The
The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and
Printed Ephemera
Henry Francis du Pont
5105 Kennett Pike, Winterthur,
Delaware 19735
Telephone: 302-888-4600 or 800-448-3883
OVERVIEW OF
THE COLLECTION
Creator: Stidham, Joseph H.,
1788-1870
Title: Diaries
Dates: 1828-1868, bulk 1830-1867
Call No.: Col. 992
Acc. No.: 2018x34
Quantity: 1 box, 2 folders
Location: 19 K 3
BIOGRAPHICAL
STATEMENT
Joseph H. Stidham (1788-1870) was a ropemaker and
wire weaver in Wilmington, Delaware, in the 19th century. He was born on October 10, 1788, the son of
Captain Joseph Stidham. Captain Stidham
(1742 or 1744-1791) served in the Revolutionary War and was coroner and high
sheriff of New Castle County, Delaware, and chief burgess of Wilmington. He was a descendant of Dr. Timen Stiddem, who
came from Sweden to its colony on the banks of the Christina River in
1654. (The surname was changed from
Stiddem to Stidham.) A half-sister of
Joseph H. Stidham was Honour Stidham, who married Francis Dunlap, and after his
death married William Matthews, and lived in Port Penn, Delaware.
Stidham worked for several men, including the Hedges
of Wilmington (father John and sons Urban and Joseph, all of whom died in 1865),
from 1830-1859; Henry Keller in Easton, Pennsylvania (scattered employment
between 1830-1850), and James Downward and Sons in Wilmington, from 1864-1866,
all of whom owned rope walks. Stidham also
worked as a wire weaver for Abraham Alderdice (1795-1864) and as a farm laborer
for Caleb Pusey in London Grove township, Chester County, Pennsylvania.
Stidham never married, and city directories indicate
that he boarded with members of the Stroud family: Joshua, Elizabeth, and Mary,
who were Quakers. (“ES” is often mentioned
in the diaries.) Martha Byrnes lived
with the Strouds as well (in the 1860 census, Miss Byrnes was listed as a
domestic). He died on December 7,
1870. Although records indicate he was disowned by
the local Wilmington Monthly Meeting (Quakers), he continued to attend
meetings, and after his death, he was granted permission to be buried in Wilmington
Friends cemetery. He named Elizabeth
Stroud and nephew Joseph S. Matthews (son of Honour Stidham Dunlap Matthews) as
his principal heirs, with any money left over to go to niece Emma Ford and
friends Mary B. Stroud and Martha R. Byrnes.
Ashton Richardson was named executor, and Stidham asked for a simple
funeral.
SCOPE AND
CONTENT
Diaries kept by ropemaker and wire weaver Joseph H.
Stidham of Wilmington, Delaware, between 1830 and 1867 (not all years are
covered). The diaries (all volumes were made
by him) include good records of his daily work.
For example, in 1833, he recording spinning gill lines and coarse twine,
laying rigging, heckling flax, weaving twine, and other work in the rope walk. He mentioned materials used (hemp, sisal,
jute, and others), products made (tow and plow lines, twine, cable, etc.), and
wages received. When doing wire work, he
recorded the kinds of screens (or sieves) he made (cornmeal, clover seed,
barley, cellar), and he also made riddles. Although Stidham mostly worked in Wilmington,
he sometimes would move to Easton, Pennsylvania, to work in a ropewalk
there. Unfortunately for him, neither
rope work nor wire weaving provided steady day-to-day employment, and he
sometimes resorted to knitting socks or shrimp nets, making clothes pins, or
doing agricultural labor (particularly for the Puseys in London Grove township,
Chester County, Penn.) in order to supplement his income. As he aged, he began to work more in the
Hedges’ store rather than so much in their ropewalk; and as he aged more, he
more often recorded performing chores at home and in the garden, rather than
any work outside the home, although he did continue to work off and on.
In addition to his work, Stidham also recorded his other
activities and made note of the weather.
He often went to market, attended Quaker meetings, visited family and
friends (he had family in St. Georges, Port Penn, and in the Welsh Tract, Delaware),
took walks (not to be confused with going to the ropewalk, which he called the
walk), grew fruits and vegetables in a home garden and orchard, read books, shoveled
snow, mended his clothes, made his diary volumes, did chores around the house, took
medicine when ill, etc. When he
traveled, he sometimes mentioned his mode of transportation: sail or steam
boat, stagecoach, “the cars” (i.e. by train), and sometimes he walked. He commented on local events such as eclipses,
elections, fires, deaths, or explosions at the DuPont powder works. Rare
mentions of national or international events include noting the distressing
news of starvation in Ireland (in an entry in 1847) and reading about a battle
fought on July 21, 1861 (Battle of First Manassas). However, the Civil War did affect those about
him; in January 1863, DB deserted his regiment, and a niece’s son, Theodore
Price, was arrested and sent into Virginia.
(Theodore Price was returned to Delaware in spring 1865.) Chief John Ross of the Cherokee nation died
in Washington, D.C., in 1866, and was brought to Wilmington for burial. Stidham very rarely recorded his feelings,
however, but rather concentrated on recording what he or others did. He also did not attend public entertainments
very often, mostly limiting his social life to visits with family and friends,
attending elections, and twice seeing wild animals which were brought to town
(in 1837 and 1854).
Several loose items which came with the collection
are in two folders. These includes notes
about his wages earned, some poetry, a couple of letters (one to a Dunlap, a
descendant of Honour Stidham), and miscellaneous notes. Aunt Elizabeth Terrel who died in 1833 was
not identified.
ORGANIZATION
The entries are in chronological order. However, several volumes have fallen apart
and their signatures are loose. A good
effort was made to put the loose signatures into proper order, but it is
possible that some pages remain out of order.
LANGUAGE OF
MATERIALS
The materials are in English.
RESTRICTIONS
ON ACCESS
Collection is open to the public. Copyright restrictions may apply.
PROVENANCE
Gift of Elizabeth J. Dunlap Gunther and Henry H.
Gunther. Mrs. Gunther is a descendant of
Honour Stidham (married Francis Dunlap), sister of Joseph H. Stidham.
ACCESS POINTS
People:
Downward, James, 1794-1888.
Dunlap, Benjamin
Franklin, 1805-
Hedges, John,
circa 1776-1865.
Hedges,
Joseph S., 1806-1865.
Hedges,
Urban, 1809-1865.
Keller, Henry,
1801-1857.
Matthews, Honour
Stidham Dunlap, 1780-1848.
Price,
Theodore Dunlap, 1833-1886.
Stroud,
Elizabeth, 1793-1882.
Topics:
E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company – Explosions.
Aged
men – Diaries.
Agricultural laborers –
Pennsylvania – Chester County.
Children – Employment.
Circus animals.
Explosions.
Finance, Personal – Delaware – Wilmington.
Fires – Delaware – Wilmington.
Gardens –
Delaware – Wilmington.
House cleaning.
Men – Diaries.
Railroad accidents.
Rope trade –
Delaware – Wilmington.
Rope trade – Pennsylvania – Easton.
Ropemakers –
Delaware – Wilmington.
Ropemakers – Pennsylvania – Easton.
Quakers –
Delaware – Wilmington.
Sieves.
Travel.
Vegetable
gardening – Delaware – Wilmington.
Wages – Rope,
twine, and net trade.
Weather diaries.
Wire products
industry.
Wire screens.
Wilmington (Del.) – Climate.
Wilmington (Del.) – Economic conditions.
Wilmington (Del.) – Social life and customs.
Diaries.
DETAILED
DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION
Location: 19 K
3
The entries
below are transcribed from notes provided by the donors. The transcriptions show representative
entries, but are usually not entire transcriptions of an entry. Stidham used 1st month, 2d month,
etc., but the transcriptions use Jan., Feb., etc. Spelling has been regularized, and punctuation
has been added.
All accession
numbers begin with 2018x34
Box 1:
.1a-e 1830
Volume: Covers: blue paper over
rough brown stock; leather spine. Date
written on front cover; various calculations on back cover. Written inside front cover: Book of Memmoranddum
of Work. Written inside back cover:
something about corn, wheat, and wing screen.
Laid
inside the volume are four loose pieces of paper pertaining to work done.
1830:
Jan.
1: This being our monthly meeting, we had a good meeting….
Jan.
4: Went to shop wanting employment. Thought
would make cloths.
Jan.
7: Left the shop at 9 a.m. Joseph Hedges
coming for me to make rope.
Jan.
8: Making a pair of socks for Jonathan Byrns [properly Byrnes].
Jan.
19: too cold to weave.
Jan.
27: Finished socks and repaired a pair for Eliz. Stroud.
Feb.
6: Weaving a 19 1/2” quilt.
Feb. 16: Went out to
Brandywine [to visit] Aunt and Sister Onor [i.e. Honour Dunlap].
March 6: Joseph Hedges came
to shop and asked me to help him spin.
April 4: Our ancient friend
William Canby was buried this evening.
April 6: Went to Port Penn
to visit Sister Honor.
April 9: Went to
Del. City where took passage on steamboat to New Castle. Walked home.
April 23: James
Canby wanted some linen which I might weave.
May 31: This being
observed as an idle day by many, John’s journeyman did not work.
June 6: John
having no more work for me, engaged passage on a boat to Easton ….
June 11:
Spinning bed cords.
June 13: took a
walk by school kept by Methodist Society.
July 5: This day
being observed in place of the 4th [which was a Sunday]….
July 23: took
leave of my employer and his wife in very friend manner [returning to work in
Wilmington]
Aug. 2: went to work in
ropewalk for Jos. Hedges.
Oct. 5: this being day of
election no work be done at walk.
Oct. 21: unpleasant
difference took place at meeting.
Nov. 10: went to Brooks and
commenced weaving.
Nov. 19: laying out a web
for cellar windows for James Canby.
Dec. 25: clinching wire corn
and wheat….
.2a-b 1833, 1834, 1835
Volume: Covers: blue paper over
rough brown stock; leather spine. Dates
written on front cover; various calculations on front and back covers. Written inside front cover: [a note about death
of Aunt Elizabeth Terrel, 1833].
Laid inside the volume is a set of
pages (sewn together) about work done.
See also 2018x34.3 for additional
entries for 1834-1835.
1833:
Jan.
8: At J. Brook weaving.
Jan.
31: at John Brooks shop weaving wire. [similar entries throughout Feb.]
Mar.
1: Went to see Aunt Eliz.
Mar.
2: Walk was cold and snow blowing into the walk.
April
10: attended funeral of Martha Stroud.
June
24: Went to Philadelphia.
Sept.
11: Returned home and took board with Joshua Stroud.
Oct.
4: Aunt Eliz. Terrel departed this life. [on slip pinned to page]
Nov. 13: Roused this morning by Joseph
Hedges to witness falling of meteors [on slip pinned to page]
1834:
Jan.
4: settle up with Joshua Stroud….
March
20: settle with John Brooks.
April
4: Joshua Stroud died….
May
11: not been to meeting for 5 weeks.
May 17: Business in general is
slack. Little doing in the walk. No one spinning but John. Paid E. Stroud 2 dollars for board.
May
20: William (the black boy) got hurt by the rope kinking.
May 27: Called on Benjamin Faris
[sic, i.e. Ferris] this morning and paid him for writing my will….
May
31: Paid Dr. Gibbons bill $5.00.
June 19: I charge nothing [for work
done] in consideration of his [Joseph Hedges] sending me a barber to shave me
when confined to my bed of sickness ….
June 20: Dupont Powder Mill blew up
this evening.
[July 1-5: visiting relatives in St.
Georges and Port Penn.]
July 27: Joseph Bringhurst buried
this evening.
Aug. 25: Helped make a 5 ½” rope.
Sept. 13: Helped put away 1 ton of
Russia hemp.
Nov. 12: Spinning rope yarns and
helping Joseph at lower end of walk.
Nov. 30: eclipse of the sun.
Dec. 10: about house with the
influenza cold.
1835:
Jan. 1: sent a pair of socks to Ann
Way for which I rec’d 35¢. [Saw] sister
Honour she having come up to attend the trial between Porter and her….
Jan. 3: Took my Bible to John Hedges
he wishing to see the record of our family births...
Feb. 28: Went to Ann Ways where I
left two pairs of socks for her to sell….
March 3: … navigation so obstructed
with ice that the steam boats cannot run to the city.
March 9: Went to John Brooks and put
in a cellar window webb.
August 1: made 5 ½ days this week
but no pay yet. Did not pay up my board
this week.
