July 1, 1894 thru July 2, 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.

Sunday, July 1st, 1894 - Bert mentions going to church twice today.  Bert does not seem to be a terribly regular church goer, so this seems a bit unusual.  I'm not sure what church he attended.  It may have been the Ingleside Christian Church, the Old School Baptist Church in Ingleside, or possibly the Italy Valley Church which was just around the corner from where he lived.  If my Dad, or Rose Thorsen, or anyone else, have any info on the church attended by the family, I'd love more information.  He also mentions getting "winter greens" which I would take to refer to wintergreen hard candy?  Wintergreen hard candy would have been common at the time.

Monday, July 2nd, 1894 - Back to work - cultivating corn, potatoes, and preparing the flower bed.

June 29th, 1894 thru June 30th, 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, June 29th, 1894 - Bert declares  the day hot - ending in LARGE PRINT!  He worked down in the town of Italy on the roads as part of Milo B. Dye's tax payment.  I remember a similar practice when I was working on my great great grandfather's 1886 diary.  About the same time of year Henry and some of his neighbors do several days of road work in lieu of taxes.
Picture below of a road crew in North Carolina, working out taxes - unknown date.

Saturday, June 30th, 1894 - Another hot day - mentioned in even larger print!  Bert works with a team of horses on more road work for the elder Mr. Dye's taxes in the town of Italy.  He works on this until around 2PM, and then eats, and goes  to work cultivating potatoes for the rest of the afternoon till chore time.

Author's note - check the link below. 
 Oddly enough, in Mexico today, if you are a working artist, you can pay your taxes in art work!

June 27th, 1894 thru June 28th, 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.

Wednesday, June 27th, 1894 - Bert declares it a "nice cool summer day", on which he did more planting work on the summer crop of buckwheat.  He does do chores as always, and "shuts up five sitting hens" to prevent them from trying to hatch eggs.

Thursday, June 28th, 1894 - This time a hot day, but more chores, and more buckwheat planting - this  time on E. Hanyer's place.  Not sure if this was working for E. Hayner, or if Russell Dye is maybe renting land from E. Hayner to grow his own crop?

June 25th, 1894 thru June 26th, 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.

Monday, June 25th, 1894 -  Bert helps with the chores, and  then helps get the sheep in the barn for shearing.  (This confirms that they were washing the sheep/wool a few days back when  they put the sheep into the pond. -- Exactly a week ago!  Homer Fisher sheared them (probably required some practice/skill to do this smoothly and without harming the sheep?)  Russell tied up the wool.  Bert spent the day dragging 5 acres of buckwheat ground, twice.  He then helped with the chores as usual.  He also got the buckwheat seed from Milo Dye's place.

Tuesday, June 26th, 1894 - Bert helped with the chores again, and also helped get more sheep into the barn for shearing. A second day of shearing - not sure how many sheep they had, or how long it takes to shear a sheep.  Here is a link to a video of  shearing sheep with hand clippers.

You can buy some sheep shearing scissors on Amazon here!

Bert cleaned up the buckwheat seed, drilled the 5 acres, and then went down to Sheldon Fishers to pick up Russell's roller to roll some of the buckwheat before doing chores.  Rolling would have packed down the buckwheat seed into the ground to ensure good germination.  Chores as usual

June 23rd, 1894 thru June 24th, 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.

Saturday, June 23rd, 1894 - Another hot day, and Bert cultivated potatoes until 5 o'clock, on Russell's place, and then they tinkered around in the barn till chore time. (I'm finding myself confused about the time in some of Bert's entries.  I think I'm remembering another day recently when he did something till 5, and then did more stuff later?)  After chores, he and Russell went to Naples, where Bert got a pair of shoes for $1.50. and a 5 cent glass of soda  water.

Sunday, June 24th, 1894 - "Hot as dutch love"  This phrase I was able to find - not sure of the exact origin, but it evidently was commonly used - see postcard below!

Bert goes back over to Uncle Robert's place, and  takes Allie back home.  Allie (Alice) is Uncle Robert Burnett's daughter - Bert's niece - age 19.  Uncle Robert is Bert's mother's brother.  Leman Babcock was over at Robert's place, and Bert brought him back home - in the rain.  Bert complains about getting his new buggy muddy! He has only had it about a month.

 

June 21st, 1894 thru June 22nd, 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.

