Transcription

Lorette Shepard & John Hamilton writings

March 1857

Following is a verbatim transcription of the diaries penned by Lorette Shepard & John Hamilton about life in rural Genesee County, New York. People, places & events transcribed have been thoroughly researched unraveling family relationships & yielding rich insights. Research results are conveniently interspersed within the transcription & published in a footnote form.


Lorette Shepard and John Hamilton's 1857 DiariesImage Credit: Daniel J. Shepard

 

3/1/1857 Sunday. At home all day. Snowed hard & blowed all day. It is too bad after we have had such pleasant weather.

JCH: At home all day, snowing most all day. John C. Hamitlton

3/2/1857 Monday. Cold. Ma put on a bed quilt this afternoon. I did not quilt any to day.

JCH: Was over to Peter Showermans, Quite cool.

3/3/1857 Tuesday. John & Pa went to the village to Town meeting. Ma & I quilted all day.

JCH: 3/3/1857 Went to Batavia to a town meeting. Voted for American generally. Much excitement.

3/4/1857 Wednesday. John & I went up to Wm Stewarts & staid all night. Went to a singing school with them.

JCH: 3/4/1857 Went up to Wm Stewarts in the evening. Went up to a juvenile singing school tonight by Mr. Lincoln. Quite an interesting school. It is thawing some to day.

3/5/1857 Thursday. Came home about noon. Mrs. Reamer & Emaline Jackman here this afternoon. Mr. Buell came here to work finishing stairs.

JCH: Went up to the corners. Heard that Bethany had elected the fusion American & Democrat ticket, Batavia an American Supervisor. Came here. Mr. Buell came here to night to build the stairs. Cool.

3/6/1857 Friday. Pleasant. Mr Buell here at work. Ma & I finished the quilt.

JCH: I was at home all day, did not do any thing. Father Shepard went over to the saw mill to get some plank, drew home two loads. Blustering.

3/7/1857 Saturday. Very cold day. John & I visited to Charles Putnams, uncle Covells folks were there, had a good visit. They think of moving in about 4 weeks.

JCH: Went up to Charles Putnams. Mr Covell & wife, Jane Hawley was there. Talked over the trouble between Charles & Mr Smith. Very cold & blustering.

3/8/1857 Sunday. Cold but pleasant. We went to meeting up south, Charles preached.

JCH: Went up south to meeting. Quite a number out to meeting.

3/9/1857 Monday. Snowed some, Washing. Mr Buell here at work. I took cold.

JCH: Chopped about a cord of wood in the woods in the afternoon. Cut timber for to move the old barn. Some snow & cool. Mr Marvin Shepard down. Mr Buell here at work.

3/10/1857 Tuesday. Milton Powers & Olive, Warren Putnam & Sally & Lucy visited here. I am working Ma a tidy.

JCH: Drew up the timber for the barn. Warren Putnam & wife, Milton Powers & wife were here. Pleasant & some warmer.

3/11/1857 Wednesday. Our folks went up to Mr. Calvin Strongs. Mr. Buell here. John went up to debating school. It is the boys they think of having an exhibition.

JCH: Our folks went up to Mr. Strongs. Drew out straw manure & piled it in the lot. The manure rotting & heating in the barn yard, thought it bad for sheep to lay up on. Quite cool.

3/12/1857 Thursday. Not as cold as yesterday. I helped Elizebeth quilt afternoon, had considerable company in the evening to see about the exhibition.

JCH: Father Shepard helped me draw out manure all day. The south school were here this evening to see about getting up an exhibition. James and Lucy Quance here.

3/13/1857 Friday. Grandfather & mother Showerman visited here in the evening. Mr. Marsh & wife, Mr Benton & wife, Asahel Shepard & wife, aunt Sally were here. Mr Buell went home had not got done.

JCH: Father Shepard helped draw out manure in the forenoon. Mr. J. Showerman was here all day. I trimmed apple trees in the afternoon.

3/14/1857 Saturday. Pleasant. John & I visited Mr Rogers school, there were a good many in. The girls read a read a paper, considerable slanging. The boys, Pa & John went to the debating school

JCH: John trimmed apple trees in the forenoon. Mr. Buell has been here all this week except to day. Went up to fathers, came back to the school house. Boys about giving up the exhibition.

