Showing posts with label Farming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Farming. Show all posts

Saturday, January 13, 2018

Diary of William Howard Russell: June 23, 1861

The latest information which I received today is of a nature to hasten my departure for Washington; it can no longer be doubted that a battle between the two armies assembled in the neighborhood of the capital is imminent. The vague hope which from time to time I have entertained of being able to visit Richmond before I finally take up my quarters with the only army from which I can communicate regularly with Europe has now vanished.

At four o'clock in the evening I started by the train on the famous Central Illinois line from Cairo to Chicago.

The carriages were tolerably well filled with soldiers, and in addition to them there were a few unfortunate women, undergoing deportation to some less moral neighborhood. Neither the look, language, nor manners of my fellow-passengers inspired me with an exalted notion of the intelligence, comfort, and respectability of the people which are so much vaunted by Mr. Seward and American journals, and which, though truly attributed, no doubt, to the people of the New England States, cannot be affirmed with equal justice to belong to all the other components of the Union.

As the Southerners say, their negroes are the happiest people on the earth, so the Northerners boast, “We are the most enlightened nation in the world.” The soldiers in the train were intelligent enough to think they ought not to be kept without pay, and free enough to say so. The soldiers abused Cairo roundly, and indeed it is wonderful if the people can live on any food but quinine. However, speculators, looking to its natural advantages as the point where the two great rivers join, bespeak for Cairo a magnificent and prosperous future. The present is not promising.

Leaving the shanties, which face the levees, and some poor wooden houses with a short vista of cross streets partially flooded at right angles to them, the rail suddenly plunges into an unmistakable swamp, where a forest of dead trees wave their ghastly, leafless arms over their buried trunks, like plumes over a hearse — a cheerless, miserable place, sacred to the ague and fever. This occurs close to the cleared space on which the city is to stand, — when it is finished — and the rail, which runs on the top of the embankment or levee, here takes to the trestle, and is borne over the water on the usual timber frame-work.

“Mound City,” which is the first station, is composed of a mere heap of earth, like a ruined brickkiln, which rises to some height and is covered with fine white oaks, beneath which are a few log huts and hovels, giving the place its proud name. Tents were pitched on the mound side, from which wild-looking banditti sort of men, with arms, emerged as the train stopped. “I’ve been pretty well over Europe,” said a meditative voice beside me, “and I've seen the despotic armies of the old world, but I don't think they equal that set of boys.” The question was not worth arguing — the boys were in fact very “weedy,” “splinter-shinned chaps,” as another critic insisted.

There were some settlers in the woods around Mound City, and a jolly-looking, corpulent man, who introduced himself as one of the officers of the land department of the Central Illinois railroad, described them as awful warnings to the emigrants not to stick in the south part of Illinois. It was suggestive to find that a very genuine John Bull, “located,” as they say in the States for many years, had as much aversion to the principles of the abolitionists as if he had been born a Southern planter. Another countryman of this and mine, steward on board the steamer to Cairo, eagerly asked me what I thought of the quarrel, and which side I would back. I declined to say more than I thought the North possessed very great superiority of means if the conflict were to be fought on the same terms. Whereupon my Saxon friend exclaimed, “all the Northern States and all the power of the world can't beat the South; and why? — because the South has got cotton, and cotton is king.”

The Central Illinois officer did not suggest the propriety of purchasing lots, but he did intimate I would be doing service if I informed the world at large, they could get excellent land, at sums varying from ten to twenty-five dollars an acre. In America a man's income is represented by capitalizing all that he is worth, and whereas in England we say a man has so much a year, the Americans, in representing his value, observe that he is worth so many dollars, by which they mean that all he has in the world would realize the amount.