Aug. 29: Went to John Brooks …
discussing state of Society [Quaker meeting] and causes which led to
separation.
Sept.
4: picked some pears to take to market.
[Oct.
19-Nov, 20: working for a farmer near Lancaster.]
Oct.
31: There was a balloon ascension in the afternoon.
Dec.
1: Went to New Hope to see a manufacture of bale rope.
Dec.
7: went to ropewalk spinning rope yarn.
Dec.
25: made a book [possibly diary for the next year?] and wrote in this.
.3 1834, 7th Month 9-1835, 10th
Month 12 [partial] [loose signature]
This loose signature was
found laid into the diary for 1836-1838, but covers parts of 1834-1835. The entries in this are about work done for
and wages received from Joseph Hedges. (See also 2018x34.2 for more complete entries
for these years.)
.4a-e 1836,
1837, and 1838
Volume: blue paper covers
pasted on top of brown paper; leather spine; end papers appear to be from an
account book. Dates written on front
cover, as well as some calculations, and some figures also found inside front
cover.
Laid into the diary is a little
booklet (two pieces of paper folded together to make 8 pages) with a record of
weaving done for John Brooks (his name is on first page), covering 10th
month-3d month, no years and a comparison with entries found in the diary
indicate that this is not for work done in 1836-1838.
Also laid into the diary is a record
of work done in 1837; pinned to this is a note about wages earned and
expenditures for the same year. The
record of work done is written on the back of a letter, but as the letter was
cut apart, not enough remains to offer useful information. A list dated 8 mo 1837 (for better, potatoes,
bread, cheese, rey [i.e. rye?], wheat) is found, written on the back of a
letter
1836:
[many entries detail work being done]
Jan. 1: I spent part of the day in Caleb Stroud’s
store and at the ropewalk looking at them moveing [sic].
Jan. 12: brought my tools from J.
Brooks shop.
Feb. 1: cold day, good sleighing.
Feb. 6: most people came to the
market in sleighs.
Feb. 15: reading Sewels History of
the People.
Mar. 2: reading the news; I would
much rather be engage in some profitable employment.
Mar. 11: It is said a person crossed
the River Delaware on the ice this day at Chester.
Mar. 19: My not paid this evening,
there is now 5 weeks behind. The Steam
boat Wilmington make her first trip yesterday.
April. 9: Carpenters raised the
building this afternoon at the ropewalk.
Settle board for eight weeks.
May 6: Spinning and finishing off
loglines one of 60 fathoms for Capt. Wildin and three short ones and spinning
sewing twine.
July 23: Made 5 ¾ days work this
week and rec. of Adeline Hedges 479 in full.
Aug. 18: Scutching and heckling
manila there being much tangled and short stuff ….
Nov. 15: The rail road engine was
tried this afternoon and performed well.
Dec. 19: Went to the Wilmington Fire
Insurance Office to receive the sic month dividend on three shares of stock….
Dec. 31: no work in the walk, a bout
house sawing wood.
1837:
Jan. 2: making a pair of socks for
Mary Hedges.
Jan. 16: 9 ¾ days at 66 ct. Received of Margaret Hedges 304 in full.
Jan. 23: helped boys clear snow off
the walk, spinning gill lines.
Feb. 3: attended monthly meeting.
Feb. 15: spinning fine line for
either gill line or whale line.
March 3: attended monthly
meeting. Met with committee for revising
the list of members.
March 4: Christiana froze up again
so as to stop the steam boats
April 4: my wages now 5 dollars per
week.
April 27: whale ship arrived
May 11: money panic
May 26: While in the loft at work in
the afternoon my jacked was stolen ….
May 27: entered into a recognizance
… in the mayor’s court to persecute the thief who stole my jacket having
detected him this morning in the act of offering it for sale….
June 5: attend the mayor’s court,
unpleasant it was to me
June 6: attend court, got released …
rejoiced that is was over….
July 4: no work doing in the walk….
July 5: helped to make two short
coils … for steam boat Telegraph.
July 8: went to bath in Brandywine
race.
Aug. 5: … went to the marsh and
gathered some yarrow for Elizabeth to color with….
Aug. 14: helped to make a large rope
for the mud machine.
Aug. 19: helped to make a short rope
of Russia 3 5/8 for Dupont….
Sept. 8: culling pears … to take to
market; met George Witsil …. He promised to pay again.
Sept. 13: attended market again but
did not sell pears there being so many peaches and other fruits.
Sept. 16: met Nathan Basset, went
with him … to pay my meeting tax.
Sept. 23: … Abraham Alderice spoke
to me to fill him some caving riddles.
[first days of October; cutting corn
outside Kennett Square]
Oct. 17: Went to Market Street to
see the wagons come in with the wild animals to be ex [exhibited] this day and
tomorrow.
Oct. 18. Went to see the exhibition of wild animals,
the sight was truly grand; while looking on them my mind was forcibly impressed
with the truth that they were the workmanship of Almighty Power.
Nov. 6: fell much at a loss for want
of employment – have some thoughts of going west and yet dread the cold
weather.
Dec. 7: Our young friend Joseph
Bancroft spoke a few words by way of testimony in meeting.
Dec. 16; Yesterday evening Elizabeth
Newport and her companion … came to Ann Richardson’s where Jonathan Byrns and I
met them.
Dec. 25 … cut some wood in the
cellar …. Many people walking about
dressed up, some going to their places of worship and some appear merely for
amusement, yet upon the whole it has been a tolerable quiet day.
1838:
Jan. 1: How time hastens on his
courses and rapid stream carrying us along with him and happy would it be for
me could I but know duty keeping pace with him….
Jan. 3: feel much at loss for want
of suitable employment.
Jan. 4: [went on a long walk out
Kennett Road and this caused him to think about how the landscape had changed
since his childhood]. O for a
preparation for the world to come.
Jan. 16: [another long walk, up
railroad to old marsh road and back along Philadelphia Pike, and through
Brandywine Village]
Feb. 7: Having no employment I amuse
myself splitting wood in the cellar and reading the journals of ancient Friends.
Feb. 23: At Abraham’s shop plating
riddle.
Feb. 28: reading in the journal of
that faithful minister of the Gospel Thomas Chaulkley.
March 3: Fitted riddle frames.
May 15: Called on Benj. Ferris with
a sketch of my will which I wish him to write.
May 22: took steam boat to
Philadelphia, … stayed with James Stroud.
May 25: [about waiting for a friend
who was to execute a piece of writing for him]
July 19-Aug, 7: [visiting relatives
in St. Georges and Port Penn]
Aug. 20: At Abraham Alderice weaving
wire
Sept. 18: we had a favorable view of
the eclipse on the sun
Oct. 1: [went to] Philadelphia
looking for work …[went] to Richmond Village … called on John Hickey [to help
me; he could not]. Set off for London Grove.
[Oct. 3-Nov. 11: working on farm of
Caleb Pusey near London Grove, Chester County]
Nov. 21: Went to see if Edward Moor
[had sold his coat, which he had] … . I
got him to take my measure for another [coat] and gave him directions about the
stuff. I then up street to see Mary Townsends
and from thence home and to the shop ….
Nov. 28: at sister Honour’s.
Dec. 13: attended meeting but had
very little satisfaction, the world and the things of it having to [sic] much
the ascendancy. In the afternoon in
Caleb store, making up a broom and in the cellar sawing and splitting some
wood.
Dec. 25: about house most of the day
working at a sock; got one finished … and then went to Abraham Alderdice to see
if I could get a hat to make soles for them ….
Dec. 31: About house all the
forenoon most of the time making myself a tow apron….
[ends with summary of wages and
expenses for the year]
.5 1839
and 1840
Volume: covers are blue
paper over cardboard, with brown fabric spine.
Written on front cover: 1839 and 1840.
Written inside back cover: some numbers and calculations.
Accession 2018x34.5b was laid in at
page with entry for 7th month 26, 1839 (death of Mary Hedges). Accession 2018x34.5c-d were pinned to page
with entries for end of December 1839.
All of these pieces of paper contain records of work done, and b also
contains a record of wages earned.
A receipt stitched to page beginning
with entry for 5th month 14, 1839, is signed Joseph H. Stidham. This receipt lists different kinds of wire
screens made (barley, clover seed, corn meal, cellar, wheat), plus riddles.
1839:
Jan. 7: Abram no wanting anymore
wire wove at present came home and worked at a pair of socks which I was making
for Ann Roach.
Jan. 15: making a small shrimp net
of fine twine.
Jan. 21: In Caleb’s shp making some
needles.
Jan. 26 [warm weather causing snow
and ice to melt combined with lots of rain meant that] creeks and rivers very
high so that the bridge across the Brandywine was carried away … and a vast of
other damage done in different places particularly to the rail road ….
Jan. 30: I should be glad to have
some useful and profitable employment.
Feb. 3: Attended meeting, we had the
company of Joseph Foulk; it was a large meeting,
Feb. 16: Went to Hedges and bought
some paper to complete this book which I sew together.
March. 14: Joseph Hedges asked me to
work in the walk.
March 25: At Abram Alderdice shop
plating riddle.
June 1: made 6 days work in the
ropewalk.
June 26: Spinning manila ropeyarn
for a cable warp for the whale ship,
July 10: received of Joseph Hedges
thirty-five dollars which squares up.
July 25: Joseph’s child very low
with scarlet fever…. Mended my old shoes.
July 26: Mended my old apron which I
used to weave wire in and in the evening attended the funeral of the child
which died yesterday afternoon. [Mary
Hedges, daughter of Mary and Joseph Hedges, was not quite two years old when
she died.]
Aug. 15: Joseph took all hands to
Wheelers store to bring a cable which he is to lay over….
Aug. 19: … help form tarred cordage
for the whale ship ….
Sept 2.: making rigging for the
whatle ship.
Sept. 11: laying manila rope for
whale ship, spinning log lines for ship Jefferson.
Sept. 13: Joseph and Urban [Hedges]
in attempting to tar some twine, the copper accidently took fire but was
extinguished without doing much damage.
Oct. 5: [making rope for whale ship
and Bailey’s Mill]
Oct. 9: [about wire screens]. News arrived here this day that the banks in
New York and Philadelphia has [sic] suspended specie pay in consequence of
which our banks have stopped likewise.
Oct. 25: Assisted to lay manila coil
for the whale ship.
Nov. 23: Received of Joseph S.
Hedges fifty dollars in part.
Nov. 26: Assisted to form and lay a
cutting fall for the whale ship ….
Dec. 12: … I spun a few cords of
cours [i.e. coarse] twine for Dupont which we finished ….
Dec. 23: Commenced making a pair of
small socks for one of Hedges children when he came for me to go over to the
walk to see whether we could close the strand ….
[see 2018x34.5c for yearly account
of work done for Hedges]
1840:
Jan. 1: At the shop boaring [sic]
frames and plating riddles….
Jan. 2: Plating corn hisks for a
door mat in the afternoon at the shop plating riddles.
Jan. 9: Went to Caleb Stroud shop
and part sharpened 3 saws.
Jan. 26: A church and steeple burnt
yesterday afternoon.
Feb. 5: Finished mending my coat and
in the afternoon put soles on a pair of socks…. Coldest [morning] we have had
this winter. The pump [illegible]
froze….
Feb. 11: Went to Byrns & Baileys
store … for a jug of oil… Bought myself stuff for two pair of trousers and one
apron ….
Feb. 21: took a dose of castor oil.
Feb. 26: … there was an alarm of
fire which proved a very disastrous one indeed.
[see also slip of paper pasted to page which describes the fire, which
“originated in the stables of the White Swan near the corner of Shipley and 4th
Streets ….”]
March 4: … Weather pleasant, frogs
croaking, and robbins [sic] singing.
March 22: S. Woilaston’s barn burnt
last night ….
March 28: Wages now to commence at
75 cts
May 25: Assisting to press the sled
got two of my fingers bruised, done nothing more rest of the day.
June 26: About house mening [sic,
presumably meant mending] another apron and kiting [sic] at a shrimp net….
June 29: Set for Delaware City, St.
Georges and Port Penn…. [stayed until July 11]
July 7: I set off and walked to
Delaware City taking the way of the tow path.
Aug. 29: … I made 5 days work in the
rope walk this week but got no money.
Sept. 7: passing hemp through the
fine heckled for cours [i.e. coarse] twine.
Sept. 21: … Joseph came and told me
that he did not want me to work any more until he could collect money to settle
up, there being now 31.25 coming to me ….
