June 24 thru June 27, 1886

If you are new to this blog, the paragraph below appears in every entry to let folks know some basic information. If you are a regular, I've added a line at the end about a new picture of the Olney family that looks to be about 10-20 years later than the time of the diary... link is at the right! 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, and a picture of the whole family several years later - circa 1900 ???

Just another quick note --- I've added another link to the right with some pictures taken on a sort of genealogy field trip to sites from the diary - and some other things. Lou Olney, and Dave Olney - descendants of Omar, and myself - descendant of Bart - had a great time. Pictures from the trip can be seen here.

Thursday -- The Polmateers finish the masonry work on the barn, and get most of the "pointing" done. The total cost of the work is $7.00. Henry pays them $5.00 and owes them $2.00. Stephen Stanton comes by and gets 3 bushels of wheat. Henry owes him 3 more bushels. Sarah and Henry go to prayer meeting in the evening.

Friday -- Henry and Omar do some finishing work on the barn. They plow, scrape, grade and bank in the new west wall of the barn. Henry builds a "jamb" on the high wall, and they also grade in the road on the house side of the barn. They also lay a "rough wall" on the North end of the barn.

Saturday --- Omar goes on "landscaping" around the barn. Henry "fixes a couple of sticks to fill in against the door" and grades to the top of the sticks. I'm thinking they built a dirt ramp up to the doors on the upper level of the barn, with a wood transition between the earthen ramp and the wood floor of the barn? Omar draws more stones out of some field, and cultivates the potatoes. Sarah and Henry go to visit the Stantons, and then on to choir practice in the evening.

Sunday ---- They go to Sunday School, with some singing before Sunday School opens. Weld Graves spoke at the Baptist House. Not sure if they went there instead of their own church, or in addition. Henry gives his Sunday School class an exam on the last quarter of lessons. William Blodgett and his wife, along with Aunt Fannie Shepard, and Weld Waite come home with them after church. Bart takes Kittie Blodgett to Bloods for "Children's Day". Children's day was a very widespread celebration begun in the mid 1800's A Sunday set apart for the dedication of children to the Christian life, and for the re-dedication of parents and guardians to bringing-up their children in Christian nurture.

Don's Notes -- Bart will marry Catherine (Kittie) Blodgett in a couple of years? - family records show them married on January 18th 1886, but this would not match with the information in this diary. Their first child was my uncle Walter Varion Olney born in 1890. My line begins with their second son William Henry Olney - my grandfather - born June 15th, 1895 A third son - Willard Addison Olney was born in 1903 and died at age 18 months or so. I did not know Bart, but I remember visiting Kittie in Naples when I was a small kid.... she died at the age of 84 when I was four. They are buried in the New Ingleside Cemetery.

June 20 thru June 23, 1886

If you are new to this blog, the paragraph below appears in every entry to let folks know some basic information. If you are a regular, I've added a line at the end about a new picture of the Olney family that looks to be about 10-20 years later than the time of the diary... link is at the right!

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, and a picture of the whole family several years later - circa 1900 ???

Just another quick note --- I've added another link to the right with some pictures taken on a sort of genealogy field trip to sites from the diary - and some other things. Lou Olney, and Dave Olney - descendants of Omar, and myself - descendant of Bart - had a great time. Pictures from the trip can be seen here.

Sunday -- They stayed overnight with the Stebbins family, and went to church in Middlesex, NY the next morning. The preacher was Mrs. Basset from Shelby, NY. Henry comments that she did "very well", but "like every woman I ever heard yet, she lacked voice". I find it interesting that he includes the word "yet" indicating that he is maybe open to the possibility that a woman preacher could do the job? They see Elder Hibbard at the Freewill Baptist Conference. I'm not sure what "denomination" Henry and Sarah's church is part of, but they don't seem to have any problem associating with other christian groups. They get back home around 2PM

Monday --- Henry comments that it is his mother's 70th birthday. Henry's parents are Natheniel and Mary Mills Olney. They own a grist mill in Avoca, NY. Henry goes to Bloods, and buys 840 pounds of lime - $3.00, and some butter color for 35 cents. Mills takes the mare to be bred again. Omar and Mills take down the stone foundation under the end of the barn that they had "wedged" up earlier. Sarah and Lois pick strawberries for R. Smith. I'm not sure if they are working for Mr. Smith, or if they are picking strawberries for their own use? Henry does not record any money recieved from or paid to Mr. Smith around that time, but Sarah may have kept her own books. Her 1885 diary does record her own money records.

Tuesday --- Henry and Wesley Polmateer come in the morning to do the masonry work on the foundation for the barn. Henry, Omar, and Mills spend the day "tending" the masons. I assume mixing mortar, carrying stones, etc. The lime and sand from earlier were for making mortar. Sarah takes butter to Slatterys in Bloods, and gets paid partially in cash, and partially in trade/barter. She also gets some butter tubs from D.D.Clark in Naples.