It sounds very well to an Irish tenant farmer, an English cottier, or a cultivator in the Lothians, to hear that he can get land at the rate of from £2 to £5 per acre, to be his forever, liable only to state taxes; but when he comes to see a parallelogram marked upon the map as “good soil, of unfathomable richness,” and finds in effect that he must cut down trees, eradicate stumps, drain off water, build a house, struggle for high-priced labor, and contend with imperfect roads, the want of many things to which he has been accustomed in the old country, the land may not appear to him such a bargain. In the wooded districts he has, indeed a sufficiency of fuel as long as trees and stumps last, but they are, of course, great impediments to tillage. If he goes to the prairie he finds that fuel is scarce and water by no means wholesome.

When we left this swamp and forest, and came out after a run of many miles on the clear lands which abut upon the prairie, large fields of corn lay around us, which bore a peculiarly blighted and harassed look. These fields were suffering from the ravages of an insect called the “army worm,” almost as destructive to corn and crops as the locust-like hordes of North and South, which are vying with each other in laying waste the fields of Virginia. Night was falling as the train rattled out into the wild, flat sea of waving grass, dotted by patch-like Indian corn enclosures; but halts at such places as Jonesburgh and Cobden, enabled us to see that these settlements in Illinois were neither very flourishing nor very civilized.

There is a level modicum of comfort, which may be consistent with the greatest good of the greatest number, but which makes the standard of the highest in point of well-being very low indeed. I own, that to me, it would be more agreeable to see a flourishing community placed on a high level in all that relates to the comfort and social status of all its members than to recognize the old types of European civilization, which place the castle on the hill, surround its outer walls with the mansion of doctor and lawyer, and drive the people into obscure hovels outside. But then one must confess that there are in the castle some elevating tendencies which cannot be found in the uniform level of citizen equality. There are traditions of nobility and noble deeds in the family; there are paintings on the walls; the library is stored with valuable knowledge, and from its precincts are derived the lessons not yet unlearned in Europe, that though man may be equal, the condition of men must vary as the accidents of life or the effects of individual character, called fortune, may determine.

The towns of Jonesburgh and Cobden have their little teapot-looking churches and meeting-houses, their lager-bier saloons, their restaurants, their small libraries, institutes, and reading rooms, and no doubt they have also their political cliques, social distinctions and favoritisms; but it requires, nevertheless, little sagacity to perceive that the highest of the bourgeois who leads the mass at meeting and prayer, has but little to distinguish him from the very lowest member of the same body politic. Cobden, for example, has no less than four drinking saloons, all on the line of rail, and no doubt the highest citizen in the place frequents some one or other of them, and meets there the worst rowdy in the place. Even though they do carry a vote for each adult man, “locations” here would not appear very enviable in the eyes of the most miserable Dorsetshire small farmer ever ferreted out by “S. G. O.”

A considerable number of towns, formed by accretions of small stores and drinking places, called magazines, round the original shed wherein live the station master and his assistants, mark the course of the railway. Some are important enough to possess a bank, which is generally represented by a wooden hut, with a large board nailed in front, bearing the names of the president and cashier, and announcing the success and liberality of the management. The stores are also decorated with large signs, recommending the names of the owners to the attention of the public, and over all of them is to be seen the significant announcement, “Cash for produce.”

At Carbondale there was no coal at all to be found, but several miles farther to the north, at a place called Dugoine, a field of bituminous deposit crops out, which is sold at the pit's mouth for one dollar twenty-five cents, or about 5s. 2d. a ton. Darkness and night fell as I was noting such meagre particulars of the new district as could be learned out of the window of a railway carriage; and finally with a delicious sensation of cool night air creeping in through the windows, the first I had experienced for many a long day, we made ourselves up for repose, and were borne steadily, if not rapidly, through the great prairie, having halted for tea at the comfortable refreshment rooms of Centralia.

There were no physical signs to mark the transition from the land of the Secessionist to Union-loving soil. Until the troops were quartered there, Cairo was for Secession, and Southern Illinois is supposed to be deeply tainted with disaffection to Mr. Lincoln. Placards on which were printed the words, “Vote for Lincoln and Hamlin, for Union and Freedom,” and the old battle-cry of the last election, still cling to the wooden walls of the groceries, often accompanied by bitter words or offensive additions.