Sept. 25: At Alderdices shop filling
chaffing riddles ….
Oct. 17…. The ropewalk or more the
half of it fell down this forenoon.
Oct. 24: Carpenters put on half the
roof at the walk.
Nov. 4: At Abrams filling chaffing
riddles ….
Nov. 6: Went to London Grove. [to
Caleb Pusey’s farm; returned to Wilmington on Nov. 9]
Nov. 7: Arose this morning, went up
into the lane above the barn and saw the sun rise, a grand view.
Nov. 10: … Went to the election and
gave in my vote….
Nov. 11; … Went to the “Bank of Delaware and rec. 6
month dividend ….
Dec. 25: At Abraham’s shop filling
chaffing riddles …. Christmas Day fine
and clean yet cold.
Dec. 31 … this day was recommended
to the citizens of the State of Delaware by the Governor to be observed as a
day of Thanksgiving for the blessing of the last year, in consequence of which
many suspended their business.
[this is followed by an account of work done in the ropewalk in
1840, and his wages, and is signed Joseph H. Stidham. See also a separate slip of paper,
2014x34.5d]
.6a-g 1843-1844
Volume: covers are a base of
cardboard, with blue paper and then wall paper pasted on top, cloth spine; end
papers are made from newspaper. Cords
are incorporated into the binding so the volume could be tied shut. The years 1843 and 1844 are written on front
cover.
Two slips of paper are glued
inside the front cover, but they cannot be opened all the way. A slip of paper pasted inside the front cover
reads Second month 9th 1840.
Pasted inside back cover is
a slip of paper on which is written New Labanon [sic, i.e. Lebanon] on the road
from Pitsfield [sic] to Albany 24 miles from the latter place Sh---rs Settle-t
[i.e. Shakers settlement].
Several
slips of paper were laid into the volume; poems are written on most of them.
1843:
Jan.
3: making a paper box for E.S. [probably Elizabeth Stroud]
Jan.
4: … Made this book.
Jan.
7: … Went to John Hedges for money for work done last year but got none …
Jan. 26: … Went with E. Morris to
assist her to take some earthernware to a poor Duch [sic, i.e. Dutch, but may
be referring to German] family in the [illegible] ….
Jan. 28: … There was much excitement
throughout the city this day occasioned by attempt to murder and rob a man on
the Kennett turnpike yesterday afternoon.
The poor man that was set upon received a load of shot in the right side
of his face which broke his jawbone and lode in the opposite side of his head.
Feb. 4: … Went to J. Hedges for
money, wages that is coming to me for work done last year, but got no one; he
says when Joseph comes home (he being in Alexandria) he expects to have plenty
of money.
Feb. 8: We were aroused last night
by the cry of FIRE and ringing of the fire bell which proceeded from Abraham
Alderdice’s FAN shop.
March 17: … Assisted to clean the
snow out of the walk and assisted to make a piece of 3 ¾ inch tarred rope….
[April-June: mostly writes about
work at walk.]
July 3: Went to E. Puseys at London
Grove. [helped with farm work while
there]
July 26: Went to Charles Canby with
my watch ….
Aug. 12: … The market was very
large, the carts and wagons extending from Front Street up to near 8th
with great abundance….
Sept. 12: Abraham’s shop filling the
riddles….
Sept. 13: … Jonathan Byrns and I
went to see the cattle show or EXIBISION [sic] ….
Sept. 21: … Duponts Powder Mill blew
up about 12 clock.
Sept. 23: … Called on Abraham
Alderdice and got him to renew his note for 100 dolls and received the interest
on the old one for sic months.
Oct. 2: … After dinner took a walk
down the Marsh lane as far as Mill Creek…..
Oct. 9: Joseph informed me he bought
some hemp in Phila. and expects it down in the steam boat. I did not come down in the morning boat.
Oct. 10: Went to city election.
Dec. 11: Went to walk … was obliged
to quit for want of a sufficient quantity of hemp … the heckler not having come
to work….
Dec.
25: Went over to the walk … but it was not open this being an idle day with
many.
[ends
the record of the year with an account of work done]
1844:
Jan.
1: Dressing country hemp for twine.
Feb.
3: Went to market after breakfast … mended my shaving cup ….
April
7: … reading Josephus’s Works and the BIBLE.
May
18: Spinning manila clothes lines and rope yarn ….
June
3: After breakfast, took my spectacles to the silversmiths to get them mended
….
June 5: … walk to the railroad wharf
to see the iron STEAM BOAT from thence to the SE part of the TOWN and so home
looking at the improvements.
June 12: I took a walk up the
Kennett Road to see the cemetery or burying place for the dead which is there
preparing, from thence to the Brandywine up the race bank so far as the upper
dam …. [The Wilmington and Brandywine
Cemetery was begun in 1843, and this may be the cemetery to which Stidham
refers.]
June 19: Balled some twine … melted
some old honey comb … shaved myself ….
July 1: … went to the dentist and
got the remains of the old tooth removed….
July 6: Joseph S. Hedges took me to
Delaware City … in his sailboat.
July 20: [niece Sarah and her
husband Martin Ball] had just returned from the Brandywine Springs whither they
had been for her health ….
Aug. 6: [worked for Joseph S. Hedges
for a quarter of a day in exchange for boat ride on July 6]
Aug. 7: [went to market and met
someone who still owed him money]; O how necessary it is for those that make a
profession of religion to keep to their promises and to be just in the payments
of their debts. …
Aug. 14. Paid city tax
[Aug. 30-Sept. 11: in Easton,
working at ropewalk; stopped in Doylestown for a few days, arriving in
Wilmington on Sept. 21]
Sept. 20: Painted the floor cloth …
and in the evening attended a lecture on galvanism.
Nov. 9: … Bought a newspaper read …
about Presidential election. The returns
from the different states having been received so far as to warrant a
conclusion on which side it will result.
There was much people in town today there being a wig [i.e. Whit]
procession….Nov. 24: last pear fell off the tree, eclipse of moon
Dec. 4: … carried forty buckets of water out of the cellar [from
previous night’s rain]…. My nephew
called to see me being come up to Wilmington from Port Penn to settle with the
county treasurer he having the collectorship of taxes in that hundred.
Dec. 21 … took a walk to the
railroad depot to see a large building which is in course of erection ….
Dec. 30: … went to the book store to
buy some writing paper … bailed the water out of the cellar ….
.7 1845-1846
Volume: blue paper over
boards of some sort; leather straps hold the covers together; cloth spine,
which is not in good condition.
Written on front cover: 1845 and
1846. Written on back cover: some
calculations and the note 7th 22 J. Byrns cald [called].
Written inside front cover: some
notes about bales of manila and sisal dated 1845 and a note about dividends of
Bank of Delaware. Written inside back
cover: notes about bales of manila and sisal dated 1846.
1845:
Jan. 1: … knitting a shrimp net and
split some wood ….
Jan. 8: … working at the socks would
be glad to have more profitable employment.
Jan. 11: … alarm of fire … [at]
Adams & Co. Foundry, the engine house of which was consumed….
Feb. 20: … Sowed some asparagus seed
…. Found Joseph in the street working at the gullie which runs past the walk in
Tatnall Street to prevent it washing larger ….
March 20: … Caleb Stroud’s millstone
shop was found to be on fire ….
March 28: Reeled up the small coils
which we spun …. Assisted to tend the jack while Joseph was laying two short
manila fasts for the steam boat …. In the afternoon I was spinning manila
ropeyarn … this yarn was to make up enough to make a warp for Wilder’s new iron
steam boat which is to be launched tomorrow….
April 3: Assisted to spin and lay
two doz. Clothes lines then set on spinning manila rope yarn….
May 14: After breakfast went to the
store and brought home the market basket then took a walk out to Caleb’s new
house ….
[June 6: left
for Easton, starting his trip by taking a train (“the cars”) to Philadelphia;
worked in ropewalk there; left Easton on July 14 after hearing of the illness
of his dear friend Jonathan Byrns; he returned to Wilmington on July 16th,
and found that Jonathan had died (on July 6), and wrote a moving tribute to his
friend. He left Wilmington on July 21 to
return to Easton and the ropewalk there, where he worked until Nov. 18; he left
Easton by stagecoach.]
Dec. 25: About
house all day it being a damp cloudy day and hollowday [i.e. holiday].
[ends the year
with accounts of his expenses and wages earned]
1846:
Jan. 2: About
house and in Joshua’s shop …. Took a short walk to the railroad depot and steam
boat wharf. They were about to but a
boiler into the iron steamer when I left ….
Feb. 9: About
house all day except that I went on errand in the morning for an orange and in
the evening for a fever mixture….
[Feb. 24: left
Wilmington for Delaware City to visit relatives]
[March 27: left
for Easton to work in ropewalk there]
July 1: About
house most of the day not well with a complaint in my bowels….
July 4: Went to
work this morning … went to the store and settled with my employer intending to
return home [i.e. to Wilmington]….
Dec. 25: About
home, covered up my fig tree ….
Dec. 26: Arose
early went along the market … went out again between 9 & 10 to pay my
county tax … went to Joshua’s shop to try if I could make some wooden pins to
hang clothes on….
[closes with
“Amount of stock taken in from the 1st of 4th month to 11th
month 10 inclusive” and “amount of work for the past year.”]
.8a-e 1847-1848
Volume: covers
are of blue paper over a decorative paper; spine is of cloth. The decorative yellow paper is blind embossed
with flowers. (The same paper is used on
2018x34.10.) Written on front cover:
1847-1848.
Written inside
front cover: note about explosion at Duponts Powder Mill on April 4, 1847, and
some figures for manila, sisal, and country for 1846.
Written inside
back cover: notes about bank dividend and fire insurance, and notes about bales
of manila, sisal, and country for 1848.
Laid into the
volume: amounts of work done for 1847 (Wilmington and Easton, 2 copies) and
1848 (Keller’s ropewalk in Easton) and a 20th century slip of paper
giving the death date of Joseph’s sister Honour.
1847:
Jan. 2:
[describes 2 walks he took around Wilmington, and mentions finding a tree frog]
Jan. 11: Arose
by 6 clock and after making a fire, cleared some of the snow off the yard …
cleared off the front pavement about house … [spent afternoon reading] … the
snow on the ground 8 inches deep ….
Jan. 12: ….
There is good sleighing and people are enjoying it.
Feb. 13: … there
is distressing accounts in the papers of suffering in Ireland by starvation.
Feb. 15: … there
was 6 wagons loaded with barrels for the Brandywine Mills, great is the demand
for bread stuff to shop to Europe.
March 15: Arose
early 5 clock went to the walk a few minutes after sun rise, spinning rope yarn
… I got in our days work by ½ past 4 clock ….
March 16: … went
to the rope walk but found it not open, was told it was on account of the death
of WILLIAM TOWNSEND ….
April 10: …
great quantities of shad and herring at the market.
May 1: Went to
Abraham Aldedices shop and filled eleven large riddles ….
May 15: … to the
walk while there Urban came with some horse hair we pict [i.e. picked] it and I
spun a short line and took it to the store.
I had mentioned to Urban that I had thought of going to Easton to work,
he said that I could have the light work if I would stay, so I consented on
condition that I might do such work as suited me and as I felt able at 80 cts
per day.
June 23: … assisted to form 13 coils
… James K. Polk past through Wilmington today, President of the United States.
July 24: … Went into the Delaware to
bathe in the evening.
Aug. 2: Assisting to spin and lay
tow lines of country hemp ….
Oct. 12: This being the day on which
to elect state and county officers we work but a quarter ….
Dec. 13: Went to my employer [in
Easton] and settled, came to the house and pact up my things, went to the walk
and took leave and in the afternoon went and paid my wash woman for 1.2
doz. Did not think it prudent to engage
my passage this evening as it was raining.
1848:
Jan. 1: about house all day,
part mended my jacket….
Jan. 22: Was started this morning
with the cry of FIRE. I hurried to the
engine house and assisted to take to the fire which proved to be the GAS house
… did not stay long there ….
Feb. 2: … part of the day knitting.
Feb. 10: Left home for Port Penn ….
My sister was very ill ….
[no entries for Feb. 11-March 3.]
March 9: Attended the funeral of my
sister [Honour Stidham] to Delaware City, the day was very stormy and cold with
wind and rain from E….
March 13: Took leave of my relations
and set out for home in company with my two nephews who are on their way to
school….
