Aug 1 – Feel a little better. Picked two qts of dewberries.
Aug 2 – I went to Kal- this P.M. bought a thin coat and vest, paid $4.00, pair of cuff buttens 50¢, collar 15¢. Hannah went as far as Mr Peases. I got back there to tea.
Aug 3 – Rainy. Hannah began cleaning house. 7 years ago to day Mr Ralph moved on the Taylor place. I shingled (or patched rather) the corn house.
Aug 4 – Hannah and I cleaned the middle room to day. I went over to see why Joe Neff did not come and help. He could not make much of an excuse.
Aug 5 – Hannah and I cleaned the kitchen to day. Went to the Burg this even’g. Aggie (Smith) Wilbur was at Loises. Got our first cabbage out of the garden to day.
Aug 6 – Ida and Carrie Barber,[82] Hannah and I started for camp meeting at Vicksburg 6.06 A.M. arrived there 9.16 A.M. Heard Mr Edgerly and Mr Tisdale speak. The talk was grand. Got home 8 P.M.
Aug 7 – Helped Hannah about cleaning in the front room this A.M. Went to the Burg this evening. Took Hannah up to Mr Ralphs to see Gertrude.
Aug 8 – Mowed weeds along the road and around the yard to day. Gertrude helped Hannah sew to day.
Aug 9 – Took Hannah over to Eberle Underwoods[83] to sew. She is making Florences[84] wedding outfit. Rec’d letter from Nancy sent a $4.00 dividend the first since going into Hillmans. She sent for a box of cigarettes for Jim for his asthma.
Aug 10 – Trimmed the woodbine on the house and patched the roof also cleaned it off. Real warm. Hannah came from Underwoods to night.
Aug 11 – Did a number of little jobs to day. Very Warm. Hannah visited at Edwin Flanders to day. Very hard wind just after dark. No rain to speak of.
Aug 12 – Went to the Burg this A.M. Cleaned the buggies and oiled them this P.M. Went to the Burg this evening. Ina and her two girls[85] came on Bobtail.
Aug 13 – Hannah, Gertrude and Mabel Ralph and I went to Vicksburg to the Camp meeting. (Lela Mae Brown’s 21st Birthday.)
Aug 14 – Budded some little apple trees to Primates this P.M. One peach tree to a seedling that stands by the Siberian crab apple tree. Gertrude sewed this P.M. will be here the rest of the week. Rec’d letter from Nancy sent me one dollar.
Aug 15 – Trimmed up an apple tree top that broke off Friday night. Repaired my bicycle this P.M. I am having a time with the itch. Seems as though I would burn up some of the time. Got poisoned with poison ivy.
Aug 16 – Went to the Burg this even’g. Got ready to go to the Pioneer Picnic tomorrow. Loises 59th birthday.
Aug 17 – Pioneer Picnic at Long Lake. Hannah and I went. We ate our dinner with Wm Ralphs folks. Ettie Tompkins went with us. Hot and dusty.
Aug 18 – Went to the Burg this morning. Went to the 6.17 P.M. train after Mrs Plank and Mary.[86] Gertrude and Mabel sewed today. Ina Holmes came over just before started for the Burg. She rode back with me.
Aug 19 – Visited to day. Went to the Burg this evening. Mary Skeels and Hannah went with me. Very warm and dry.
Aug 20 – Mary Skeels and I went up to Herbert Earls[87] and got some ice and we made ice cream. Was first rate. Very warm.
Aug 21 – Went to the Burg this A.M. Cut a little corn in the garden that was ripe. Took Mrs Plank and Mary up to Charley Fords this P.M. Mrs Montague gave me a Peerless Atlas of the World. Hannah visited at Mr Ralphs this P.M.
Aug 22 – Took Hannah to Cora Beras this A.M. Went after [them] this P.M. evening. Went over the part of the same road seventeen years this even’g.[88]
Aug 23 – Mrs Plank and Mary came from Mr Simmonds this morning. I took them over to the Taylor girls[89] this P.M. Hannah and I went after them this evening. They called at Loises.
Aug 24 – Took Mrs Plank and Mary to the 5.22 A.M. train. They will be in Grand Rapids before 8 oclock. I cleaned the shop to day.
Aug 25 – Sick to day. Vomited 16 times last night. Am better to day. Dr McBeth called and left me some medicine.
Aug 26 – Went to the Burg this A.M. Took Hannah to Eb Underwoods to sew. Went over again this evening. Nice rain this morning.
Aug 27 – Hannah and I went to Vicksburg to the last Camp meeting this year. Mr Tisdale and Mrs Carrie E. S. Twing were speakers. Came home by the way of Long Lake.
Aug 28 – Washed the buggy and did various other things to day. Mabel Ralph sewed for Hannah to day will the rest of the week. Had an introduction to Ned Stevenson.
Aug 29 – Cut the corn in the garden this A.M. Hannah and I went to the Burg this evening.
Aug 30 – Went up to Mrs Schrams and picked a basket of grapes for jelly. Went to the Burg this evening.
Aug 31 – Ma and I canned some tomatoes this A.M. Studied on my Rotary engine drawings some this P.M. Will Ridler finished cutting corn in the east lot this A.M. Filled a couple of straw ticks over to Seal Struble this P.M.
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[82] Ida Barber married Eugene Howe in 1882 and in 1884 they had twins, Carrie and Charles. However, the 1900 census shows Ida as a widow and she, Carrie and Charles BARBER were living with Ida’s father, Richard. Carrie & Charles are listed as Richard’s grandchildren. Ethan Keith’s diary entry of September 22, 1884 shows: Ida (Barber) Howe left Mr Howe to day. He feels real bad about it
[83] Neighbor
[84] Florence Underwood
[85] His niece, Ina (Skinner) Holmes, and her daughters, Gertrude and Frances Holmes
[86] Harriet (Groat) Plank and her daughter, Mary (Plank) Skeels. The Plank family had been neighbors of the Keiths in Comstock, but on April 3, 1873, Ethan’s father, Luke, noted in his diary that they had left for Grand Rapids, Michigan
[87] Neighbor
[88] Ethan made several cryptic entries in his 1884 diary which seem to relate to the fact that he had been engaged to Helen “Nellie” Bristol, who went to West Stockbridge, Massachusetts on November 29, 1884 and on October 25, 1885 married Clarence Spencer
[89] Sisters, Harriet and Flora Elizabeth “Libbie” Taylor. Libby had been married to Isaac Schram, however by 1880 they were divorced and Hattie and Libby were living together
Letters & Diary Entries From the 1860s through the 1890s 