Thursday, June 21st, 1894 -- Short entry - cultivated potatoes, fixed fence, done chores - Hot

Friday, June 22nd, 1894 - "Hot, Hotter, Hottist"  Bert "staked" some rail fence, and then got two more loads of rails, and fixed some more fence.  Bert went to the woods and cut some poles to go on the top of some wire fence. I'm guessing the rail fence was something like the one in the picture below?

 

Later, Bert's brother Herman - my great grandfather - brought him 65 cents worth of Glycerine and Whiskey.  65 cents sounds like a pretty good price for a pint! - I'm wondering if this was area home brew - maybe even Herman brewed it?  (Glycerine is added to cheaper grades of alcoholic beverages to make them more "smooth".  I find this interesting as I'm fairly sure that alcohol never was part of my Grandmother's life - Herman's daughter.  I'm wondering if maybe the men folk had their drink "hidden" from the rest of the family,  This is  the second mention of alcoholic beverages by Bert.) 

Bert built some more fence around the garden area, and then Russell and Bert put up a wire fence "acrost the rode" from the house, and let two of the horses - Kit and Glory - outdoors for the first time this season. Then chores of course.  Bert ends the day's story with "Amen".  I think he thought this was a lot to have accomplished on a "Hot, Hotter, Hottist" day!

June 19th, 1894 thru June 20th, 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.

Tuesday, June 19th, 1894 - A warm day again, and Bert works on Milo Dye's garden plot, and then he cultivates the hops until it rains later in the day ..... chores as always.

Wednesday, June 20th, 1894 - Bert and Russell go over to Milo Dye's place, and cultivate hops after replacing some teeth on the cultivator.  In the afternoon, Bert cultivates potatoes at Russell's place, and Russell dragged buckwheat ground.  Chores as usual. Cultivating is basically stirring up the soil to kill off weeds that were thought to compete with the desired crop.  I'm not sure if it would have been a walk behind type cultivator, or one on wheels with a seat?  Maybe a walk behind similar to the one in the video here?

June 17th, 1894 thru June 18th, 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.

Sunday, June 17th, 1894 - As I mentioned yesterday, Bert liked to make the most of his Sundays off, so he is up at 5AM to feed and water Herman's horse, eat his breakfast, and head out to visit his Uncle Robert.  I should know who this is, but neither my brain nor my notes seem to be of any help.  Digging around on Ancestry.com yields a Robert Babcock born in 1920, but that is of no help?  Anybody with info - Rose?? - let me know!  Bert got there around 10AM.  Weather was "Hot, Hotter, Hottest", and Bert has a bad headache - "My head ached to beat Grant"  This phrase might be related to the campaign slogan of Horace Greeley in 1872 - "Anything To Beat Grant"  Not sure of the following info, but it looks like someone named Allie Canal (sic?) went back over to Herman's with him.  He mentions that it rained to "beat Eli" (another strange phrase?) over in "Gloads Corners", but did not rain "here" - presumably Herman's place.  Research does not yield much about Gloade's Corners except that it must have been on the hill over Prattsburgh over toward Keuka Lake.  There is a Gloades Corners Road in that area, but no actual place today?  Map here.

Monday, June 18th, 1894 - He mentions chores in the morning - not sure if this was at Herman Babcock's, or back over to Russell Dye's place?  He does mention that Russell Dye and Eugene Hayner "washed" their sheep, and Bert threw them in the pond?  It seems that washing sheep in a pond or stream around this time of year was a common practice prior to shearing, in order to have cleaner wool - especially for home use of the wool.  Read some about the process here.
In the afternoon, Bert went over to Milo Dye's place to plow the garden, and also cracked some butter nuts, and watched it rain.  Cracking butter nuts was probably one of those odd jobs done to fill the time during rainy weather when more productive work was not feasible?

June 15th, 1894 thru June 16th, 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, June 15th, 1894 - Short entry - more dragging, marking, dropping and covering potatoes! Plus of course chores.  Since this is a short entry, this might be a good time to talk a bit more about growing potatoes.  I  talked some with Dad last night, and then did some internet research.  Basically, potatoes grow very shallow in the ground, and need to be grown in such a way as to prevent the formation of chlorophyll, which will result if the potatoes grow out of the soil.  Thus, the potatoes are hilled - a process of piling up soil over the newly planted pieces of potato, and evidently going back and re-hilling ( not sure of the proper term) as they grow.  Thus Bert's mention of "covering" the potato pieces  that will grow into plants.  A picture below of one horse drawn implement for hilling potatoes, and then a link to a video of hilling fairly young plants.