One of my friends argues that as slavery is at the base of Secession, it follows that States or portions of States will be disposed to join the Confederates or the Federalists, just as the climate may be favorable or adverse to the growth of slave produce. Thus in the mountainous parts of the Border States of Kentucky and Tennessee, in the north-western part of Virginia, vulgarly called the pan-handle, and in the pine woods of North Carolina, where white men can work at the rosin and naval store manufactories, there is a decided feeling in favor of the Union; in fact, it becomes a matter of isothermal lines. It would be very wrong to judge of the condition of a people from the windows of a railway carriage, but the external aspect of the settlements along the line, far superior to that of slave hamlets, does not equal my expectations. We all know the aspect of a wood in a gentleman's park; which is submitting to the axe, and has been partially cleared, how raw and bleak the stumps look, and how dreary is the naked land not yet turned into arable. Take such a patch, and fancy four or five houses made of pine planks, sometimes not painted, lighted by windows in which there is, or has been, glass, each guarded by a paling around a piece of vegetable garden, a pig house, and poultry box; let one be a grocery, which means a whiskey shop, another the post-office, and a third the store where “cash is given for produce.” Multiply these groups, if you desire a larger settlement, and place a wooden church with a Brobdignag spire and Lilliputian body out in a waste, to be approached only by a causeway of planks; before each grocery let there be a gathering of tall men in sombre clothing, of whom the majority have small newspapers, and all of whom are chewing tobacco; near the stores let there be some light-wheeled carts and ragged horses, around which are knots of unmistakably German women; then see the deep tracks which lead off to similar settlements in the forest or prairie, and you have a notion, if your imagination is strong enough, of one of these civilizing centres which the Americans assert to be the homes of the most cultivated and intelligent communities in the world.

SOURCE: William Howard Russell, My Diary North and South, Vol. 1, p. 346-51

Monday, September 18, 2017

John Brown to his Family, June 23, 1859

Akron, Ohio, June 23, 1859.

Dear Wife And Children, All, — My best wish for you all is that you may truly love God and his commandments. We found all well at West Andover, and all middling well here. I have the ague some yet. I sent a calf-skin from Troy by express., directed to Watson Brown, North Elba, to go by stage from Westport. I now enclose five dollars to help you further about getting up a good loom. We start for the Ohio River to-day. Write me under cover to John at West Andover, for the present. The frost has been far more destructive in Western New York and in Ohio than it was in Essex County. Farmers here are mowing the finest-looking wheat I ever saw, for fodder only. Jason has been quite a sufferer. May God abundantly bless and keep you all!

Your affectionate husband and father,
John Brown.

SOURCE: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 526

Friday, June 10, 2016

Diary of Dolly Lunt Burge: July 28, 1864

I rose early and had the boys plow the turnip-patch. We were just rising from breakfast when Ben Glass rode up with the cry: “The Yankees are coming. Mrs. Burge, hide your mules!” How we were startled and how we hurried the Major to his room! [The Yankees did not come that day, but it was thought best to send Major Ansley away. He left at 2 A. M.]

SOURCE: Dolly Lunt Burge, A Woman's Wartime Journal, p. 8-9

Sunday, August 16, 2015

G. Pilsbury: September 13, 1863

Hilton Head, S. C„ September 13th, 1863.

The people are raising a plenteous crop for their subsistence, with the exception of a few aged and otherwise helpless individuals. There is much matured corn, an abundance of sweet potatoes, considerable rice, and a general supply of various kinds of vegetables all over the islands. There is also a quite extensive crop of cotton, the first picking of which is now taking place. The peach, fig and other fruit harvests have gone by, but there is a profusion of oranges everywhere, some of them beginning to turn yellow. The supply seems to be unlimited. I have been surprised at the amount of subsistence raised upon the islands; and yet, with more diligence and increased husbandry, the amount may be vastly increased. I see no reason why the natural resources of the islands may not be made to support entirely, at least twice, and perhaps three times their present population. This, of course, would require a more thorough and general superintendence, than has yet been rendered. The people need to be instructed, encouraged, and in many cases compelled to labor.

