April 22 thru April 23, 1894

If you follow Bert's diary regularly, you can skip this paragraph. 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. 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.

Sunday, April 22, 1894 -- It being Sunday, Bert takes a day off. He borrows a horse and buggy from his brother Herman, and goes to visit his father - John Babcock. He doesn't get there till around 1 PM, and he leaves around six o'clock. He says he didn't get home till 11 PM which is pretty late for those days. I'm thinking that John Babcock may live further away than I thought because even in a horse and buggy in the dark, 5 hours is quite a long time. Bert does not mention any particular problem with his travel. He probably walked back from Herman's after returning the horse and buggy? Still, at 3-4 miles an hour? and time to put away the horse, etc... it would seem John may have lived several miles away. I had thought he lived closer? Bert mentions that "Pa gave me a nice woolen horse blanket for a present today."

Monday, April 23, 1894 --- It is a rainy day, so Bert and Russell work in the barn cleaning oats. They then go out in the woods and cut thirty four fence posts 34
Mud

then
we
done
the
chores

I'd love to know why Bert often does these odd arrangements of his words! I couldn't get this editing program to repeat Bert's arrangement.... picture below.

April 20 thru April 21, 1894

If you follow Bert's diary regularly, you can skip this paragraph. 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. 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.

Friday, April 20, 1894 -- Bert continues to set hop poles at Milo Dye's place. He says that he set 78 poles in 10 and a half minutes. (I've got to learn more about this process because the hop poles I have read about are 10 - 12 feet tall, and fairly large, so setting them at a rate of one every 10 seconds would be quite a feat! - Any input from anyone reading this would be greatly appreciated. I have ordered a book about the history of hop growing in the US, so I'm hoping this will clear up this mystery.) In the afternoon Russell Dye set more poles, and Bert "punched holes" in the poles until five o'clock when there was a thunder storm!

Saturday, April 21, 1894 ---- Bert declares it a "fair" day. After doing the morning chores, Bert caught sheep for Russell to tag. Bert apparently herded the sheep into some sort of rack to hold them for placement of ear tags? Russell then took the sheep over to Milo Dye's place. Probably the tagging was to identify his sheep vs. his father's sheep? Bert took down the racks, and then picked stone all afternoon. He picked 8 loads of stone. He then did the chores, and afterward went over to Herman Babcock's, but evidently met him on the way, and they both returned to Russell Dye's place.

April 18 thru April 19, 1894

If you follow Bert's diary regularly, you can skip this paragraph. 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. 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 18, 1894 --- Bert declares it a hot and dry day. Remember it is only a few days past a quite heavy snowfall! We crawled out of bed at seven o'clock this morning. Chores as always and then Bert goes to Milo Dye's place and "commenced setting hop poles"

Thursday, April 19, 1894 --- Chores as always, and then Russell and Bert hauled hop poles over to Milo Dye's place until it started raining around 11 AM. They quit for a while, and then drew more hop poles until around 3PM. Bert then set poles until around 5PM when it rained again. Bert says "I set 149 poles in twenty four minutes."

I'm not sure how setting poles that fast is possible unless they used a different method of growing hops than I've been able to research. Most hop poles are 10 to 15 feet tall, with wires or strings strung between the tops from which strings are hung for the hop vines to climb. A couple of pictures below. It would seem to me that setting one pole might take 24 minutes! The next day Bert says he set 78 poles in 10.5 minutes? Any feedback on hop farming in 1894 that might explain the process would be very helpful.

April 16 thru April 17, 1894

If you follow Bert's diary regularly, you can skip this paragraph. 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. 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 16, 1894 --- Russell and Bert cut firewood at the house all day, and did the chores. Sam Cowell and his wife came to visit and stayed overnight. A hot day, and Bert comments that "I commenced to wear a hat today." He also notes that "a tramp came along today and he was a hard looker".

Tuesday, April 17, 1894 --- Spring seems to be here.... "it did not freeze a bit last night and it thawed all day today and the sun is hot and the snow is about all gone again." Mud is here again. Bert cut firewood "here to the house" all day, with Russell helping part of the time. (Cutting up firewood now probably gives it lots of time to cure over the summer for next winter. It is just too muddy and wet to begin to work the fields)

April 14 thru April 15, 1894

If you follow Bert's diary regularly, you can skip this paragraph. 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. 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, April 14th, 1894 -- Chores of course, and then Bert and Russell go down on a side hill, and cut two ash logs, and some firewood and take it over to Milo B. Dye's place. Then Bert comments that "I bucked some wood this afternoon." A buck is any of a wide variety of frame work things to hold firewood for cutting to length, which of course would have been done by hand at this time. "Buck" as a verb would be to cut firewood to handy lengths to fit in the stove. See picture below.

Another great shot of cutting firewood below.

Bert then cut and bucked some more wood for S. A. Lion, and took one of the horses -Ned - down to Russell. Chores in the evening of course. Warm enough to thaw all day.

Sunday, April 15, 1894 -- Chores even on Sunday of course - the animals don't take a day off! Bert started to go to church, but there was no meeting because "the preacher was snowed in and could not get here." He went to B.H. Potter's for dinner instead. Bert then notes that "Wheeling has come again today" - I have no idea who that is?

