February 28 thru March 3, 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 Sarah and Henry go to church in the morning and in the evening. Omar and Hattie Warren also go in the evening, along with Jen and Hiram Avarrey (sic). There is a conference meeting after the evening preaching. Note: Ingleside Christian Conference was a big sort of revival meeting with special guest preachers, etc. held in the summer when I was a kid - 1950's. Not sure if it is still held, but I would suspect it is.

Monday, Omar, Bart, Mills, and Henry all work on cutting and storing ice from Ingleside - probably Evergreen Farm? Sarah makes fried cakes and pies. Frost gets into the cellar - probably a sign of a pretty good cold stretch.

Just for fun I went looking for evidence of the pond on Evergreen Farm, and have created a link to an aerial view of the farm... the pond is quite large, and near the road - present day Route 53. It is pretty much exactly 4 miles between their place and the pond. Click here to see the aerial view, or the link to the right in the collection of relevant links. Cutting and storing ice was the normal cold storage system in 1886. Even large cities relied on ice cut from lakes, ponds, etc. and stored for later use. In 1886, there were around 200 commercial ice plants in the US - all cutting and storing ice. Believe it or not, refrigeration technology on any large scale would not exist for another 20 years or so. Railroad cars, and trucks were still cooled with ice into the early 1940's!


Tuesday and Wednesday the ice work continues - cutting, drawing, and packing in the ice house which is about half full by Tuesday evening. Looks like a total of 8 loads of ice by Wednesday afternoon. Mrs. Nickles sends Sarah a line canceling a planned visit to them by the Lawtons and others. Maybe she caught Omar on the way by with a load of ice? Omar and Jen go visit the Warrens Wednesday evening, and Sarah and Bart go to meeting. Looks like Omar and Jen went to meeting too with the horse... probably took Hattie Warren.

I've been wondering about how they found their way around at night in those days? We've seen lots of night time visiting! Dad says the horses knew their way around, and would find their own way home even at night - even if the "driver" were asleep! Wednesday night March 3rd 1886 was for example a waning crescent moon -- less than 3% moonlight even on a totally clear night! And based on Henry's weather comments on Wednesday and Thursday - light snow both days - it probably wasn't a clear night! For the truly demented among you, the moon phases for any month from 3999 BC to 3999 AD, can be found here. I just love the internet!

February 24 thru 27, 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!

Note--- I've added the location of the school house to the map, probably the Tenney place too since Henry refers to the Tenney schoolhouse.

Another note --- Dad says the folks I've been calling the Terneys, are the Tenneys ----- my bad! I've gone back and corrected all the previous entries.

Wednesday -- Sarah and Henry go visiting again -- this time to the W.E. Weld family - Evergreen Farm. David Strong family is there, along with the T. Simons family. They get home around 6PM, and have a surprise birthday party for Omar. I assume it is a birthday party because Omar turns 24 on Friday -- Not sure why the party wouldn't be on Friday.... maybe the date I have for Omar's birthday is wrong?? The party is organized by Hattie Warren - his girlfriend, and future wife.

Thursday --- Omar takes grist to Naples. Bart and Mills cut wood. Jen cleans up from the party, and Sarah makes collars for shirts and dresses. Henry works some more on the lumber wagon -- putting springs on the seat.

Friday - Sarah and Henry go to Aaron Drakes. The Lawton's are there too.

Saturday Omar and Bart pull limbs and small poles (saplings) out of the woods, and pile them on something???? Mills goes up to Ingleside to the blacksmith, to get hardware to hang the seat on the lumber waggon (sic). Bart takes 7 1/2 dozen eggs to Teals for cash at 18 cents/dozen. - $1.35 I think Teals is the store in Ingleside?? No Grange meeting that night.

February 20 thru 23, 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!

