Volume 32, Number 1 - Fall 1992
W. D. Sylvester: Journeyman Pioneer
(1867 -1938) Part II
edited by Lynn Morrow and Linda Myers-Phinney
1900
Jan 1 New Year’s Day[.] Worked on door frames for Pleas
Jan 2 Do Brought cow from home in evening
Jan 3 Do Pleas moved today.
Jan 4 Worked on our kitchen.
Jan 5 Moved the stove and other things to our new kitchen. Rains all day[.] Pa brought my 3 pigs down yesterday. Got the fireplace to finish[,] doors to hang and east window and door frame to make yet to our kitchen but it is not very cold so we use it as it is.
Jan 6 Hung west door to kitchen and tinkered round.
Jan 7 Sunday[.] We go to Pleas’s[.] Pa’s are there. In the evening we look over the 80 acres of Government land South West of ours. Riley talks of homesteading it.
Jan 8 Worked on a little baby bedstead. Jan 9 The fireplace I built for Pleas smoked and to-day I put a sub arch in it. It draws good now. Worked on baby bed in evening.
Jan 10 Tinker round and go to Pa’s in evening.
Jan 11 Finished underpinning the house
Jan 12 Finished baby bed and dressed [missing] door casings. Riley stayed with [missing] last night.
Jan 13 Made a door frame for the east ki[mis sing] door and put it in.
Jan 14 Sunday[.] We went up to Pa’s.
Jan 15 Pleas and I made some cross ties.
Jan 16 We finished making a load of ties (10 is a load) to-day. Can’t make any thing making ties.
Jan 17 Rained all day. I did a little work on the stair way. Put in frame-work
Jan 18 Rain and snow a little. Do a little on the stair way. Clear out road in the evening where we fell trees across it while making ties.
Jan 19 Chop wood and rail timber.
Jan 20 Plez and me built a log foundation for another lime kiln. Riley hauled the rock
Jan 21 We all go up to Pa’s yesterday evening. Plez & me situp at old man Arthur’s; Charley is sick. We go home with Plez and Maud and stay till bed time.
Jan 22 Plez and me work on the lime kiln till noon. I do nothing in the afternoon as I am almost sick. Cow had a calf last night.
Jan 23 Fire the lime kiln. Riley goes to Marionville with the ties we made. Ties were no good.
Jan 24 We take the lime out of the kiln to cool and I help Plez underpin his house in forenoon. I go up home and pa is sick in bed.
Jan 25 Pa got worse night[.] Plez goes to Galena for the doctors: could not get him. Gets Dr Hardman from Jinkins this morning. We haul in the lime this afternoon.
Jan 26 Pa is a little better. We come home to-day. I work on a door for the east side of kitchen.
Jan 27 Tinkered round in forenoon: went up home and helped kill a hog in the afternoon
Jan 28 Sunday[.] We stayed all night at pa’s last night. Came to Pleas’s this morning and home this evening.
Jan 29 Chopped wood and worked on the door for the east side of the kitchen.
Jan 30 Finished and hung the door in the east side of kitchen.
Jan 31 Went up to pa’s, and chopped the balance of the day.
Feb 1 Chopped wood and rail timber.
Feb 2 Went up to pa’s in the morning. Chopped and helped Riley saw some troughs bal[.] of day.
Feb 3 Chopped rail timber and made a trough to set in the lot to feed the cow in. Rained late in the evening.
Feb 4 Sunday[.] Charley Arthur died last night[.] I went to-day and helped Smoot make his coffin.
Feb 5 We sit up at Arthur’s last night. Went to the funeral to-day.
Feb 6 Helped Riley saw a hollow log for a manger at pa’s in forenoon[.] Cut rail timber in afternoon.
Feb 7 We have been to pa’s since Sunday. Rain most all day to-day. Have the doctor for pa. Raleigh is sick and cant come home.
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Feb 8 Cut wood till noon[.] Go up to Plez [missing] dinner and find that old man Templeton died this morning. Go up [missing] pa s in evening
Feb 9 Go to Templeton’s. Do not go to the graveyard[.] Baby is too sick to go.
Feb 10 Go down to Arthur’s and work on his buggy.
Feb 11 Sunday[.] We are still at pa’s[.] Ed Stumpffs are there.
Feb 12 Hauled sand and rock to finish the fireplace.
