JULY 1880

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July the first    Wagner took dinner   we rode up to Jases      went with Bettie to her garden     come home Frank had rode out     Pea Charley and Mary up about the old house  walking round of course      got Supper   picked of my Cucumbers put them in to pickle
[BTM] Wagner is most likely David WAGNER, age 23  found as boarder in HH#199/21 of James F. WILEY and his family.   It is interesting to note that John YANDELL, most likely the brother to Sarah Ellen YANDELL TOTTY, married Bose Ann WAGNER.  William Monroe YANDELL is believed to have married, as one of two wives, a Mary J. WAGNER.   Question:  Could this be Mary J.’s children, David and Bose Ann???

2 Day   Mr Totty gone to the Burg     Dolly Spent the day      Mrs Springer come this evening      Pea gone to night to See Dermid heard he was snake bit this evening
[BTM] Dolly HUNT is still unidentified as to her surname.   I can not find a “Dermid” in the census for 1880 Montague Co., BUT, I did find a Wm. DUSMID age 30 listed as a laborer living in HH#374/375 with family of Andrew THOMPSON.

3 Day    Louisa come had a dress to make     I had a bonnet   we got Mary to do the Sewing and we did the cooking      Pea and Frank gone to the debating Club to night
[BTM]  Mary is the wife of Charley, that is living with the TOTTY family, who is this Charley and Mary?  Pea and Frank are the son’s on Rhoda and Capt. TOTTY.

4 Day  Sunday     we went to Bens   Staid till Bfter<sic> dinner    went to meeting      heard brother Royal preach and he preached too    had some sence in it      Frank got a note from the uncle this evening    gone to Springers to night    I gave him a little talk before he Started hope he wont forget it
[BTM] Ben is Rhoda and F.M.’s son in law Ben Gage who married Sarah Louisa TOTTY their daughter.  Rhoda wrote Bfter, could she have ment before and after dinner, or did she just misspell the word?   Who was the Uncle who sent a note to Frank? Could this be the Uncle he went to territority of OK with earlier?   Sounds like mama Rhoda does not approve of what ever is in the note.

5 Day    Pea went after Bettie  She come we cooked and fixed to go to the picnic in the morning
[BTM]  Pea when after his sister Bettie to help their mother Rhoda get things ready for the picnic.

6 Day    got up cooking and fixing to Start     get in the wagon and Started     Joe would not work     rain this morning   Mr Springer and Mrs Springer got in   worked old Jack  big crowd there when we got there every boddy Seemed to enjoy them Selves done as they pleased      Some danced Some rode in the Swing      Candidates Spoke very few paid any atention to them   I enjoyed it very well but wanted Lillie there  So She could have rode in the Swing    got a letter from John
[BTM]  Rhoda is looking forward to the picnic, but having trouble with Joe who would not pull the wagon like he should.  After getting help from the Springer’s she made it to the picnic where everyone had a good time.  Rhoda wished her youngest daughter Lillie was there also to ride in the swing.   After the picnic Rhoda got a letter from son John Whitfield TOTTY living in Arkansas.

7 Day   Frank got dorie plowing     went to the Burg to get eye water for Marys baby    come by Harvilles said Sidney was up   glad to hear it    Some body has got to go after Lillie to morrow  D V
[BTM]  Rhoda did not mention Mary’s baby by name, nor have I found out the surname of Mary and Charley.  Rhoda is getting anxious to see her daughter Lillie.

8 Day    Considerable argument with the boys about going after Lillie     I told them they would go do any thing for any body else    Frank went     She come home and glad to get to    I washed   am very tired
[BTM] Sounds like they had family squabbles just like everyone else, leave it to Rhoda to put a guilt trip on son Frank in order to get him to go after his sister Lillie, just like a mother<G>.

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1880 July 9th      Frank gone to Bens to finish his cotton     Pea gone he said to Hunts    Mr Totty taken morphine Sleeping to day      I feel Sad to night thinking of my children that is dead      dear little Souls they are dear to me yet     I was young when my babe died and not old when Tennie died    but my Heart aches to night as I think of them   yet I try to console my Self with the thought that they will never toil and strive nor suffer in boddy and mind like I have and do yet..   I Sometimes think I would be better off to be like them  but I will try to quit thinking about the dead and think of them that living   I maybe I can be Some Help to them   I will Still try to do the best I can.. Charly got back
[BTM] Rhoda did not say where Charley went or why.  We still need to identify if they were any kin or just boarder’s at the TOTTY home.   Rhoda is in a depressed mood thinking of her baby Robert H. and daughter Susan Tennier TOTTY.

