Lorette's Diary

Following is the set of footnotes associated with research of the transcription of the April 1856 diary entries by Lorette Shepard & John Hamilton. These footnotes are also interspersed and embedded within the transcription.

90. scions ♢ A scion is a living twig that is removed from a plant for the purpose of being joined to another plant.
91. Eliza ♢ Eliza 20 was John Hamilton’s sister who lived at home with her parents and sister Helen 27 and brother James 17.
92. comfortable ♢ A comfortable is today called a comforter.
93. Mr. Conklins ♢ Augustus lived next door to his parents, Elias Conklin and Clarissa Shepard in Middlebury. Around 1844 Augustus married Asinath Hawley a daughter of Phoebe Shepard and her first husband Alvin Hawley, who died in 1846.
94. sugar bush ♢ A sugar bush is a wooded area where maple syrup is produced by tapping maple trees. We in America learned how to do this from our Native Americans. Tapping involved boring a hole in a maple tree and then inserting a spout. As winter days warm in early spring, sap would begin to flow through the spout and into a bucket. The collected sap was then transported to a sugar house where it was boiled to reduce the water content. Many western New Yorkers thought maple sugar was more economical and tastier than imported white sugar.
95. Mrs. Azro Norton ♢ Mary Ann had married Azro Norton on March 1st. They lived in Bethany.
96. Delora Marsh ♢ Delora 11, was the only daughter of Joel Marsh Jr. (1800-1870) and Louisa (1814-1886). The family lived on Francis Road, Bethany, near John Hamilton's parents. They had three sons, Delos 21, Orlando 18, and Eugene 15.
97. school to Alexander ♢ The Genesee and Wyoming Seminary in Alexander was located in the cobblestone building still in existence in Alexander. Frank, John's brother, was 19.
98. Miss Benedict ♢ She may have been twelve-year-old daughter of William and Alzina of Alexander.
99. Henry Bostwick ♢ Henry was a son of Austin and Mary Bostwick of Bethany; later in life Henry ran a hardware and implement store on Jackson Street, Batavia.
100. Frank Shepard ♢ Frank 23 the oldest son of James Shepard and Amanda Putnam
101. Mr. Buel ♢ Cyrus 50 lived in West Bethany with wife Katharine Kromer 46 of Cobleskill, NY, and five children: Austin 21, Melvin 18, Hiram 17, Alice 14, and Allen 14. He was a carpenter and joiner. This was beginning of a yearlong remodeling project of Lorette’s parents’ home located at the fork of Shepard and Putnam Roads, Batavia.
102. Mr. Knowlton ♢ David 50 was named after his paternal grandmother, Lydia Batcheller (1748-1803). He was John Hamilton's brother-in-law, and a carpenter.
103. Lorinda ♢ Lorinda Showerman 24, Lorette's half aunt, was the youngest child of Grandmother Elizabeth Powell Powers and John Showerman. She was living in Albion, Orleans County, where Grandmother Elizabeth's sister, Lydia Powell Bradner, lived. Lorinda was moving on to Altoona, Iowa to live with her new husband, twenty-six-year-old James Bride, born in Virginia.
104. James Hamilton ♢ John’s youngest brother, James was 17. He lived at home with his parents, Hiram and Lucinda Hamilton, and his unmarried siblings, Helen, Lizzie, and Benjamin Frank.
105. Austin Buel ♢ He was the oldest son of Cyrus Buell and Catharine Kromer.
106. James Showerman ♢ James 17, a future doctor, was the youngest son of Peter and Roxanny Showerman.
107. Mr. B. Moore ♢ Benjamin age 36, became a minister in 1847. He married Prudence Lee and they shared a house with his brother John Moore Jr. on Ellicott St Rd., Batavia. Benjamin would go on and also preach in Carlton Hill, Honeoye Falls, Plano, Illinois, and Middleville, Michigan.
108. James Quance ♢ James 32 married Lucy Barney in 1849. They lived on East Road with his widowed mother, Mehitable Powers Quance. Mehitable was one of the first inhabitants of Batavia. The land she lived on was conveyed to her by her father, Peter Powers in 1815.
109. Mrs. Osgood Putnam ♢ She was a daughter of George and Mary Bryon and just had her first and only daughter, Julia.
110. gas lights ♢ The Batavia Gas Light Company installed gas lights in the Village of Batavia. They remained until electric lights were installed later in the century. In 1882 Thomas Edison's Illuminating Company in Manhattan, and began providing electricity to customers for about the same cost as gas.
111. Mrs. Butler ♢ Lucinda was the wife of Sidney Ward Butler, both in their 40’s, they had six children, Sidney Jr., Emily, Bryon, John, Martin, and Martha. They lived on Francis Road next to Asahel Shepard.
112. ploughing ♢ Lorette says 'John began ploughing' and John says he 'Plowed'. These two spellings are used interchangeably, and both are acceptable today.
113. Sally Putnam ♢ Sally and Warren Putnam, in their 40’s, lived on East Road, Batavia, next to her mother, Mehetable Powers Quance.
114. Morris Putnam ♢ was the oldest son of Morris and Maria Lord Putnam. His forty-five-year-old mother was expecting her sixth child in August, and he would be named Mortimer. Morris Jerome was about John and Lorette's age and probably went to school with them at School House No. 6 on the corner of Putnam and Francis Roads. He was single.
115. Captain Smiths ♢ lived across from the Little Tonawanda Creek, and a freshet, a sudden flood of water often due to melting snow or too much rain, took out the bridge going over the creek.
116. Hiram Hurty & Lorette ♢ Lorette Putnam 20 had just married Hiram Hurty at the end of 1855. She was the daughter of Morris Putnam and Maria Lord of Putnam Settlement who had moved to Michigan just before the marriage. The couple possibly lived with his parents in New Hudson, Allegany County, NY. Hiram may have met Lorette while in Batavia visiting his older brother Elijah Hurty, who had been in partnership with the George Bowen Law firm there (unfortunately, Elijah died in 1854 at the age 32 and was buried in the Old Batavia Cemetery). Today, New Hudson is the name of a road that runs through the Hanging Bog Wildlife Management Area, located between Rushford and Cuba, NY.
117. Charlie ♢ Brother, Charles Shepard was nine months old. He was being watched by Sarah Showerman, 16.

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