Wednesday -- The masons work on the barn all day, with Henry, Omar, and Mills helping again. Henry tries his hand at laying some stone too. Sarah picks strawberries again.

June 16 thru June 19, 1886

If you are new to this blog, this paragraph appears in every entry to let folks know some basic information. Click on the picture to enlarge for easier reading of original. Please use the comment feature 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 - the year of this diary, and a picture of the whole family several years later - circa 1900 ???

Wednesday ---- Henry comments twice on the hot weather today -- temp 88. He notes the weather every day as the opening lines of each entry, but today he closes with "a fine day but very warm". Omar cultivates the rest of the potatoes. If you aren't from a farm background, cultivating is the process of running a digging device down between the rows of corn, potatoes, or other crop to dislodge and kill any weeds. The weeds (anything growing in a field or garden that you don't want) "steal" water and nutrients from the crop you want. "Weed" is an often misunderstood term. One person's weed may well be another person's highly desired plant!
Cad and Henry spend the day picking potato bugs off the potato plants -- net take of "between 6 and 8 quarts" of these critters, and they "still don't get them all".

Thursday --- Henry goes to the blacksmith shop in Ingleside to get the water pump repaired, and he gets two "irons" made for the side of the lumber wagon. He attaches them, and gets the wagon ready for hauling sand. Omar draws manure from under the north end of the basement, and corn cobs away from the cornhouse. Henry goes to meeting in the evening. Sarah goes to visit her daughter Hattie and her husband, and granddaughter Florence in Wayland.

Friday --- Henry admits getting up late after being out late to meeting last night. Omar draws three loads of sand from the Terneys. When I was a kid there was a gravel/sand pit near where I understand the Terneys lived. Sarah is still in Wayland. Someone named Shaver has come to visit, and leaves around 5PM. Mrs. Stephen Stanton comes to see if Henry and Sarah can go to Middlesex, NY to a church meeting tomorrow night.

Saturday --- Henry and Omar wedge up the barn? (Maybe a process of using wedges to raise up part of the barn and was sagging... possibly the sand was used to fill in under the raised area?) Stephen Stanton and his wife come by around 11AM, and they all go to Middlesex, NY for a Freewill Baptist Church Conference after Sarah gets back home from Wayland. They get to Middlesex around 6PM. For the time, this is a fairly long trip - about 14 miles. They stay overnight with a fellow Grange member - Mr. Stebbins..... apparently not someone they knew, but someone willing to offer housing to someone attending the church event.

June 12 thru June 15, 1886

If you are new to this blog, the paragraph below appears in every entry to let folks know some basic information. If you are a regular, I've added a line at the end about a new picture of the Olney family that looks to be about 10-20 years later than the time of the diary... link is at the right!

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, and a picture of the whole family several years later - circa 1900 ???

Saturday -- The big week at the church continues. They go to meeting at 8AM again, and have another business meeting, with the business "nearly concluded" in the forenoon. Henry refers to the event as the "conference". They had refreshments in the hall around noon, and another conference meeting in the afternoon that lasted between two and three hours! Refreshments served again in the afternoon, and the men of the "Freewill Baptists" come to greet them. No mention of an evening service, but I would assume there was one.

(Don's note - The Ingleside Christian Conference was still being held in the late 1950's when I was a kid. Lots of sermons and meetings, with many guest preachers, dish to pass meals, etc. over several days as I remember. I remember them being great fun - you had to sit quietly through the church services, but the dish to pass meals were wonderful, and social stuff between meetings was great, including dozens of cousins and neighbor kids to play with! The tradition of guest preachers staying with church families was still going on then -- I remember in particular Reverend Wright who stayed at my Aunt Theresa's house, and took my cousin Leslie and I fishing! The only mention I can find when I Google "Ingleside Christian Conference" is a previous blog entry in this blog back in February. Possibly that was a meeting to plan the big summer event? I'll have to see if the church still has a summer conference?)

Sunday --- Brother Seers and his wife spent Saturday night with them, and they all go to meeting Sunday morning. The sermon is preached by Elder Jones in the forenoon service, followed by a short discourse by Elder Childs. Henry mentions that "there seems to be a little feeling concerning wine for communion which will be served tonight". I'm guessing that Elder Jones' sermon expressed support for wine for communion, and that Elder Childs discourse expressed a different point of view? (or visa versa?) I remember the discussion of wine vs. grape juice going on 70 years later when I was a kid! Elder Moore came home with them after the service, and then preached the evening service, with communion. By my count Henry has mentioned 7 Elders and a Brother in attendance at the conference. "Brother" might just be a term for fellow male church member?

Monday -- Back to business as ususal --- Omar cultivates corn and potatoes. Sarah is quite sick, with an attack of "cholera morbus". Sounds very drastic, but some research reveals this as a term used for what we call "flu" today. Taking out the "morbus" and "cholera" sort of makes it sound better? Sarah vomits about a dozen times, and Henry gives her cayenne pepper, and peach leaf tea. Henry sent for Dr. Fulkerson who came about 10PM. By then Sarah was feeling better, but the doctor fixed her some medicine, and she felt better by Tuesday.

