Wednesday, September 11, 1889

A nice day.  Still cool at night and warm during the day.  I plowed all day.  Squire, Lewis and Zenis helped Uncle Lias thrash.  Landy Hoover came here this evening. He helped Pa load a load of hay.  Fannie and I went over to the Chaffins to spend the evening with Blanch. 

Tuesday, September 10, 1889

A nice day.  The mornings are cool.  The days are warm.  Pa took a load of hay.(?? and 60 lb.) to the Piles Boys.  I plowed all day.  Lewis and Squire sprouted all day.  Zenis took the girls up to Aunt Rews.  Mattie stayed.  Fannie came back with him.  Pa got back after dark awhile. 



Side Notes:
1. According to my Great Aunt Eileen who was Charles's granddaughter, Squire would have been Squire Weaver.  I looked him up in the 1860,1870 and 1900 federal census records.  He was born in about 1869, the son of William and Martha Weaver.  He married a woman named Caroline in 1882.
2.  Aunt Rew would have been Charles's Aunt on his mothers side.
3.  Who is Fannie??

Notes from Portsmouth Times September 7. 1889

Information received from http://newspaperarchive.com/ Portsmouth Times September 7, 1889

1.  There was a yearly meeting at Mt. Hope on September 4th
2.  Mention of "the threshing machine" doing good work.  "The largest wheat raisers of this place in order of importance are Claude Cadot, Lewis Nagle, James Cadot etc.  James beat them all on the oats.  He had over 600 bushel.  Some have not threshed yet... Ed Davis and John Hanner lead in the melon business."
3.  "George Sheppard will commence school at Vernon Furnace next Monday.  The school at the place will begin one week later.  Mr. Fout will be the teacher."
4.  "Jacob Ruth and Miss Blanche Emory will make a (flying?) trip to Pine Grove Furnace, Sunday."
Charles mentions a Miss Blanche. 
5.  I don't believe Charles has mentioned Mattie in the journals yet but she is mentioned in the paper.
"Miss Mattie Hayward is on the sick list.  Too much picnic."

questions:
1.  Is Miss Blanche a relative of Naomi's and how?
2.  Is Lewis Nagle the Lewis that Charles speaks of working on the farm?

Sunday, September 8 and Monday, September, 9, 1889

 Sept.8
A nice day.  We got up earlier this morning than common on Sun.  All of us young folks took the buggy and started to Mount Hope for church.  I went with them as far as the Mill.  I stayed there for Sunday School and class. then I went home with Fannie stayed all day. got home about 10oclock.

Sept.9
Another nice day.  I helped yard the stacks and straw pile.  after dinner Squire & I sprouted in the left hand hollow till supper time.  Lewis plowed till supper.  Pa cut weeds with the machine back of the barn.  We loaded a load of hay up to take to R(?)'s Boys.  Ma went up to see Josie and got some peaches there.

Saturday, September 7, 1889

A nice day.  Pa & Zenis took 100 bu. of wheat down to the Burg to (?Grannor)  He got .75 per bushel.  The rest of us built brush fence.  Grant & Rena Miller came down this evening with some wattermellons.  I recieved a letter from (Abbie ? Hattie?)


Side Notes:
1.  Brush Fence 
I wonder if Charles's looked like this?
2. I spelled watermelons the way he did :)

Friday, September 6, 1889

It is wet this morning and looks like rain. Zenis and O(Oss?) and I went down to Mr. Shepards to thrash  we took one of the cows tho the ? (borl??)  They got out and came home.  We did not get back till in the evening.  Lewis took a load of wheat down as far as Mr F.( Fatner?)  Pa went to the new mill. 

Side notes:
1.  Wow  today was hard to read. So many questions.    What was Smith's middle name?  Could it be Zenis and Smith O that went to Mr. Shepard's? Where on earth did they take the cows?  and Who is Mr. F?  I will be checking census and other records to try to get some answers.  Please feel free to comment with your ideas!!!
2. Oh, I looked up a calendar for 1889 so we now know what days of the week we are reading :)

September 5, 1889

The morning is nice but it rained after dinner.  Later in teh evening it gave us a hard rain.  The thrashing machine got done thrashing after dinner awhile.  We had 338 bu. of  wheat.  We fixed up the straws stack before  the rain.  We was moving the wheat when the shower came up and wet us. 

September 4, 1889

The morning and for part of the day was nice. But in the after noon it rained several small showers.  We went over and helped Jo Call thrash.  Got done about 3(?)oclock.  After eating dinner the machine moves over to our job.  We thrashed our oats.  Had 300.bu..  Mr. Purdy(?) was not here.  His machine went up to Mr. Cork(?)


Side notes:
1.  It is not plain whether the Haywards owned their own machinery or if it was borrowed.  But, it is clear that not every family in the area could afford the expensive farm machines like Threshers.  What an impressive communal effort it must have been!  I can also imagine that dinner did not only involve the Hayward boys but also anyone that was helping with the effort.
2.  I thought this may be relevant...

Snorting Monsters

Toward the end of the 19th century, machines pulled by horses began to replace hand power in the grain harvest. By then Iowa farmers were not growing much wheat but they needed oats to feed the horses.