Feb 13 Finish Arthur’s buggy and make him a chicken coop (or rather a chick-en coop for him) in forenoon. Make a coupling pole and put in a wagon standard for Isum [?] Foster in afternoon.
Feb 14 Plez makes rails for me. I go to mill and haul a load of wood at pa’s. We come home this evening[.] Baby is better. Pa is no better. Riley went to Crane to mill yesterday and traded corn for flour. We go 50# Plez 75#
[10]
and Pa’s 75#.
Feb 15 Too cold to do much. I make part of a window frame for east kitchen window.
Feb 16 Biggest snow of the season fell last night. Paint a window sash I got of old man Arthur to put in east side of kitchen. Old man Arthur was here this morning to get me to write a form of affidavit for him to get leave to leave his homestead for one year. I also cut a date on a stone for the fireplace. The month I commenced it. That is "Dec 1899"
Feb 17 Done nothing[.] snow melted some to-day. [missing] Sunday[.] Maud and Plez were here. [missing] Thawed out some frozen lime and chopped a little
Feb 20 Made a window frame and put it in the east side of the kitchen. Put the window sash in it that I got of old man Arthur.
Feb 21 Worked on the fireplace.
Feb 22 Worked on fireplace. While getting wood in the evening I cut off a limb of an old tree south of the house and the tree fell on me[,] cutting a gash in my forehead. Plez and Maud came and stayed all night.
Feb 23 We went up to pa’s and stay till March 7th[.] I help what I can do as my head is too sore to get out much. I went to Jenkins with Riley Sunday the 4th. Helped Old man Arthur load his goods the 6th[.] He started to Wes’s the 7th. Plez kept our cow during this time.
Mar 7 Came home this morning. My hurt is about well. Work some more on the fireplace, get the cow home etc.
Mar 8 Worked on the fireplace.
Mar 9 Do Got it done.
Mar 10 Daubed the house inside partly. Made a yoke for the mule to keep him from getting out of the field. Do not feel very well to-day.
Mar 11 Sunday. Stayed at home till evening then went up to pa’s. and stayed all night.
Mar 12 Thrashed out oats with a flail. Riley and I fired around the place and watched it as we worked at the oats.
Mar 13 Do I came home in the evening to see about the fire [missing] timber is nearly all burned
Mar 14 Came home this morning. [Filmissing] daubing the front room and chopped rail timber
Mar 15 White washed the front room and we put down the carpet.
Mar 16 Tinkered round the house Mar 17 Built some rail fence around the yard[.] daubed under the rafters on the plate upstairs and burnt off the timber south of the house
Mar 18 Sunday. Stayed at home.
Mar 19 Went up to pa’s. worked on the yard fence and fixed a frame to keep the cow from sucking herself.
Mar 20 Worked on the yard fence. Eaf go sick and they sent for us to come up to pa’s in the evening.
Mar 21 Nettie stays at pa’s. I plow on the road out of the hollow.
Mar 22 Sowed oats for Riley as he is sick. Took Ab Templeton’s harrow home, and went to Jenkins to get medicine for Riley.
Mar 23 Sowed oats and plowed thin in for Riley
Mar 24 Sowed oats for Riley in forenoon: finished. Came home in afternoon and dragged some old logs out of the yard. Brought down a load of sheaf oats.
Mar 25 I went to Jenkins to get medicine for Pa and Riley. We came home in the evening. This is Sunday. Just after we got home, Mr & Mrs Foster, Mr & Mrs Ed Stumpff, Plez & Maud and Ida Foster came to spend the evening.
Mar 26 Worked on the fence down the hollow and on the yard fence.
[missing] Planted potatoes, Nettie went to see Mrs Isam Foster.
Mar 28 Made garden in forenoon. Planted onions peas lettuce & radishes. Made a hotbed in afternoon.
Mar 29 Built stone fence on north side of yard.
Mar 30 Do
Mar 31 Worked at stone fence and chored ‘round.
April 1 Sunday: Stayed at home. Geo. Stumpffs were here. Plez and Maud were here in the evening.
April 2 Went to pa’s in the morning and got some peach trees and blackberry slips. Came home and set them out. Burnt some brush piles. Riley was not able to work. He was here for dinner.
April 3 Riley came down to-day. I went up to pa’s and he had started here: I missed him on the road. He is still not able to work. We made a deal as follows. I am to work for him when he can’t work for himself, for 50 cents per day. Take pay in some kind of produce of the farm. I get what ground I want for cane and other truck on pa’s place. I rent my ground to Plez & Ed Stumpff for 1\3 in the field.