Tuesday --- Sarah is feeling better. Jen goes to Naples to get a dress fitted, and takes a corn to the mill. Henry, Mills, and Cad hunt potato bugs. Cad doesn't get mentioned much. He is Henry Cadmus Olney Jr. The boys except for Omar, all use their middle names instead of their first names. As a 10 year old, he probably has regular chores that he does, but doesn't specifically help Henry with the "work" very much, and thus doesn't get mentioned in the diary often. However I suspect hunting potato bugs was perfect work for a 10 year old.

Don's note --- "Organic farming" techniques, like hand picking the potato bugs, were undoubtedly pretty much normal for the time. Farms were small, families were big, and chemical pesticides were not common!

Jen buys a pair of shoes at Storeys for $2.50.

June 8 thru June 11, 1886

If you are new to this blog, the paragraph below appears in every entry to let folks know some basic information. If you are a regular, I've added a line at the end about a new picture of the Olney family that looks to be about 10-20 years later than the time of the diary... link is at the right!

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, and NEW -picture of the whole family circa 1900-1910???

Tuesday ---- Henry begins work on the road along with several of their neighbors. .... Mart Lawyer, Richard Smith, and Frank Gardner. At least part of the annual tax bill was worked off by working on road repair and building. Henry works with a team and "scraper" for 3 days. Omar helps work out Henry's bill. Henry specifically mentions taxes - "Richard Smith works out tax on Marion Place" Sarah and Henry go to church in the evening - looks like the beginning of a special series of meetings? Sarah takes rods for carpet???

Wednesday --- More road work. Will Daniels joins the group. Omar works on the fence between the Tyler place and the Olney place. Omar and Jen go to meeting in the evening.

Thursday --- Henry kills a calf in the morning. They raised and butchered all their own meat, as well as bartering and selling meat, and livestock. Omar finishes the work on the Tyler/Olney line fence. He also does some mowing, and does some work in the grapes, and in the Grove. This is the first mention of the Grove? Henry goes to Bloods train station to get Elders G.B.Fuller, and Tryon, and Elder Fuller's wife. When they get back, Mills takes Mrs. Fuller to Naples, and while there, he exchanges a hat at Tobey and Reed, and also gets the $1 owed to Henry from the mistake on Monday. According to Friday's entry, there is another meeting Thursday night, with at least four Elders. Elder's Jones, Hibbard, and Tryon spend the night with the Olney's.

Friday --- The week at church is quite important. They have had meetings for three evenings, and they go to meeting at 8AM on Friday for a business meeting, and have dinner (noon?) and a serial supper at the hall in the evening, with a sermon by Elder Taylor. (A serial supper would usually be folks traveling from house to house with different food served at each home, but since Henry says it was at the hall, it must have been more like a pot luck dinner.) This makes a total of at least 5 Elders in attendance... Tyron, Taylor, Jones, Hibbard, and Fuller. Elders Jones, Tyron, and Hibbard spend Friday night with them. More on this series of meetings on Saturday and Sunday..... next entry.

June 4 thru June 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. Other information can be checked out with the links to the right, including a great family picture of everybody circa 1886, and NEW -picture of the whole family circa 1900-1910???

Friday - Sarah and Henry go to Ingleside to help clean the meeting house. I had wondered if they met for church at people's homes, or had a "church" building. Now we have an answer. I'll have to do some research to see if I can find the location..... maybe it was at the current location of the Ingleside Christian Church? Sarah stays longer and later walks back home from the Blodgetts. Henry goes home and helps the boys plant more corn. Henry finishes "blacking" the buggy. Sarah varnishes the buggy, and the Democrat buggy (waggon).

Saturday -- Sarah goes to Bloods - presumably to the train station - to pick up Elder Hibbard to preach on Sunday. Henry stays home and paints the well room. Again - more information - looks like there was a hand pump in the house on the well located under the house? Early form of indoor plumbing! Omar and Mills clean out daisies from the knoll field. Sarah and Henry go to fellowship meeting in Ingleside in the afternoon, and Lodge in the evening.

Sunday -- Sarah, Jen, Omar and Ettie go to meeting in the morning. Sarah and Henry go in the evening. Henry comments that Elder Hibbard preached a good sermon in the evening, "but not so good as in the forenoon". Omar drives John (horse) "somewhere". I'm not sure if this is another of Henry's odd comments about Omar? They get home pretty late - 11PM, and are "tired and sleepy". Henry borrows 25 cents from W.E.Weld. His ledger entry notes "(paid back to him)" next to this entry. Henry keeps pretty close track of accounts... he actually notes this 25 cents loan twice - once in the body of the day's entry, and once scrunched in at the top of the page above the date. No indication of why he needed to borrow 25 cents? Maybe to put into the collection plate?