April 12 thru April 13, 1894

If you follow Bert's diary regularly, you can skip this paragraph. 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. 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, April 12, 1894 --- Chores and snow. Bert does a lot of shoveling. Shoveled some paths, cleaned snow out of the wood shed, and the barn. He also cleared a place for the buggys. Russell hitched up and "broke out the road". Bert washed Russell's cutter, and "buggy pole" - The buggy pole is the long pole that goes from the front of the buggy between the horses. Not sure why it would need washing? Thawed all day.

Friday, April 13, 1894 --- Wind in the north and thawed all day. Russell and Bert take a load of shingle bolts down to Hiler's shingle mill. Shingle making was a common activity in the area. Not sure if they were supplying wood to Hiler as a raw material for making shingles for sale, or if Hiler was making shingles for their use on the farm?
Bolt: Section of a log sized for processing in a shingle brake. A section is usually one-eighth to one-sixteenth section of the log. The picture below shows the making of shingle bolts on a larger scale.
From my research, it appears a tree is sliced into cylindrical slices whose height is the length of the shingle. The slice is then split up into smaller "bolts" that are then split into shingles.

Click here for a nice summary of shingle making from start to finish.

Bert then went to R.G. Phillips and got his sleighs for some reason. Then Bert notes that B. J. Potter came for supper and "a beggin for the church".

April 10 thru April 11, 1894

If you follow Bert's diary regularly, you can skip this paragraph. 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. 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.

Tuesday, April 10, 1894 ---- The wind is in the south ( I note that Bert often mentions the wind, but does not always include the temperature?) Chores as always. He then cuts and trims Chestnut trees for posts, and "Dye" (Russell) cares for a sick horse. Russell goes to Naples for medicine for the horse, and Bert cuts firewood. Bert then notes that it snowed all afternoon from the east.

The American chestnut, formerly one of the dominant trees of the eastern United States, has been almost wiped out by chestnut blight; it was an important economic resource not only for the nuts which were sold across North America, even by streetside vendors, but also for timber and tannin. Around 1900, some Asian Chestnut trees were planted on Long Island in New York State, and within 40 years, the American Chestnut was wiped out in most of the US. An early example of invasive species! The culprit was not the Asian Chestnut of course, but rather a disease organism that the Asian Chestnut had adapted to, but most of our American Chestnuts could not deal with. Today there are a few American Chestnuts that are resistant to this blight, but most of what was once about 1/4 of our woodlands is now gone.

Wednesday, April 11, 1894 -- It snowed all day - hard enough to keep them in the barn and in the house for the morning. Bert did some more harness repair - fixing a "hitch strap". In the afternoon, Bert hitched up the team and cleared some road and went down to Milo Dye's place and hauled in wood which M.D.Fisher cut up for "wood" - lumber? I'm not sure how he would have cleared the road? They might have had a "snow roller" as shown below, but I doubt it?
Bert describes the snow as "knee deep tonight - that means two feet nine inches on the level where the wind did not blow" Bert must have been pretty tall? It is only two feet to my knee from the ground. Note that a couple of days ago Bert put his sleigh away for the season, and now there is almost 3 feet of snow!

April 8 thru April 9, 1894

If you follow Bert's diary regularly, you can skip this paragraph. 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. 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.

Sunday, April 8, 1894 -- A day of rest? Bert takes his "farewell sleigh ride for the season". He stores his cutter away for the season at brother Herman's place. (A bit early it turns out in a couple of days!) He then came back to Russell's place and hitched up his cart and went down to the Baptist church to meeting. He came back home for dinner, and then went back over to Herman's and borrowed his horse and buggy and went over to Mr. Hiler's to pick up Alida Hiler who is going to work for Herman for the summer. Alida is around 24 years old, one of 10 children of Ophelia and William Hiler of Prattsburgh, NY. She is a fairly close neighbor of Augustus and Mary Weld. Augustus Weld is the brother of my great great great grandmother - Julia (Lydia) Matilda Weld. More of those close connections between the two sides of my family tree! Herman came back home to help with the chores and then went to an evening service at the Baptist Church. "Went to church twice today"

Monday, April 9, 1894 -- "A nice warm day and it thawed all day". Bert and Russel Dye went over to Milo B. Dye's place (Russell's father) and cleaned up 37 bushels of oats for seed. They then went out in the woods on Russell's place and cut 91 fence posts. Bert borrowed a "hay knife" from "Eygener"???

April 6 thru April 7, 1894

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.

Friday, April 6, 1894 --- Cold and snowy, and the usual chores. Russell and Bert plow all morning, and husk corn all afternoon. It "snowed about all the time".

Saturday, April 7, 1894 --- Chores as always, and another snowy day. Bert "drawed" a load of manure, and he and Russell cut a load of firewood for Stanley Lion (Lyon?). In the afternoon, Bert fixed a bridle and "sewed a line to gather" and

made a pair
of spread
straps
and
sit
in
the
house

It snowed from the East all day!

I laid out the above as Bert did in his handwritten account - no idea why he did this? Anyone with a knowledge of farm leather work, harness repair, etc. that can fill me in on "sewed a line to gather" and "spread straps" is encouraged to enlighten me!

And Herman came over to get Bert to go over to Mr. Hiler's to get his hired girl.