April 4 Riley came down this morning in the wagon
[11]
and we go up to pa’s, Take our bed and a few other things. I began to plow at noon.
April 5 Broke corn ground. April 6 Do
April 7 Do
April 8 Sunday: Nettie and me stayed all [missing] at Geo Stumpff’s last night. Geo. was [missing]. I came down home to-day and to Plez’s for dinner.
April 9 Finished braking Riley’s corn ground and shod a mule and got some more black berry sprouts in forenoon. Go down to Plez’s to get the incubator in afternoon.
April 10 Rained in forenoon. I did some work on the fence in the ridge field, deadened some trees and laid out the field south of the house.
April 11 Hauled a load of wood and tinkered round at pa’s in forenoon. Picked brush in my ridge field in afternoon.
April 12 Laid of corn ground for Riley in forenoon and hauled wood at pa’s in afternoon. April 13 Furried out corn ground and began planting corn for riley. Traded my log wagon to Oscar Ellis to-day for $18.65[.] I owed them &7.50 and I paid a note for pa of $11. 15
April 14 Went to Marionville to take Nettie. She is going to visit in Bates Co. We stayed all night at David Ayer’s.
April 15 Sunday: Nettie started at 8:03 this morning. I came back to pa’s. Riley & I came down to our house to see how the place was. ‘T was all right.
April 16 Rained and made it too wet to plant corn. Came home and set out some black berries, fixed the roof so it would not leak on the stove & worked on stone fence in forenoon. Laid off corn ground for Riley in afternoon. Squared pa’s note with Riley for the lot of books I got of him and an old buggy.
April 17 Covered corn with plow, and finished fur rowing out. April 18 Finished planting Riley’s corn in northfield this morning and hauled out rails from the fence in my field originally built by Stumpff.
April 19 Burnt trash in ridge field.
April 20 Do till noon[.] Rained in afternoon.
April 21 Finished clearing up the trash in my ridge field and deadened timber.
April 22 I sat up at old man Harris’s last night. He is bad sick[.] Slept this forenoon and went to Jenkins this afternoon to get medicine for pa.
April 23 Drizzled rain all night last night. I am about sick to-day.
April 24 Old man Harris died this morning. They came after me to help make a coffin. Am not able to go. Riley went[.] I wrote a letter to Nettie this morning.
April 25 I feel better to-day. Went and saw the funeral start from Harris’s this morning. Planted a patch of potatoes this afternoon.
April 26 Built stone fence.
April 27 Cut some brush to fix the pasture fence at pa’s[.] Cut the sprouts on the piece of ground I rented of Riley.
April 28 Done nothing. Am not well.
April 29 Took the wire off a fence and pulled up the posts to put around a pasture at pa’s.
April 30 Sunday. Stayed at Pa’s all d[missing]
April 31 Riley & I fixed the pasture f[flimissing] at pa’s in forenoon. I came down home in afternoon and stuck a bed of peas and worked on the rock fence.
May 1 Plowed for Riley in forenoon[.] Sick in afternoon.
May 2 Sick[.] Got such a pain in left arm and sholder
May 3 Have the doctor to see me. He says I have neuralgia.
May 7 Still have pain in Left arm & Shoulder. Had a big rain last night.
May 8 Not able to work yet. Come down home this afternoon and look around
May 9 Stay all night at Plez’s last night. Shell out my Kaffir corn and cane seed this morning to plant. My neuralgia hurts me this morning pretty bad.
May 10 Began plowing the four acres I rented at pa’s.
May 11 Plowed on my patch till evening: then harrowed for Riley 114 day. Neuralgia hurts me very bad.
May 12 Have Neuralgia so bad I can’t do anything
May 13 Sunday[.] Go to Jenkins to see the doctor about my arm. Riley and Plez start to Cassvile. Plez goes to file on claim.
May 14 Neuralgia hurts me so I cant work.
May 15 Go to Jenkins to see the doctor.
May 16 Neuralgia a little better[.] Got a bottle of "Wonderful 8" for it. Good shower to-day.
May 17 Neuralgia better to-day. Set out tomato plants; cut weeds out of potatoes, and cut sprouts around the house.
