Herbert "Bert" Babcock was my great great uncle - the brother of my maternal grandmother's father, Herman Babcock. I obtained his 1894 Diary on E-bay when my friend Marty Schlabach happened upon it and let me know. Many thanks to all who preserved this little bit of Bert's life for me to share with the world!
I will not be transcribing each entry since most of Bert's diary is pretty clear. You can read the original more easily by clicking on the image above to view a larger version. I will be including this paragraph, or something similar in each entry so that new readers will know they can click the image to enlarge it for easier reading. Also, there will be some links to the right of the page with relevant information that may be of interest. If you follow Bert's diary regularly, you can skip this paragraph. My notes will include the basics of what Bert talks about each day, along with my own personal thoughts, research, information gleaned from past or future entries, etc. If you have information or suggestions that may help my research, please e-mail me.
Wednesday, April 4, 1894 - A short entry, but what is there to talk about when it was just the usual chores, and then "husked corn all day". Not sure if they might have had some sort of mechanical device? At best he might have had something like one of the two items shown below which would help strip the outer leaves (husks) from the ears of corn a bit faster. Of course this corn has dried all winter, so the husks do come off a bit easier than husking the fresh sweet corn from the farm market in the fall as we do now. The corn is usually husked and picked in one operation as shown in the video below.Video of the 2009 Nebraska Hand Corn Husking Competition below.After viewing this 5 minute video, imagine doing this all day! I love the fact that the video shows it snowing just as it does tomorrow when they are plowing. Today it is raining which can't be a lot more hospitable!
Thursday, April 5, 1894- The beginning of spring plowing. Bert plowed all day, and Russel - his boss - plowed for the afternoon. This would have been a long slow process, using a horse drawn plow guided along and kept in the ground properly by sheer physical labor, with lots of extra jolts when they would hit any of the stones or rocks that they might have missed the other day! Video of horse drawn plowing below.
They must have plowed for a long day because they did not get the chores done until 9PM! And it was cold enough that it snowed some during the day. The picture above is not far off from what the area around Naples, Italy, Ingleside would have looked like.... and still does. Very hilly, and high enough elevation to have a quite short growing season! Today the hills are dotted with huge wind turbines.
I will not be transcribing each entry since most of Bert's diary is pretty clear. You can read the original more easily by clicking on the image above to view a larger version. I will be including this paragraph, or something similar in each entry so that new readers will know they can click the image to enlarge it for easier reading. Also, there will be some links to the right of the page with relevant information that may be of interest. If you follow Bert's diary regularly, you can skip this paragraph. My notes will include the basics of what Bert talks about each day, along with my own personal thoughts, research, information gleaned from past or future entries, etc. If you have information or suggestions that may help my research, please e-mail me.
Monday, April 2nd, 1894 --- Bert starts work for Russell M. Dye today for the third year. He works only 8 months of the year. This seems to have been a common practice. Farmers needed extra help, but only during the Spring, Summer, and Fall. My great grandfather Bart Olney worked on a similar arrangement in 1886. The main difference was that he was only 16 at the time, and all the money when to his father Henry. Bert Babcock makes $17.50 per month. I find it interesting that he only makes $1.50 more than 16 year old Bart made 8 years earlier. Bert is 27. While by today's standards $1.50 isn't much, it is 10% more than Bart made. We don't really know what other benefits were included, but Bert certainly got room and board, and probably laundry as well.
While Bert has been helping out some over the winter, real work seems to start in earnest with the advent of getting paid. They drew 13 loads of manure from the barnyard out to the fields for fertilizer, They also collected and drew away a load of stones, plus moved 10 big rocks out of the fields. (In post glacier upstate NY, every spring reveals a great many rocks and stones that have moved to the surface during the alternate freezing and thawing of the winter and spring.) And of course as always chores are part of the day. That probably would have included feeding the livestock, milking the cows, cleaning out stalls, collecting eggs, etc. All the stuff that just has to be done everyday no matter what the weather, or day of the week..... no holidays either!