Monday --- Henry goes to Ingleside in the forenoon, and returns a mare to Horse -- after some discussion with Dad we concluded this was probably taking one of their female horses to be bred with a stallion owned by somebody in Ingleside? There was a similar reference earlier - Monday May 17th Omar took "Old Moll" to Horse in Ingleside. (Horse is capitalized in both cases.) Gestation period for horses is aroung 340 days, so we won't know if there is a colt born next May - this diary ends in December. There are 3 weeks between the two attempts at breeding..... probably arranged in a definite time frame to insure pregnancy?

Omar cultivates the corn. Mills works in the berries, and Sarah and Henry go to Naples in the afternoon. They take the last of the wheat they have to Lyons & Woodruff mill - 11 bushels - 8 pounds. They pay him $26 on a balance for wheat of $55.05. This leaves a balance of $25.68 due to Henry - this ovbiously includes other stuff? They use the money to pay $7.00 to Stoddard & Son on their drug bill, and $10.50 on their balance at Storey Brothers. Henry also notes an error of $1 on a transaction at Reed & Tobey. According to his ledger entries, they paid $7.38 for a suit of clothes and a hat. Not sure if this is a new purchase or a payment on the bill from a few days ago? According to the ledger entry and Thursday's diary entry, they get the $1 back on Thursday - June 10th.

May 31 thru June 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, and NEW -picture of the whole family circa 1900-1910???

Monday - Henry takes a grist to Naples, and also buys paint and oil at Jordan Brothers to paint the barn. Jordan Brothers was pretty much a full service hardware type place with most everything needed on a working farm? See ad from The Neopolitan Record below.
Omar plants some Snowflake potatoes - see picture below... they are a large variety of potato with only about 20 required to make a bushel! Individual potatoes could weigh up to 5 pounds!

Don's Note --- The Snowflake Potato was developed by famous American botanist Cyrus Guernsey Pringle in 1870. He was also one of three Vermont Quaker pacifists who were imprisoned and tortured during the civil war for refusing to serve in the Union army, and were later released on orders of President Lincoln! I presume his name was used for the now even more famous potato product, though I can't confirm that.

Omar also plants some beet seed and draws some manure to the fields. Sarah goes to bed with a sore eye.

Tuesday - Omar draws manure all day. Jen is visiting the Charles Conley's. Mills took her there yesterday with the horse and buggy. Henry washes the buggy, and starts painting the barn. Mills and Henry cultivate the garden with Old Moll - one of the horses. Mills also hoes in the garden, and they also take down a fence along the road south of the house. The present day road runs pretty much East/West, so I'm wondering if the house might have been on the North side of the road instead of on the South as we have been thinking? Correction from Dad - the house was on the North side of the road - I've had it wrong in my head - just assuming that the current little cabin there was in the same location as the original.

Wednesday - Omar mulches the peach trees (evidently pretty much all peach trees in NY were wiped out by a major frost in the 1930's), and then goes to Naples to Lyons & Woodruff with a load of wheat, along with a grist of feed for the animals, and 4 bushels of wheat for family food use. Henry goes to Ingleside to get some seed corn from Mart Drake, and Sarah goes to Bloods to Slatterys with 4 tubs of butter - 56 pounds at 16 cents a pound. $8.96.

Thursday - Henry and Sarah go to Naples to Granbys --- Henry gets a pair of pants, and Sarah gets a shawl. They also go to Reed & Tobeys and get a suit of clothes for Cad - $4.50 , a pair of shoes for Bart - $3.25 , and two hats - one for Mills - $1.75, and one for Cad for $0.75. They also get a hat for Jen, and some ribbon at Mrs. Miner's for $3.50. They then go to Storeys for shoes for Cad - $1.70. Quite a spending spree! No amount noted here, or in the ledger pages for the pants and shawl at Granbys.

May 27 thru May 30, 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 - Belle Pulver and Vern (?) Drake come to visit on the way to Naples. Omar and Mills clean about 30 bushels of wheat. Henry hoes the grapes between rain showers, and they also set cabbages and cauliflower plants in the late afternoon. The language would indicate that they had some way of starting plants in some sort of hot house?

Friday - Henry and the boys mulch the berries with straw, and Omar draws manure out to the fields. Mills and Henry plant some corn. Sarah goes with Belle Pulver to visit the Conleys. C. Waddamus comes to visit, and brings a "bonnet" for Sarah. The bonnet costs $3.25 - a goodly sum for the time! Henry comments that "it becomes her well - all but the price".

Saturday - Waddamus and Henry do some trading - leaving Henry owing Waddamus $1.19. Omar plows some more land to plant corn. Henry Terney comes by and purchases all of Henry's remaining corn. Henry pays Omar $5.00 for his work, and also pays $1.81 in Grange dues. He (and Sarah?) go to choir "school" in the evening. Henry washes the Democrat buggy!