Dave Olney has sent along a great picture of the Olney family circa 1886. Click on the link to the right to access the picture, or click here. I think I've got all the names correct- or at least good guesses. Not sure why, but hover your mouse right about where each person's feet would be to see the names, or click on the names to the right on the Picassa page. I can't tell you how exciting it is to have a picture of what they all looked like within a year of the time of the diary. This would have been quite a production -- everyone is in their Sunday best, and the picture would have been planned well in advance, and taken by a professional photographer (the first Kodak box camera - The Eastman Cossitt - was produced in 1886, so home photography was not yet available to regular folks). It looks like it is taken in front of their house, giving us some sense of what the house was like!

More mysteries! Saturday, Sarah and Omar go to Naples to pick up grist, and they take the "road warrant" to the town clerk. I can't find anything about what a road warrant is except that it might be a legal document related to taxes for road maintenance? No money seems to be involved, so I'm stumped? Dad says that sometimes local people did work on the roads, hauled gravel, etc. in lieu of taxes -- sort of an official barter system.

They also pay $1 for The Neapolitan Record for 1 year. Some research reveals that
The Neapolitan Record was published weekly from 1884 to 1887. The Naples Library evidently has all but a couple of issues for 1886 on microfilm! How easily excited I am! This will hopefully give me lots more info on the businesses that the Olneys traded with in Naples, etc. The Naples Record - successor to The Neapolitan Record - is still being published. Naples is named for the city in Italy, so the term Neapolitan might well apply! My handy dictionary says:

Ne⋅a⋅pol⋅i⋅tan–adjective

1.	of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Naples: a Neapolitan love song.

–noun

2.	a native or inhabitant of Naples.

Sarah gets 3 pair of slippers for $1.90 and has them "chd"??? Possibly she charged them --- no mention of this $ in the ledger section, though Sarah might have spent some of her own money? I seem to recall her recording some purchases from her own money in her 1885 diary. Bart takes cider to the Marshes, and trades for vinegar. Maybe they kept apples through the winter? Cider would have long since turned to vinegar if pressed in the fall? Possibly the Marshes made especially good vinegar - maybe a secret recipe?

Sunday, Sarah and Omar take the buggy and John (one of the horses) to church, but Bart and Mills walk to Ingleside. Jen and Omar go to meeting in the evening - again John is mentioned. A very light day on diary entry. Note that it has been warm long enough to make use of the buggy feasible rather than the sleigh.

Monday lots of chores get done. Omar draws wood, Bart and Mills cut it up. Jen washes clothes, and Sarah does some baking. Omar also takes 17 dozen eggs to Cornishes in Bloods, and gets $2.56 in cash and balance in trade. Uncle Agustus and Aunt Mary visit....Agustus is Sarah's mother's younger brother.

Tuesday Henry and Sarah go visiting again -- they go to Catherine Welds, and are joined by Harmon Drake's folks and Stephen Stanton's folks (not sure if this is those families, or if it is their parents??) Also Mrs. T. Simons is there. Then there is the first mention of how visiting got arranged ... they are invited to the Drakes to visit with the Lawtons on Friday. (Friday's entry confirms that they went)

February 16 thru 19, 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.

Tuesday - Omar and Bart skidd up wood for sawing. I'm thinking this would refer to sliding actual logs out of the woods -probably by pulling the logs with one of the horses - possibly for sawing into lumber later rather that cut into short sections for firewood? Mills goes to school -- another indication that going to school may have been something to do when not needed for chores, etc?? Henry has a lame shoulder again..... probably a real problem when the whole family livelihood depended on hard physical work.... probably had what we call a torn rotator cuff?

Wednesday - Jane Tenney comes to help quilt again -- I guess she is not the school teacher. A neighbor - William Blodgett, comes to buy wheat at $1 per bushel. He says he will get 16 bushel in about 30 days, but will want 4 bushels sooner for grist. Cash transactions are not real common. They grow a lot of their food, and barter a lot, but not a lot of cash.

I'll try to get the money ledger entries from the back of the diary on a web page soon - I just went looking at them, and don't find any reference to William Blodgett actually getting wheat later. In looking through the ledger entries, I notice that Henry actually pays Omar for at least some of his work. Omar is 23 years old - 24th birthday next week. Bart is 17 (turns 18 in August) and does not seem to get paid. Soon, Henry will "rent" out Bart's services to a neighbor.

