Transcription

Lorette Shepard & John Hamilton writings

November 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

 

11/1/1857 Sunday. John & I went up south to meeting. Elder Madden preached. Pa & John attend an evening meeting at schoolhouse.

JCH: Went up south to meeting. Elder Madden preached. Still Cool & cloudy. Went up south to the school house to meeting.

11/2/1857 Monday. Snowed a little. Mr. George Huntington & his wife visited here afternoon. Ma fell and hurt her back. Quite sick all night. I finished Johns course shirts.

JCH:

11/3/1857 Tuesday. Pa and John went to village to Election & John went up to the Center to collect the interest on his note. I staid with Ma, she is some better.

JCH: Election day. Went to Batavia & voted then went up to Bethany. Received the interest on a note of 450 dollars that Father gave me. Paid it to Father Shepard & took my note. Cool and cloudy.

11/4/1857 Wednesday. Raining. Ironing. I cut out some chemise for myself.

JCH: Was husking corn all day. Rather more pleasant to day.

11/5/1857 Thursday. Mrs. Marsh visited here all day. I was doing house work most all day. We expected Mrs. Hawley & Benton, I made a calico apron in the evening.

JCH: Was husking corn all day. Pleasant in the forenoon.

11/6/1857 Friday. Pleasant. Deloa & Janett took their lessons. Wm Stewart & Frank Hamilton came here. John & I visited to Peters in the evening

JCH: Was husking corn in the forenoon, drew in corn stalks in the afternoon. Wm Stewart called to see my sheep, offered 12 shilling for the old sheep & 1.00 dollar for the lambs, did not trade.

11/7/1857 Saturday. Rainy with a thunder shower. Pa & John went to the village. Hellen called here. We sold 2 ½ bushel of dried apples.

JCH: Finished drawing in stalks & corn. Went down to Batavia. Took down our dried apples. Received 10 shillings for them. Brought home my boots. It rained very hard this afternoon.

11/8/1857 Sunday. At home all day. Uncle Nelson & Sally Hawley here to see Ma. She does not get along very well.

JCH: Did not attend church to day. Was over to Mr Showermans to day. It rained some to day.

11/9/1857 Monday. Raining. I commenced making a calico wait for myself. Rained very hard.

JCH: It rained hard all day. Was husking corn in the barn. Went down to Mr. Charles & got a cider barrel.

11/10/1857 Tuesday. Snowed a little. Peter Showerman & Henry moved back on the old place.

JCH: We put up a shed between the barns for the sheep. I went up in the afternoon to appraise the damage on Myron Putnam’s corn. Cool & cloudy.

11/11/1857 Wednesday. Pleasant. Spinning.

JCH: Put up a shed on the east side of the cow shed. Moved the old back house off to the hay pen & set another on its place. Went to Batavia in the afternoon, carried back my boots they were to small going to have another pair.

11/12/1857 Thursday. John & I went up to Father Hamiltons. I called to Mr. Marsh, gave Delora a lesson.

JCH: Worked on the back house & board fence. Went up to Fathers in the forenoon with Lorette.

11/13/1857 Friday. Cool & cloudy. Jannett took her lesson to day. Spinning some.

JCH: Finished husking corn in the barn. Buried my roots in the garden & put in 10 bush of turnips in the cow stable. Cool & cloudy.

11/14/1857 Saturday. John & Pa went up to the schoolhouse to attend a lawsuit between Myron Putnam & Frederick Skinner a Dutchman. Pa was one of the arbitrators. It snowed a little last night.

JCH: Attended a law suit between Myron Putnam & Frederick Skinner at the school house. Fred beat. He had Woodard, & Myron plead his own case.

11/15/1857 Sunday. There was a mistake last night in the decision. John & Pa went out to Mr. Bentons this morning to see about it. John & I went up to meeting. Elder Fister at the schoolhouse.

JCH: A meeting at the school house. Father Shepard & I went up to Mr. Bentons to see about a mistake that was made in the decision they being with Mr. Perry the arbitrators in this case. Their decision was that Fred should pay Myron Putnam ten dollars & the costs. Quite cold.

11/16/1857 Monday. Rained said for this afternoon. Pa & Ma went to the village afternoon. Charlie staid with Me. Ma carried back a new brown straw bonnet. Spinning.