[March 27: leaves for Easton]
March 31: … John Throxton was
arrested this afternoon by the constable and committed to jail to prevent a recruiting
sergeant getting him, he having once enlisted and deserted…..
May 1: … spinning tow with Hen
[Henry] and the new journeyman.…
July 24: Assisting to spin and
reeled 24 one horse tow lines. Fred
absent to see the Mauch Chunk Volunteers….
A sad accident happened as the cavalcade entered the town, a small boy
was kicked by a horse and badly hurt so that he lived but half an hour.
July 25: Assist to spin the yarn and
make a coil …. A large WIG [i.e. Whig] MEETING in the afternoon….
Aug. 13: First of the week took a
bath in the River Delaware….
Sept. 15: Spun a few cords of mason
twine….
Oct. 10: This being ELECTION day
there was none at work but Henry and I and we only took up the B cords where
were finished last evening 7 doz….
Oct. 14 [mentions blocking twine,
bed cords, sash cords;] Weather mild pleasant clear like to Indian Summer. BARNETS Foundry burnt this afternoon.
Oct. 31: … I went up on the top of
Mount Jefferson…. Set out to go over into Jersey, went as far as the New
Furnace where great preparations are making for the manufactory of iron, the
situation is a pleasant one, no doubt will one day be quite a business
place. On my way back, stopped to view
and went on the top of the lofty peaked rock near the commence of the Morris
Canal….
Nov. 1: Went over to South Easton to
see the manufactory of wine.
Nov. 23: This being the day
appointed or rather recommended by the governor of the state to be observed as
a day of Thanksgiving, there was no work done in the walk….
Dec. 4: Assisted spinning ropeyarn
and make 2 coils … there was wif procession today with firing of guns all day,
a dinner given and fireworks in the evening, a noisy time it was.
Dec. 29: [left Easton] in a open
sleigh, snowing fast at the time, about 7 ½ miles from Easton we had the
misfortune to overset by which accident I got my umbrella completely broke up….
[closes with totals of wages, board
and other expenses]
.9a- 1849,
1850, 1851
Volume: Covers made from
blue paper pasted on top of card stock or cardboard; covers held together by
strips of leather; fabric spine.
Written on front cover: 49 and 50-51
and 49-50 and 51. Nothing written on
back cover.
Written inside front cover: some
notes, an address for Peter (108 Race St., and 49-50 and 51). Written inside back cover: records of bales
of sisal and manila taken in 1849.
Several loose slips of paper,
including: a note about dividends, dated Jan. 4, 1849; a religious poem;
“educational statistics; some notes about rope making and receipt of wages (no
month or year); a note about going to Easton in March 1850, ending with the
resolution “this was the last of my going abroad to work”; and a printed list
of the Democratic Ticket, endorsed on back “ticket which carried throughout at
the election in the Autumn of 1850,” including governor (William H. Ross),
congressman, sheriff, coroner, senators, representatives, and levy court
commissioners [for hundreds in New Castle County].
1849:
Jan. 1.: About house, not
well, got a cold….
Feb. 1: About house all day, part of
the time mending an old jacket and reading….
March 1: About house, tired of being
idle, waiting for an opportunity to go down to Delaware City, the navigation
not sufficiently clear of ice for the boat to run….
March 17: … went to market and bought
a string of pike fish. About house and
in the garden rest of the day, split some wood for kindling and other
[illegible]
April 1: First of the week, took a
walk in the forenoon and again in the afternoon on the heights of the Lehigh….
[he is back in Easton]
May 17: Spinning tow line …. There
was quite a melee this afternoon between the sheriff and canal boat men….
May 28: Spinning blocking twine of
flax…. Andrew Keller Patrick and boys absent except Henry soon[?] to see the
affairs with the sheriff and boatmen.
June 1: Assisted to lay 2 coils of
the [or possibly three] inch ….
July 4: Assisted spinning tow lines…
then laid off 12 of one horse which I reeled …. I went … to several of the tailors
in search of list but could get none… I took a walk on the heights of the Leigh
in the afternoon….
Aug. 1: Assisted spinning and laying
tow lines….
Sept. 1: Spinning sisal yarn and
assisted to make a coil of 3 1/3 inch….
Oct. 1: We got breakfast before
going to work, there was yarn left out which was spun last week we spun 5 thread then laid off a coil of 4 ½ inch we
then set on spinning tow lines rest of the day.
Nov. 1: Assisted laying and reeled
the rest of the tow lines ….
Nov. 26: … Fred not at work in the
forenoon, was married yesterday, came to work this afternoon….
[ends with records of work done in
the Easton rope walk, board for the year, and expenses]
1850:
Jan. 1: Assisted to make a
coil of 3 inch, then spinning sisal yarn rest of day ….
Feb. 1: In the forenoon went to John
Hedges and daughters and stayed until near 11 clock. In the afternoon about house.
Feb. 25: After breakfast went with
James, Lucinda and Theodore to [Port Penn – rubbed out] Delaware City, Francis
was moving and I joined too and helped him a little.
[James Price, his wife Lucinda
Dunlap, and their son Theodore Dunlap Price]
March 1: After dinner went to see
Ann Ford, Clarissa Ogle and then went to Benjamin Dunlap’s and took tea with
him ….
April 1: About house and done a
little work in the garden….
April 16: About house, put soles on
a pair of old pump shoes.
May 1: About house, at market, and
out walking, stopped at J. Hedges….
May 19: First of the week, at
meeting in the forenoon.
May 20: … hail ….
June 1: Took up the 6 lines laid
yesterday, then set on spinning, spun yarn rest of the day….
July 1: Went out with James Price to
see one of his neighbors commence cutting his wheat with a horse machine; the
sun shone very hot so that I could not continue out long at a time….
July 3-13: Amused myself walking around
the farm and sometimes picking currants and vegetables and strolling the
beach. Jane Dunlap departed this life
after suffering a short illness.
July 23: Heckling flax and scotching
hemp. The Poor House was burnt….
Aug. 5: … Altered my trousers in the
forenoon; in the afternoon went down to the walk but did not set to work.
Sept. 2: … mended a rent in my
boot….
Oct. 4:
[describes routes of several walks taken around Wilmington]
Oct. 20: [on
slip attached to page at this date:] Urban Hedges and Joseph Townsend got home
from California last evening.
Nov. 1: Spinning
coarse and sewing twine….
Nov. 24: Left
home … for New Castle to visit my niece, stayed near 5 hours, which was spent
very pleasantly in conversation more particularly so as I got information of
the welfare of my sister who resides in the state of Ohio….
Dec. 1: Fist of
the week, at M [meeting] ….
Dec. 24: [bought
a share of bank stock] … Purchased an almanac….
[ends the year
with record of “amount of work done in the year 1850 in Easton, in Wilmington,”
and amounts paid for board and other expenses]
1851:
Jan. 2: About
house reading, writing, and doing some little turns….
Feb. 1: Arose
before six not exactly well, my bowels out of order; staid about house all day,
split some wood….
Feb. 14:
Spinning log lines, which I did not lay, the weather too damp.
Feb. 23: First
of the week, at M [meeting] in the forenoon, in the afternoon my nephew and
nice came up from Port Penn and I set out with them for home where we arrived
by ½ past 6. Weather fine, pleasant day,
like spring, the frogs were lively along the road.
March 6:
Knitting in the forenoon, in the afternoon reading and walking about, Emma
diverting herself with burning the marsh….
April 16: Took
up the lines laid yesterday and spun 4 doz more.
May 3: … Frost
in the morn….
May 27: … Powder
mill blew up this forenoon … by which accident two person were killed….
June 7: … went
down to the walk, found it had been again overflowed; … pin pins in the rest of
the long twine stakes …. In the afternoon took a walk back of the town. …
July 4: Went
down to the walk after breakfast and split traces and halters; came home after
10 and pict [picked] cherries….
Aug. 6: After
breakfast took a walk out on the railroad and got some boneset for E.S….
Aug. 9: About
house in the forenoon, putting a cane bottom in an old chair, in the afternoon
took a walk down the marsh lane so far as Mill creek….
Sept. 12: Went
down to the walk and two erants [errands] for Ester P…. mended my old jacket.
Oct. 3: Spinning
country yarn, spun 38 threads…. There
was a FIRE broke out at the upper end of Orange St. in the cotton and machine
factory which was entirely consumed … another about 10 the stabling of the
Black Bear and when that was burnt another the stabling and carriage house of
Eli Hillis, all these within the space of 10 hours.
Nov. 3: About
home and down to the walk, purchased some boards to cover the FIG tree.
Dec. 10: About
house and down to the walk and Caleb’s shop in the forenoon….
[as usual, ends
with summary of wages earned and amount spent for board and expenses; a longer
account of “amount of work in the year 1851” is attached as well]
.10a-c 1852, 1853, 1854, 1855
Volume: The boards are
covered with a decorative paper, the same as that used as endpapers for
2018x34.8. The boards are connected by
two strips of red leather; the spine is made of cloth, and is loose. Many of the signatures are no longer attached
to the binding; use care to keep them in order.
Written on front cover: 1852 53,
54-55. Written inside front cover:
several notes, mostly in pencil. Nothing
written on back cover or inside back cover.
Accounts for work done in 1854 and
1855 are filed with the diary; accounts for 1852 and 1853 are in separate
folder.
1852:
Jan. 1: Arose early and took
a walk to Brandywine, the ice having broke up … it was jammed below the bridge
… stayed about house the rest of the day.
Employ mending my o d j kt [old jacket].
Jan. 5: Went down to Caleb’s shop to
put a ring on the maall [maul?] … and .. to punch a hole in the saw, Clarke[?]
having broke it…. My nephew Theodore Price called to inform me that his parents
were returned from Phila…. I went down to see her [Theodore’s mother] and
walked up street with her to the hotel where the carriage was waiting….
Jan. 14: About house, split some
wood and put a cover on this book … Word came from New Castle that there was a
vessel on FIRE….
Feb. 9: … Assisted Joseph to make a
piece of country yarn 100 feet 3 ½ inch….
March 6: Finish heckling the bale
and spun laid rounded off 2 lents [lengths] of packing …. The ice in the Delaware fast up at Bristol.
April 10: Took up 3 doz of the lines, Joseph took the
rest to the store to put up and I set on spinning more….
May 21: Made two doz. haulters, one
dox of large, half doz medium and ½ doz of small, finished of some twine and
spun some, the haulters were made of Russia yarn….
[June 13-17: making cotton line]
July 5 [Monday]: At the walk
heckling in the forenoon, in the afternoon home mending my shoe and boot; this
was a NOISY day.
Aug. 2: Assisting to make 10 coils
of rattling….
Sept. 3: Went down to the walk early
to see if the hemp had come but no hemp; went again after breakfast to Caleb’s
shop and cut out a bottom for a tin coal keetle and towards noon took a walk
out to Brandywine and came by the way of Louses[?] walk and so home; about
house in the afternoon mending my old brown coat….
Oct. 1: Spinning b lace of flax tow
and fine tapits and fished the coarse twine and small line ….
Nov. 1: Not at work in the walk, out
of stock. Took the AX to the smiths to
get dressed up and a handle put to it….
Took two plane bitts to Caleb’s mill and ground them and sawed some
short blocks for kindling….
Nov. 17: About house, made a razor
case….
Dec. 27: Went to the barber’s and
got my hair cut….
[as usual, ends the year by
recording total of his wages and expenses]
1853:
Jan. 4: About house, cut out
a pair of socks of a pair of old trousers which I ripped up yesterday….
Feb. 3: About
house part of the day reading … went out to Brandywine ,, the creek was high …
there was a heavy thunder gust last night.
Feb. 9: There
was FIRE down town this morning … the work shop of John Harris shop was burnt
….
March 24:
Spinning sewing twine and heckling tapits for P[?] lines, spun 40 cords ….
[April: mostly
describes work at the ropewalk, or attending meeting on Sunday]
May 14: Spinning
six thread P lines of rough flax …. There was 19 fish wagons at market this
morning….
June 27: Went to
the walk after breakfast and reeled the rest of the coils, Joseph followed
them, the boy id not come to work; after I got them reeled, I returned home,
not feeling well, had an attack of the piles ….
July 4: About
house, did not feel well, took some medicine for sourness of the stomach; this
was a noisy day through the town…..
July 5:
[describes route of a walk he took;] saw some new buildings commenced,
particularly a large foundry on Front Street … there is much building going on
in this city.
July 6: Arose early, made a fire in
the new range, then took a walk …. When I returned home, found the top of the
range red hot. After breakfast went to
the girls store for the market basket ….
