JANUARY 1879

New Years Day 1879    Cloudy this morning but cleard off     Sun Shining     Cooked a turkey for dinner     commensed to read my Bible through again this year if I live ..  learn all I can and practice it to the best of my ability under the circumstances and the result with my Maker he knows my surroundings and my temptations and I pray God that I may yet hold out faithful until death     Frank got in this evening     glad of that
[BTM] What temptations did Rhoda have besides smoking and drinking.

2 Day    Frank Sick with Cold old man gone to survey for Bart and Jase   me and Lillie been sewing and turning around the fire, very cold
[BTM] I can picture Rhoda and Lillie taking turns warming one side then the other next to a nice hot fire.  Back then they did not have insulation to help keep that icy cold out of the house.  Maybe that is where I got the habit of backing up to a fireplace or stove even in the summer time when it’s not on.

3 Day    extremely Cold to day
4 Day    big Snow and Still Snowing    the Coldest time I even Saw     when it was Snowing  I went to Ballys
5 Day  Sunday    John Totty     Bart and Jase Come       Pea went home with John    cold as ever      Snow all over the ground       Frank in bed all day     took opium   finished reading Genisis
[BTM]  We still NEED to identify which John TOTTY this is.  IF he was the about the same age as Bart TRAYLOR and Jase TILLMAN then he would be born approximately
Could this be John E. TOTTY’s son John Y. TOTTY? Or………. 
Likely another choice would be the unidentified John A. TOTTY of Hickman County, TN who was in the Civil War with Johnson TOTTY and Richard TOTTY.   Richard TOTTY [ca 1820-1844 is most likely the son of Thomas E. TOTTY, s/o Thomas [1793] and  Frances Phillips TOTTY, s/o Thomas [1836] and Mary MANN TOTTY, likely s/o William TOTTY, Sr., s/o Thomas and Mary Carter Davis TOTTY.    John A. TOTTY may be the same John TOTTY found in Houston, Texas married to Mary Louise BROWN TOTTY.   This would explain why this John TOTTY had close association with Francis M. TOTTY, son of Robert TOTTY.

6 Day of January     the Coldest morning we have had in 2 years I think     old man mounted buck after dinner and went to the mill     Frank Started up the hill in the direction of Mr Springers    I have fever   got so cold getting breakfast     Lillie eating snow      wind from South
[BTM] Lillie must love to eat snow, this is not the first time Rhoda has mentioned her daughter eating snow.    Frank must be going corting over at the Springer household.

7 Day     rain and mist freezeing on the Snow   Ben come Said Lou had Chills  Josh kicked old man on the leg  he took opium and went to bed     Frank and Pea gone to Bourlands   to night   he is very Sick fear pneumonia    Snow thawing   glad of that   tired of all Snow
[BTM]  This Ben is most likely Ben HODGES whose wife Luvenia HARRY HODGES, the sister of James P. HARRY, that Rhoda speaks about in her diary.   Josh must be the Totty family mule; they are good at kicking and being stubborn.

8 Day    perfect Snow Storm all day long     never seen anything like it before     had the worst Chill I have had this winter       Frank hauled wood      Pea went after Dr. Fannin for Bourland       old man in bed all day
[BTM] No wonder everybody is sick and having Chills with all that snow and cold weather.   Frank must be making plenty of the family and neighbors happy with the wood for their fires.    Dr. George Fannin was the local Dr. in Montague and the TOTTY’s neighbor.

9 Day    Frank went to Pella    John come got meat     Pea went Rabit hunting
[BTM] Pella is one of the adjacent townships to Montague.   F. M. & Rhoda must have had a good smoke house to store meat, as their son John and many of the neighbors come by for meat.   Pea  going out to help replenish the meat storehouse and have a little fun while he is at it.