Above - an implement specifically for hilling potatoes - below - doing the same job with a horse drawn plow.

Below - link to a nice video of the process.

hilling up spuds from Chandler on Vimeo.

Saturday, June 16th, 1894 - More covering potatoes for his boss - Russell Dye, in the forenoon, and then Bert goes over to Sheldon Fishers for four hours of covering some of his potatoes, and then tilling and planting corn.  He then helped with chores, probably back at Russell Dye's place, and then went over to visit Herman Babcock, his brother, and parenthetically, my great grandfather!  Bert spends  the night at Herman's place.  Bert seems to like  to make the most of his day off on Sunday, thus the starting of his Sunday visiting on Saturday night!

June 13th, 1894 thru June 14th, 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.

Wednesday, June 13th, 1894 - I love the beginning - "A warm day. I shed my drawers for the first (this) Spring"  Bert certainly has a way with words!  Probably talking about long underwear?  Bert's time info seems off, but he starts the day plowing with 3 horses until Russell needs one horse for a trip to Naples.  Bert does the chores alone tonight.

Thursday, June 14th, 1984 - Today is more on the Hot side, and Bert continues plowing and dragging land for potatoes, and also prepares some space for a garden.  In those days a garden would probably have been a pretty good sized plot.  He also prepares a flower bed.  I find it interesting that it is quite late in  the year to be tilling the garden, etc.  This area of upstate NY, is at a fairly high altitude, and thus has a quite short growing season. Average first frost seems to be about October 1st, and average last frost in the spring seems to be in late May.  Thus only about a 4 month growing season can be counted on?

June 11th, 1894 thru June 12th, 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.

Monday, June 11, 1894 - Russell Dye and Bert work more on planting and tilling land at Milo Dye's place - Russell's Dad.  They mark and plant corn and potatoes.

Tuesday, June 12, 1894 - A hot and sunny day - Bert hauls 8 loads of manure - I presume it was spread on the fields to be planted.  He then plowed land for potato planting.  Russell went over to Mr. Hiler's to get Dakota Potatoes for planting. (I can't find any definite info about what sort of potatoes these were.... there are several varieties of modern potatoes with names like Dakota Rose, etc. but all are recent introductions.) A thunder shower that night, and Bert mentions chores again - he hasn't mentioned chores for a little while, but we can presume they continue to be part of the daily routine - feeding, milking, and general care of the animals on the farm - there hasn't been much of any mention of exactly what animals there were - except for the horses of course.

June 9th, 1894 thru June 10th, 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 ..... especially with input on Bert's coded entries?

Saturday, June 9th, 1894 - Bert  and Russell go back to Milo's place, and do more dragging and marking for planting corn and potatoes.  Bert mentions marking for corn - the picture below shows the tool used for marking corn.

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? . Dragged both ways behind a horse 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.  I assume that a similar tool was used for marking to plant potatoes, with different distance between the vertical boards.

Sunday, June 10th, 1894 - Bert describes the day as "Hot! Hot!! Hot!!! Hot!!!!  I love  the way Bert capitalizes "Hot". repeats it 4 times, and adds an extra exclamation point on each successive one! Bert went to visit his father John for the day.  His Dad didn't live that far away, so I'm not sure why it took about 3 hours to get there?

June 7th, 1894 thru June 8th, 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 ..... especially with input on Bert's coded entries?

Thursday, June 7th, 1894 - Bert, Russell Dye, and G. Spers (?) go over to Mr. Avery's to plant potatoes.  Bert dragged the field - final tilling stage, and Russell marked the field in one direction and Bert marked it in the other direction.  "Marking"  is done with a horse drawn implement with vertical parts that make grooves in the soil.  Marking in both directions leaves a grid that locates the places to plant potatoes the proper distance apart, and in even rows that will allow cultivating the weeds later. They then drop small cut russet potato pieces that will grow into plants. Bert mentions "mudding in" the potatoes - a term used when planting in muddy soil instead of the preferred drier softer soil.  That fits with the fact that he mentions it is a rainy day.

Friday, June 8th, 1894 - A nice day today, and Bert and Russell go over to Milo Dye's place to plow and drag another field for planting.  Milo is Russell's father.  It rains in the evening.