The agent who comes here for pastime or the mere novelty of change, had better stay at home. The direction of labor is vastly important, but scarcely less so is the development of the social, mental and moral faculties of this long oppressed and neglected race. It seems to me there is at present a great lack of teachers, not merely of the alphabet, and more advanced education, but also of social and domestic duties.

G. PILSBURY.

SOURCE: New-England Educational Commission for Freedmen, Extracts from Letters of Teachers and Superintendents of the New-England Educational Commission for Freedmen, Fourth Series, January 1, 1864, p. 6-7

Friday, March 27, 2015

Diary of Margaret Junkin Preston: October 27, 1862

Yesterday it rained steadily all day; the first day of continuous rain we have had since August: and even yet, Mr. P. says, in plowing today at the farm, they turn up dry earth.

Mr. P.'s cousin, Rev. R. Taylor here to tea tonight. He is a chaplain in the army. It makes me feel despairing to hear him tell of the ragged and barefoot soldiery: of the desolation inflicted by war: of the country laid waste, and the houses burned, and the blackened chimneys standing. It is a very serious question how the army is to be clothed and fed this winter.

SOURCE: Elizabeth Preston Allan, The Life and Letters of Margaret Junkin Preston, p. 155-6

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Diary of Margaret Junkin Preston: October 23, 1862

Just heard of the birth of General Jackson's daughter: as much talk and ado about it almost, as if it were a little princess!

Unexampled drought! Not rain enough yet to enable the farmers to seed; consequently they cannot sow half crops. What is to become of the country? The fear is that there is not enough food in it to keep the people from starving.

SOURCE: Elizabeth Preston Allan, The Life and Letters of Margaret Junkin Preston, p. 155

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Diary of Corporal Alexander G. Downing: Wednesday, May 25, 1864

We packed our knapsacks and sent them by rail to Rome, Georgia. The advance of our corps started early this morning for Decatur, Alabama, but our brigade taking up the rear did not leave Huntsville till in the afternoon. From Decatur we are to proceed to Rome, Georgia. We marched through fine farming country with good buildings, but as usual the people are gone and the farms are idle. Such is the effect of war, the citizens being afraid to remain while our armies are marching back and forth.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 190

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Diary of Corporal Alexander G. Downing: Thursday, April 21, 1864

This is a warm, pleasant day and I bade farewell to my home folks and friends and started back to the army, my thirty-day furlough being almost up. I went on horseback, brother John going along as far as Allen's Grove, to Uncle John Moore's to remain over night, while John returned home, taking back the horse which I rode. Though the spring has been very late, the farmers here have all their small grain in and it is starting fine. The country around Allen's Grove is very nice farming land; it is rolling, with plenty of timber and close to a good market; it is becoming very thickly settled. Scott county, Iowa.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 181

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Diary of Corporal Alexander G. Downing: Tuesday, April 19, 1864

I attended a party last night at Mr. Ray's and did not get home till daylight this morning. William Green and Jeremiah Argo came home with me for breakfast and left for Camp McClellan. Green is one of the veterans of Company E and Argo is a recruit for the same. The weather is getting warm, the ground is in fine condition for putting in the crops and the farmers are all quite busy seeding. I sowed some barley today for the first time. This evening I went over to Mr. Sparks's to see Jason, who is getting along well with the measles, and in a few days will be able to leave for the army.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 180

Monday, February 16, 2015

Diary of Corporal Alexander G. Downing: Monday, April 18, 1864

I stayed at home all day. Father finished sowing his wheat today. John D. Moore with Henry Clark left this morning for Davenport to go into Camp McClellan—Clark is a veteran of my company, while John is a recruit for the company. Jason Sparks could not go with them on account of having the measles. Dr. Clark went to see him and certified that he was not fit for duty.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 180

Friday, February 13, 2015

Diary of Corporal Alexander G. Downing: Friday, April 15, 1864

It is cloudy and quite cool. I harrowed all day, and I think that it is the last day's work that I shall do on the farm for some time, unless this cruel war soon comes to a close.