JCH: Mr. Town said we agreed to give him a lamb for use of his buck but it is not so. He said he would sue us. Having no witness we thought it best to take him a lamb. We take James Quance as a witness. I pulled 30 bushels of turnips.

11/17/1857 Tuesday. Had my scholars to day. Ma & I visited to Elizebeths. I finished a pair of Chemises for myself. Pa & John sold their hogs for 4 cents per pound. Weighted 1250 1/2, came to $50. They left 30 dollars with Holden to pay taxes.

JCH: We sold our hogs to day at four cents per pound, they weighed 1250 pd & on half $50 dollars. I went up to the school house & paid James Hamilton $5. We left 30 dollars with Holden to pay our taxes. It rained some to day.

11/18/1857 Wednesday. I finished spinning, I had about 80 knots in all.

JCH: We went down in the woods & got a boxwood stick to make stencils. Myron Putnam came down there to see about the decision. We worked in the shed the rest of the day.

11/19/1857 Thursday. It rained & snowed all the afternoon. John & I pared apples 3 bu this afternoon.

JCH; Finished the stencils in the forenoon, I pared apples in the afternoon. I broke the paring machine knife & made a new one. It rained & snowed all afternoon.

11/20/1857 Friday. I finished twisting yarn and twisted some thread. Pa & John ground their axes up to Osgood Putnams. Snows again to night.

JCH: Worked at the barn in the forenoon. Went up to Osgood Putnams & ground our axes. I saw a two legged rat in Osgood's cistern. It snowed again tonight.

11/21/1857 Saturday. Snow about 2 inches deep and still coming. Doing housework all day. Pa went to the village. John settled up with Daniel Shepard accepting 25 in his favor.

JCH: Was at work around the barn all day. Snow. 2 inches deep this morning. Paid Daniel Shepard for thrashing.

11/22/1857 Sunday. Snow about 4 in deep and still coming. Harsh weather for November. At home all day.

JCH: Snow 4 inches deep & still a falling a prospect of sleighing.

11/23/1857 Monday. Jannett took a lesson. I finished twisting thread to day.

JCH: Drew some wood. Sorted over some corn in the barn. We picked over. Fixed a place for the sheep. It commenced thawing, but snowed before night.

11/24/1857 Tuesday. Delora took her lesson to day. Pa & John went to the village. I cleaned my buttery. We finished paring apples at night.

JCH: Chopped wood in forenoon. Went to Batavia and bought a barrel of salt for 15 shillings. Cold & stormy. A barrel of cider came home to day.

11/25/1857 Wednesday. Israel helped Pa draw wood, Elizebeth here at work on Ma’s dress. I cleaned my kitchen.

JCH: Drew wood all day for father Shepard. James Quance helped him.

11/26/1857 Thursday. Thanksgiving. Cold pleasant & good sleighing. John & I went up to his Fathers. All of the children were there. Had a chicken pie.

JCH: Thanksgiving to day. Went up to fathers. All of our folks but Frank were there.

11/27/1857 Friday. Pleasant. Delora took her lesson. Mr. & Mrs. Benton, Mr & Mrs. Hawley, uncle James & Asahel Shepard & wives visited here in the evening. Very pleasant evening.

JCH: More moderate. Father Shepard & father went to Batavia to the house that John Moore mortgage transferred to. Father Shepard took up his note that he had against him & endorsed 36 dollars on my note.

11/28/1857 Saturday. Beautiful day. We all went to the village to day. In the evening John & I went to an Exhibition at schoolhouse or Panorama. Grandma Showerman staid with Ma.

JCH: Went down to Batavia. Was there most all day. Sold some apples for 3 shillings per bushel. Went up to the school house in the evening to a panorama.

11/29/1857 Sunday. John & I went up south to meeting. An Advent man preached at the schoolhouse to day, the show man.

JCH: Went up south to meeting. The snow is going off fast. An advent man preached at the school house to day, the show man.

11/30/1857 Monday. Called on Elizebeth. She was taken sick this morning. Grandmother Showerman is there. Sleighing all gone.

JCH: Chopped a cord & one half this forenoon. Pulled & buried 20 bushels of turnips. Sold 2 cows to Asahel Shepard for $50. He gives us a note of $55, he takes the rest in corn.

 

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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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