July 9: … Took a walk down to the
railroad draw bridge; the draw had been left off or taken off a few nights past
by some ill design person or persons, consequence of which the locomotive
preticipated [sic] into the Brandywine and two men killed.
July 16: … took a tepid bath….
Aug. 1: … Thomas England and wife
came and took tea with the family ….
Sept. 4: First of the week, at Mg
[meeting], stranger there ….
Oct. 21: Spinning packing of Italian
tapits, spun 7 lengths….
Nov. 1: My niece[‘s] daughter and
son left for Philadelphia, her husband having went up yesterday. I went up to the Piene[?] House and stayed
with Theodore’s partner until afternoon when I left of Delaware City….
Dec. 5: Not at work in the forenoon,
went down to the store and stayed a short time, from there went to the City
Treasurer’s office and rec. a six months interest 12 doll….
Dec. 30: … Attended the burial of
Elizabeth Hedges [and snowed during funeral] ….
[records amounts of wages and
expenses for year]
1854:
Jan. 4: About house, to
market and down to Hedges store in the forenoon; … the snow melting fast, there
has been good sleighing for the past 5 days.
Jan. 6: [rather involved account of
awaiting corpse of Charles Dunlap, whose body was apparently being transported
by train to New Castle and Delaware City; the funeral was on Jan. 8]
Jan. 16: Went again for some
oysters, then down to the store. I
mentioned to Joseph that there was some twine at the walk which I thought I
might as well finish now that the weather was favorable… so I came home,
changed my clothes and went down to the walk ….
Feb. 24: About house [reading] Lady
Wortley’s Travels in the United States and Mexico.
Feb. 25: … the snow is heaped up in
places along the streets to the height of 3 feet….
March 13: About house, ruled some
volumes of the Friend and sewed the covers on.
April 5: [took a walk;] Fire down town,
Halens steam boat shop was burnt….
April 18: … Cleared the snow off the
pavement front and … took my watch to Aldrich’s to ascertain the value of it as
I wish to sell it, but finding they set so low a value on it I think best to
lay it by….
April 19: … split some blocks for
kindling and went down to Caleb’s Mill to bespeak some coat for Ester Burns,
and in the afternoon took a walk down to Tatnall St. Wharf….
May 10: … went down to Caleb’s Mill
and paid for a half ton of coal for E. Byrns which she got in the winter, then
came home and made some frames for to support the gooseberries and raspberries
and assisted to move and fix the kitchen stove….
May 29: About home, dug some in the garden and
planted some tomatoes and put up a hop pole ….
May 31: [describes explosion at
Dupont Powder Mills, where three loaded wagons blew up, killing the drivers and
others, breaking lots of glass, and shaking buildings, some so badly as to be
damaged]
June 3: … Assisted Ester B to put a
back to Martha’s chair … put the backs on two volumes of the Friend….
June 10: Went to market after
breakfast and brought home the basket, then set to work along the garden fence
to prevent the water coming through from the neighbors….
July 4: Arose early, was awaken by
the noise in the streets … it was very noisy through the town….
July 12: [brought the market basket
back from the girls store; met Joseph Hedges who asked him to come to the
ropewalk, where Stidham set to work;] it
has been 11 weeks since last work done in the walk….
July 29: Spinning and heckling …
Ragashees Powder Mill exploded this evening….
Aug. 31: Went down to the wallk;
there was a boy waiting but he was too light to turn the large wheel ….
Sept. 7: … gather some of the grapes
in the afternoon….
Sept. 13: Went down to the girls
store after breakfast for the market basket … ES got a fall in market St. and
hurt her knee so as to lame her considerable….
Sept. 25: … went round into King and
French Streets where there was to be an exhibition of wild beasts [from] Barnum’s
American Museum, am the wagons were just driving in, saw some of the elephants,
made no stay….
Oct. 27: … putting in the gas….
Nov. 3: … smoky like Indian summer….
Nov. 4: Assisted William to shake
out his shaves and clear up the heckle room; we then with the assistance of the
doctor and a black man hoisted two large bales of country hemp….
Nov. 14: … my thumb pained me so
much that I was forced to give over and come home … this was election day but I
did not go.
Nov. 23: … as this was the day
recommended by the Governor of the state to be observed as a day of
Thanksgiving, there was but little business doing….
Dec. 4: … stopped at two tailors to
get list but got none, went to the iron mongers and bought a pocket knife ….
Dec. 25: … went to the barber’s and
got my hair cut and from there to the walk and commenced finishing off the seam
cord….
[ends with recording wages and
expenses for the year]
1855:
Jan. 27: went to Market St.
after 9 and brought home a pitcher of milk … sleighs running lively.
Feb. 22: After 9 clock went for a phys[blank]
doctor for Elizabeth Stroud; stopped in at Hedges china store … went to Caleb’s
mill….
March 19: … Urban came for me to go
to warp but I declined and cut out a pair of drawers and making.
March 30: … took a walk up the
Kennett Pike, stopped to see a new ropewalk that is set up near the forks of
the road….
April 14: Went to market early to
see if I could get a string of sunfish but came away without; there was a
quantity of other kinds: shad, herrings, white perch and yellow rock and
catfish….
April 23: Left home … to see my
nephew Benjamin Ustick in the Welsh Tract ….
April 27: [went to Caleb’s mill to
see if could get stone to repair Elizabeth’s garden wall;] Margaret Hedges
called to see me about an affair of which she did not wish her father and the
family to know the particulars of; [took a tub to George Witsah[?] to get a
hoop put on; went to ropewalk which had been under repair; saw Daniel
Joslin;] Jonathan Byrnes came on from
New York ….
May 1: [paid city and school taxes,
fixed up a wren box]
May 3: [went to Delaware City to
visit relatives; returned to Wilmington on May 21]
June 4: … I went down to the walk
with [Urban] and got ready but had no wheel boy until afternoon, when I set on
spinning small loglines….
[July 2-5: visiting Benjamin Ustick;
went to Glasgow one day]
Aug. 3: … Gurashees Powder Mill blew
up this morning about 8 clock, occasioning the death of 5 persons and wounding
others….
Aug. 11: …there was a balloon
ascension in the afternoon ….
Sept. 26: At the store; U & his
father went to the city to attend the dedication of a new masonic hall or
temple, so I stayed in the store….
Oct. 4: … I went across the bridge
in the afternoonto see a new ship that is getting rigged; it was launched last
week.
Nov. 22: This day was recommended by
the Governor of this state to be observed as a day of Thanksgiving; there was
not much business done in the town. I
went to the walk and reeled the sash cord….
Dec. 11: …
mending my socks … Margaret Hedges was married this morning.
Dec. 25: At
home, this being a holy day with many not much business done….
[Account of
“Amount received for work and cervices in the year 1855” has been unpinned from
last page of diary]
.11a-d 1856, 1857, 1858
Volume: Dark blue paper
pasted to cardboard; leather straps hold the covers together, and the spine is
covered with brown cloth. The blue paper
is blind embossed Coates’ Best Patent Linen Thread (found on front cover) and
printed with information about the thread (in red ink, on back cover).
Written on front cover: “1856 and 7
and 8” and “56-57-58.” Written in pencil
inside front cover: notes about coal.
Written inside back cover: 10 mo 5th 1858, U.D.H. sold the
store and the back property to Cyrus Stern.
Most of the signatures are detached
from the spine; use caution to keep them in proper order.
Loose slips of paper found in the
volume are records of amount of wages received in 1856, 1857 and 1858; a note
about “yards in the mile” of different countries (ranging from 1100 in Russia
to 8300 in Hungary); and a report on “experiments in bread making,” as found in
the 1858 volume of The Friend.
1856:
Jan. 1: At the store….
Feb. 1: About house, not well, got
the ereciples[?], am taking the homeopath medicine….
March 1: About home, trimmed the
grape vine…. [snowed in the afternoon]
April 1: Went
down to the store after breakfast and expected to have done some work in the
walk as U had bought two bales of Italian hemp, but his boy had left….
May 1: Dressing
hemp for and spinning coarse twine.
Weather: cold rainy day.
June 1: First of
the week, at meeting. Weather quite
pleasantly warm.
July 1: About
home, made a frame for the stursham [i.e. nasturtium] to run up and reading….
July 4: About
home, weeded part of the garden and other turns and reading. This was a nosy riotous day attended with
loss of life and property, a near neighbor lost a son by drowning; he went in
to bathe. And there was three houses
burnt in Market Street towards Brandywine….
July 18: [on
attached slip of paper:] warmest day for many years past
Aug. 1: U.D.H.
sent his boy with a note asking me to come and assist to make some cotton yarn
for the Franklin factory [and did other work]
Sept. 1: About
home, split up part of a box for E. Byrns, for kindling, and assisted to gather
in the hops….
Oct. 3: Abut
home; put a back in an old cassimere waistcoat….
Nov. 20:
Heckling and finished what I spun yesterday.
This being the day recommended to be observed as a day of Thanksgiving,
there was not much business done….
Dec. 22: … went
back into Market Street to a broker to enquire after stock. Went again the afternoon but found he had
raised his price, so I declined taking any….
[ends year with
recording amount received for work and expenses exclusive of board]
1857:
Jan. 1: …
mending my old coat … to the walk and reeled the twine which I finished
yesterday and took it into the store and stayed there reading the paper….
Feb. 4: After 9
went for the marketing, to the flour store, then went down to Hedges store
where I saw U had got a bale of Italian hemp and wanted some packing spun but
had no wheel boy; I went out to the walk and cleared out some of the snow… went
down to the store again and U hired a boy for the afternoon so we took out some
hemp … and set on and spun two balls of backing.
March 4: … went
to the market and afterwards down to the store and to the walk and swept away
some of the snow and opened some yarns….
April 1: Went
down to the store by 7 and spliced the halters which I laid yesterday, then
went to the walk and set on spinning more halter yarn….
May 1: Home
working in the garden …. [on attached slip of paper:] And when I finished in
the garden, went into the cellar and riddled out the coal.
June 1: … toping
out hemp and dressing it for seam cord….
July 4: this
being an holiday with most of the working people and not feeling well did not
go down to the store until after 8 clock; from there went to the walk and
spliced 26 halters which I had laid this day week; went down to the store in
the afternoon but found it shut up so I took a walk …. This was as usual a noisy day….
Aug. 1: …
spliced a few traces before the boy came, then spinning small loglines, laid
off one doz and spliced, tied up, and sent into the store 4 doz of traces….
Sept. 1: About
home … all except the few minutes that I went to the corner of our square to
the election to vote … Joseph S. Hedges called in the afternoon and asked me to
lay him some cotton yarn, which I purpose going at tomorrow.
Oct. 10: … out to the walk,
Daniel the boy had come back, and he and I set to cutting old stuff, some for
fire wood and some for posts….
Nov. 18: … went down town and out on
the railroad to get some elder to make salve for my finger … there was a man
killed on the railroad last night between Justiceson [i.e. Justison] Street and
Hedgeville.
Nov. 23: Rebecca Loyd was buried
this day; Caleb, Mary & Sarah Stroud went out to the funeral.
Dec. 25: About home; peeled some
apples for baking and darned a pair of stockings an reading….
[closes with amounts received for
wages and paid for expenses]
1858:
Jan. 1: About home; sawed and split
some; peeled some apples for baking and put a leather ring under the hinge of
the front window shutter to raise it.
Feb. 3: Went to market … and brought
home the basket … Urban wanting some small cords made of thread which he has in
balls, I took some of the balls out to the walk thinking to wound some strands
and lay them tomorrow but finding the walk too open to leave them out and the wheel
out of order, I came away and brought the balls back to the store … stopped at
the girls store and brought away a basket of potatoes….
March 8: … went to the Bank of
Delaware and drew out 15 dollars …. It began to snow .. at times it fell very
fast so that I was out three times clearing it off….
April 5: … dug up a rose bush and
separated it, took one for Ester Jane and one to the girls…. In the afternoon gathered up the rubbish off
the garden and burned it and picked the stone pieces of brick and oyster shells
and put them along the wall, then went down to Caleb’s mill and got a pitch
fork and dug among the asparagus.
May 7: About home all day, read some
in a vol. of the Friend.
June 11: We had an early
breakfast. I then got the ladder out of
the cellar and lashed a short one to it so as to reach the eave of the kitchen
roof then went down to the store and got a piece of tin…. Cleared out the eave
spouting and put on short piece of wash board in the kitchen and other turns….