There are two families in this locality who are Copperheads and opposed to the war. They are members of the “Knights of the Golden Circle,” but are very quiet at present. They do not, however, give dinners to the returned veterans. About eighteen months ago, they, with some others, north and west from here, were giving the loyal people of the county a great deal of trouble, going so far as to recruit a company of cavalry for the rebel army and drill them at the county seat. Finally, some of our brave soldiers, Tipton boys, home on furlough, made it so hot for the would-be rebel soldiers, that they disbanded, and have not been seen drilling since.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 179

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Diary of Corporal Alexander G. Downing: Thursday, April 14, 1864

Another cloudy, disagreeable day! I drilled in wheat all day and Kelley did the harrowing. The boys with the measles are getting along fine and will be well in a few days if they don't take cold.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 179

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Diary of Corporal Alexander G. Downing: Wednesday, April 13, 1864

It is cloudy and very cool. I helped father put in his wheat today, harrowing all forenoon and drilling in wheat in the afternoon. James Kelley, a soldier of the neighborhood, home on a furlough, came over to help me out for a few days.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 179

Monday, February 9, 2015

Diary of Corporal Alexander G. Downing: Monday, April 11, 1864

It was rainy all day, but I went to farming this morning for the first time for nearly three years. As the boys are all sick and as it is impossible for father to hire help even for a few days, I made up my mind that it was my duty to help father to get his seeding done. I started in drilling wheat, but after a while I had to stop on account of the rain.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 179

Monday, April 28, 2014

John Brown to his Children, December 4, 1850

SPRINGFIELD, MASS., Dec. 4, 1850.

DEAR SONS JOHN, JASON, FREDERICK, AND DAUGHTERS, — I this moment received the letter of John and Jason of the 29th November, and feel grateful not only to learn that you are all alive and well, but also for almost everything your letters communicate. I am much pleased with the reflection that you are all three once more together, and all engaged in the same calling that the old patriarchs followed. I will say but one word more on that score, and that is taken from their history: “See that ye fall not out by the way,” and all will be exactly right in the end. I should think matters were brightening a little in this direction, in regard to our claims; but I have not yet been able to get any of them to a final issue. I think, too, that the prospect for the fine-wool business rather improves. What burdens me most of all is the apprehension that Mr. Perkins expects of me in the way of bringing matters to a close what no living man can possibly bring about in a short time, and that he is getting out of patience and becoming distrustful. If I could be with him in all I do, or could possibly attend to all my cares, and give him full explanations by letter of all my movements, I should be greatly relieved. He is a most noble-spirited man, to whom I feel most deeply indebted; and no amount of money would atone to my feelings for the loss of confidence and cordiality on his part. If my sons, who are so near him, conduct wisely and faithfully and kindly in what they have undertaken, they will, beyond the possibility of a doubt, secure to themselves a full reward, if they should not be the means of entirely relieving a father of his burdens.

I will once more repeat an idea I have often mentioned in regard to business life in general. A world of pleasure and of success is the sure and constant attendant upon early rising. It makes all the business of the day go off with a peculiar cheerfulness, while the effects of the contrary course are a great and constant draft upon one's vitality and good temper. When last at home in Essex, I spent every day but the first afternoon surveying or in tracing out old lost boundaries, about which I was very successful, working early and late, at two dollars per day. This was of the utmost service to both body and mind; it exercised me to the full extent, and for the time being almost entirely divested my mind from its burdens, so that I returned to my task very greatly refreshed and invigorated.

