hat costs $1.75! Close to 4 days wages! --- Henry is making $15/month from Bart's work. Mr. Tobey gives Henry a gift of a straw hat! Omar plows the garden plot while they are gone.

Ad in Neopolitan Record for Reed and Tobey below. Mr. Reed and Mr. Tobey have recently joined forces... one is a tailor - making clothing, and the other is a clothing store owner. I'm not sure which is which.

On Saturday, they burn brush, fix fences and gates, and turn the cows out to pasture. They also sow early peas, and then go to the David Strong's house for a surprise party!

April 17 thru April 20, 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, including a great family picture of everybody circa 1886!

Saturday - Omar goes on with plowing. Mills continues working of berry roots for sale. They've done 1300 in all! Henry is still quite sick, and just rests all day. Mills takes over the plowing later in the day, while Omar washes his buggy. Sarah goes to visit her sister Julia. Jen catches a ride with Jane Terney to the Blodgetts.

Sunday - Henry is still very sick. He manages to go to church, but gets Elder Hibbard to cover his Sunday school class. Henry describes himself as feeling "rather weak", but thinks he'll feel better in a few days?

Monday - Henry feels a bit better, but "nothing extra". Sarah and Jen do the washing. Omar is still plowing, and Mills digs more berry roots for the Lawyer family. Mr. Stone comes by and gets a half a ton of hay. Omar spreads manure on the barley field. Mills and Henry pack some more sawdust in the ice house. Sarah and Jen clean up the sawdust left in the yard.

Tuesday - Henry and Sarah go to Bloods with butter and eggs for Slatterys. They stop and get the money for the last load of potatoes from D. Weld. They also pay Harrison Briglin for 960 pounds of plaster they got a while back. Henry buys a horse from A. Addams for $80. He pays $45 cash, and signs a 60 day note for the balance of $35. He also gets a spring tooth harrow from Briglin - An implement pulled over plowed soil that has long curved teeth of spring steel, used to break clods, level the surface, and destroy weeds.

April 13 thru April 16, 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, including a great family picture of everybody circa 1886!

Tuesday - Henry has the family cold now, but manages to work on trimming the berry bushes. Cad is feeling better, but they give him and injection for good measure? Not sure what that means? Jen and Sarah go to Terney's to help with making a dress for Jane Terney.

Wednesday - Omar goes on plowing on the lot above the house, and also takes a load of rails to fix the fence along the road by Terneys. Mills goes on working on the berry patch, and carrying off the trimmings. Sarah goes back to Terneys to go on working on Jane's dress. Jen has stayed overnight with the Terneys.

Thursday - April 15th - I've been pretty much skipping over Henry's daily comments on the weather, but must note that it goes up to 80 degrees today! Omar takes "shingle timber" to Ed Drakes mill. Making wooden shingles is quite an industry in the Ingleside area. Henry takes some iron to the blacksmith (Avery) in Ingleside to have the metal parts made for the whiffletree he has been working on. He also has Avery fix one of John's horseshoes. Henry goes to Teal's store, and gets quite a list of stuff.... I think he is paying on a bill he already has for a whip, a pair of mittens, some tobacco papers, and a knife for Cad.

Friday - Omar goes on plowing, and Henry and Mills sort 100 berry roots to sell to the Lawyer family down the road. He also prunes some Apple trees. Henry is still feeling sick.

April 9 thru April 12, 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, including a great family picture of everybody circa 1886!

Friday - Henry Terney comes over and gets lumber to make a cupboard. Hall Bessinnett leaves - trading for his night's stay. Henry and Sarah go to Naples to Jordan Brothers. They buy 10 cents worth of round iron, 35 cents worth of green paint, and a part for the jointer ( a wood working tool) - total 70 cents. Jordan Brothers is a pretty full service hardware place, selling Stoves, Horse Blankets, Japanese Robes, Doors, Windows, Sash, Glass Putty, Gas Pipes, Hubbard Curbs, and Rubber Pumps. No idea what Hubbard Curbs, Japanese Robes, and Rubber Pumps are? I'm thinking it is a possibility that a rubber pump might have been a water pump with a rubber valve flap instead of leather? Omar and Mills clean wheat for grist. Omar, Mills, and Jen go to a Sugar party --- Maple Sugar/Syrup celebration. I'd been wondering why there had been no mention of maple sugaring yet? Lots of sugar maple trees in the area.