10 Day   Jewel and Willie C come      Frank hauled wood     I had a Chill  Pea went to mill    old man took a big dose of Opium        Harville come I got up and went about 11    Staid till morning 
11 Day   Snow flying    dressed a big Harville boy ( -:)    Lewis     got on Buck come  home
[BTM] This was John and Anna TOTTY HARVILLE's son Lewis Marion HARVILLE. 
After delievering her grandson Rhoda got on the horse Buck and rode home, don't you know she was a proud Grandma! and most probably cold riding home with "snow flying" around earlier.

12 Day   Sunday   Jase and Bart come      Frank went off with them      old man Sick in bed
[BTM]Frank going off with his brother in laws Jase TILLMAN and Bart TRAYLOR.

January the 13 Day    Frank went for the Dr for Bourland         Pea went after John I went to See Bourland      (Sun Shining to day)
[BTM] Sound like Samuel Robert Bourland is having a very serious time with illness.  Dr. Fannin(g)  being kept busy being fetched to go see him.

14 Day      John cutting wood      Frank helping to kill hogs      Me and Lillie washed in Snow water      Ben come to get medicine       warm to day      Snow near gone
[BTM] John helping to fill the stockpile of fire wood, while brother Frank in working on filling the smokehouse of  meat.   Oh my, snow water must be cold washing clothes in the snow.   I can just see the inside of the house with every nook and granny used to help dry the clean clothes.

15 Day      Snow gone       Tilda come without Ada      Ben and Parks Hauling off  Alans  corn      John and Frank hauling wood       Pea come home from Johns
[BTM] Parks is likely Steve Parks over in Precinct #4 come to help Ben haul off Alan’s corn.   My father Vernon and grandfather Green Whitfield TOTTY also cut and hauled wood in 1930-1940’s, must be a family tradition on making spare money in the winter time like great grandfather John was doing.

16 Day     old man Me and Frank went to Barts     Lillie gone to get her dress made
17 Day     old man and Frank gone to bed at ten      Pea gone to Jases      Ben come got the rest of the corn    Lillie come home     We have the illustra….. Jame Staying all nigh…
[BTM] Ben come and got the rest of Alan’s corn that he didn’t get on the 15th.   Here is where the diary pages are in bad condition.  They have water stains, and where I have dots, the pages is worn away or deteriorated.   Have no idea who the illustrative? Jame is that is staying all night.  Did Capt. F. M. & Rhoda run a boarding house?  Anyone know?

18 Day Saturday     Margaret come     Lillies cow has a little calf wind from north   cold     John come by    Frank hauld rails   old man had a chill out of his Senc……to nigh…. 
19 Day  Sunday     Ben and Louisa come    John and Sarah come to……
[BTM] daughter Lousia and her husband Ben GAGE along with brother John and his wife Sarah Ellen Yandell TOTTY come, most likely to visit.  The paper is torn on the edges and/or gone. Water stains make it hard to read.

20 Day  January 1879   John and Frank killed hogs   me a.. Sarah cooked a turkey    Lillie brought her new dress home
[BTM] John and Frank worked together a lot helping their parents and families out.  Sarah E. YANDELL TOTTY and Rhoda most likely cooked one of their own home grown turkeys.  Lillie is either hard on her dresses or has a nice wardrobe, seems like she is always getting a new dress<VBG>.

21 Day     old man and Bob ran their line    turned the catt;e in ….   Alan took breakfast    Frank gone to Pella with a load of corn to pay Cooks debt     boy sorter mad about it
[BTM] This may be Bob Bean with Capt. Totty running their fence line to check or fix it, so they can turn in their cattle.    Alan must be on a little better terms with the TOTTY’s again to come for breakfast.    Why would Frank have to pay the debts of Cook? In any case he must be really unhappy about it according to Rhoda.

22 Day     Bart come got the fro    Bally come getting ready to move in the morning     Frank hauled a load of Seed       (fellow here to hire)   hanging the meat    I got my quilt     Lillie gone to Dollys
[BTM]  Son in law Bart Traylor came to borrow the fro, guess he plans to split some fire wood with it.  A fro is a sharpe edged piece of steel that has an eye and is used by wedging it into large pieces of the tree and hitting it with a wooden mallet to split it for the fire wood.