John asks me about Essex. I will say that the family there were living upon the bread, milk, butter, pork, chickens, potatoes, turnips, carrots, etc., of their own raising, and the most of them abundant in quantity and superior in quality. I have nowhere seen such potatoes. Essex County so abounds in hay, grain, potatoes, and rutabagas, etc., that I find unexpected difficulty in selling for cash oats and some other things we have to spare. Last year it was exactly the reverse. The weather was charming up to the 15th November, when I left, and never before did the country seem to hold out so many things to entice me to stay on its soil. Nothing but a strong sense of duty, obligation, and propriety would keep me from laying my bones to rest there; but I shall cheerfully endeavor to make that sense my guide, God always helping. It is a source of the utmost comfort to feel that I retain a warm place in the sympathies, affections, and confidence of my own most familiar acquaintance, my family; and allow me to say that a man can hardly get into difficulties too big to be surmounted, if he has a firm foothold at home. Remember that.

I am glad Jason has made the sales he mentions, on many accounts. It will relieve his immediate money wants, a thing that made me somewhat unhappy, as I could not at once supply them. It will lessen his care and the need of being gone from home, perhaps to the injury somewhat of the flock that lies at the foundation, and possibly to the injury of Mr. Perkins's feelings on that account, in some measure. He will certainly have less to divide his attention. I had felt some worried about it, and I most heartily rejoice to hear it; for you may all rest assured that the old flock has been, and so long as we have anything to do with it will continue to be, the main root, either directly or indirectly. In a few short months it will afford another crop of wool.

I am sorry for John's trouble in his throat; I hope he will soon get relieved of that. I have some doubt about the cold-water practice in cases of that kind, but do not suppose a resort to medicines of much account. Regular out-of-door labor I believe to be one of the best medicines of all that God has yet provided. As to Essex, I have no question at all. For stock-growing and dairy business, considering its healthfulness, cheapness of price, and nearness to the two best markets in the Union (New York and Boston), I do not know where we could go to do better. I am much refreshed by your letters, and until you hear from me to the contrary, shall be glad to have you write me here often. Last night I was up till after midnight writing to Mr. Perkins, and perhaps used some expressions in my rather cloudy state of mind that I had better not have used. I mentioned to him that Jason understood that he disliked his management of the flock somewhat, and was worried about that and the poor hay he would have to feed out during the winter. I did not mean to write him anything offensive, and hope he will so understand me.

There is now a fine plank road completed from Westport to Elizabethtown. We have no hired person about the family in Essex. Henry Thompson is clearing up a piece of ground that the “colored brethren” chopped for me. He boards with the family; and, by the way, ho gets Ruth out of bed so as to have breakfast before light, mornings.

I want to have you save or secure the first real prompt, fine-looking, black shepherd puppy whose ears stand erect, that you can get; I do not care about his training at all, further than to have him learn to come to you when bid, to sit down and lie down when told, or something in the way of play. Messrs. Cleveland & Titus, our lawyers in New York, are anxious to get one for a plaything; and I am well satisfied, that, should I give them one as a matter of friendship, it would be more appreciated by them, and do more to secure their best services in our suit with Pickersgill, than would a hundred dollars paid them in the way of fees. I want Jason to obtain from Mr. Perkins, or anywhere he can get them, two good junk-bottles, have them thoroughly cleaned, and filled with the cherry wine, being very careful not to roil it up before filling the bottles, — providing good corks and filling them perfectly full. These I want him to pack safely in a very small strong box, which he can make, direct them to Perkins & Brown, Springfield, Mass., and send them by express. We can effect something to purpose by producing unadulterated domestic wines. They will command great prices.1  It is again getting late at night; and I close by wishing every present as well as future good.

Your affectionate father,
JOHN BROWN.

__________

1 This fixes the date of the anecdote told by Mr. Leonard concerning the wines which Brown had to exhibit; it must have been after this time, and probably in 1851. John Brown, Jr., has been for many years cultivating the grape on an island in Lake Erie, and his brother Jason is now doing the same in Southern California. Their principles, however, forbid them to make wine.

SOURCE: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 75-8

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

John Brown to John Brown Jr., July 24, 1843

RICHFIELD, OHIO, July 24, 1843.