Sunday - Henry and Sarah to to church today, and go to visit George and Belle Pulver and Mart and Julia Drake after church, and then stop to see Frank Simmons and family on the way back to church for the evening. Sarah has a sore eye?

May 23 thru May 26, 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 -- Omar brought Susie (Conley?) home last night, and she and Jen are going to go visit Hattie in Wayland later in the day. Sarah and Henry went to choir practice last night - Henry calls it "singing school". I think this is the first mention of music at church. Note - I keep thinking I'll run out of interesting or new things, but I guess not! Sarah, Henry, Omar, Bart, and Mills all to to church - Mills must be feeling better! Elder Hibbard preaches. Sarah stays to dinner at Mrs. Polmateer's. I'm thinking maybe she is the wife of George Polmateer who passed away back in Janaury? He mentions Aunt Abbie - probably Abigail Polmateer - daughter of Henry Polmateer. She got married back in March... no mention of her new last name?

Monday - Omar goes to Bloods with a load of 17 bushels of potatoes, and picks up a load of plaster that he then sows in the afternoon on the oat and barley fields. Plaster is a source of lime to adjust the pH of the acidic soil. Sarah and Mills are painting and whitewashing in the house. Whitewash is a sort of low cost "paint" made of slaked lime (calcium hydroxide) and chalk. A chemical reaction with carbon dioxide from the air, forms calcium carbonate which protects wood and other building materials and has some antimicrobial properties. I remember whitewashing various surfaces in the barn when I was a kid.

Tuesday - Omar spreads plaster on barley and corn fields - about 300 pounds! They also mulch the berries with oat straw. Sarah is still on the decorating detail, and paints the kitchen floor, and papers the sitting room. Frank Marsh comes to visit in the evening.

Wednesday - Omar cleans out the cellar, and goes to Nickleses to get some wood. Henry makes a "splatter board" for the well sink. I'm thinking some sort of sink in the kitchen with a hand pump? It seems like an outdoor sink would not have needed a "splatter board"? My grandparents had a sink in the kitchen with a handpump... the well was directly under the kitchen. An electric pump was added many years later! Henry works on the Delaware grapes. Grapes vines are attached to wires strung between posts. In the spring the posts and the wires are checked for damage, and repaired as necessary, and then the vines are "tied" to the wires with smaller wires. Spring is the best time for this before the foliage makes seeing what you are doing difficult. Sarah continues fixing up the house - she went to Naples in the forenoon to get wallpaper border for the sitting room. She also picked up some wire for the grape tying process. I remember my grandpa Drake working for other farmers around the Naples area tying grapes. Nate Polmateer drops by to visit. Picture of grapes trained along wires and posts below.It looks like one of the younger kids may have gotten to these pages to do some scribbling?

May 19 thru May 22, 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 - They plant potatoes all day... the person Henry hired is evidently Salem Marsh (son of Frank Marsh?) Willie Polmateer helps too, and they get "nearly done" dropping potatoes. D. Weld (not sure if this is the potato dealer from North Cohocton?) brings by 12 bushels of potatoes for planting, and trades for 12 bushels of "Comforts" - a variety of potatoes grown in the area.

Thursday - Omar covers the potatoes with some sort of implement borrowed from W.E. Weld. He gets done about 4PM, goes to Ingleside to return the "coverer" to Mr. Weld along with 2 bushels of corn for Mr. Weld to plant. He gets a total of 5 shoes set on two horses - John and Molly. Henry finishes up dropping potatoes and covering around stumps, and at the "headlands" -- the area at the end of the field where the horses can't maneuver to cover the turn around cleanly.

Friday - Henry takes "Aggie" to the Blodgetts - Aggie is one of their cows? She had a calf back on April 5th - about 6 weeks ago. Maybe he took Aggie to Blodgetts for breeding for a new calf? Omar takes the rest of the potatoes out of the cellar for the season. Sarah goes to Naples. Henry pays Salem's dad - Frank Marsh - for his day's work dropping potatoes. Like Bart, Dad gets the money, not the boy! Omar cultivates berries, and Henry rolls the barley field. It is a very busy season with lots of preparing land for planting, and planting. Henry "finds some pigs this morning" - not sure what this means.

Saturday - Omar goes to Naples to Lyons and Woodruff with 25 bushels plus 48 pounds of wheat. Henry works in the grapes. Omar finishes rolling the barley and oat fields. Henry and Sarah take tub butter to Slattery & Company in Bloods to barter, and get 4 more tins to fill with butter. Henry sells the remaining potatoes from yesterday for 35 cents a bushel. They also pay off the balance on the horse they bought from A. Addams back in April - $35 - just over a month ago.... a month early on the 60 day note Henry signed.

May 15 thru May 18, 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 and Henry borrow two corn row markers from Frank Marsh, and mark the ground in a field for planting corn in regular rows. They both mark with Molly and Kit - two of the family horses - Molly is usually used for pulling the buggy. I suspect that pulling the corn row markers was not heavy work? Then with the help of neighbor Willie Polmateer, they plant corn for 5 hours till it starts to rain about 3PM.