23 Day     went and seen Bally off     Frank carried a load for Bourland    been a beautiful day heard a blue bird this morning
[BTM] Are Bally and her husband moving again?   Sounds like Frank may have helped them by moving a load of household items for them. Any other idea’s?

24  Day     old man gone to the Burg    Lillie went to Harvilles      Frank gone to Clear  Creek    I went to Mr Springers after dinner    Bourland and Cook here after co….
[BTM]  What a traveling and visiting family of ancestors we had, always on the go.   Maybe the TOTTY’s had silo’s or cribs for storing the corn.   They must have plenty for the neighbors Bourland and Cook to come and get some.

25 Day     old man went to survey for Cook     Me and Lillie all alone    Reagan got meat    Seemed to be the longest day I ever Saw bi..
[BTM] This may likely be J. C. Ragan the local editor listed in HH#347 in Precinct #1 coming for meat.  That is the only one listed in the 1880 census, that I see who would have been getting meat.   Edge of this sheet of paper tore off.

26 Day Sunday     fog and mist     old man and me went to Bens to dinner    Lillie took her dolly and went to play with duck

27 Day     Sick with soreness in on.. leg     don’t know what it is going to tu…..
Mrs Springer come invited one to a quilting      Frank went to Bens
[BTM] Quilting bees were the thing for the neighbor ladies to get together and do while they visited and brought each other up to date on the family happenings. 

28 Day    not able to get up and get breakfast   out of heart of ever getting well  soreness my side     old man and Frank commensed to plow     got their corn from Bourland    Frank gone this evening to help George ask hands
[BTM] Soreness in her leg and now her side, sounds like Rhoda is having touch of the blues again.   The men getting the ground prepared for the spring planting.    Frank may be going to see George Springer brother of Mollie to ask for hands to help plow or plant.

29 Day     all hands went to Springers had a good dinner     Lillie went hom..
to dress   Said Tilda and the ross girls was there    I come home found them all here     glad to See them   they come to get turkeys    Frank and Lillie Staid to the dance
[BTM] Matilda “Tilda” Totty Traylor and most likely Margaret and Rebecca Ross were the girls Rhoda mentioned that come to get turkeys.  Frank and Lillie having a little fun.

30 Day      rain this morning   Nerva hitched up her mules   Tilda and Ma…
put their turkeys in the wagon and rolled out   Mollie and Nannie brought the dishes home     Dorsey Sued the old man he was sorter ma…
[BTM] Who is Dorsey and why did he sue Capt. F. M. TOTTY? Any body know or have the court papers?

31 Day     Wind from North pleasant     got a Card from Lige Spradling     old man and me wrote a letter to him   was glad to hear from him     Hunt was here Said he found our Cow and Calf   old man and Lillie gone after them      Frank gone to See the man with the waggon       old man went to Bens got his papers and ink  been writing a deed for Cook and Woods  wind beginning to roar like it is going to get Cold ) got more paper and ink am not quite So Stingy with my writing this is the last day of the first month of 1879   it is gone almost before we are aware of it
[BTM] Elijah Monroe “Lige” SPRADLING is thought to be the possible son David SPRADLING, Rhoda’s father that was raised by Rachel SPRADLING his daughter by his first marriage.  It is nice and Rhoda and Capt TOTTY kept in touch with him over the years.   Frank gone to check on a wagon that may be for sale, Rent or Loan?   Capt. F.M. had beautiful penmanship when he wrote out deeds etc.   The paper she is talking about is loose leaf notebook paper that did not fare to well over the years.   So Rhoda knew she was being stingy with her writing.   I wish paper would have been more readily available to her back then, then we would not have so many mysteries to search out.   The diary get in bad condition after this month of January 1879, as the rest of the year is almost completely gone except for bits and pieces. 

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Transcribed from Original Diary by Birdie (Totty) McNutt ©2000