DEAR SON JOHN, — I well know how to appreciate the feelings of a young person among strangers, and at a distance from home; and no want of good feeling towards you, or interest in you, has been the reason why I have not written you before. I have been careful and troubled with so much serving, that I have in a great measure neglected the one thing needful, and pretty much stopped all correspondence with heaven. My worldly business has borne heavily, and still does; but we progress some, have our sheep sheared, and have done something at our haying. Have our tanning business going on in about the same proportion, — that is, we are pretty fairly behind in business, and feel that I must nearly or quite give up one or other of the branches, for want of regular troops on whom to depend. We should like to know how you expect to dispose of your time hereafter, and how you get along, what your studies are, and what difficulties you meet. I would send you some money, but I have not yet received a dollar from any source since you left. I should not be so dry of funds could I but overtake my work; but all is well, — all is well. Will you come home or not this fall? I suppose there are some persons in Richfield who would be middling fond of seeing you back once more, wherever you may be. I hope you may behave yourself wisely in all things.

From your affectionate father,
JOHN BROWN.

SOURCE: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 58-9

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Saturday, March 7, 1863

It is quite showery and things are growing fine. Farmers throughout here are putting into corn most all the land that is not flooded. There are few white men here and most of the able-bodied negro men are forming companies and regiments for the army of the North, to be under white officers.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 104

Friday, December 13, 2013

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Friday, February 13, 1863

The mail today brought me a letter from Jason Sparks and the monotony of camp duties was broken with good news from home. The weather is quite warm and we no longer need fires in our tents. Things are growing very fast and the farmers in this locality are planting their corn.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 100

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Satisfactorily Adjusted

NEW YORK, May 15.

Farmers generally throughout the county will be glad to learn that the manufactories of the Buckeye, Ohio and Union mowing machines have adjusted to all conflicting claims as to patent rights, and agriculturists can purchase now without fearing a law suit.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Friday Morning, May 16, 1862, p. 1

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Local Matters

WANTED. – A journeyman tinner, at Geo. W. Smiley’s stove store.  None but a good workman need apply.

PLOWING MATCH. – The plowing match of the Winfield Township Agricultural Society comes off to-day on the farm of Mr. Irving Quinn, Long Grove.

EVERGREENS. – D. F. Kinsey, of Black Hawk Nursery, Rock Island, has the finest lot of evergreens in the West.  Citizens of Davenport are requested to call and examine his stock.

GODEY’S LADY’S BOOK. – The June number of this fashionable monthly is already received, and as usual is beautifully illustrated and teems with good things for the ladies.  It may be had at the bookstores.

MASONIC. – At a meeting of Davenport Lodge No. 37 at A. F. and A. M., held last Monday evening, the following officers were elected for the ensuing year: O. H. Watson, W. M.; W. F. Kidder, S. W.;  F. H. Griggs, J. W.; Geo. H. French, Treas.; Fred. Koops, Sec’y; J. W. Jamison, S. D.; J. M. Dunn, J. D.

A NUISANCE. – A number of defunct cavalry horses were buried a few days ago near the Fair Ground under the direction of military authorities.  The work was not properly done, however, the bodies not being fully covered.  The effluvia in the neighborhood is consequently very rank, and calls for remedial action.

THE DAILY ARGUS is the title of the new Democratic paper established at Burlington, the first number of which appeared on Monday last.  It is of the Mahony stripe of politics and well calculated to stir up the dirty waters of pro-slaveryism in the loyal county of Des Moines.

THE best assortment and the best qualities of dry goods in the city can be found at Wadsworth’s.  His stock of dress goods, shawls, raglans and sacques is complete and any lady wishing the latest styles at low prices should not fail to call and examine his stock.  dw*

CROPS. – The reports from the country speak very favorably of the growing crops.  The season, though rather late, has been excellent since it began.  The few showers have been very opportune, and everything now seems to promise abundant harvests to reward the farmer’s toil.