[missing] Arm and shoulder very sore to-day. go to store, and get another bottle of "Wonderful 8." Get a letter from Nettie. She will be at
[12]
Marionville to-morrow. May 19 Went to Marionville to-day after Nettie. Got there at 12:00 She was at David Ayers’s when I arrived.
May 20 Stayed at David Ayers’s last night. We came home to-day.
May 21 Went to Jenkins to get medicine for pa. Plowed some and went down home in evening.
May 22 Plowed till a little after noon when it began to rain.
May 23 Finished plowing my patch; sowed my Kaffir corn and planted some cane.
May 24 Finished planting cane in forenoon and planted stock peas in afternoon.
May 25 Planted some corn and navy beans and set out some tomato plants.
May 26 Fixed Nettie’s shoes and chored round. We went to Plez’s in afternoon. May 27 Sunday[.] We stayed all night at Plez’s last night and all day to-day.
May 28 Worked on a cabbage patch and laid off some ground for tobacco in forenoon[.] Rained most of afternoon[.] Beautiful Eclipse on sun this morning
May 29 Set out 275 tobacco plants and chored round
May 30 Sawed wood with Riley this morning. Rain showers most all day. In afternoon I hauled in the wood and hauled out a load of manure to put in cabbage hills.
May 31 Riley borrowed Geo Woodhouse’s surveyors compass and we surveyed some lines on Pa’s place.
June 1 Made cabbage hills, planted seed and set out some plants. Tried to trade [flimissing] wagon of Birt Woodhouse.
June 2 This is Ma’s birthday and the neighbors [missing] her a surprise dinner. There were present Herman Smoot and Family[,] Joe Seitz and family[,] Mrs Ed Harris and children[,] Mrs Geo Woodhouse and children[,] Granda Woodhouse, Geo and Ed Stumpff and families and Miss Ida Foster. All seemed to enjoy the occasion.
June 3 Sunday: Riley, Plez and I surveyed round Plez’s 40 acres to-day.
June 4 Went down home to-day and peeled some bark for chair bottoms and chored round.
June 5 Traded Birt Woodhouse an old buggy and harness for a wagon and a coal oil barrel. Went down home and made a "fixen" to cut hickory bark off the pole to bottom chairs.
June 6 Hoed some tomatoes and chored around in Forenoon[.] Went and got the wagon and barrel I got off Woodhouse. Riley started to the Territory to-day.
June 7 Nettie and I went down home to-day[.] I peeled some chair bark and she sunned the bed clothes. Big rain last night.
June 8 Sick in bed all day.
June 9 Fixed the wagon I got of Birt Woodhouse[.] Picked 1 112 gal of cherries and replanted my tobacco.
June 10 Sunday[.] We went to Herman Smoots’s
June 11 Rained most all forenoon. Went down home in afternoon and began chopping poles to build a smoke house.
June 12 Chopped logs for smoke house: worked on a chair and plowed potatoes and other truck
June 13 Planted some onion seed to raise bottom sets; hoed out my cabbage and peanuts and planted some cucumbers and squash. [missing] Got out bark for chair bottoms and hauled wood at Pa’s.
Jun 15 Went to Jenkins for medicine for pa. Came home with the headache and sick bal of day.
June 16 Made some sweet potato ridges. Planted corn where the Kaffir corn did not come up. Got 100 sweet potato plants of Smoot and set them out.
June 17 Sunday: At Pa’s all day. Plez and Maud here
June 18 Shelled a grist of corn: went down home
June 19 Plowed Riley’s peas and some of his beans, made a cradle finger[,] worked on a chair[,] set out a few cabbage and tomato plants.
June 20 Went to Jenkins to get medicine for pa and worked on a chair. June 21 Plowed Riley’s beans, and my cabbage, and some of my beans, stuck some peas[.] Ab Galloway was here to-day taking the census enumeration.
June 22 Finished a chair, cut a few smoke house poles and worked on another chair.
June 23 Cut a few smoke house poles, finished bottoming a chair and made two sweet potato ridges.
June 24 Sunday: I went to Jenkins for medicine for pa[.] Nettie went to Seitze’s. Rained.
June 25 Went to Kepler’s to look at a set of black S. tools. Went for doctor for pa. He is lots worse.
June 26 Pa still worse. I went to Jenkins to see the doctor.