An old corn row marker ... the large wooden implement with 4 vertical
posts on the wall - the triangular piece below is probably the draw bar
for hooking it up to a horse? . Drug both ways behind the stock this would
mark the rows of corn for planting. Then the farmer would go back
over those same marked rows with a planter to plant his corn seed.

Sunday they go to church and Sabbath school - I think this is the first time I've seen him use the term "Sabbath school". His sister Prudence, and her husband Fowler come to visit Sunday afternoon. Omar and Jen go to meeting in the evening.

Monday morning they wake to a frost in low places, and "nearly a freeze" but not much damage to early crops. Sarah and Jen clean house, and do the washing. Prudie and Fowler have stayed over night, and leave to visit W. E. Weld. As I recall, Henry's sister is married to one of Sarah's cousins? Omar and Henry low in the marsh land. Later Henry plants some corn with a corn planter that the Frank Marsh has sent over for Henry to try. Omar takes "Old Moll" - one of their horses - to Horse in Ingleside. Some discussion with Dad about a similar entry coming up on June 7th, we concluded that the mare was taken to be bred with a stallion owned by somebody in Ingleside? There are 3 weeks between the two attempts at breeding.

Tuesday Omar prepares a potato field, including marking rows. Henry finishes up the corn planting and returns the corn planter to Frank Marsh. Charles Conley and his wife come by to visit, and to get some corn seed for planting. Henry "engages a hand to drop potatoes" tomorrow. Potatoes are propagated from pieces of potato cut to insure that each piece has at least one "eye" -- the spot where they sprout if you leave them in the basement too long. This is the first time Henry has mentioned hiring anyone outside the family -- he does pay Omar, but Omar is the oldest son. I'm not sure if he just needs to get the potatoes in quicker than the family can get it done, or if potato planting is particularly hard work? It does seem like there would be a lot of bending over involved!

May 11 thru May 14, 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 and Omar finish up the 6 acres of oats on the rented land at Terneys..... a total of 16 bushels of oats planted! Sarah goes to Naples to get oil, and some fabric. Henry sells some seed corn to Mr. Tyler. One of their heifers has a calf around 6PM. Henry notes that "Mills is hungry all the time" , but is evidently still not well .... he "sits up a little" on Wednesday.

Wednesday - Henry and Omar clear stones off a field for corn and potatoes - not sure if they plant them together? Omar prepares the field, and Henry sends some potatoes to Henry Polmateer, and Richard Smith drops by to buy a half a ton of hay at $10/ton. ( this is a higher price than others have paid earlier in the year) He also gets 10 bushels of oats at 36 cents a bushel to be paid later - maybe when he harvests the oats in the fall? Henry plants some sweet corn in the garden.

Thursday - Omar prepares some land for planting corn, and Henry fixes the fence between their place and Levi Strong's place. I think this is the first time he has mentioned their direct neighbor. Omar and Henry clean the 10 bushels of oats for Richard Smith, and also clean about 37 bushels of wheat. He mentions that they run through the wheat -- maybe some sort of mechanical device - a fanning mill or winnowing machine? Omar plows the berry patch, and Richard Smith stops by to get his oats and pays for them $3.60

The fanning mill is a square or rectangular shaped box with a crank handle that is used to clean small grains like oats prior to planting. When the handle is cranked, the paddle wheel rotates, creating an artificial breeze while the sieves rock from side to side. Grain is dumped into the fanning mill from the top and the chaff is blown out the front by the artificial breeze created by the paddle wheel. The grain works through the sieves and comes out of the machine into a bucket on the ground. Many farmers used thresher-separators by 1875 to thresh and clean grain, but kept fanning mills to “super clean” the grain before planting.
Friday -- Sarah goes to Bloods with the money due on the spring drag they purchased earlier in the year - $20. Omar plows some of the marsh land with Kitt and John. Henry buys a corn planter from Frank Marsh. Evidently Mr. Marsh owed Henry some money, so they settle accounts with Mr. Marsh giving Henry 50 cents to balance things. Sarah and Jen clean house.

May 7 thru May 10, 1886

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Friday - Jen goes to Naples to get medicine or other stuff for Mills, who is feeling better, but obviously still not well. Darwin Tyler sends his two sons (?) Fred and Howard over to get a heifer and a calf for which they pay $25.50 as agreed. This was probably arranged when Fred was here yesterday? Fred and Howard drive them home -- sort of a mini cattle drive. A heifer is a female cow - usually under a year old - who has not yet had a calf.

They move Mills to a different bed, and it "don't seem to make him worse". The Terneys had stayed over night Thursday night.

Saturday --- Omar goes on working on the oat field at Terneys. Mills is "a great deal better" today. Henry Terney brings Hattie home. Frank Simmons and family, and Elder Hibbard visit. Stephen Stanton buys 4 bushels of wheat. Mr. Sturdevant and wife also visit. A very busy day! Omar goes to Naples for more stuff for Mills, so he is not totally well yet?