July 5 [Monday]: … cut some dead
branches out of the cherry tree. This
was an idle noisy day in the town….
Aug. 12: … got down to the store by
a quarter to six, made but one small sale today; I amused myself with spooling
yarn.
Sept. 8: [a slip of paper covers the
original entry for this date]: … assisted ES with her stove; she had got a new
cook stove some days ago but found it would not answer so she got a new
cylinder put into her small range and I assisted to put it back to its
place. Strangers came this evening from
Phila.
Oct. 7: Got down to the store soon
after seven clock, was employed most of the day in clearing up the store and
carrying the rest of the things down from the garret and into the stable loft….
Nov. 18: About home, mended another and the last old shoe
and looking over my memorandum paper….
Dec. 25: … took an earthen crock up
to the Black Bear tavern for a market man to take home and fill with lard …
mended my muslin socks and reading ….
Dec. 31:About home; finished the
cover of my book in which I keep a daily account of transactions or how I
employ my time which is dilatory enough, having no particular employment; the
year is now near closed during which I have received for work done only 28 doll
25 cts.
.12 1859,
1860, 1861
Volume: Green paper pasted
onto cardboard; covers held together by leather strips; brown cloth used for
spine. Written on front cover:
“1859-1860” and “59-60-61.” The word
written on the back cover appears to be “Avondale” (a place in Chester County,
Penn.)
Various notes are written inside the
front cover: some dates with initials, a note about a stone in the Temple in
Jerusalem, and a note about travels in 1855;
also pasted inside the front cover is a note about a list of officers
printed in a newspaper in 1835.
Various notes are also written
inside the back cover: birth and death dates of several people, and a note
about coal.
1859:
Jan, 18: … UD Hedges called
for me to assist him make a piece of white rope 35 feet 1 ½ inch for
Dupont.; we got it accomplished and I
balled up some small twine which I made and finished in the fall and been
hanging by the way in the loft ….
Feb. 24: … took a walk down to the
railroad and out to Downings tannery on the Newport Pike ….
March 12: … took the butter kettle
down to the store and … went to market and bought a piece of veal … wend down
to Caleb’s mill … Seventeen fish wagons at market this morning.
April 4: … There was twenty five fish wagons at market
this morning.
April 9: Went twice to market to bring home the marketing
and once to look for a root of horehound, saw noon [sic, i.e. none].
I then … mended a handle of a basket for ES and … set down to read the
History of the Reformation in England.
May 16: … went to the barber’s and
got my hair cut, then went to the Bank of Delaware and got a six months
dividend entered on my book … assist the women about house as they were
cleaning my room, I removed my trunks and chests and assisted to clean and put
away two stoves ….
June 4: … Made two frames for
mosquito nets ….
June 8: … Elizabeth was washing the
back part of the house with a dark lead color and I did the part over the
roof….
July 6: … there was an alarm of
fire, I went to see where it was and saw it was the old custom house….
Aug. 9: Went up to John Hedges about ½ past 9 and
took his onions out of the ground … cut a branch off the oleander this morn and
put it in a bottle ….
Sept. 17: … went into the garden and gathered some of
the quinces, the wind was so very high we were afraid it would break the tree;
the peach tree was broken off short at the ground and many branches of Pierces
willow tree were thrown over into the yard and garden….
Oct. 24: … began to mend a pair of
old shoes of Martha B’s- when J.H. came and asked me to come and fix boards
around his cellar and fill in the earth…. After dinner, I stayed about house
assisting ES to fix the kitchen stove….
Nov. 16: Early in the morn I gathered up two buckets
full of [illegible, but perhaps leaves]
off the street….
Dec. 19: Working at the sack [or sock]
which I finished and commenced another.
In the morn took a bucket to the cooper to get a hoop put on ….
1860:
Jan. 2: About home reading
some of the old vols of the Friend and keeping warm by the stove as the weather
is very cold. Thermometer in the morn at
2, at noon 12.
Feb. 20: About home, assisted ES to
unravel a piece of old carpet and riddled out two days ashes and prepared
kindling &c….
March 15: About home, preformed some
turns in the garden such as picking up the sticks and stones of the beds and
prepared kindling and coat, then reading….
April 5: About home, put down a few
more pieces of boards along the alley and dug up and transplanted a small vine
&c….
[also attached slip of
paper:] took some balls of carpeting to the weavers and soon after there was an
alarm of fire [a malt house chimney and then a carpenter shop]
April 21: Went to market … and
brought home the basket and a shad and went again to county the number of fish
wagons – 24 but some had sold out and left…. Planted some hemp seed and covered
the bed where I planted the peas and trimmed some of the dead branches out of
the sweet briar and other turns and reading….
April 25: …. Last evening our attention was much taken
with watching the moon and the planet Venus which was eclipsed by the moon
about 9 clock; it was a rare sight and will not be witnessed again for a long
time….
May 4: About home, uncovered the fig
tree and spread some of the dirt on the border bed and other turns….
May 25: About home, riddled out the dust from the
fine coal and fixed something more to the hops to run on … assisted to put the
stove back in the fireplace and cleaned the pipe and took some into the
loft. Weather: there was a bright
rainbow this morn….
June 11: … took a walk down town and
out on the railroad, saw men at work on the property formerly Warners,
preparing the foundation for a foundry 10 acres being purchased for that
purpose….
June 20: … There was an alarm of
fire last night which proved to be on the Brandywine banks, it was the old
Gilpin Paper Mill which was being fitted up for tenements, said to be the work
of incendiaries….
July 2: About home, put another coat
of paint on the back of the house … put braces to the legs of the high bench,
&C.
July 30: About home; fixed some
pieces round the posts of the grape frame to prevent the cat climbing it and
prepared kindling and coal & reading….
July 31: … Thus ends the seventh
month, the driest perhaps we have had for several years; it is supposed that
there has not an ½ inch of rain fell in the month.
Aug. 18: … Elizabeth having got some
branches of apricots from a neighbor and furnished me with a small pocket
knife, I attempted to inoculate them into a plum tree. I made out to put in four buds in a clumsy
way… put a patch on the knee of my trousers….
Sept. 9: … Pared some more quinces
for preserving; took out the ash barrel to get emptied; gathered some buckets
full of dirt off the street and carried into the garden to have ready to cover
the fig tree; sawed and split some kindling, &c….
Oct. 15: About home; assisted ES to
move the stove out of the fireplace and brought the sheet iron stove down from
the garret to put behind it in the fireplace and other turns….
Nov. 6: … went to the election for
state legislature and electors for President of the United States; the polls
were held at the Bear tavern….
Nov. 8: … I went twice down to Fords
malt house … to look for a young cat which got loose from Elizabeth as she was
carrying it down to the girls store….
Nov. 13: … about to get the fig tree
ready for covering when John hedges called for me to go down to the old shop to
select out his wrought iron such as the rope walk tools and other things … when
we had done and were coming away he was so crippled with the rheumatism that it
was with difficulty that we got up to Joseph’s where he stopped until I went to
a livery stable for a carriage to take him home….
Dec. 7: … pealed apples for baking
and other turns. Cleared out the old
candle box in which we used to keep nails and other things and overhauled a
drawer of a small workbench and assorted the old iron and stowed it away in a
box so as to leave the candle box empty for ES to put the mold candles in which
she has been making….
Dec. 14: … Made 4 small brooms or
mops of corn husks for ES to clean out buckets & pans …..
1861:
Jan. 1: … the fire having gone out
in the room stove, I cleared it out and weighed off 104 lb [of coal] to see at
what rate it consumes….
Jan. 30: [on attached slip of
paper:] Boys are amusing themselves sledding down several of the streets.
Feb. 6: Went to market after
breakfast and brought home the basket and after 10 clock went down to the soap
factory and bought one pound of palm soap, then called to see Joseph Hedges….
Feb. 11: About home; I rose early, ½ past 5, as ES
wanted to go to quarterly meeting. I
attempted to dig a hole near the grape vine to bury a dead cat but found the
ground was too hard froze; preformed some turns such as sifting the ashes,
feeding the fowls, &c….
March 24: … There was an alarm of
fire this afternoon … at Hyatts Boarding school ... it soon put out….
[note in margin:] some
trouble with a cat upstairs.
April 15: … dug up some of the
yellow rose bushes and packed them up with some gooseberry trees and packed up
some apple and fig trees and took them down to Caleb Stroud’s to be sent out to
Stanton. On my way home stopped at
Joseph Hedges … then went up to see John Hedges. The people were collecting in West Street
from 6 to 7th to attend the funeral of [blank space] ….
May 20: About home, sewed my old
straw hat and some other turns….
May 31: Peeled some rhubarb for pies
and cleaned up my room &c, and read some and carried some dirt out of the
cellar….
June 13: Left home this morn for
Port Penn by railroad to N. Castle and steam boat to Port Penn. Rachel Woodrow married this morning. [this
sentence was written between the lines]
… I found niece not well being much afflicted with rheumatic pains in
her neck and head….
June 20: Set off this morn with my
niece for Delaware City and from there by steamboat for Phila where we arrived
by noon and where we met Emma Cousin Lucy had her grandson with her; he is a
cripple in his feet and she has to come up at certain times to have his shoes
altered by which his feet are straightened.
She returned in the afternoon to Delaware City and I went home with Emma
to Glass Borough [sic] in Jersey. We met
her husband my nephew Woodward Warwick at the depot; he has two daughters by a
former wife, fine girls. I was not well
when I set out this morn, had some pain in my bowels; went to the apothecary’s
in Phila and bought some blackberry cordial….
July 24: [brought home the market
basket, bought some grapes, visited Joseph Hedges;] Reading some papers which he gave me
containing accounts of sanguinary battle fought on last first day between the
government forces and those of the seceded states in which the federal forces
were compelled to retreat, being overpowered by numbers…. [First Battle of Manassas, or Bull Run,
fought July 21]
Aug. 12: About home; commenced
mending my old woolen roundabout coat and mended my muslin drawers….
Sept. 6: About home; pared some
apples and peaches for pies and fixed a pen in the garden for to put a pair of
young pigeons in which had been [given – omitted] to Mary for a barbecue, but
none of us felt willing to kill them so they are likely to become pets. I cleaned out the coop in which they had been
kept and other turns, &c. … Put my room in order, piled up some hemp.
Oct. 17: … picked some sturshans [i.e.
nasturtiums] and put an olean [probably means oleander] in a pot &c …. After
I returned from my walk, I commenced sewing a rip in one of Martha’s shoes but
did not get it finished.
Nov. 19: … ES bought ¼ cord of
hickory wood which I put in the cellar and fixed a stake in the pavement for
the cellar door to rest on and other turns….
Dec. 10: … work some in the garden,
racked the alley to get the larger stones out of the gravel and carried them to
the far end of the garden, &c; took out the ash barrel ….
[at the time this transcription was
made, the signature for the rest of December was missing]
.13a-e 1862-1863
Volume: covers made from brown paper
pasted over cardstock, with brown fabric spine; covers held together with two
strips of leather, and covers are stitched to the leather strips. Part of an illustration on the brown paper is
visible on the back cover.
Written on front cover: 62 1863;
nothing written on back cover. Notes are
penciled inside the front and back covers.
Four loose items were laid into the
volume. Three of them were detached
slips of papers which add information to an entry; two of these were easy to
match to the proper date. The third
(about maris vines) has not been matched and may belong to a another
diary. The fourth loose item bears the
name of Elizabeth Stroud, Wilmington, Del. handwritten on the blank side of a
trade card printed for J.F. Brynes, surveying and conveyancing.
1862:
Jan. 1: About home; cleaned
out the chicken coop and riddle out the coal ashes and stuck some sticks by a
young peach tree to prevent the cats form scratching it and other turns and
took a crock to the pork butchers to get filled with lard &c.
Feb. 22: About home; cleared the
snow and ice out off the yard and cleared out part of the front gutter and
carried the dirt into the garden and swept up my room …
March 20: … I received a note from
John Tatum requesting me to inform certain persons that Bond Valentine, a
minster from Ohio, would be at meeting this morn. I took word down to the girls and attended
also the meeting… I riddled out some dirt which I had brought in from the
street to put on the garden….
March 25: About home; riddled out
the ashes and took the stones brickbats and oyster shells which came out of the
dirt which I riddled out from under the fence over into the lot where they came
from – and other turns. People are busy
moving….