3/15/1857 Sunday. At home all day. Some warmer. Mr. & Mrs. P. Showerman & Sarah called this evening.

JCH: I went up to the meeting at the school house. Elder Davis preached. Very muddy.

3/16/1857 Monday. It thawed some. John went up to his fathers this morning.

JCH: Went up to fathers this morning gathered sap & ice and boiled it. It thawed considerably today.

3/17/1857 Tuesday. Charlie was sick all night. Was afraid he would have the Scarlet fever. Harriet, Laura & Fanny & Clark Shaw visited here. James Hamilton came down for me. They sugared off after I got there.

JCH: Syruped down and carried it up to the house. James went down and brought up Lorette. Gathered sap in the afternoon.

3/18/1857 Wednesday. Hellen & Mother Hamilton & myself visited to Azro Nortons. John staid out in the sugar bush till nine oclock at night.

JCH: Was boiling all day. Henry Bostwick & Jared Levings was over. Helped me put up a pole in the trees to swing up on. Rain evening.

3/19/1857 Thursday. I went to visit to Grandmother Showerman. Mr. Brainard folks came there. We all went up to an Exhibition to Browns schoolhouse. It was very good. I played some on a melodeon they had there.

 

Elizabeth Powell Powers Showerman

Elizabeth Powell Powers Showerman (1789-1866), Lorette's maternal Grandmother
Image Credit: Private Family Collection

 

JCH: Boiled & syruped down. It snowed & blustered all day. Very tedious to work. Went up south in Browns district to an exhibition. Lorette played on a melodeon for them. Very good exhibition.

3/20/1857 Friday. Thawed some, Wind blowed. They sugared off at the house, we brought home some sugar, Frank came down & staid a while, had warm sugar every day.

JCH: Sugared off up to the house, came home & brought home some sugar. Cleared off & thawed some to day. Frank came down & stayed a while.

3/21/1857 Saturday. Thawing a good sap day. Heard that Theodore Smith was married last Wednesday.

JCH: Drew out manure. Warmer to day.

3/22/1856 Sunday. Pleasant thawing. John went up to his fathers again, at home all day. Staid to Peters all night.

JCH: Went up home to make sugar. Sap running very fast. Gathered about 12 barrels. Warm. Helen & Liza were out in the woods. Norman Putnam came up to see about going to school.

3/23/1857 Monday. Washing. A good sap day. I staid with Sarah all night.

JCH: Boiled till twelve o clock last night. Was boiling all day. Pleasant to warm. Boiled till midnight to night. Was over to Thompson bush to day.

3/24/1857 Tuesday. Working on my tidy. John came home to night. They made 200 lbs of sugar.

JCH: 3/24/1857 Syruped down & sugared off to day. Went over to Thompson bush. Our folks to Mrs. Powers. Some rain and foggy. About twenty there. Came home to night.

3/25/1857 Wednesday. Colder & storms some. Finished the tidy.

JCH: It snowed some last night. Split wood in wood house. James Hamilton called here to see about some apples.

3/26/1857 Thursday. We went to the village. Ma got the carpets for the hall, Pa & John sold three barrels of apples 17 shillings per lb.

JCH: Frank Hamilton called here and took in three barrels of apples. Carried them to Batavia. We received 17 shillings for ours, with the promise of 22 if Mr. Marshall sold them for as much. Cool. Cloudy.

3/27/1857 Friday. Marking up the cloth for my spread.

JCH: Trimming apples trees all day. Required considerable work.

3/28/1857 Saturday. Ma & I visited up to Henry Showermans. They talk of moving down to Olives with Peters folks. John went up to the school house in the evening.

JCH: Went over to James Quances to see about buying some hay. He was not at home. Trimmed apple trees the rest of the day.

3/29/1857 Sunday. Cloudy. At home all day. Pretty bad going now. We read a long story to day.

JCH: At home all day. Cool wind in the north west. Reading in Ballus Pictorial.

3/30/1857 Monday. John went to his fathers making sugar again. This afternoon I commenced working on my compass bed quilt, but had no batten suitable. Henry Showerman moves down to day to live with his father.

JCH: Went up home this morning to make sugar. Boiled until about 11 o clock in the evening. Was over to Thompsons bush. Frank started for school at Alexander.

3/31/1857 Tuesday. I sent this morning & got batten & put on the quilt, Ma helped me. John came home to night.