Sarah and Henry go to visit the Nickleses (sic) in the evening.

Thursday - Sarah and Jane are still quilting. Mart and Julia Drake come to visit. I'll have to try to figure out who Mart and Julia are. I'm related to the Drakes on my mother's side, so they are probably relatives of mine. Julia helps quilt, and they finish the quilt. They all have a social chat. Everybody goes home, and Henry and Sarah go visit the Frank Marsh family. Daughter Hattie and Harm and granddaughter Florence are there too. I wonder how these visit are planned? No phones!

Friday Hattie, Harm and Florence come to visit, but leave their horse at the Marshes? Henry doesn't "think much of that". William Blodgett sends his son to get the grist of wheat mentioned earlier. Henry gave him the 4 bushels, but mentions that he "didn't pay for it". Sarah and Henry go to visit the Blodgetts in the evening.

Note: Catherine Blodgett - descendent of William Blodgett - was a big Naples/Prattsburg area history buff till she passed away recently, and was the one who got this diary from one of Lois's descendants. ... James Robinson. I sure wish she was still around to talk about all these folks with. She lived on the Blodgett place - probably less than a mile from Henry and Sarah's place as the crow flies.

Note: Talked a bit more with friends about the frequency of getting grist ground into flour or cattle feed recently, and got two more theories. 1. A possible way of limiting those pesky little moths that infest flour --- if you've ever had them you know you don't want them in the flour! That could have been an even bigger factor than spoilage. A Cornell Entomology web page notes --- "Long term storage of flour and meal products often leads to infestation, therefore, such products should be purchased in quantities suitable for early use, unless adequate containers are employed." It just occurred to me that dry storage of a lot of flour might have been an issue too.... no plastic bags, etc in those days! Large crocks or metal bins would have been about the only option. 2. Given transportation - i.e. buggy or sleigh - it may have just been a lot easier to haul a few bags at a time when going to Naples for other things, rather than hauling a big load.

February 12 thru 15, 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.

The Tenneys are there to visit again... Jane and Sarah quilt. They go to Peter Johnson's funeral?? Omar cuts wood, Henry sorts a few potatoes again. Jane Tenney goes home at night. Bart goes to Tenney's schoolhouse??? Not sure what that means. Maybe Jane was a school teacher? Maybe not? Jane is at their house all day. Maybe the Tenneys owned the school house but somebody else taught. I'm not sure how the school system was organized at that time?

Saturday, Henry Tenney asks Henry to come over to help with a sick cow, but he gets there too late - the cow is dead. Henry helps Henry Tenney and Henry Polmeteer skin the cow. Three Henrys! They probably don't use the meat of a sick cow, but they certainly don't let the skin/leather go to waste! Omar and Jen don't go to see Susie (probably Susie Conley) because it is stormy.

Sunday Bart goes to church - sounds like Sarah and Henry stay home - Sarah is sick. Omar and Mills go to church in the evening, taking "Old Kitt" and the buggy. It appears to have been warm long enough to not be able to use the sleigh? It has been 40 or 50 everyday for a while. This is the first mention of one of the horses by name. I know from later entries that there are at least 3 horses --- Molly, Old Kitt, and John?

Monday - Various chores -- washing, quilting, potato sorting --- most mentions of potato sorting seem to use the pharse - "a few potatoes" - obviously not a favorite task! Henry mends shoes... they used to fix stuff! -- you didn't just go buy a new pair. Henry may have even made the shoes originally? ( note: Thomas Olney - the original Olney in this country - 1635 - was a shoe maker among other things - Henry is 9th generation in this country) Bart and Mills don't go to school. Friday's mention of Tenney's Schoolhouse must have referred to going to school.... maybe school attendance was sporadic depending on weather, work that needed doing, etc??

February 8 thru 11, 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.

Some more interesting information... Omar and Bart to to Evergreen Farm for a load of ice, while Mills and Henry shovel sawdust out of the ice house to get ready... sawdust was used to insulate the ice to make it last as long as possible into the summer..... possibly even into the following winter according to some.