For thousands of years, farmers all over the world had cut, shocked, flailed and winnowed grains the same way. Machines changed all that very quickly. Horse-drawn reapers cut the grain, and binders tied the stalks into bundles.

When the grain was dry, the threshing team arrived. Because the operation with machines required many workers, men from up to a dozen farms worked together for several weeks, moving from farm to farm when the grain was ripe until all the grain was harvested. Some members of the crew loaded the bundles onto a wagon and hauled them to a threshing machine. The machine usually looked like a railroad locomotive. It had a firebox that burned coal to produce steam, and the steam drove wheels and gears that operated a conveyor belt. Black smoke poured out of the chimney and a piercing steams whistle signaled farmers when it was time to start and stop work.

Teams of horses pulled the wagons loaded with bundles close to the big conveyor belt. Farmers on the threshing team climbed to the top of the pile and began pitching bundles onto the moving belt. A rotating knife cute the twine holding the bundles together. Then the stalks of oats were pitched into a series of beaters that knocked the heads from the grain (flailing). The breeze from the operation blew the stalks and chaff into a straw pile while the clean grain dropped into a waiting wagon (winnowing). When the wagon was full, the crew drove it to the barn where it was stored in a grain bin.

Farm women also worked long hours during threshing time. Whenever a crew came to a farm, it was the job of the women there to fix a huge noon meal for the men. Sometimes women from neighboring farms came in to help. The meal usually had beef, chicken or pork (sometimes all three), mashed potatoes and gravy, vegetable from the garden: pickles, bread, butter, jams and jellies, and large slices of pie and cake for dessert. Often the women set up long tables in the shade in the yard where it was cooler than the hot kitchen. The women knew that the men could not help comparing the cooking from one farm to the next, and the women worked hard to make the beast meals they could. The men on the threshing crew went back to work in the afternoon well fed. http://www.iptv.org/iowapathways/mypath.cfm?ounid=ob_000067

September 3, 1889

The day was nice till in the afternoon. It rained a shower or two.  I helped Pa butcher a small yearling calf.  Pa sent two veal calves up to Mr. K(irchner)  He went up with them.  Took the calf hide with him.  After dinner we went over to Chaffins to thrash.  We worked till after dark but got done.


Side notes:
1.  Mr. K looks like Kirshner. There are Three male head of households with the name Kirchner in Scioto Co. in the 1880 census.  The 1890 would have been better to use but doesn't exist. 
William age 40 Occupation- Farmer
Lewis age 23 -Farmer
Charles age 21-Farmer

Getting Started

 Charles Emory Hayward was the son of John Phillip and Naomi Hayward.  He had two  brothers, Smith and Zenas and two sisters Mattie and Lilly.  He had a third sister but she died in infancy.  Charles's generation was the second born of the family in the town of Lyra in Scioto County Ohio and the fourth generation to live on the same farmland.  His Great grandfather, Moses had come to Ohio from Vermont in the early nineteenth century.  I have the privilege of having access to the private journals written by Charles during the late 1880's through the early 1890's.  He was my Great great grandfather.  Like his predecessors, Charles lived and farmed in Scioto County.  Charles kept a daily journal and each day, he recorded the weather and what he did that particular day.  Daily entries taken individually are prosaic to say the least.  But, when I took the time to read these fragmented references together, I began to see a larger picture; I saw how Charles's life was built around the routine workings and rhythms of the farm.  He worked, slept, ate, rested and played when the farm allowed him to.  By looking closer at these journals we gain a more vivid image of the daily workings of the farm, family, friends and acquaintances in Charles's life.  
 
 The journals are full of golden nuggets of historical and genealogical information and are screaming to be heard.  I invite anyone who is interested to join me on this journey back in time through Charles's eyes.  Please share questions and information  pertinent to the entries. I will be picking out information I find captivating myself and will most definitely go on tangents some obviously related and probably some not so much.  I am anxious to see where this journey leads us!

Septemeber 2, 1889

A warm day.  It sprinkled a little in the evening.  I drilled till suppertime on the wheat grown?
Pa went over to Scioto Fur.(Furnace)in the forenoon.  Miss Blanch was over in the afternoon and told us to come over in the evening to go tover to John Dutiel to a social gathering.  We did not get back till after 9oclock. 


Side notes:
1.  Info on John Dutiel found on Scioto County Biographies: Vernon Township www.web.archive.org/20050320125908/scioto.org

John Dutiel was born May 13, 1826 in Vernon Township, Scioto County Oho, a son of Francis and Mary(Snedgeor)Dutiel. His father died in 1865 and his mother in 1880.

2.  After doing some searching on the web, I think that maybe the word grown is Charles's spelling of ground. 

3.   http://www.bouldercolorado.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12911&Itemid=3654

September 1, 1889

The journals that I have access to start September 1, 1889.  Here we go!

Sept. 1

A bright sunshining day.  We all stayed at home.  James Benett came down.  He learnt us a different way to play 6/8 time.  George Shepard and Frank H.(too hard to read) was here in the afternoon. We were all staying at home in the evening to eat supper for the third time this summer.