June 27 Pa still very bad[.] I went to Jenkins to see Dr for him. Plez got too hot plowing tall corn and is sick
[13]
June 28 Pa very bad[.] Joe Seitz went to see Dr for him
June 29 Pa still very bad. Plowed my beans this [missing]
June 30 Began cutting oats. Rain a little. Ma[missing] two cradle finger this afternoon
July 1 Pa is some better
July 2 Hauled a load of wood and cut and bound oats.
July 3 Bound oats 3/4 day for Riley.
July 4 Bound and shocked oats, and worked on a chair. Turned my old mule on the outside open range. Well at pa’s is about dry.
July 5 Part of Riley’s oats were very poor and Plez gave me 2/3 of them for cutting them[.] I cut them this morning[.] Rain bal of day
July 6 We went down home to wash. Nettie washed and I tended the baby, worked on a chair and fixed my shoes.
July 7 Began hauling water at Pa’s. Plowed cane and peas.
July 8 Pa is worse again. I went to Jenkins to see the doctor for him again[.] Geo Oldham’s and Lob Jones’s at pa’s to-day.
July 9 Finished plowing my cane, cut some weeks and picked 2 1/2 gal of blackberries
July 10 Cut some weeds and hauled a barrel of water.
July 11 Picked 3 112 gal of blackberries. Went down home and took a load of old timber and poles for smokehouse. Good rain.
July 12 Plowed cane till noon. Chored afternoon. July 13 Finished plowing cane; put a brake on my wagon and chored. July 14 Picked 2 gal black berries[,] hauled a barrel of water and cut 6 smoke house logs
July 15 Sunday: Rained most all day[.] Picked three gal. blackberries in evening. July 16 Picked 3 gal blackberries, went home and got some cans, and cut seven logs for smoke house [missing] Picked eight gal blackberries.
July 18 Pa is very bad again[.] we had the doctor again this morning
July 19 Pa is a little better. I pick 3 gal of black berries. Nettie and I go to Oscar Ellis’s with 5 gal of berries and on to the store and back home. I bought two 2-gal jars and one 1/2-gal jar of Plez for 25 cents[.] Helped Plez haul a load of posts.
July 20 Do nothing. Pa is very bad.
July 21 Filed a cross cut saw for Isam Foster this morning: do nothing bal of day.
July 22 Pa is very bad.
July 23 I stay with pa all the time: he is very bad.
July 24 Do
July 25 Do Riley came from the Oklahoma Territory to-day.
July 26 Pa very bad.
July 27 Do.
July 28 Do.
July 29 Do
July 30 Do
Aug 1 Pa got much worse about midnight last night and died this morning at 6:00 oclock.
Aug 2 Pa buried at Carney graveyard to-day.
Aug 3 Plowed my tobacco and part of my cane.
Aug 4 Hoed my tobacco and plowed cane: it was so dry I quit.
Aug 5 Sunday[.] We all went to Plez’s.
Aug 6 Finished hoeing my tobacco, brought in some roasting ears to dry and hauled a barrel of water in forenoon; helped Riley thrash his beans in afternoon.
Aug 7 Brought in some roasting ears to dry[.] Cut [missing] beans. They were too green and I quit.
Aug 8 Helped Riley stack his millet and brought in Roasting ears to dry in forenoon. Had a bad head ache in afternoon.
Aug 9 Done nothing in forenoon. Hauled a load of smoke house logs home in afternoon. Ed Stumpff finished the fence to let his sock to my Cave Spring. Cleaned out the elm spring[.] it is almost dry.
Aug 10 Hauled a load of smoke house logs down and got some corn to dry[.] Thrashed out the load of beans I pulled on the 7th.
Aug 11 Hauled a barrel of water and pulled by beans.
Aug 12 Sunday: We stayed at home all day, at ma’s
Aug 13 Hauled a barrel of water, went to Wood house’s and got some apples to dry on the shares; helped Riley move a stack of oats,
and helped Nettie peel and core apples to dry.
Aug 14 Thrashed my beans: had 1 1/2 bushels, picked some peas.
Aug 15 Hauled a barrel of water, got up my mule, and went down home and fixed my shoes.
Aug 16 Worked the roads
Aug 17 Do Was sick in the evening.
Aug 18 Made a Kraut cutter and wormed my tobacco.
Aug 19 We went to Ed Stumpff s (Sunday)
Aug 20 Made a barrel of Kraut.