Ad in the Neopolitan Record in February 1886 for Jordan Brothers.

Saturday - Omar does plowing, and sows plaster on winter wheat. I'm guessing plaster could have been a source of lime to adjust the pH of acidic soil. Charles Crowley comes and buys 6 bushels of wheat at 90 cents a bushel.. "he don't pay for it" -- a favorite Henry line! Omar is plowing with a sidehill plow. The plow can be flipped over at the end of the row to cast all the furrows in one direction when plowing on hills. After another visit to the site of the Olney place last week, it looks like a sidehill plow would have been necessary on pretty much all of the land around their place! Omar also finished taking the winter insulation/banking away from the foundation of the house. I'm guessing that banking the house for the winter would have been more for keeping the cellar from freezing to protect the potatoes and apples stored there, than for keeping the living areas warm? Sarah makes soap, Jen does some baking, and Henry trims berry bushes.

One version of a "sidehill" plow.

Sunday - Henry stays home to "thoroughly" doctor Cad who now seems to have whatever has been making pretty much the whole family sick. Jane and Henry Terney come over after church. Elder Hibbard has covered Henry's Sunday school class. Cad feels better by night but remains ill for a few days.

Monday - Omar continues plowing. Mills feeds the cattle, and sets new berry roots in the places where they have died off over the winter. John Hoyt comes by to pick up the cow sold to the Washington Market in Naples last week - he pays the balance of $25 -- $32 total price for a "fatted" cow. Henry works on the berries, Jen does the wash, and now Sarah has the family cold!

April 5 thru April 8, 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, including a great family picture of everybody circa 1886!

Monday - They sell more hay. Must be the season for it! Henry is sowing grass seed, and Mills is plowing. Mr. Myers from Washington Market comes, and buys a cow -- probably to butcher to sell the meat? Total price of $32.

Tuesday - Aggie cow has a calf.... the birth goes well. It has been raining a while, and the cistern overflows. They all spend most of the day indoors with the bad weather... the creek is full, and rising. Omar, Lois, and Ettie are all feeling bad.

Wednesday - Stern Lyon picks up the hay they arranged on Monday ... 1200 pounds for $6.00. Sarah and Henry go visit the Terneys - they have a new baby colt. Omar, Lois, and Ettie are still not feeling well.

Thursday - Mills gets the wagon stuck while spreading manure. Mills and Henry move the "banking" away from the house. Probably hay piled up around the foundation to help insulate for the winter. I remember we still piled hay bales around the house for the winter when I was a kid. A peddlar (sic) from Rochester -Hall Bessinnett - stays with them overnight. Omar is feeling better, but Henry is getting sick now. Henry write a letter to somebody for Mr. Terney and himself.

April 1 thru April 4, 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, including a great family picture of everybody circa 1886!

Thursday, April 1st. Omar takes 33 bushels of potatoes to Bloods to sell to D. Weld at $0.30 per bushel. He does not collect the money. He gets 60 pounds of plaster from Briglin at $5.00 per ton? The plaster was put on account. Jen still seems to have a bad cold, and Henry treats her with a Sweat. I'm not sure how this might have been done - can't find any info on it except that lots of folks seem to think you can sweat out a cold, while others treat this as an old wives tale? Waddamus stays another night -- a balance of due of $1.53 is mentioned. Perhaps Waddamus is working for Henry to work on a debt?

Friday, they take grist to Naples - wheat for flour, corn for the cow, and corn and oats for the horses. They also settle up with several businesses... $23.90 to Reed and Tobey (no idea what they do or sell) and $16.69 to the Jordan Brothers (a hardware?) leaving a balance of $5.00. They get 20 pounds of nails, a pack of some kind of seeds, 2 pails, and other stuff, on account. Sarah pays up her account with the hat shop woman for $3.13

Saturday Omar burns trash, and starts spring plowing. Henry goes to the Terneys, and tries to rent a field, but it has already been let. Henry Terney says he wants to buy a ton of hay, and a Mr. Stone comes by and buys 800 pounds of hay for $4.00. (This would make the $5.00 worth of hay sold earlier 1000 pounds) Omar and Mills weigh it out -- not sure how? Henry and Sarah go to a lodge meeting in the evening.

Sunday, Sarah and Henry go to church. Omar is sick, but Jen is better - maybe the Sweat worked? Church goes well, with good attendance, despite the absence of the preacher - Elder Hibbard. The service was one of "prayer, testimony, praise, and conferring"?