JCH: Finished up my making sugar for this year. Most all the young folks on the road were in the woods. We had some sugar. Came home.

 

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1857 Diary Summary

John 25 and Lorette 21 settle into their second year of marriage. They live with her parents who are remodeling their house on Shepard Road, Batavia, NY. Baby brother, Charles is 3 and Lorette helps with his care. Daily they see their relatives and friends marry and have children. Lorette gives music lessons to neighbors and attends singing school and weekly sees her best friend and half-aunt Elizabeth Showerman Quance who lives around the corner on East Road with her husband Israel. John attends a debate club, reads a book on spiritualism, moves his barn, goes fishing, raises sheep, makes maple syrup, and plays baseball. Life is filled with dinners, picnics, attending various churches, deaths and marriages, and a lot of visiting.

1857 Surnames Mentioned

Andrews, Ashley, Benedict, Benton, Bostwick, Brainard, Brown, Bryan, Buell, Burt, Calkins, Chaddock, Charles, Cole, Cornwell, Cortez, Covell/Coville, Cummings, Davis, Denton, Dorman, Emmons, Farnham, Fillmore, Fister, Green, Hamilton, Hart, Hathaway, Hawley, Holden, Holter/Holton, Houghton, Huggins, Huntington, Jackman, Johnson, Judd, Judson, Keaton, Knowlton, Lamkin, Lane, Lathrop, Lawrence, Leonard, Levings, Lincoln, Loomis, Lord, Lovelace, Lyman, Lyons, Madden, Marsh, Marshall, McMillen, Moore, Newton, Northrup, Norton, Nott, Olin, Parmer, Patterson, Perry, Phelps, Plato, Powers, Putnam, Quance, Read, Reamer, Rogers, Rolland, Sale, Shaw, Shepard, Showerman, Skinner, Smith, Sprague, Stevens, Stewart, Strong, Sweetland, Thayer, Thompson, Town, Waite, Walker, Wales, Ware, Watts, Webster, Weed, West, Wilkenson, Woodward, Wortendyke

Life as Lorette

Atlases and Maps used in research

Life as Lorette presents the journey from diary discovery to revealing pioneers of Genesee County, New York.

World Events of 1857

  • An earthquake hit Tokyo and about 107,000 died
  • Frederick Laggenheim took the first photo of a solar eclipse
  • H. Sichel & Sohne, the producers of the popular Blue Nun white wine, was founded in Germany
  • The SS Central America sinks to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, cargo includes 43 bars of gold

National Events of 1857

  • In Dred Scott decision, the Supreme Court rules that a slave is not a citizen
  • James Gibbs of Virginia patented a chain-stitch single-thread sewing machine
  • The California gold rush town of Columbia burned down in a fire that was blamed on a Chinese cook; the miners soon evicted all Chinese from the town
  • Mormon leader Brigham Young called out the Nauvoo Legion to fight the U.S. Troops if they enter Utah Territory
  • Lithographers Nathaniel Currier and Charles Ives become partners
  • Count Agoston Haraszthy founded the Buena Vista Winery in Sonoma, California
  • Paul Broca discovered that particular regions of the brain are specialized for particular functions
  • The first US coin to be called a nickel was the copper and nickel one-cent piece

New York State Events in 1857

  • The first passenger elevator is installed in a New York City store
  • Landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead and architect Calvert Vaux won the competition to develop New York City's Central Park
  • New York City's Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company branch fails, precipitating a financial panic; 4,932 U. S. firms fail
  • John Alsop King takes office as the first Republican governor
  • The American Chess Association organized. The first major US chess tournament was held in NYC

Local Events in 1857

  • Treaty with the Seneca Tonawanda Band was signed restoring about 8,000 acres of land to the Seneca Nation
  • The Genesee River floods carrying away buildings on Rochester's Main Street Bridge
  • Susan B. Anthony and William Lloyd Garrison speak at an Abolition meeting in Corinthian Hall, Rochester
  • Le Roy's Ingham Collegiate Institute is chartered as Ingham University
  • Belva Lockwood graduates from Genesee Wesleyan Seminary in Lima, NY; she later runs for U.S. President in 1884 and 1888
  • Polly Hoag Frisch's second husband, Otto Frisch, deserts her in the same year that two more of her children die in the Town of Alabama. Relatives, neighbors, and friends are suspicious
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