Aug 21 Went to Geo Carney’s and got 3 of my hogs
[14]
and put them in a pen. Traded my buggy to Plez for a sow and he settles 13.00 with Riley for me. Count the sow at five dollars. Hauled a barrel of water, and went to Woodhouse’s and got 6 112 bushels of apples to dry. Aug 22 Put a shoe on a mule, chopped two trees out of the road by Mrs Branstetter’s to finish my road work; and hauled a barrel of water. Aug 23 Went to Hen Carney’s and got a shoat, and brought home the sow I got of Plez in forenoon[.] Plez and I sowed a partner ship turnip patch in afternoon.
Aug 24 Threshed the peas I had picked and cut the sprouts in the turnip patch at Plez’s.
Aug 25 Began laying a foundation for a smoke house and cut sprouts. Good rain to-day
Aug 26 Sunday: Rain to-day and last night[.] We stay at home all day
Aug 27 Began cutting fodder, but it was too green[.] Finished cutting the sprouts around the house. Rained about all the afternoon.
Aug 28 Helped Riley fix some fence in forenoon; plowed on my road in afternoon
Aug 29 Peeled apples and picked peas. Aug 30 Cut corn for Bood Williams at John Ab Carney’s
Aug 31 Went to Jenkins and got medicine for Raleigh, and cut corn at John Ab Carney’s
Sept 1 Finished cutting corn at John Ab Carney’s. Cut 37 shocks[,] 14 hills[,] @ 4 cents per shock[.] Riley and I picked some peas at Selby’s on the shares in afternoon. Nettie went to Smoots to-day.
Sept 2 Sunday: [illegible] at Ma’s all day. Sept 3 The sow I got of Plez’ had 5 pigs last night. I pick and thrash some peas. Go to Plez’s and take corn for my hogs I have at his place. Help him grind his axe and brush [missing]
Sept 4 We take some of our canned fruit [missing] and I haul a load of rock for house foundation. Go to mill in afternoon. Have neuraligia very bad.
Sept 5 Hauled a load of poles home for smoke house, and hauled a load of rock for same; have the neuralgia again. Pick and thrash a sack of peas
Sept 6 Cut corn in forenoon, and cut rib poles for smoke house in afternoon[.] Also worked a little on the foundation.
Sept 7 Cut corn and finished smoke house foundation.
Sept 8 Went to John Ab Carney’s sale
Sept 9 Sunday: We went to Geo. Stumpff’s.
Sept 10 Cut a little corn and helped Riley set his buggy tire. Traded my old harness to Riley for pa’s old saddle and a tobacco patch.
Sept 11 Nearly sick to-day. Rained this morning. Went with Riley to Scholton this afternoon.
Sept 12 Cut a little corn[.] Hard rain to-day. Commenced putting up my smoke house to-day.
Sept 13 Went to Ed Harris’s and got some molasses and worked on smoke house.
Sept 14 Helped Riley top out a millet stack, fixed my shoes and went to the store.
Sept 15 Hunted the cow and worked on smoke house.
Sept 16 Sunday: We are at Plez’s to-day
Sept 17 We stayed at Plez’s last night. Rain this forenoon: do not do much. Worm and sucker tobacco this afternoon.
Sept 18 Stay at Plez’s last night. Fence the patch south of house at ma’s for cow, to-day.
Sept 19 Rained nearly all day. Fixed my harness and saddle. Stayed down home last night.
Sept 20 Worked on smoke house to-day. Stayed at Plez’s last night.
Sept 21 Stayed at Plez’s last night. Shucked fodder for Riley forenoon. Cut part of my tobacco and brought Nettie back to Ma’s from Plez’s in afternoon.
Sept 22 Rain to-day; do nothing
Sept 23 Sunday: Rain most of day. Stay at ma’s all day.
Sept 24 Worked in cane for Burch.
Sept 25 Raleigh is sick and I go to the store and get him some medicine (One Minute Cough C[missing] Stripped cane for Burch in afternoon.
Sept 26 Cut a late patch of corn and wormed and cut tobacco. Sept 27 Surveyed the line between Ed Stumpff and me and my east line of north 80.
Sept 28 Worked a little at home.
Sept 29 Went with Riley to mill at Pecks and wormed tobacco and chored round.
Sept 30 We went to Woodhouse’s.
Oct 1 Went down home and cleaned up the house.
Oct 2 Went to John Butler’s and sold him a calf for $9.00
Oct 3 Stripped cane.
Oct 4 Stripped cane and cut tobacco[.] Butler came and got the calf.
