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Timothy Meigs Younglove Diary
April, May 1841
Compiled by
8333 Pleasant Valley Road, Hammondsport, N.Y.
Great-Great Grandson of T. M. Younglove
April 1841
1 Thursday
Th 45½ [thermometer read 45.5 degrees] — Got out timber for barn,
Bill Bailey hewed. Ross, Greek, Hiram & Bill Barrett & Thomas scored.
I hewed some & lined some etc.
2 Friday
Th 41½ — Got timber in forenoon, rain in afternoon. Bill Bailey
hew, Greek, Bill Barrett, Ross, Tomy & self score —weighed old Briks
tallow 103 pounds after it was tried. Willaim Boyd took a small load of
hay up to Rosses barn.
3 Saturday
Th 36½ — Self, Thomas, Greek & Ross scored & Bill Bailey hewed,
finished all the large timber except 4 posts. Sam B. Younglove here tonight
after salt for sheep.
4 Sabbath
Th 42½ — At home all day. Grey mare runaway from Cornelius—broke
the harnass & hurt Julia Ann's shoulder. Began to fodder off of the south
& last mow of hay in barn.
5 Monday
Surveyed for Barnet Retan, rode Sawney got $2.50 - Bill Sedgewick stuffed
my saddle pad 2/. Thomas began to clear away from the barn at Rosses.
Some rain & air chilly. Will & Cornelius brot home wethers [castrated
male sheep].
6 Tuesday
Th 38½ - Surveyed for Mr Brush, Angel, Higgands & Warner $2.50. Prentice
Angel to pay the whole in sawing & scantling. Thomas cleaned out the drain
by the south door.
7 Wednesday
Th 43½ - Went up the hill & drew one draft of timber & Thomas one with
the oxen & horses—very snowy, came home a little after noon. Set
out some cherry, plum & pear trees in the milking yard.
8 Thursday
Th 45½ - Surveyed for Aaron Rosenkrans but did not finish. Surveyed for
Eaton got $1.50 & for Sam Jones & got $1.00. Told J. Larrowe to send a
summons for Wm Holly for $2.00 surveying done almost a year ago. News
of General W. H. Harrisons death & this to the country will be a loss
for in the first place it is to be desired that every man may fill his
own promise & in the second that the people may see the result of their
own doings, but an all wise & as good as wise being has interposed & for
what we can never know. Report says he died at 2 o'clock A.M. Sabbath
4.
9 Friday
Th 41½ It rained so that we came back before noon. Barrett moved into
Drakes house. Ross going to Tom Read's. Tingley lot came down & settled
act. $7.50 no way to pay at all.
10 Saturday
Th 30½ — Self hewed timber for barn. Thomas & H. Barrett scored.
Ross moved to Tom Reads.
11 Sunday
Easterday went to H'port to meeting, heard Mr Bostwick preach two sermons,
went home with J. Larrowe at intermission. D.J.Pulling came here after
tea & took off some tunes — Cold N.E. wind but very clear.
12 Monday
Th 40½ — Drew the timber for the barn, I drew 11 drafts with the
horses & Thomas 6 with the oxen & only left two long sticks in the woods
& 3 or 4 small ones. Pretty cold but the team broke through the frost
on the wheat a good deal.
13 Tuesday
Th 31½ — Finished drawing the pine timber for barn & in afternoon
surveyed for Aaron Rosenkrans. Got the public money of S. S. Havens $48.71.
14 Wednesday
Th 39½ — Went to Bath to see H. Brother also saw E. Howell about
the same Bitteridge & Hanset business of Aaron's estate also stopt at
J. J. Popinno.
15 Thursday
Th 30½ — Tag'd sheep in forenoon & went with Father over hill farm.
Treed a raccoon in a hollow tree, got Greek with his axe, cut it down
and killed him. Julia & Matilda went over to Capt. Stones.
16 Friday
Th 52½ — Sowed grass seed on the wheat in N.W. corner of Amos Daniels
lot - went to H'port summons returnable against Wm Holly for surveying
done year ago $2.00 he paid it to J.J.Larrowe - finished tagging ewes
- went to Wm Bakers camp & had a good drive at warm sugar. Saml Younglove
here - Julia gone to get teeth set - got paper from B. L. Hoyt.