Evergreen Farm is the home of Henry's sister Ellen, who is married to William Eber Weld. If I've got it worked out right, William E. Weld is also Sarah's 1st cousin? (They previously checked the ice on William Johnson's pond?) Evergreen Farm is located on the hill on the road between Ingleside (Riker's Hollow), and Prattsburg. Location noted on the map. (link to the right) The row of evergreens is still there according to notes from my Dad. Sarah's parents (Eber Hill and Lydia Matilda Weld) live on a farm near Evergreen Farm.... also noted on the map.

Omar and Jen go to Wayland to visit their sister Hattie and husband Harmon (Harm) and their neice Florence. Bart and Mills go to visit Salem I. Cloun (sp?)

Note: Wonderful story of how Sarah's grandparents - David and Hannah Weld - happened to end up in this area here.

Tuesday Henry fixes a whiffletree to the Democrat wagon. I knew what a whiffletree is, but a Democrat wagon??? --- " a light flat bed farm wagon or ranch wagon that has two or more seats and is usually drawn by one or sometimes two horses". One source says you have seen one if you ever saw a western movie. I'm not sure how fancy their Democrat wagon was? The one below is a restored pretty fancy one. The term Democrat was often capitalized as Henry does.
A whiffletree is a system of cross bars hooked together to harness two horses to a single wagon, sleigh, plow, etc. The wagon above is set up for one horse. The Olney's Democrat wagon must have been fitted for two horses. With such a large family, maybe their's had more than two seats? Again, you've seen a whiffletree if you've ever watched the hero climb over the runaway horses pulling the stagecoach to sure destruction in one of those western movies. My dad and mom both remember Democrat wagons still in use when they were kids. According to Dad, the seats were probably removable .... sort of like the modern day family mini-van? Seats in to haul the kids, or out to haul lumber? I did find a reference on the internet to some kids falling out of a Democrat Wagon because the seat was not fastened.

Omar and Jen return from Wayland -- I guess they stayed overnight. Omar and Sarah head to Naples to pick up 2 bags of feed from the grist taken to the mill last week. Grist is grain that has been separated from its chaff in preparation for grinding. I'm not sure why so many trips to Red Mill and Lyon's Mill. Seems like bigger batches would have been better? Maybe grain kept better whole than when ground into flour or cattle/horse feed?

Wednesday is a bit hard to read... for some reason Henry writes over the original entry at a right angle. Henry goes to Tenney's to get Sarah, and he and Omar draw wood. Henry and Jane Tenney are there to visit. Jane and Sarah are quilting. Omar and Bart haul wood. Henry sorts Potatoes. (note - sorting potatoes was a constant task to get rid of the ones that might be going bad so the rest would last longer - bad ones probably went to the animals - remind me to tell you Dad's "Decisions" story one day) Mills finishes husking corn and puts it in the cornhouse. ( Note: We now have two more structures on the farm in addition to the house and barn -- an Icehouse, and a Cornhouse.) Sarah and Bart go to Peter Johnson's funeral.

On Thursday, Jen bakes. Henry sorts potatoes again. Omar goes to Naples takes more grist to Lyon's mill and picks up previous grist. (Note: does this indicate that Lyon's Mill is in Naples rather than at the Blodgett place as previously thought???) Sarah and Jane continue quilting. Henry Tenney and Jane stay overnight. A midwinter thaw --- it has been 50-60 degrees for a few days.

I think we've located the blacksmith shop mentioned earlier - Avery's - probably located in Ingleside - near the church and the Grange Hall -- location on the map --- click link to the right.

February 4 thru 7, 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.

Very interesting entries. Omar goes to Red Mill in Naples for horse feed and flour - ground from their own grain. Omar goes to Stoddards to get a thermometer. Henry lists some people, but doesn't mention anything about why -- were they there to visit? Some are just first names? Orva (sp?) Weld and wife, Aunt Catherine, Ella (?) and E?leanor Ca???, and Frank and Erma or Emma? Any suggestions on reading this gratefully received.... maybe some later entries will clarify some of these names. (later note - I think that light word might be "came". Maybe these are folks who came over to visit?)

