Sep 1 – Pleasant But dull. Only took in .65 to day. I have got the blues pretty bad. Nancy is in a fix,[82] got so the first week which was last week. It beets the duce how I do get along. I cant help but wish that I was dead.[83] I bought some beats to day.
Sep 2 – Pleasant and very dull. I could not get any butter this morning so we had to get along with out. Nancy got up this morning sick at her stomach which estableshes the fact that she is in a fix again.
Sep 3 – Rainey and dull. I did not take in a cent all day. I expect that I will see some pretty hard times now. I dont know whether it is because my pictures dont suit or because I am such a mean unlucky cuss.
Sep 4 – Pleasant this morning. Nancy is not feeling very well. I took in four dollars and 50 cents to day, all for photographs. Retuched three negatives. I have got the blues most awful bad to day and expect to have them the rest of my days.
Sep 5 – Peasant but windy. Very dull. I have printed to day, got done about two oclock. Nancy was sick to her stomach again this morning and I have got the blues worse than ever. Oh! how I do wish I could get along without haveing the blues so.
Sep 6 – Cloudy and cold this morning. We had a fearful accident here last night. Little Jimmie Sylvester[84] was killed while playing with the cars.[85] I did not take in a cent to day but I tended to my bussines just the same.
Sep 7 – Some rainey and windy. I boiled my baths to day. Nancy is not very well so we did not go to church. She wrote a letter to Dr our folks and I wrote one to Dr Foote. We went down to the dam in the maple river just sundown.
Sep 8 – Pleasant but cool. It is very dull, not a thing to do and of corse I have got the blues like the duce. I have taken 2 gems of Mr Long to day and that is all I have done. I have made up my mind to quit business october first.
Sep 9 – Pleasant and cool. I took in 2.25 to day but it is most awful dull now days. I albuminized glass this morning. We got a letter from home this morning and one from Loyd Higgins.
Sep 10 – Pleasant. I took in 5.00 to day, the most I have taken in in a quite a while. I took a 4-4 negative of Probascos little girl which I did not get paid for and dont expect to get any thing on that as they want something two nice altogather.
——-
[82] It appears Hank believes Nancy is pregnant; however, their son Claude wasn’t born until January 23, 1875
[83] Hank suffered from depression as can be seen by the many entries regarding his feeling blue. Years later, his brother-in-law, Jim Keith, was laid off from his job. In a letter dated May 25, 1890, Jim wrote to his brother, Ethan, regarding his layoff and said, “ I dont know what to do. I never had Hank Brown’s blues befour and never want then again.”
[84] Michigan Death Records at Ancestry.com show that James B. Sylvester, age 9, was killed in a railroad accident. He was the son of Henry S. and Mary Sylvester
[85] Train cars
Letters & Diary Entries From the 1860s through the 1890s 