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?