Oct 5 Finished stripping cane and bound some blades
Oct 6 Finished cutting tobacco. Sick in afternoon. Oct 7 Sunday: We stayed at Ma’s all day. Rained
[15]
last night[.] Ma went up to David Ayers’ yesterday
Oct 8 Cut three shocks of late corn. Cut vines of sweet potatoes. We went to Scholten and done some trading
Oct 9 First frost last night. Began hauling my cane to John McCashin’s
Oct 10 Hauled cane
Oct 11 Finished hauling cane. Cut some cane heads at Guges
Oct 12 Dug my sweet and Irish potatoes. Only had [missing] bushels sweet potatoes and 2 bushels Irish
Oct 13 Washed seed sweet potatoes and put away and went to store.
Oct 14 Sunday: Stayed at Ma’s all day. Riley went to Marionville after Ma yesterday.
Oct 15 Ma was sick and they did not come home till to-day. Riley brought me 5 bushels of apples[,] cost me 10 cents per bushel.
Oct 16 Do not do much. Get things ready to go home.
Oct 17 Hauled all our stuff down home to-day. Had 3 loads
Oct 18 Gathered two loads of corn and pumpkins, and brought cow home.
Oct 19 Made a gate by the stable and helped Nettie with the apple butter making. I also hung two gates for the Stumpff pasture on the 16th
Oct 20 Built a hog pen and put a hog to fatten. Hog got out. chored round bal of day.
Oct 21 Good rain last night and to-day. We went up to Plez’s in the evening.
Oct 22 Fixed the pen and put the hog up again that got out Saturday[.] Helped Nettie make apple butter balance of day. Keep the cow in the Stumpff pasture and am having a lot of trouble driving her home evenings. Oct 23 Went up home this morning and got some Kraut and tobacco. Came back and built some stone fence and put a weight on the gate by the sugar tree. Did some work on the shed to make a place for my cow fodder.
Oct 24 Went up home and got my meal Riley got at Jenkins yesterday[.] Cut a couple of Cedar poles to see if they would make ridge poles for my smoke house. Put some gravel in the stable to keep down the wet: also put some gravel on the walk near the sugartree gate. Filed the cross cut saw.
[missing] Fitted the last leg on the south side of my smoke house. Have to finish the east end and north side yet. Made a rustic chair out of cedar within [?]
Oct 26 Riley and I made boards for Ab Templeton[.] We made 400 and sawed a lot of extra blocks.
Oct 27 Finished making the 800 boards we were to make for Ab Templeton in forenoon. I and Plez sawed post timber in afternoon. We are going to make 100 posts for a man in Marionville. We get 41/2 cts each delivered.
Oct 28 Sunday: We stay at home all day. Rain most of the day.
Oct 29 Plez and me made posts. Riley Loads 50 to start to Marionville tomorrow.
Oct 30 Made posts.
Oct 31 Rained most all day. Do nothing at post business. Nail down our kitchen floor in afternoon.
Nov 1 Finish nailing down our kitchen floor, and went up to ma’s. Plez & I made posts in afternoon.
Nov 2 Moved our cooking stove to the east side of the room and put rockers on a chair for Sim Barns.
Nov 3 Helped Riley stack his cane hay and stacked my Kaffir corn hay. Hauled a load of fodder home. Traded Plez a saw and a chair for another saw and a dollar in cash.
Nov 4 Sunday. Plez’s and [illegible] Stumpff’s were here.
Nov 5 Plez and I made 75 short posts for a man in Marionville.
Nov 6 Presidential election to-day. I went and voted and went to the store.
Nov 7 Plez and I made 25 more short posts [missing] the man in Marionville. I build hog pen and chop out a hog trough
Nov 8 Worked on the banisters that go round the steps in the kitchen and work on the stair steps. Plez’s baby born to-day.
Nov 9 Worked on the stair steps.
Nov 10 Finished the stair steps.
Nov 11 Sunday. At home till noon. Went to Plez’s in afternoon.
Nov 12 Chopped some rail timber by the stable in forenoon. Hauled in my pumpkins in afternoon. Night before last was the first frost we have had to kill vegetations.
Nov 13 Gathered a load of corn in forenoon and shelled a grist of corn in afternoon.
Nov 14 Fixed our shoes and chopped wood in forenoon[.] Dug some peanuts in afternoon.
