Jul 1 – Hoed some in garden. Warm day.
Jul 2 – Henry Webster and Clarence Thresher Drew in the wheat. Had a nice shower.
Jul 3 – Some rain warm. No one here.
Jul 4 – Went over to burg in forenoon after Lois. Took over 10¾ lbs Butter 10¢ pr lbs. N. L. Randal[78] paid 30¢.
Jul 5 – Very hot. Sarah went down to Mr Randals. I drew in six shocks wheat. Went over to burg.
Jul 6 – Worked in garden some. Lois and Charley[79] came over in afternoon.
Jul 7 – Went down to Mrs Browns got my plow. Ethan plowed out potatoes.
Jul 8 – Very hot. Not much done but chores.
Jul 9 – Hoed in garden some. Willie Giddings raked wheat stubble. Had a nice shower. Whitford got 11 Doz Eggs 10 cts pr Doz.
Jul 10 – At home all day. Not much done.
Jul 11 – Mercury 100 very hot. Hoed some. Very dry. Mr Isted cut Taylor girls wheat. Charley Ford drew in the rakings.
Jul 12 – Mercury 104 in shade. Went over to burg in morning. Got the Ring bolt to buggy mended 20¢.
Jul 13 – Mercury 106 in shade. Worked in shop some painted springs. Took out tooth for Theodore. Ethan, Will Brown and the girls went to Gull.[80] Lizzie Crawford started for Iowa on night train.
Jul 14 – Very hot and dry. Not much done. Dixie Harris[81] came over. D and Lou here. Hank and Nancy came up on Six oclock train.
Jul 15 – Nancy here feeling very comfortable. Very hot and dry Mercury runs from 93 to 104 now days.
Jul 16 – Mercury 105 in ___. Not much work now days. Pastures getting very dry.
Jul 17 – Mercury 108 in shade. Nancy and children here.
Jul 18 – Whitford got Eggs 10½ Doz 1.05. {Robbie Henry died to day.}[82] Hoed some in garden. Mr Pattersons Barns burnt this morning.
Jul 19 – Sick. No work to day. Very dry. Grass in yard all dried up.
Jul 20 – Mercury 100 in shade. Not very well.
Jul 21 – Took some corn to mill. Very hot. Not much done. Worked on cradle some.
Jul 22 – Finished cradle. Put springs on wagon seat. Nancy down to Mrs Browns.
Jul 23 – Nancy down to Mrs Browns. Hoed some in garden. Went over to burg at noon. Hot and very dry.
Jul 24 – Mercury 85 some wind. Hannah at home to day. Hannah went to Caywoods.
Jul 25 – 94 in shade. Went over to burg got tyre set on one of the carriage wheest [wheels] 80¢. Bot Horse Net 75¢. 40 Years to day Jerusha Cruttenden and I wer married in Covington Gensee Co. N Y.[83]
Jul 26 – Worked round house and garden. Very hot and dry hardly a green thing to be seen. Pastures all dried up.
Jul 27 – Cut drilled corn in forenoon. Went down to Katharines in afternoon. No rain yet some. Mercury runs high.
Jul 28 – Very hot 100 in shade. Not much work to day. Nancy and bes here. Ethan casting chain links for machine.
Jul 29 – 98 in shade hot and dry no rain. Pastures dry as a Powder house.
Jul 30 – 100 in shade. Mrs Freer here. I hoed some in garden.
Jul 31 – 100. Mrs Streator called here. Very hot day. All at home.
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[78] Neighbor, Nathan L. Randall
[79] His grandson (and daughter Lois’ son), Charles Clark
[80] Gull Lake
[81] Believe he is referring to Dexa (Strait) Harris, who was the sister-in-law of D. D. Harris (see footnote to February 3rd entry)
[82] Robert E. Henry, the four-year-old son of Edna (Crawford) and Emmett Henry, and the grandson of Robert & Louisa (McCann) Crawford, died in LeClaire, Scott County, Iowa, from Summer Complaint, which was a major cause of childhood death in the late 1800s. It was usually the result of drinking spoiled milk and caused watery diarrhea and vomiting, bringing on severe dehydration. It occurred chiefly between the months of April and October
[83] Luke was engaged to Jerusha Crittenden/Cruttenden, but then Minerva Payson came to town and Luke broke his engagement to Jerusha and married Minerva on April 23, 1839. They had two children: Lois and Henry. Minerva died just four years after they were married. He then married his first love, Jerusha, on July 25, 1847, however she died just a little over a year later. Luke then married Sarah Crawford on November 14, 1849 and they had six children: Ethan, Nancy, William (died in infancy), Hannah, Louese and James. In the evenings Luke would go to the cemetery and play his violin at the graves of his first two wives
Letters & Diary Entries From the 1860s through the 1890s 