May 1 – Very pleasant morning. Worked round house and garden.
May 2 – Dragged garden west side house. Seeded croquet ground and draged it. Harry Streator and Hellen Randall married this Evening.[69]
May 3 – Planted some potatoes. Henry and Davis Stafford called here. Some rain. Hannah and Katharine came up. Barber plowed some.
May 4 – George plowing some. Planted potatoes up south. No rain to day. Claud and Nancy here. Hank came over. They went down to Mr Browns. Henry came down stayed all night.
May 5 – Henry here to day. I carried Katharine home in afternoon. Cool wind. Carried Mrs Betts over to burg in morning.
May 6 – Dug out five stumps south of barn. Barber plowed. Cow calved in night.
May 7 – Chored round. Burnt cornstalks out by barn. Barber plowing. Rain some. Jim went to work for Mr Streator.
May 8 – Rainy morning some thunder. Filled up stump holes South of Barn. Sarah went over to burg with Barber. Claud here. He came over with me in morning.
May 9 – Work round. Split up oak timber. The jobs let to day to fill up north sluice this side river and build bridge across mill brook by Jesse Earls.[70] McLewis builds bridge $153.00. Wm Aldrich fills sluice $16.50 (16.50).
May 10 – Put heads in mawl. George Ives called here. Went up in woods cut some wood. Barber finished plowing. Fine day. Hannah went up to T Fords stayed all night.
May 11 – Frost this morning. Cut some wood drawed two loads. Mrs Betts went over to burg with Doc Wightman[71] in afternoon. Tamer[72] carried Hannah over to Nancys.
May 12 – At home all day. Went over to burg at night after Hannah and Mrs Betts. Browns folks here in Evening. Frost this morning.
May 13 – Frost this morning. Hoed in garden some. Barber draging. Cool day. Mrs Wightman[73] here. Ida Wing came up after Hannah.
May 14 – Chored round in forenoon. Barber draging. Went to Mr Simmons raising in afternoon. He raised a big barn.
May 15 – Chored round. Worked in garden and shop some. Sarah and Mrs Betts went down to Mr Browns.
May 16 – Marked corn ground East of house. Jim came home from Streators. Barber planted corn. Went up to Foundry to see waterwheel.
May 17 – Finished marking corn ground and planted East of house. Barber finished planting. Carried Nancy and Claud home.
May 18 – Went to Kalamazoo to attend a Greenback Convention.[74] Fine day. Rained in Evening. Rainy night.
May 19 – At home. No one here. Some rainy. Hank came over in afternoon.
May 20 – Marked Jims corn ground and planted it. Made calf yard. Hoed strawberries and currant bushes.
May 21 – Worked round hoed some and tinkered round generaly.
May 22 – Repaired wheel. Put in two felloes and set tire.
May 23 – Went up in woods. Sawed some wood. Hoed corn and beans. Jim Ralph brot his buggy down. Worked on that some. Bot suspenders 50¢. Gloves 1.35.
May 24 – Drawed 3 three loads wood. Finished Ralphs spring bar. Painted windmill. Mr Brown got some cabbage plants.
May 25 – Hoed in garden some. Went over to burg. Received twenty 21 one Dollars of Township Treas. Hannah came home. Nancy came over stayed all night.
May 26 – Pleasant. Hank and Nancy went down to Browns.
May 27 – Went up on hill got load sand. Went over to burg. Got lime and hair.[75] Mrs Betts went over to burg.
May 28 – Went over to burg. Got link twister made. Mrs betts came home. Sarah went over. Claud came home with me. Went over at night. Brown plowing south lot.
May 29 – Went over to burg after chain and link twister 30¢. Rained hard. Not well.
May 30 – Sick. Hard cold. No work to day.
May 31 – Shelled lot corn. Went over to burg. Got link hook made. Went down to Browns. Got some wheat 64 and 72 bags in all.
——-
[69] Michigan Marriage Records confirm that Henry “Harry” Streator and Helen Randall were married May 2, 1878 in Comstock, Michigan
[70] Neighbor and “shirttail relative”
[71] Neighbor, George Ransom Wightman
[72] Mary Tamer Ford, the daughter of neighbors Thomas & Adelia (Tompkins) Ford
[73] Believe he is referring to Doc Wightman’s wife, Mary (Crandall) Wightman
[74] The Greenback movement (c. 1868–88) was a political campaign, largely by persons with agrarian interests, to maintain or increase the amount of paper money in circulation. Between 1862 and 1865, the U.S. government issued more than $450,000,000 in paper money not backed by gold (greenbacks) to help finance the Union cause in the American Civil War. After the war, fiscal conservatives demanded that the government retire the greenbacks, but farmers and others who wished to maintain high prices opposed that move. The party ran candidates in three presidential elections—in the elections of 1876, 1880, and 1884
[75] Lime plaster was used for exterior plastering and was composed of sand, water, and lime. Horse hair was added for reinforcement
Letters & Diary Entries From the 1860s through the 1890s 