I've probably mentioned this before, but Russel M. Dye is the brother of my great grandmother on my father's side of the family! Bert is the brother of my great grandfather on my mother's side. While this connection between the two sides of my family seems pretty cool, the Naples, Italy, Ingleside area of New York State was a pretty small community with not a lot of outside contact. The families in the area have shared friendships, church affiliation, marriage, and their economic life for many generations!
Tuesday, April 3, 1896 --- More chores of course, and 11 more loads of manure spread on the fields. Russel and his wife Zette (Rosetta) go to a "hen pie social" in the evening at B.D. Potter's place, and Bert stays home to "keep fire". "Pie Socials" are still somewhat common at rural churches. "Hen Pie Social" might refer to a gathering with sort of a chicken pot pie theme?
I will not be transcribing each entry since most of Bert's diary is pretty clear. You can read the original more easily by clicking on the image above to view a larger version. I will be including this paragraph, or something similar in each entry so that new readers will know they can click the image to enlarge it for easier reading. Also, there will be some links to the right of the page with relevant information that may be of interest. If you follow Bert's diary regularly, you can skip this paragraph. My notes will include the basics of what Bert talks about each day, along with my own personal thoughts, research, information gleaned from past or future entries, etc. If you have information or suggestions that may help my research, please e-mail me.
Saturday March 31, 1894 - Leman and Bert do the morning chores while Olivia and Pa make breakfast. John, Leman and Bert go over to Italy with the horses and sleighs and load up some hay. John and Leman take the hay home, and Bert goes over to Herman's. Bert ate dinner there, and helped saw some firewood. Winnie went down to Italy to swap horses, and Bert stayed the night at Herman's.
Sunday, April 1, 1894 - Bert comments that it is April Fool's Day, and that he did not get fooled all day! Bert stayed at Herman's all day, but went over to Milo Dye's around 4PM. Bert says he went to "hayness" for a while in the evening. Maybe Haynes's place? Not sure who that is?
Bert comments that he lent Herman $50.
Not sure what the little drawings of cubes are about?
I will not be transcribing each entry since most of Bert's diary is pretty clear. You can read the original more easily by clicking on the image above to view a larger version. I will be including this paragraph, or something similar in each entry so that new readers will know they can click the image to enlarge it for easier reading. Also, there will be some links to the right of the page with relevant information that may be of interest. If you follow Bert's diary regularly, you can skip this paragraph. My notes will include the basics of what Bert talks about each day, along with my own personal thoughts, research, information gleaned from past or future entries, etc. If you have information or suggestions that may help my research, please e-mail me.
Thursday - They move more stuff to the new place today, and spend the night there for the first time. Bert loads up some more "truck", and then leads Fanny over to the new place. I assume this is one of their horses, but no idea why he would not have ridden her over? Pa (John Babcock), "Pie Face", and Leman moved more stuff over to the new place, and Horton "fetched Olivia and some other truck." I have no idea who "Pie Face" is? Or who Horton is?
Friday - Another of Bert's great phrases - "the wind was in the south this morning and it blew lather to shave" (I'm thinking maybe referring to blowing hard enough to blow everything away - like shaving your beard?) He and Leman did the chores as always, and then went to Italy (nearby community) to get some hay. They stop in Jerusalem (another small community in the area) on the way home. I have no idea what he means about it being his "last night in Jerusalem"?
I will not be transcribing each entry since most of Bert's diary is pretty clear. You can read the original more easily by clicking on the image above to view a larger version. I will be including this paragraph, or something similar in each entry so that new readers will know they can click the image to enlarge it for easier reading. Also, there will be some links to the right of the page with relevant information that may be of interest. If you follow Bert's diary regularly, you can skip this paragraph. My notes will include the basics of what Bert talks about each day, along with my own personal thoughts, research, information gleaned from past or future entries, etc. If you have information or suggestions that may help my research, please e-mail me.
It is still pretty cold for the end of March - 10 degrees. Chores as usual, and then Bert and Leman load up a load of "truck" to take over to the new place. "Truck" was a word for miscellaneous stuff that today we might need a truck to haul? Leman drove the horse and sleigh with the "truck", and Bert walked over leading two of their horses - Kit and Stub. At night Bert and his father went to visit Herman, and Leman and Olivia went over to the McConnels to "eat sugar". This time of the year is Maple sugaring time, so a gathering to enjoy the results would be in order!