17 Saturday
Th 57½ — Matilda 27 years old today. Surveyed Obediah Wheelers road
& then surveyed for Jas. Longwell. B.L.Hoyt came here on his way home
from Washington city. Stay over night says he saw John Tyler now President
of the United States. A short thick set man past middle age. The public
buildings are spacious & fine especially the new Treasury building & the
general Post Office & finally he says every thing on a grand scale.
18 Sabbath
Th 38½ — Went to church. B.L.Hoyt, Matilda & Julia Ann went along.
Mr Bostwick gave a discourse upon the death of General W. H. Harrison.
Cold raw wind & sound snow. Our hay runs low & hay very scarce & high.
19 Monday
Began to get out dung preparatory to raising up the barn at Barretts.
Wm & Thomy helped me. Quite windy. Self not very well.
20 Tuesday
Th 40½ — Snow & rain all day. I went to H'port saw Doc E. B. Pulling
not very well, got some pills. Heard of Evaline & Palmers marriage took
place on Sat. Wm Randle selling out at cost & going into the furnace with
Neil.
21 Wednesday
Lowery day, wind from N.E., cut a small ditch from corner of cornfield
into inlet. Spread dung on cornfield & sodded the terrace on the south
side of house. Snow hang on the hills.
22 Thursday
Th 47½ — Went on the hill and sowed grass seed. Surveyed Rosses
job 1.58 acres. Went over Wheeler's field & put up the fence. Came down
by Poppino's & made arrangements about keeping sheep. Matilda bot shawl
of Wm Randell for $3.50 & other trade in all to $4.00.
23 Friday
Th 52½ — Rainy in forenoon & tolerable warm in afternoon. Reset
fence on N. side road on Amos Daniels lot from Frenches spring due west.
24 Saturday
Th 55½ — Self and two Corneliuses went to Sam's and got Evalines
sheep & took them to J. J. Poppino 83 lost 19 & since they have been to
Sams they have eat over 3 tons of hay at $7.00 per ton. Warm & today the
grass began to grow & the buds swell a little, in places the old snow
can be found but it is about gone & none to be seen on the N. side of
S. hill. The spring has been very backward & hay scarce & high but is
beginning to come on. Had one lamb to begin.
25 Sabbath
64½ — At home all day, very warm, the thermometer stood at 2 o'clock
as high as 112 full up to fever heat. Will, Cornelius & self went down
to creek just night & caught 15 fine fish.
26 Monday
Th 57½ — Began to lay the foundation for the new barn at the hill.
Selah Ellis helping Wm with the horses drawing stone & Thomas with both
yoke oxen & cart. Two Corneliuses & Edwin picking up stone. Raining in
evening.
27 Tuesday
Th 39½ — Began to plow in the field on the flat. Wm drove Harvy
& Gray, I drove Fanny & Sawney. Thomas drew stone & father & Ellis laid
wall.
28 Wednesday
Th 45½ — Self, Ellis & Father worked on the foundation of barn.
Thomas drew stone & Wm reset fence (Edwin & Cornelius, Edwards) drove
the bucks up the hill.
29 Thursday
Father, Ellis & self laid wall in forenoon. Very rainy in afternoon. Little
boys drove the lambs up to Barretts.
30 Friday
Th 45½ — Rainy in forepart of day. At 10 o'clock I started to Pulteney
to survey for Noah Hill, he not at home & I came back to go again Monday.
Went in evening down to inlet to fish with seine, caught two suckers &
a bullhead.
May 1841
1 Saturday
Went up to Evalines, got $90.00 of Holmes, took the buggy as far as Kennedayville
to get Miss Moore to teach school. Weather cold & raw. Th 42½.
2 Sunday
Came home & brot Miss Moore. Very snowy all day & roads pretty bad. Th
32½.