Sunday - They have a light frost! Mills continues to improve. Harmon Ingram and Hattie, and granddaughter Florence staid over night last night, and Omar and Harm go to meeting. I assume Elder Hibbard is the guest speaker at Ingleside church. He and somebody named Borden come by about 5PM. More visitors - William Blodgett and wife, Julia Marsh, and somebody else (?). Harm and Hattie take Henry and Sarah's daughter Stella (5 yr. old) back to Wayland with them.... a very busy weekend. I'm guessing everyone came to hear Elder Hibbard speak at church.

Monday - Omar and Henry start sowing oats on the Terney land, but they get rained out. Omar takes John the horse to the blacksmith to have a couple of shoes fixed. Omar plows the berry patch after supper, and Dr. Fulkerson comes again in the evening to see Mills. This is quite a bout of sickness for Mills - I think this is the 4th time Dr. Fulkerson has made a house call. Henry sends a "postal" to Robert - his brother in Mansfield, PA.

May 3 thru May 6, 1886

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Monday - Omar goes on preparing the barley field - using a roller (see picture below). Nephews Will and Charles head for Naples, and on to Canandaigua on their high wheel "bicycles". Mills seems to be doing better, but gets worse later in the day... Henry sends for the Doctor again.Tuesday - Omar finishes rolling the barley field, and starts drilling the barley seed. Henry's brother Robert comes around dinner time, expecting to find his sons Will and Charles, but they have left for Canandaigua. Dr. Fulkerson comes by to see Mills. Henry goes to Naples and sells his remaining extra wheat to Woodruff and Lyon for 88 cents a bushel.

Wednesday - Henry sends Omar to Naples with the wheat for Woodruff and Lyon. Henry's brother goes with him. Mills gets even worse, and Henry stops giving him Quinine. I can't find any information about Quinine as a treatment for anything other than malaria, and leg cramps. I'm guessing that Doctors may have thought that it would treat other ailments that caused chills, etc. similar to malaria. Henry treats Mills with hot "applications" - compresses?, and an "injection". A little research revealed that "injection" was the 1886 term for emema. The tool used for this looked much like a big syringe. See below -- sorry -- I couldn't resist!
Henry takes his brother Robert to see the Welds, and then part way to Bloods.

Thursday -- Omar is plowing the oat field they've rented from Terneys. Henry takes Omar his lunch, and trades out John for Old Kitt for the afternoon plowing. Mills continues to be sick, and Henry applies flax seed poultices ( Topical application of crushed flax seed poultice can be beneficial in the treatment of chronic coughs, in treating problems such as bronchitis, in patients), and gives him "injections" every three hours! Dr. Fulkerson stops by again, and replenishes their supply of medicine. Frank Marsh stops by and gets a bushel of corn for seed.

Note: Medicine in 1886 is clearly not very advanced. One source says for example that during the Civil war - only 20 years earlier - 75% of bullet wounds were treated by amputation - without any anesthetic, and without benefit of even rudimentary cleaning of the instruments or the wound! On the other hand, other than the "convenience" of throwing it out afterwards, the "injection" appears to have not changed much? I wonder how much landfill space would be saved by nice brass and ivory implements instead of disposable plastic?

April 29 thru May 2, 1886

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Thursday - Omar drills some oats. David Strong and his wife come to visit, and Henry gives them some Kentucky variety Strawberry plants, and some Gregg raspberries. (Gregg raspberries were probably what we know today as Black Raspberries --- they used to grow very abundantly on my grandparents place just up the road from where Henry and Sarah lived! I remember well the damage caused to my skin as I picked them, and the delicious taste of the ones that didn't make it back to the house!)Friday - Omar finishes plowing the barley field, and then goes to plow on the 6 acres they rented from Henry Terney for oats. Henry finishes to stone boat ready to clear stones from the barley field. Will and Charles arrive from Mansfield on their "wheels". Will, age 24, and Charles, age 19, are Henry's nephews - sons of his older brother Robert. Wheels would have been "bicycles" similar to the one in the picture below. "Safety" bicycles as we know them are a later invention. While a 70 mile trip on a "pennyfarthing" seems very difficult, people did do long rides on them.

"In 1884 Thomas Stevens struck out across the country, carrying socks, a spare shirt and a slicker that doubled as tent and bedroll. Leaving San Francisco at 8 o'clock on April 22, 1884, he traveled eastward, reaching Boston after 3700 wagon trail miles, to complete the first transcontinental bicycle ride on August 4, 1884." Another side note --- the pneumatic tire was invented in 1888 -- two years in the future as of 1886! Thomas Stevens wrote about his trip here.
Mills is still sick.