April 26: … brought home the basket
and a shad which I cleaned then planted some sturshans seed, then cut some dead
branches out of the cherry tree and broke it up and some other turns….
May 9: About home, swept the wood
cellar and carried the sweepings into the garden then patched up a piece of old
carpet to make a mat …. William Cours called and gave Elizabeth some cotton
seed which I planted….
June 9: Left home for Delaware City
… and met my nephew F.D. Dunlap….
June 28: Went with Joseph … to
Cannons X Roads where he has a store and where I met Theodore….
July 16: ,,, went out to look for a
woman that cures wounds and sores (Rumford) but did not find her …. [in entry
of July 17, refers to her as “woman doctor”]
July 23: … went to see some houses
Margaret Stroud is getting built in 2d between Madison and Monroe Sts out of
the lumber of the old mill….
July 28: …. Picked some blighted cherries
to give the pigs ….
Aug. 7: … attended the funeral of
John Pierce who was drowned in the Brandywine ….
Sept. 5: … there was a large bird
perched on one of the telegraph poles which I took for a turkey buzzard ….
Sept. 9: … then down to near the old
mansion where I was born as I wished to see the date of the year in which it
was built which is built in the wall 1746….
Sept. 18: … ES had engaged W. Pierce
carpenter to mend the rain spout at the corner of the house near the gate and
to stop a hole in the pavement where the water went down into the cellar, so I
waited on him with mortar, sand and clay and … took the ladder out of cellar
for him to get on to the roof …. [also
records that the rolling mill at the end of 3d Street caught fire]
Oct. 6: … several of my nieces …
called to see me, with whom I went down to the old church. They wishing to see
where their grandfather Stidham lay….
Oct. 31: … ES went to Phila and took
a young colored child to put in the shelter….
Nov. 4: … went to the election but
was denied a vote because I had not paid a tax within tow years…..
Nov. 6: … smashed some more grapes,
what I had mashed before was turned to good vinegar….
Dec. 26: … gathered a bucket of dirt
off the street and put an oleander in a box….
1863:
Jan. 12: Arose early and
backed myself some Indian cakes ….
Jan. 27: [on loose slip of
paper:] DB broke prison last night and
came here early this morn; Martha took him up to the girls where he stayed
until after 9 then left for his aunts in the country; he is a deserter from a
regiment of cavalry over Brandywine.
Feb. 22: First of the week; my cold still continues
very heavy with much cough. I have taken
several sorts of medicine, such as ginger tea, tar syrup, horehound syrup and
at going to bed for these several nights past a mixture of paregoric,
antimonial wine and sweet spirits of nitre.
March 4: … took a teaspoon full of
tincture of bark ….
March 6: … took a spoon full of the
elixir of chincona or Peruvian bark….
April 14: Went to the grocery store
and bought a pound of crackers….
May 15: … My niece Lucy Price came
this evening; she told me that her son Theodore was arrested and dragged from
his home this day week by a government agent and sent into Virginia.
May 30 … cut the grass in the
garden…..
June 5: … went up to J Hedges; he was in the garden
among his bees, one hive having swarmed…. In the afternoon, at work on my old
shoe….
July 24: … took the nails out of the kitchen carpet
and put up the clothes line and hung the carpet on it and shook it and some
other turns….
July 26: … there was four young
Friends at meeting that were taken among the prisoners at the late battle at
Gettysburg and had been send down to Fort Delaware and had through the
application of Friends to the [blank space] of war got their discharge…
Aug. 11: Arose early and went to Brandywine to bathe;
when I came home, pulled up the grass in the pavement in the street … sewed
some pieces of old carpet together to make a foot wiper in the cellar &c….
Aug. 27: [sat with Sally Ann
Townsend’s father while she was gone for the day;] while there, I amused myself
reading Catlin’s History of the North American Indians….
Sept. 11: … took a walk down 7
Street to the railroad bridge where an accident happened last night; the draw
was off to let a vessel through when the train came on and the locomotive run
into the creek with a car load of peaches; the people were coming up 7 Street
with baskets full when I was gong down….
Oct. 12: … swept the yard and
carried the leaves into the garden and after dinner carried two of Martha Byrns
flower pots up to her school room ….
Nov. 11: … went up to Martha’s
school to let the children know there would be no school this day, she being
sick….
Dec. 23: … there is a pond frozen
sufficiently strong for the children to skate and slide, and many were amusing
themselves at that sport….
Dec. 31: … took Martha’s dinner up
to her at school….
.14 1864-1865
Volume: Covers: boards
covered with blue paper, held together by two strips of leather; cloth
spine. Several loose signatures.
Written on front cover: 1864 and
65. Nothing written inside front cover
or on back cover. Written inside back
cover: 2d mo 11th 1865, Drew 80 dolls.
Laid into volume: list of expense
for 1864 (including shirts, shoes, taxes, food items, knife). A slip of paper with an entry for May 4,
1865, became detached from its page and is now in a polyester sleeve.
1864:
Jan. 13: … I went to the
apothecary’s for arrowroot for Martha Byrnes, she being sick…, in the evening
went for Dr. Porter then to Bringhurst for medicine….
Jan. 16: … went to the apothecary’s
before 10 and to the spring for water at noon ….
Feb. 14: …. Took no account of the
thermon [thermometer] but the day very windy.
March 12: … at work in the cellar …
had to bail out the sink hole and bore it deeper and carried the gravel into
the garden….
April 11: When I arose had much water to carry out of
the cellar, then cleared out the room stove and made a fire in it, then went to
the baker’s and bought 2 brand [sic, probably means bran] loaves, and after breakfast went up to Martha’s school room
and cleared out the stove and made a fire….
April 27: … took out the oleander
and planted it in the garden, then planted some sturshans, peas and strong
beans, sowed some hemp and tomato seed, &c….
May 12: [from the attached notes:
went to U.S. Custom House to claim exemption from payment of impost tax; James
Downward asked him to come spin some twine]
May 25: At the walk spinning and
balling twine…. [and continues to work at the ropewalk off and on for rest of
summer and fall, and into 1865]
July 5: … took some bones down to
Williams Stroud’s counting house and exchanged for plaster of Paris; I then
took the rosin to the soap factory and exchanged it for soap and candles. I then went to the City Hall and paid my city
tax and country tax….
July 19: … the garden fence was
broken down, at least most of that part next to Linden St…..
July 30: [mentions Joseph S. Hedges
working at McComb’s leather factory]
Aug. 20: … bought a box of backing,
then home. I then fastened on a piece of
the front spout which had fallen off. I
then repaired the bell wire … then went up to Downward’s ropewalk and returned
a book which James lent me ….
Sept. 1: … Sally Ann Townsend called
in the evening and asked me to come up and stay with her father tomorrow while
she goes down home.
Oct. 4: … then went to the election
for the choice of an inspector and assessor for the county election….
Oct. 7: … I took some quinces up to
the girls, pared apples for pies and fathered some grapes and prepared
kindling, &c….
Oct. 21: … Downward fixing in
machinery for a new sort of business, reducing hemp very fine….
Nov. 5: … commenced balling twine
but was taken off to spread out wet hemp.… In the afternoon piling or stacking
up hemp and balling twine….
Nov. 8: … assisted E to put up the
radiator stove in the front parlor; went up to see J. Hedges – and went to the
election for electors for President of the United States….
Nov. 23: … it was too cold to work
in the walk …. After dinner took up the oleander and fig trees and put them in
the cellar….
Dec. 24: … went to market and to the
iron mangers and bought a pocket knife and waited for E but got tired waiting
and so came home, but went back again and found her and got the marketing she
had and fetched it home ….
1865:
Jan. 9: … went up to
Martha’s school room and kindled the fire in the stove, then about home,
riddled out and picked the ashes and set about mending one of my socks….
Jan. 26: … mended a pair of Canton
flanen [i.e. flannel] drawers….
Feb. 13: Cleared the snow off the
front pavement and alley; Elizabeth paid 2 boys for clearing it off yesterday
but the storm renewing, it required to be cleared again – this was the heaviest
snowstorm this winter. I did not go up
to the school before breakfast but went about ½ past 10 and cleared away some
of the snow from the door….
Feb. 20: … [the ropewalk] had not
got the steam up in the boiler, so I stood by and kept warm for near one hour;
I then went to the heckle to dressing out stuff for sash cord… what was left
was too wet, the snow having blew in on it….
March 6: … went up to the walk, set
to dressing out hemp for twine, the boy had quit so they set a girl to turn the
wheel…. [The girl is also mentioned on
March 29.]
March 15: … I set out to the walk …
when I assisted to take out and put on a dray 5 bales of rubbish for the paper
makers….
April 13: … went up to Martha’s
school, took up a basket of blocks … went into the garden and planted the peas
for which I prepared the rows yesterday and dug ground enough for two more ….
April 17: … Sally Ann and Margaret
went to se a funeral procession Gen. Smith….
[Thomas Alfred Smyth]
April 19: … had to wait for the boy;
when he came, went on spinning manila clothes line; thought to have got all the
heckled hemp spun by noon, but this day being set apart or recommended by the
authorities at Washington as a Day of humiliation and prayer on account of the
National Calamity the President’s Death, the mayor of this city called on the
citizens to close their stores and suspend all business at 10 clock, so we shut
up and I came home and worked in the garden ….
May 4: [attached note, now loose,
see polyester sleeve:] My niece Lucy Price called this afternoon. She is here waiting on her son Theodore who
is in confinement, a government prisoner.
He had been sent into exile near two years ago and lately released but
arrested again and now in prison in the recruiting station.
May 11: … fetched the coop up from
the cellar and put two hens in it which Ruben Satherwait fetched in for
Elizabeth … went to the Indian Queen Hotel to see my niece Sally Price; she
took me to see her husband Theodore at the guard house….
May 12: … my nephew [James Price]
and Theodore Price called to see me; he had got discharged from confinement
today about 11 clock; his health has suffered from it with chills and fever….
May 13: … [had gone to Bank of
Delaware} and signed a paper in favor of its becoming a national bank with the
title the National Bank of Delaware ….
May 15: … removed a stove upstairs
to the bath house ….
May 29 … [John Hedges was very ill;]
I went up again at 2 clock at the request of Sally Ann to be a witness to his will,
which Albert Smith soon came with and
presently William Ricarkards came – he and I were the two witnesses….
June 3: … Dr. Sharples’ dog followed
me home ….
June 14: … two of Martha’s scholars
here to dine this week; in the afternoon went up to Downwards balerope
factory….
June 19: … went into the street and
gathered some manure and plated two pieces of potatoes ….
June 20: Downwards shut up their mill or factory at
noon and all three , the father and two sons, came ujp to the walk; the
business is so dull, the[y] don’t [know – omitted] what to do. [pinned here wa\\is a note about Stidham not
being paid for 16 days of work]
July 3: … went up to Downwards
ropewalk and fetched away my apron and a pitcher….
July 4: … the town being very noisy,
was about home all day, mended my coat ….
July 7: … picked the remainder of
the gooseberries, then picked a parcel of worms off the plum tree and the ho
vine…. [a thunderstorm] broke off the cherry tree in the garden and bent the
peach tree and started the grape frame and other damage….
Aug. 15: …. Margaret Sharp called to
inform me of the death of her brother Joseph S. Hedges….
Aug. 17: … went down to Mary Hedges
expecting to see Joseph but did not, he was in the ice box …. Finished squeezing the elderberries … dug a
hole in the garden and buried the pig feed which had spoiled ….
Sept. 4: … went up to Joh Hedges,
found him very week; came on a heavy rain between 2 & 3, the street was
flooded from curb to curb and over the curb onto the pavement….
Sept. 6: … Elizabeth making ketchup
of tomatoes….
Sept. 23: … Martha [Brynes] went up
to her school room and I went up and fetched home her things as she had to give
up her room to another teacher who keeps in the adjoining part of the house….
Oct. 3: … there was a robbery
committed last night at John Chear’s store.
Nov. 3: … went up to see Urban,
found him in a dying state; stayed to supper and until he past away… I then
went to bed but did not rest well, had the nightmare and disagreeable dreams.
Nov. 10: [Mary Hedges asked him to
sell a ball of cotton cord;] after dinner I took it down to Barre in Water
Street who keeps a ship chandlery; he told me that such was not called for, the
price being too high, so he declined to purchase….
Nov. 20: … [James Downward, Sen.]
set on to spin some 9 thread length for banding for Joseph Bancroft … we then
made some bands off the jack for the bale rope at the mill….