3 Monday
Went to Pulteney and surveyed for Noah Hill & Laberus Drew - price $3.00
- Drew paid me $1.00. Got my chromonometer watch from Adsit & Matilda
silk dress. J. Taggart sent them up from the city by Adsit - watch repairs
cost $15.00 & coloring cost $1.25. Very cold & snow laid on W. side of
S. hill all day. The leaves have not started.
4 Tuesday
Th 37½ — Ploughed garden & set out some onions & made board fence
on lower side of garden. Will began to plough the little field above road
beyond the barn. Quite cold but more moderate in afternoon. About 70 lambs
& lost 7. School began.
5 Wednesday
Ellis & self made wall. Thomas & Will drew stone & Barret drew dung with
oxen. Commenced raining about 6 o'clock P.M. Father went & helped Angel
saw the log for ox yokes. Clark Ellis here all night.
6 Thursday
Ellis & boys at wall. Self surveyed for J. Drew — cut 5½ acres off
W. end of Ben Decker's Brink farm that Drew's deed covers & run lines
between Deckers & Doc Church. 89 lambs & 7 dead. Cold.
7 Friday
Th.50½ — Drove the young cattle up the hill but not much grass &
what there was the sheep had eat up before it grew. Sowed 3 ¾ bush. barley
on 1½ acres. Went to H. P. paid for the repairing my chronometer, took
J & S Neill's note of $90.00 & J. J. Poppino's note for $20.00 & 3/ -
cash for the sheep got of Dunning. Paid Sam $25.85 for keeping said sheep.
Cold & backward.
8 Saturday
Harrowed in the barley & the flax & began to harrow corn ground. Will
& Tom began to plant potatoes. Esq. Powers & wife here visiting.
9 Sabbath
At home all day fixing up my surveying that I have done through the week.
An old Botanick Doctor pedlar stayed over the sabbath with us. Wrote to
the Clapps.
10 Monday
Planted potatoes and harrowed corn ground. The first good April day we
have had. Warm & showery, the grass has grown & buds begin to swell finely.
11 Tuesday
Went to H'port got the little old waggon, Wm went with me, we brot home
35 bush. plaster [lime]. In afternoon furrowed the corn ground. This is
the first night we have left any lambs out & tonight only the old ones
& the young ones in. 147 living & 10 dead.
12 Wednesday
Boys planted corn down by creek. Self went to O. Wheelers & J. Lockwoods
road, a jury called to see if there was an encroachment on the road. D.
J. Pulling Atty for the commissioners, M. Brown for Lockwood & L. Read
for O. Wheeler, James Read as surveryor for Wheeler & self for commissioners.
A very lengthy trial & some twenty witnesses sworn. The decision of the
jury was that O. Wheeler had encroached on the road & that his fence must
be removed to where he took it from last summer. The weather is very cold
for the season. I wore my overcoat & mittens all day & a good fire feels
very comfortable. Today is the first time that cherry blossoms could be
seen & tonight some of the trees in the garden begin to look a little
white. Hard shower just night. Th 47½.
13 Thursday
Boys sowed plaster [spread lime] on flat. Father & self altered 49 lambs
& eared & tailed 49 making 98. I went to John McCaslin to get him to work
for us next week. He not at home & do not know whether he will come or
not. Saw Howell in Bath, he says the Bitteridge & Hanset claim is good,
got the gun from Wm Biles paid $1.13. Found a Presbyterian minister just
this side of Bath, a Mr Bar from Onondaiga Co, come with me & staid all
night - quite rainy & cold some thunder.
14 Friday
Th 44½ — Father & self grafted some in forenoon. Boys finished sowing
plaster on meadow & hill orchard. Will ploughed the potatoe patch beyond
barn. Thomas & self worked in garden. Fast day on account of the death
of Gen W. H. Harrison President of U. S. Meeting in H'port & a pretty
general attendance. Cherry trees in full bloom. Warmer today.
15 Saturday
Worked in garden, boys planted potatoes & sowed peas beyond barn & planted
potatoes on flat in afternoon. Lent Church $30.00 for ten days. Warmer
today but that circle round the sun.
16 Sabbath
At home all day. Wrote a letter to J. M. Gillette. Girls went to meeting.
John Younglove & Sam came here last night after I was abed & went home
today. Pleasant day.