On Wednesday, they did the chores of course, and then loaded up two loads of "truck" which John and Leman drove over to the new place (by horse and sleigh of course). Winnie Fisher and Bert drove the cattle over to the new place - sort of a mini cattle drive, and Herman drove the flock of sheep. The animals would have been sort of the last thing to move to the new farm. Keeping two places going must have been quite a task?
I will not be transcribing each entry since most of Bert's diary is pretty clear. You can read the original more easily by clicking on the image above to view a larger version. I will be including this paragraph, or something similar in each entry so that new readers will know they can click the image to enlarge it for easier reading. Also, there will be some links to the right of the page with relevant information that may be of interest. If you follow Bert's diary regularly, you can skip this paragraph. My notes will include the basics of what Bert talks about each day, along with my own personal thoughts, research, information gleaned from past or future entries, etc. If you have information or suggestions that may help my research, please e-mail me.
A couple of pretty quiet days. Still cold and windy. Bert goes over to Russel Dye's (brother of my great grandmother on my father's side of the family) He spends the day and stays for dinner and then comes home.
The next day is a bit warmer. Bert does chores on the farm as usual, and Winnie Fisher takes a load of furniture over to John's new farm.
I will not be transcribing each entry since most of Bert's diary is pretty clear. You can read the original more easily by clicking on the image above to view a larger version. I will be including this paragraph, or something similar in each entry so that new readers will know they can click the image to enlarge it for easier reading. Also, there will be some links to the right of the page with relevant information that may be of interest. If you follow Bert's diary regularly, you can skip this paragraph. My notes will include the basics of what Bert talks about each day, along with my own personal thoughts, research, information gleaned from past or future entries, etc. If you have information or suggestions that may help my research, please e-mail me.
My first new posting in a long time. My apologies. Life just seems to move on and things recede further into the undone pile. I hope I can keep up with making regular entries?
I love Bert's cool turn of phrase ability. This one - "the wind blew holy Moses". He makes the usual entry about chores, and the big move goes on. He and brother Leman continue moving things from the old place to John's (Bert's father) new farm. Given the use of horse and sleigh, and bitter cold weather, it takes a while!
Saturday comes up at 6 below zero, but evidently not so windy? More chores of course, and two loads of wood (probably firewood) taken to the new farm. He and Leman get back home around 4 o'clock, and have to make their own dinner.
Bert comments in a separate entry that "five years ago tonight I left home for my self" Bert often comments about some of the loneliness of his life. It appears that his father pretty much told him it was time to go when he was old enough and he could no longer live at home. There is lots of daily family contact, but Bert lives on his own, and seems quite conscious of his "separateness"
Cheryl and I work together to create wonderful figures of people, and other great art work for the home and office! I'm also Henry's great great grandson, and have published Henry's analog diary from 1886 in digital form 123 years later. Henry's Diary at http://HenryCOlney1886.blogspot.com/ In 2010, I am blogging another diary - that of my maternal great Uncle Bert Babcock - 1894. http://bertbabcock1894.blogspot.com/
I will not be transcribing each entry since most of Bert's diary is pretty clear. You can read the original more easily by clicking on the image above to view a larger version. I will be including this paragraph, or something similar in each entry so that new readers will know they can click the image to enlarge it for easier reading. Also, there will be some links to the right of the page with relevant information that may be of interest. If you follow Bert's diary regularly, you can skip this paragraph. My notes will include the basics of what Bert talks about each day, along with my own personal thoughts, research, information gleaned from past or future entries, etc. If you have information or suggestions that may help my research, please e-mail me.
Video of the 2009 Nebraska Hand Corn Husking Competition below. After viewing this 5 minute video, imagine doing this all day! I love the fact that the video shows it snowing just as it does tomorrow when they are plowing. Today it is raining which can't be a lot more hospitable!
Video of horse drawn plowing below.