Nov. 28: … quit ½ hour sooner in
consequence of James Downward the younger getting hurt at the mill….
Dec. 25: … went out to see if the
Bank was open but found they were all closed; when I returned assisted E to fix
a fireboard for the front room fireplace, after which set to mending a pair of
my cassimere pants….
Dec. 31: … Thus ends the year 1865,
during which time I have rec for work or earned 59 doll 50 cts.
.15a-c 1866-1867
Volume: covers made from
four layers of paper pasted together, outside layer is green paper, inside
layer from old account book. As usual,
the covers are held together with strips of leather and the spine is made from
fabric.
Nothing is written on front
or back covers, or inside the back cover.
A couple of notes, one dated 1866 and the other 1867, are written inside
the front cover.
Two loose items are
associated with this volume: a list of dates when Stidhem “froze up in my
room,” from Dec. 13, 1867-March 4, 1868; and a small booklet labeled “money
deposit in and drawn from The Bank of Delaware,” covering 1860-1867.
1866:
Jan. 1: [on
added slip of paper:] Sally Ann gave me her father’s overcoat and several other
articles of clothing….
Jan. 11: … went
out to see the ruins of Downward’s factory, it was burnt down early this morn –
when I went there, I assisted to carry some of the coils of rope (that had been
saved) out of the yard to load the dray to be taken up to the walk….
[bound between
pages for Jan.16-20, 1866, are notes about weather for second and third months,
no year (on one side of paper), and on other side are found notes about weather
for 1867-1868]
Jan. 30: … had
to lay down on the settee until after dinner … sent for doctor; he came by 3
clock and ordered that I should be leeched, and Margaret Stroud being here went
for the leech woman… the leeches did not draw well so she resorting to
cupping….
[Feb.: sick
until March 11, so just a summary of doctor’s visits and his cold]
March 28: … went
up to see Sally Ann Townsend and took her some old Maryland provincial paper
money….
April 10: …. E
parted with her hen and got the man that bought her to kill the crowing fowl –
I then set to take away the coop and pen in which there were kept….
April 26: … took
a large basket of bones down town and exchanged them for lime ….
May 23: … went
over to see Dr. A [Askew] for advice concerning a complaint … he sent me to
Bringhurst for a box of pills….
June 4: …
whitewash inside the cellar way … firemen’s grand parade ….
June 27: …
finished netting the net for the bath house window … put sticks to some of the
lima beans – then finished making the frame for the back window upstairs….
July 6: …
started out on the railroad and gathered a large basket full of yarrow….
July 12: W.
Ford’s malt house was on frie between 11 & 12, damage not much; my nephew
Francis D. Dunlap called to see me … in the evening watered the garden….
July 24: … went
to the bookstore and bought a doz of envelopes; from there, I went to the Post
Office and got ½ doz 3 cent stamps… a man came that E had spoken to for to
examine the kitchen spout which leaks ….
I fell in with Curtis Rudolf, a person I was acquainted when we were
boys but had not seen for many years….
July 31: [on
attached slip of paper: a note about death of John Ross, the head of the
Cherokee nation]
Aug. 2: … The
remains of John Ross was brought up from Washington this forenoon and took to
the residence of John W. Stapler in Washington St.
[The second wife of
Chief John Ross was Mary Bryan Stapler of Wilmington, Delaware; she predeceased
him and was buried in Wilmington. He was
initially buried beside her, but later his remains were moved to Park Hill,
Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). John W.
Stapler was Mary’s brother.]
Aug. 3: … the
medicine which I got from New York is beginning to benefit me. I want to give it a fair trial….
Aug. 5: … John
Ross’ body was taken from the residence of John W. Stapler to the new Methodist
Chapel on 9th Street and from there to the Wilmington Cemetery this
afternoon … it was a large funeral.
Aug. 30: … went
up to Martha’s school room and assisted to fix her desks ….
Sept. 11 … there
was many came up from below to attend a picnic up the Brandywine … they had a
wet day…. I was employed part of the day
paring apples for drying….
Oct. 14: First of the week, at meeting, no elders at
meeting….
Nov. 6: …. Reading The History of
the Settlements on the Delaware and History of Wilmington by Benjamin Ferris. [Sally Ann Townsend called and asked if he
had voted;] I told her that I had not got a ticket; she offered to procure one,
was going down town and would call coming back…. Went and voted….
Nov. 20: … the mechanics on the new
Methodist meeting house [now Grace United Methodist Church] at the corner of
West and 9th Streets are about to raise a spire on the tower
attached to the house, and I have the curiosity to see it done….
Dec. 8: … Samuel Hillis called this
forenoon and got the socks which I made last week (see 11 mo 26) for his wife….
Dec. 11: … weather morn clear and
sharp cold, it froze the water in the pipe up in the bath house, and E took up
some warm bricks after dinner to thaw it, the water came down in a shower so
that she had to send in to our next door neighbor a plumber to come turn it
off….
Dec. 24: … make a fresh fire to
toast a turkey ….
1867:
Jan. 2: … went up to
Martha’s school and cleared out the stove and made a fire and waited until she
came….
Feb. 10: … I went to the fountain in
4 Street early in the morn and fetched two buckets of water, the hydrant water
being quite muddy….
March 11: … commenced to make a bird
box having seen a blue bird about the garden yesterday….
April 22: …. Started out to take a
walk, went out so far as Downwards ropewalk; saw much improvement on the
Lovering Estate since out last spring….
April 24: … shook a plum tree to
dislodge the insects ….
April 27: … planted a grape bine and
a dwarf pear tree which Austin Richardson fetched from Edward Tatnall’s nursery….
May 18: … took some onions in a
basket with two wheels up to the girls and fixed one of them on the carriage on
which they carry the ash barrel into the street….
June 3: …. I went down to Griffith
and told him there was some grass cup up here and asked him to send for it…
shook and took in 2 carpets ….
July 3: … put up an awning over the
kitchen door ….
July 23: … prepared clothes poles
and fetched a furnace up from the cellar as E has a woman washing bed clothes
and put out the lines ….
July 27: … I then tied two ladders
together and went up to the eave and cleared the gravel out of the spouts then riddling, picking and washing cinders
from the alley ….
Aug. 6: … the plasterer came … to
mend the breach in the end of the house – see 7th mo 11th
…. [July 11: some rude boys had broken off some plaster]
Aug. 17: … Mary, Elizabeth and
Martha left here for West Grove with David Woodward … so I was left in charge
of the house….
Aug. 20: … I have spent part of
yesterday and today reading in the Bible of the wonderful dealings of the Lord
with his people Israel….
Aug. 29: …last evening I washed up
in the bath tub….
Sept. 5: … stripped the leaves from
the hop vines and put them on the compost heap….
Sept. 7: … took a bundle of corn
stalks and blades down to William Forbes malt house ….
Oct. 18: … Elizabeth commenced to
bake from a new barrel of flour this morn….
Nov. 23: … went into the cellar and
divided the wood which I put in the cellar yesterday between Elizabeth and
Martha and sawed some of it for the school &c….
Dec. 12: … I went to the flour store
for ½ peck of corn meal … cut pumpkin for pies….
Dec. 17: … towards eveing cut the
ice out of the front gutter, the mayor having sent the bell man round to warn
the citzens that if it was not done, they would be liable to a fine – five
dollars …..
Dec. 20: [writes about mending socks
and putting soles of an old hat on socks]
Dec. 25: … there was a parade of
some fire companies in the forenoon….
.16 “Expences
for the year 1843,” and also 1844
Includes textile
fabrics, medications, boots and shoes, hair cuts, food items, mending
spectacles, travel expenses, etc.
.17-.19 wages received
from Henry Keller and expenses for boards and a very few other purchases, 1845,
1846, 1847;
The booklet for 1846 has the
name and address for a Philadelphia agent of the Penny Magazine
.20 “Account
of expenditures,” 1849
Includes food items, textile
fabrics, postage, travel expenses, books, hats, washing, hair cuts, writing
paper, etc.
.21-.23 expenses for 1852, 1853, 1854, 1855, 1856,
1857, 1858, 1859, 1860, 1861
Includes items as in .16 and
.20 above
.24a-b memorandum book:
Home-made volume, with
various notes written inside front and back covers; the text opens with a list
of fires in Wilmington, 1847-1857, followed by some notes dated 1829, 1847, and
1848; then are found directions for “how to measure an acre of land”; notes
about banks, 1841 and 1844; information taken from The Friend; receipt for a cough and antidotes for poison; cement
for a roof seam; directions on how to cultivate strawberries and how to
preserved horses and cattle from bites of flies; educational statistics;
consumption of coffee between 1821 and 1850; notes about various kinds of
metals and coins; a statement about planting trees in Switzerland; a recipe for
blackberry cordial; a short account of a voyage taken by John Wilbur; a recap
of his diary entry for Nov. 13, 1860; a note about ice in Easton in 1857; a
note about how much medicine Samuel Jesup (died 1817) took in his lifetime;
records of some deaths and burials, 1830-1837; and a note about length of days
in various cities, followed by a note about ice on the Christina River in 1837;
Found loose
in the little booklet was a reference to hydraulic cement as found in The Friend
.25 memorandum book, not bound
Most of the pages are blank;
includes notes of deaths of members of the Hedges family: father John and his
children Joseph S., Urban, and Hannah; also “a table of measures” giving sizes
of boxes and equivalent measures (this size box contains a carrel, a smaller
box contains a bushel, etc., down to a quart)
Folder 1: Accounts
of wages received and some expenses
.26a-e “Amount of Work done in the ropewalk in the
following years”:
Total of wages earned
per year, summaries for 1831-1844, 1831-1846, 1831-1847, and 1831-1858 (2
copies)
.27a-k amount of work done for individual years:
Number of days worked
and wages earned for the following years:
1830, 1839, 1843, 1845,
1846 (work done for Henry Keller in Easton), 1847 (work done for Keller), 1849
(work done for Keller), 1852 (written on back of a letter), 1853 (two copies),
Dec. 1856-1857 (in several pieces, not all with a year but all presumed to
belong together)
.28 “Paid
Board in Easton in the year 1849,” March 24, 1849-January 26, 1850;
Written on back of a
letter
.29 “Washing
in Easton in the summer of 1849,” but actually covering March 1849-January
1850, for shirts, stockings, handkerchiefs (“Hanck”), drawers, trousers,
jackets, and an apron
Folder 2: Letters,
notes, poetry, memoranda, and other miscellaneous items
.30 receipt: Jonathan Byrnes paid Benjamin Elliott for interest on
Daniel Byrnes’ bond and mortgage on a farm in Mill Creek Hundred, March 23,
1828
.31a-b part of a letter from Joseph H. Stidham, Easton, Penn., June 24,
1830, to unknown person [see his diary
entry for 6th mo 24, 1830, in which he mentions writing a letter]
.32 protest
of non-payment of note, Wilmington, Dec. 6, 1854: the parties involved were
William Clayton, H.S. McCombs, the Union Bank of Delaware, and Robert D. Hicks;
this is on a printed form bearing the name Joseph W. Day, Notary Public
.33a-c letter, with envelope and photograph: M. B. [Martin Ball] Dunlap,
Old Swedes Church, Wilmington, to his son Hobart De L. Dunlap, Delaware City,
postmark Aug. 18, 1901, with a photo of a boy (Hobart?) standing in front of a
barn or shed
.34a-d poetry:
.34a from p. 69, vol. 18, first line: “Alas! For those who give…”
(religious poem);
.24b “The Pirate of the Chesapeake,” by J.E.D.,
as printed in The Inquirer and Daily
Courier, no date;
.24c-d two copies of “Mortality and Immortality” by
Selick Orsburn [sic, i.e. Selleck Osborn (died 1826)]
.35a-c short notes: one just lists dates; one is a note about going to steamboat
with Edith Kite from Philadelphia (this may be an added entry which fell off
its page); and the last records dates of trips to Delaware City and Port Penn
in 1861, 1865, and 1869
.36a-g memoranda, as follows:
.36a: dispute over the ownership of property left
by Aunt Elizabeth Terrel (died Oct. 4, 1833);
.36b “Charlestown [sic, i.e. Charleston, South
Carolina] has been long the seat of the defenders of slavery….”
.36c printed article (short) headed
“Centenarians in Europe,” no date but after 1860;
.36d “Yards in the mile,” for various countries;
.36e “A general table for finding the dominical
or Sunday letter & the places of the golden numbers in the calendar”;
.36f “Strawberry Cultivation”
.36g scrap of paper