Friday - A lot of visiting today! -- Henry and Sarah go to visit the John Averys -- William Blodgett and wife and Mrs. J.W. Lawton (preacher's wife) were there too. They head home early because some young people are expected at their house for the evening. Six couples spend the evening playing and engaging in "social chit chat". Not sure what "playing" would refer to. Playing cards would not have been a proper Christian thing to do --- perhaps board games, charades?? Dad says there might well have been music involved. Bart played fiddle, clarinet, and coronet later in life, and was an avid member of the Ingleside Band as an adult. Just a side note that I wish I knew more about their house, and the homes of their friends and neighbors. 6 couples, plus Henry and Sarah, plus the younger folks in the family, could add up to about 20 or 21 folks in the house that night? Omar, Jen, and Bart might have been included in the 6 couples - older "kids" in the family who might have had dates? Mills is 16 -- he might have had a date, but that still leaves Lois (14), Esther (13), Cad (10), Prudence (8), Stella (5), and Kent (3) What sort of house could host such a gang? Remember the bathroom was definitely an outhouse! Even with Hattie married and living in Wayland, there are 13 or 14 people living there all the time.

Saturday Omar and Henry go to Avery's shop -- a blacksmith -- and have the horse's hooves sharpened and shoed, at the cost of $1.00, and order some ice tongs made for 50 cents! They try the ice on William Johnson's pond, and find no water - frozen solid all the way! Henry and Sarah go to visit Mart and Julia in the afternoon, and to Grange in Ingleside in the evening. More visiting! While in Ingleside, they pay $5.67 on their bill at the store, and barter 10 dozen eggs for $1.90 off the bill - 19 cents a dozen.

Sarah, Henry, Jen, Ettie (Hattie), Omar, and Bart to to church. (Bart is my great grandfather) Ettie must be visiting? She lives in Wayland. Elder Hibbard gives the sermon. I'm not sure how leadership of the church is organized... several folks seem to give sermons, lead services, etc?? The church still is in Ingleside - not the same building - I wonder if I can find old records?? Omar and Jen go to church in the evening with dates - Omar with Hattie (Warren) and Jen with Hiram Warren. Omar will marry Hattie later (not sure of date). Henry throws in another little comment about Omar -- "Omar takes Hattie I guess". If I were counting, I'd say this makes three little asides about Omar so far this year.

January 31 through February 3, 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.

Sunday is a full day of church... looks like they go to their regular church, then go to Methodist meeting in the afternoon, stay for some sort of class, and to to prayer meeting in the evening. I'm not sure where the Methodist's meet. Dad said something about another church there in Ingleside? They go to visit Aunt Catherine Weld between the Methodist Meeting and the evening prayer meeting.

Monday Henry fixes the harness and harnesses the horses to go the George Pulver's to visit... they don't go until Tuesday, so I'm thinking it was a process of making sure the harness was in good shape for a longer than usual trip? Eber Weld and wife stop by. Eber goes on the Bloods and returns. His wife stays to visit, and they all visit into the evening on his return. The children have colds.

Tuesday, Sarah and Henry go to visit the Pulver family (George and Belle) -- about 2 hours away by the "new road" - a much shorter route Henry notes. They stay overnight, and return home the next day a bit after noon. The kids still have bad colds.... note there are "kids" ranging in age from 3 to 22, so they aren't being irresponsible in leaving overnight. Omar is back from Mansfield, PA. Everyone there is well, and Uncle Robert (Henry's older brother) got baptized on Sunday. (Note: The family's Christian faith would have made this baptism -fairly late in life - a pretty big deal... maybe Omar went to Mansfield specifically for the baptism?)

Note that Mansfield is about 75 miles away - quite a trip by horse! One reference suggests about 25 miles per day as an average distance traveled by horseback? Another suggests 15-25 miles per day. Omar must have pushed it since he was in church in Mansfield area on Sunday morning and got home Tuesday night. I wonder who he stayed with along the way - Sunday and Monday nights?? Definitely no Motel 6 along the way, though there might have been small Inns or boarding houses, or taverns with rooms to let and a place to stable the horse? Maybe he just slept under a tree?