May 1 – Went up to Al Rowlands after a few seed potatoes this P.M. Rained last night. Cora did not sew to day.
May 2 – Shingled some to day. Pa and I got the old cook stove out this P.M. Took it to the barn. Will Ridler plows for corn in the east lot to day. Rainy this evening.
May 3 – Pa and I finished shingling the back room. Will Ridler plowed to day.
May 4 – Rainy to day. Took Hannah and Gertrude to the Burg this evening. Gertrude sews for Mrs Bush tomorrow. Moved the cupboard in the back room and got the pump out so we can get the range in.
May 5 – Did some patching on the roof of the upright part of the house and lento’s. Got the range that Nancy gave us in the back room this P.M. Will Ridler helped. Took Cora Harris over to Geo Whitings this evening.
May 6 – Planted the garden to day. Went to the Burg this evening.
May 7 – Mate Ford called awhile this P.M. Rainy this P.M. Turned Daisy on the bottom land to day for the first.
May 8 – Jesse Earls 86th birthday.[59] Worked at the stove pipe for the back room stove am trying to make it so it will not leak where it goes through the roof. A couple of the high school boys came to get me to do some turning for their electric motor they are making.
May 9 – Turned three wheels for the electric motor the graduating class at the Burg school is making. Went to the Burg this evening. Lois goes to Chicago to night. Ina is sick.
May 10 – Got the pipe up and stove blacked that Nan gave us, built a fire in it. Rainy. Will and Clara Caywood[60] called this evening.
May 11 – Fixed the pipe to the back room stove where it goes through the roof. It leaked a little last night. Cleaned the grease off the hub’s and axles of Charley Fords buggy so I can paint it. Went to the Burg with Ed Galusha. Mrs G- staid here.
May 12 – Painted on Charley Fords buggy this P.M. washed it this A.M. Ettie Ralph left her wheel here for me to repair. Will Ridler dragged the corn ground to day.
May 13 – Finished painting the running gear to Charley Fords buggy. Repaired a guard to Ettie Ralphs wheel. Went to the Burg this even’g. Rec’d letter from H. L. Keith. Took Hannah and Gertrude to the Maccabee supper this P.M. Went after them this evening. Gertrude brought me some cake. Claude Brown sent me a paper with an article on Liquid Air.
May 14 – Quiet to day. Ras and Eunice[61] was down a while.
May 15 – Took the sod from around the house. Cut some sod and added to what have laid back of the house. Planted peach and plum pit meats. Went to the Burg this evening. Dell Skinner is moving the Beckwith stock of drugs into his store.
May 16 – Lucy Lee’s[62] 56th Birthday. Will Ridler finished planting corn in the east lot to day. Rainy. Wrote to Charles E. Tripler Discoverer of Liquid Air. Went to the Burg this A.M. Went up to Jim Spiers and got two bushels of potatoes.
May 17 – Have done odd jobs to day. Cool. Dont feel first rate. Made some garden. Set out 48 cabbage plants 9 hills of peas and ten beet plants.
May 18 – Worked at the flower beds. Went to the Burg. Dell is moving in the Beckwith drug stock into his store. Went down and saw Mr Knapps new boat also his model for a new paddle wheel. Hannah and I went down to Ed Galushas Browns old (Tam home) for the first this evening. Drove up to Mr Gates a few minutes. Cold.
May 19 – Painted on Charley Fords buggy. Cold to day. Cora Harris was over this P.M.
May 20 – Finished painting Charley Fords carriage. Worked 21 hours at it. Went to the Burg this evening.
May 21 – We got up early and worked until 10.30 A.M. to get ready for Claude Brown and Edith Neumier. They came about 3 P.M. Mr and Mrs Powers of Scotts called also Ras and Eunice Towne. Claude and Edith staid about an hour and a half.
May 22 – Fixed the new vault to the privy and leveled the ground off. I dug it last November.
May 23 – Worked at the back porch getting out old sills and raising roof. Went to the Burg this evening. Mr Hawks told me about the barge he was building for W. W. Olins boat house. Rec’d letter from Nancy.
May 24 – Worked at the back porch getting in new sills, and lengthening sleepers. Queen Victorias 80th birthday.
May 25 – Worked at the back porch. Went to the Burg this P.M. to get Nancy trunk but it did not come.
May 26 – Went to the Burg this mornings. Hannah went with me. Worked at the porch this P.M. finished it. Rec’d letter from Nancy with check for her trunk.
May 27 – Rainy. Have not done much of anything. Went to the Burg this P.M. and got Nancys trunk. Went to the Burg this evening.
May 28 – Rained last night. Norm Elsey and wife called to tell Hannah Cora Bera was sick. Mabel Flanders and her mother[63] was here this evening. Geo Blake and wife was over this P.M.
May 29 – Went to the 12.20 P.M. train and met Nancy. Her first visit home since they moved to Chicago. Aaron Hogeboom and Cora Harris took dinner here. I took them over to Geo Whitings this P.M.
May 30 – Memorial Day. I went over to the exercises in Blakes grove. Jessie Markoff[?] was the orator of the day. This will probably be the last gathering in the grove as Mr Blake is selling village lots out of it.
May 31 – Finished the work around the back stoop. Got what walk down that I am agoing to lay and sodded what ground there was to be sodded.
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[59] Neighbor and “shirttail relative”
[60] Neighbors, William & Clara (Evans) Caywood
[61] Erasmus & Eunice (Wood) Towne. Ras was Hannah’s brother-in-law
[62] His paternal first cousin, Lucy (Lee) Milham, who would have been 56 years old. She died at the age of 41 on September 22, 1884
[63] Neighbors, Mabel and Mary Ellen (Smith) Flanders
Letters & Diary Entries From the 1860s through the 1890s 