The Winterthur Library

 The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum

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