Saturday - May 1st. -- Omar takes grist to Naples. Cad and Henry draw stones and roots (stumps) off the barley field. Omar plows some more on the Terney land in the afternoon. In the afternoon, Henry and Sarah to to fellowship meeting, and have Tea with the family of Brother T. Simmons, and then go to Grange in the evening.

Sunday -- Omar, Will, and Charles go to visit Hattie Warren. Henry and Sarah go to church. Henry "calls" Dr. Fulkereson and he comes to see Mills who is worse today. Dr. Fulkerson leaves some medicine. Omar, Will, and Charles report all is well at the Warrens. Omar goes out in the evening. Bart goes to Ingleside. Will and Charles to to Ingleside on their wheels --- quite a feat -- Wyatt and I drove up that hill on Saturday, and it is quite a climb!

Note - It looks like Henry may have used a phone to "call" Dr. Fulkerson? According to a little note in the Neopolitan Record, they were considering extending the phone line from Ingleside to Prattsburg in 1886, so somebody in Ingleside had a phone.... don't know if the Olneys had a phone? Henry might have called the doctor from somewhere in Ingleside after church?

April 25 thru April 28, 1886

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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"?

March 28 thru March 31, 1886

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Sunday - Henry and Sarah, and W.E. Weld and wife, are united with the church. Henry notes that the event of much interest to all, and the house walls are full to overflowing! I'm wondering if the "house" reference means that they met at someone's home rather than at a separate church building? Again, I'm amazed that they are not already church members in their mid to late 40's.

Monday, Omar and Mills go on with wood sawing, and also sort a few potatoes. Henry cuts and draw shaves parts to make two whiffletrees..... part of the system for attaching two horses to a wagon, plow, etc. "The pivoted horizontal crossbar to which the harness traces of a draft animal are attached and which is in turn attached to a wagon or an implement. Also called singletree, swingletree; also called regionally whippletree."
Jen does the washing, but it is too windy to hang the clothes outside to dry.

Tuesday, Old Kate (cow) has a calf and both are healthy. Omar goes to Bloods to do something for Sarah, and to pick up potato sacks, and the money for the potatoes they delivered before - $14.50. C. Waddamus comes to visit. Henry sends a bushel of apples to somebody.

Wednesday, Mills takes Old Kitt - one of the horses - to the blacksmith for front shoes. It is rainy in the afternoon, and Henry and Omar sort potatoes - a common rainy day job. W.E.Weld comes to visit, and pays $36.49 to pay off a note owed by A.G. Fowler. Henry gives him the note which he had held.. I don't know if this was a matter of buying the note, so that A.G.Fowler now owes the money to W.E.Weld, or if Weld owed Fowler money and pays off his note with Henry as an indirect way of paying Fowler? C. Waddamus stays overnight.

March 24 thru March 27, 1886

Below is a memorandum from the back of the diary that relates to the repayment of seed wheat by Bradley Graves on March 24th.

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!

Henry sends Omar to Naples to Lewis Brothers to sell 196 pounds of ham - 8 hams.... average of about 24 pounds each? Bigger than any ham I ever saw in the grocery store! Note that Lewis Brothers evidently takes hams from anyone. They have also taken eggs, and I think I remember butter? to stores to be re-sold to others. Evidently they weren't as worried about inspections, etc. in 1886! Note that the buyers weighed the hams to 191 pounds.... not Henry's weight of 196. They get $0.09 cents a pound for the hams - $17.19.

Another weights and measures discrepency comes up today. Bradley Graves comes to visit, and returns some wheat that he owes Henry for some seed wheat he had "borrowed" earlier. Henry measures the wheat, and finds it comes up 14 quarts short? See memorandum from the back of the diary above. Henry seems generally pretty concerned with keeping all accounts with others correct, paid on time, etc.

Thursday, Henry goes on with soap making, and Sarah and Jen do some more quilting. (not sure if this is Sarah -Henry's wife, or Sarah Henry's daughter?) Omar and Mills saw some wood after weighing out some hay for James Demmarest --- Not sure how much - the diary says 1000 CWT (hundred weight) which would be 50 tons??? I'm thinking it was probably more like 1000 pounds? 1/2 ton, but he gets $5.00 for it which sounds like too much for 1/2 ton? The soap seems to be for sale or trade to Frank Marsh. Henry also sharpens the crosscut saw.

Friday, Henry goes on with soap making, and also helps Omar and Mills cut more wood. Sarah finishes the quilt, Jen does ironing.

Saturday, Omar draws more wood from the woods, and Henry and Mills saw wood on the skidway. A skidway is a "platform, usually inclined, for piling logs to be sawed or to be loaded onto a vehicle" --- according to the dictionary. Maybe sort of a big sawhorse?

Afternoon, Sarah and Henry go to the Christian Fellowship Meeting, and offer themselves for membership and are accepted. (I find it amazing that they are not already members, though I'm not sure if this is the same thing as church membership?) They also give William Blodgett for "ch" (sic) purposes -- not sure if this is a contribution to the church budget, or payment on money owed to William Blodgett?