17 Monday
Began to frame the barn. Wm Bailey laid out the work. Boys finished planting
corn & the potatoes patch on the flat. 24 bush. Marino. Gusta Hoyt here,
says his mother is quite unwell.
18 Tuesday
Self & Thomas got out a post & plate down in the woods. Will began to
plough by Greeks. Th 48½.
19 Wednesday
Bill Bailey & me framing barn. Thomas sowing plaster. Wm ploughing by
Greeks. Very cold this forenoon but mild afternoon. Th 47½.
20 Thursday
Went home with Matilda & left her there. Her mother unwell. Bailey at
work at frame. Thomas sowing plaster, Will ploughing. Clear & warm although
a cool east wind. Adrean Van Houghten subpoenaed me to Bath for witness
22 Sat.
21 Friday
Self & Bill Bailey at work at barn. Will & Thom sowing oats over by Greeks.
H. Palmer here, been after load plaster. Gusta Hoyt here on his way home
from Bloods. This is the first day my under shirt & drawers have been
uncomfortably warm this spring. Th 65½.
22 Saturday
Washed sheep, Greek, Hiram Barrett & C. Ross helped. Went to Bath for
witness about a road on Mt Washington between A. VanHoughton & D. Coureter.
Coureter withdrew the suit. Showery & fine growing weather. Went to H'port
in evening with Julia & Miss Moore. (pulled off woolen)
23 Sabbath
At home all day, very warm Th 78½ — Wrote a letter to the Surveyor
General containing a plan for protracting from field book. Painted floor
in my room. Turned our ewes off of our meadows. Apple blows begin to open.
24 Monday
Father, Bailey & self at work on barn frame. Wm & Thom at work at oats
by Greeks. Thunder showers all the afternoon & never in my life do I recollect
of seeing vegetation putting out so fast as the three past days particularly
today, the woods became quite green this day & oak & hickory is nearly
as forward as anything else. It seems as if the God of nature has breathed
the breath of life into the nostrils of vegetation & life is putting forth
from every bud, & the length of time which has elapsed since in common
seasons such weather comes seems only to add vigor to the long delayed
& pent up flower which now burst forth as the stream when long chained
down by the icy fingar of winter bursts forth with redoubled speed. I
am quite anxious to see Matilda & Myra but it is as proper that I should
be deprived of health for no man considers health a blessing who has not
been deprived of it. So with me I forget my happiness where I have not
for a long time been deprived of their company. good night.
25 Tuesday
Father, Bailey & self worked on barn frame. Wm drew plank & scantling
from the hollow & Thom drew a plate & some girts. Heard a whippoorwill.
Took 8 bushels wheat to mill, paid Malory $19.00 for 95 bush. plaster.
Th 68½.
26 Wednesday
Bailey, Father & me worked on the frame—in afternoon I went & helped
Wm & Thom get rafters over to Ebb Ellises— The rafters were very
large & heavy & I was quite tired. A fine shower last night & growing
time.
27 Thursday
Bailey, Father & self worked on barn frame. Thomas drew some pecies &
some stone. Will plough by Greeks. Th 65½.
28 Friday
Father, Bailey & self at work on frame rafters. Boys over by Greeks, very
dry all day. Th 70½.
29 Saturday
Father, Bailey & Self at work on barn frame. Boys sowing & harrowing oats
& plowing some. This evening went down to H'port Post Office expecting
to hear from Matilda but no letter there. I am anxious to hear from her
& I as much expected to find a letter as I did to find the office. I am
really disappointed & a little fearful that something may be the matter.
30 Sabbath
Wrote a letter to Matilda & one to S. M. Bart — went down & put
them in the office. Blank came home with me & chatted a spell, in the
evening J. Randell called, sat til ten o'clock P.M. Very fine pleasant
day but east wind & not very warm. Th 56½.
31 Monday
Self & Hiram Barret got out 8 sleepers, 2 girts & 8 sticks to go over
the floor, I hewed the whole of them. Wm ploughed for oats & Tom planting
potatoes by cider house. A gang of dirty traveling sluts here all night.
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