Nov 15 Finished the banisters in the kitchen and chored round.
Nov 16 Raleigh is one year old to-day. Nettie visited
[16]
Minnie Stumpff. I done some odd jobs around the house
Nov 17 Mule got out and I had to hunt him up. I began making Raleigh a high chair.
Nov 18 Sunday: We stay at home all day. Rain a little.
Nov 19 Big rain last night. Worked a little on a high chair, and chopped some.
Nov 20 Worked a little on the chair and chopped. Nov 21 Finished Raleigh’s high chair. Went up to ma’s
Nov 22 Fixed a child’s rocking chair for Minnie Stumpff in forenoon. Plez and I made posts in afternoon.
Nov 23 Rain last night and a heavy rain most all day to-day. Do the chores is all.
[missing] Drizzly to-day. I help around the house and stable a little.
Nov 25 Sunday: At home all day.
Nov 26 Hauled fodder.
Nov 27 Worked a little on a door frame for Plez and went up home.
Nov 28 Finished door frame for Plez and put it in.
Nov 29 Made and hung a door for Plez.
Nov 30 Made an ax handle and began making a turning lathe out of the old horse power I got of Herman Smoot. Dec 1 Worked on turning lathe till noon; then went to the postoffice and to ma s.
Dec 2 Sunday[.] Went up to Plez’s a while in evening.
Dec 3 Pulled my turnips in forenoon; had six bushels. Made a frame for Ed Stumpff to keep his old cow from sucking herself.
Dec 4 Worked on turning lathe.
Dec 5 Went up to ma’s in morning. Chopped wood and laid some logs for a hog pen to join west end of shop. Riley went to Marionville today to meet Nettie’s ma who is coming from Bates Co. to visit us.
Dec 6 Nettie’s Ma came to-day; brought Arthur and Myrtle with her. We went up to Ma’s and was there when Riley came with them.
Dec 7 Plez and I made posts.
Dec 8 Do Riley hauled balance of my fodder today: Hauled one load yesterday.
Dec 9 Sunday; Plez and Maud and Ma are at our house.
Dec 10 Fix my shoes and work on hog pen west end of shop in Forenoon.
Dec 11 Made a pop-corn popper; buried the turnips and chopped a little. Dec 12 Cut some rail timber and worked on the hogpen at the west end of the shop, and put up a post at the north-west corner of shop.
Dec 13 Plez made some rails for me this forenoon. I helped him a little. Had the straightist half’s of the logs left for the shop wall.
Dec 14 I went to the store this forenoon, worked a little on the shop bal of day.
Dec 15 Put building paper overhead in the kitchen.
Dec 16 Sunday: We went up to Plez’s with Nettie’s ma and stayed all day.
Dec 17 Went up home and shelled a grist of corn. Put the sash in the west kitchen window, and put building paper over head in front room.
Dec 18 Went to [illegible]. Do Riley’s chores. Ma and he are at Geo Oldham’s. They are both very bad sick
Dec 19 Went to Geo Oldham’s on to Scholten
Dec 20 Dragged up some logs for the shop, and chored round.
Dec 21 Did Riley’s chores and began making a child’s high chair for Nettie’s ma. Mary Oldham is dead.
[missing] Went up to ma’s and worked on the high chair and chored round. Plez made 50 fence posts for me to-day.
Dec 23 We stay at home all day. Nettie’s ma go to Busk Kerr’s with Isum Foster’s. Terrible windy yesterday.
Dec 24 Chopped brush west of the house and chored round.
Dec 25 Christmas. We all went up to Ma’s yesterday evening. Nettie, her ma and ma went to Geo Stumpff’s. I went there for dinner. I traded Plez a hog for building a piece of fence. Also traded Riley my interest in the home place for 24 days work with team.
Dec 26 We are all nearly sick with colds. We all come back home to-day.
Dec 27 I am in bed most of the day with a cold. Mrs Foster[,] Mrs Annie Stumpff, Ma and Plez and Maud up at our house
Dec 28 Cold a little. We all went up to Ma’s this evening.
Dec 29 Nettie’s Ma starts home to-day. Riley took her to Marionville.
Dec 30 We stayed at Ma’s last night. Go home this afternoon.
Dec 31 I chop around the house and burn a large brush pile that I had put in the branch below the house to turn it. Work a little on the shop in afternoon. Coldest to-day it has been yet this winter
To be continued.
[17]
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