Following is the set of footnotes associated with research of the transcription of the June 1857 diary entries by Lorette Shepard & John Hamilton. These footnotes are also interspersed and embedded within the transcription.
- Canada ♢ “Little Canada” as it is called, is a community located east of Bethany.
- the first ♢ Lorette’s cousin Malvina, 13, may have been Lorette’s first music student. She gave melodeon lessons for the next twenty years to young women in her neighborhood. Many of their parents also purchased melodeons during this era, which ranged in price from $45 to $350.
- John's birthday ♢ John C. Hamilton was twenty-four.
- Mr. Benedict ♢ William Guy Benedict (1818-189) and wife Alzina Pynchon (1820-1871) had four children, Henry 16, William 14, Helen 8, and Edwin who was born later in 1857. The Benedict family first arrived in Genesee County when William Guy’s grandparents, William Hall Benedict (1757-1836) and Ruth Peck (1752-1846) arrived from Connecticut in the early 1800’s and settled in southern Genesee County, New York.
- new home ♢ Samuel W. Lyman built a house on Ellicott Street Road across from the north end of Shepard Road. In 2008 this is the home of Donald Partridge.
- Our folks ♢ Lorette’s parents left for Uncle Marvin’s on May 12th to help him on his house in Wethersfield, Wyoming County, NY.
- tair ♢ Tares are weeds that resemble wheat
- Jerome Putnam ♢ Jerome was the son of Morris Putnam and Maria Lord, born in 1835. His full name was Morris Jerome Putnam. He married Martha J. Skinner of Michigan. There was a second Jerome Putnam born on the Putnam Settlement - a son of Josiah Putnam (1801-1873) and Olivia P. Lord (1802-1835). This Jerome, born in 1833, died on June 30 1835, about two weeks after his mother died.
- Somerset ♢ Somerset is a town in Niagara County, near Lake Ontario. Peter Showerman’s wife, Roxanny Powers, was a younger sister of Polly Powers wife of Gurdon Huntington of Somerset.
- Charlie ♢ Charles Edwin Shepard, Lorette's brother, was born in 1855, when Lorette was 19 years old. Lorette and John probably have lived with her parents, John and Polly Shepard, who moved from Wethersfield into their home on Shepard Road in 1847.
- Hamilton ♢ John Hamilton’s parents lived in Hamilton, Madison county, when they were first married; their oldest son William was born there in 1820.
- Wm Benedict ♢ This William Benedict may have been the 14 year-old son of William Guy Benedict as he was working with John Hamilton’s younger brother, James Hamilton 18.
- Sarah West ♢ Sarah West 22 married Orlando Wortendyke of west Batavia. She was a daughter of Warren West and Sarah Richmond who lived on Putnam Settlement. They lived with his parents after they were married.
- Philinda ♢ Amelia was a half-sister of Philinda Putnam, their father was Josiah Putnam (1801-1873).
- Martha Green & Maria Gardner ♢ This may have been Mary Ann Wales, 33, wife of Parley Gardner of Alexander. They were married in 1848 in Attica.
- Emily Bryan ♢ Emily Bryan 19 was a daughter of George Bryan (1806-1844) and Mary Ann Unknown (1806-1876). George was buried in Putnam Cemetery. Mary Ann married second John Stapleton in 1846. They lived in Newstead, Erie County, NY.
- Mr. Osborn ♢ This could have been Jefferson Osborne, 27, who was born in LeRoy, lived in Batavia in 1850 as a farm laborer and was in Nebraska by 1860.
- Philinda Putnam ♢ Philinda was the second oldest and the only child still alive of the five children born to Josiah Putnam and Olivia Lord of Putnam Settlement. Philinda and her mother and siblings Olivia (1802-183)5, Nathan (1823-1824), and Jerome (1833-1835) are all buried in Putnam Cemetery. Sisters Arvilla has not been found, and Mrs Olive Putnam Lathrop was buried in Fargo Road Pioneer Cemetery. Consumption, also known as Tuberculosis, was a leading cause of death in the 19th century. It was also known as the great White Plague because of the paleness of its victims. (Lung.org)
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