NEW GOODS. – Mrs. McCullough has just received per express new straw goods, in different styles, checked silks, and new designs in ribbons.  Ladies desiring the latest styles, and first class goods, would do well to examine her stock.  She buys and sells exclusively for cash, and can therefore afford to offer superior advantages to purchasers.   *

INDIANS. – A couple of Indians, of the Musquawka tribe, have recently arrived in town from the West.  One of them is sadly crippled, having had both feet frozen off; he walks on his knees.  Such an object commends itself to the charity of spectators, and many a hand, as he passes by, dives into the pocket-book in search of something to help the poor fellow along.

HAINES’ HARVESTERS. – We call attention to the advertisement of Hanes’ Harvester in to-day’s paper.  This machine is rising in popular favor, and seems destined to continue to do so.  Mr. Cook, its general western agent, is a shrewd, intelligent, straightforward business man, and one, we should think, who will adhere to whatever he says, and fulfill all he promises.

FIFTH WARD ELECTION. – It should not be forgotten that an alderman is to be elected in the Fifth Ward next Saturday, to fill the place vacated by Ald. LeClaire.  It is about time to bring out the candidates, so that the people may be fully advised of their qualifications before voting.  Let the best man in the ward be selected, or both parties unite on some good man as a candidate.

AN UGLY CUSTOMER. – An Irishman, whose family name seems to be lost in antiquity, but who is commonly called “Billy, the mule,” was arrested by officer Brown, yesterday morning, and brought down to jail from his house on Perry street, above the Fair Grounds.  This Billy, if all accounts are true, ought to have received the attention of the authorities some time ago.  When under the influence of liquor, it appears he blockades the road by his house, and undertakes to prevent the public from using it.  One day last week, as a drayman was driving by, Billy ranged his own horse and dray across the street, so that the other could not pass.  The latter got down, and taking Billy’s horse by the head, backed him out of the road.  Billy then seized a shovel, and struck at the other drayman, who used his whip in return.  Monday evening, a young colored man, in the employ of Mr. Preston, went that way looking for cows, when Billy made him turn his horse’s head, and go around through a mud hole.  Returning subsequently with the cattle, he had to come by Billy’s a second time, when a fight ensued between that worthy and the sable gentleman, in which the latter dealt his opponent some pretty hard blows with the butt end of the whip.  The neighbors finally separated them.  Complaint was made yesterday morning against Billy, and a warrant issued for his apprehension.  He was accordingly arrested, though not without resistance by himself and wife, and was brought to jail on a dray.  Billy seems to be a mortal enemy to “niggers,” and has notified some of the residents on the bluff, who have colored men in their employ, that they must keep them out of his reach.  From what we can learn of him, he seems to be a perfect terror to the neighbors around when intoxicated.  A little wholesome punishment will do him no harm.

A TRIUMPH OF CHEMISTRY. – Notwithstanding the prevalent opinion that common Saleratus was poisonous, and mischievous in its effect upon the human system, it continued to be used because there was no substitute known.  The poisonous properties were not, however, essential, and starting upon this basis, Mr. DeLand applied himself to the discovery of a process to produce a pure article.  His researches were not confined to this country, but extended to Europe, and were eminently successful.  It was a glorious triumph of Chemistry, when the pure Chemical Saleratus was produced, and made gland thousands who were justly afraid to use the article commonly in use.  The Chemical Saleratus makes pure, light, and wholesome bread, and it is made only by D. B. DeLand & Co., at Fairport, Monroe county, N. Y.  Sold by them at wholesale, and by respectable dealers everywhere in this country.  For sale by wholesale grocers in Chicago.   dw*

THE DOG LAW. – The Town Clerk has been at his office for the last three days attending to the registry of dogs, under the new law. – So far, about seventy dogs have been registered as worthy of preservation.  Two days more are allowed to their owners to get all the dogs paid for: thereafter, no canine animal’s life is safe.  Those who want to keep their dogs had better pay up promptly, for there will be a determined effort to enforce this law, as it is what the interests of the State have long imperatively demanded.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Wednesday Morning, May 14, 1862, p. 1