10 Day     Bart and Tilda Come   Pedlar here I got a Strainer
11 Day   Sunday  got in the wagon went to high point   left Tilda to keep House   heard Campbell..  he kept Saying I understand    I thought if he did it was a good thing for nobody else did not   we went to Chessors eat watermelons   Come home found Anna and Harville here
[BTM]  Rhoda went to another preaching, sounds like she did not like Campbell as well as she did the preaching of  Royal.   Chessor’s were the neighbor’s, of F.M. & Rhoda TOTTY’s daughter Louisa GAGE, James  and Frances Chesser found in HH#345/346 on the 1880 Montague Census.

12  Day   Frank and Charly commenced to move the House out I am glad and Mary Says She is..   I am tired of her and She is tired of me   so we will think more of each other when we get Seperated..    Anna and Tilda leaving to Sew on the machine
[BTM] Who are Charley and Mary?  Boarder’s, friends or kin?

13 Day   Anna gone home this evening      we moved our bed out in the yard     hot hot the first hot night we have had     corn drying up      been just a week Since it rained   never Seen any think like it before
[BTM] Those log home’s without proper ventilation would get hot and stuffy in the summer time, thank God for good old air conditioning we have these days.  I have “camped out” during hot weather, but can’t imagine living like that all the time.  What pioneers the Totty’s were!   Make’s me stop and appreciate the luxury of living now.

14 Day   Peas birth day 18 to day    Tilda helped me Scour    Mary gone to McLanes   Mr Springers brought me a mess of Venison
[BTM] Tilda was the daughter of Rhoda and Capt Totty, married to Bart Traylor.

15 Day  Charley and Mary Moved    Louisa and the Children come..   Tilda and Lillie Scoured Marys room   we set down to night out in the yard     missed Charley and Mary

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July the 10th    Ed Brothers come   him and Pea gone to Pella   I went up in the pasture got Mary to cut my Smith dress    hot and dry   cant hardly get time to keep my diary
[BTM] Where did Ed Brother’s come from? Another county? Was he kin to the Montague Co. Robert Brother’s family found in the 1880 census?  What is a “Smith dress”?

17 Day   Tilda and me been busy Sewing    Bart Come went to Alans   Mr Totty and -the- Frank gone to the School House      Lillie and Ada gone to Bens     Marion Pearce  Ed Brothers and Willie Taylor went off with Frank and Pea to the debate to night after supper  Charley Come from the Burg    I feel bad about him he is tight   another hot day is passed   will be glad when July is out    If I am alive
[BTM] Marion PEARCE is mostly likely kin to Sarah PEARCE who married Andrew J. WALKER, mentioned in Rhoda’s diaries before.   Lillie is going with Ada Irene Traylor to see her sister Louisa (Totty) Gage.

18 Day   Sunday Bart and Tilda gone home     Jase and Bettie Spent the day      I went to Sleep had to jump up and bring in my beds rained a good rain     Jase had to holler he was So glad
[BTM] Sounds like they were still trying to beat the heat by sleeping out in the yard, what a way to way up, getting their bedding wet from a much needed rain.

19 Day   Frank commenced his School   him Pea and Lillie gone   their pap going to Start to take the C School Sensus or Something   when he gets done talking to Wirtman    going to take my pen  So I have to write while he is talking     I finished my dress   Lizzie Hester   Come home with Lillie
[BTM] Again I find myself appreciating the luxury of having a computer, and lots pens and pencils available, can’t imagine only having one pen in the family to write with in this day and time.    Make’s me realize how scarce things were in 1880 as compared to 2001.

20  Day     men meet at the School House to make an arbor      I go to Bens     Louisa and me get a mess of Sweet potatoes     come home ride behind Mr Totty      Frank brought Lillie    it rained    ground mudy   Pea did not come
[BTM] I can just picture Rhoda riding astride a horse behind her husband.

21 Day   rained all day or nearly so   Mr Totty and Charley gone to the mill to Haul Slates to the Arbor   I wash in the rain get done come to the House  Change Clothes    don’t think it will Hurt me
[BTM] Rhoda made good use of the rain water by doing her washing.   Made the clothes soft and smell so good.  Getting wet in the rain in July was probably more pleasure than it was anything, I would think it helped cool her down in the heat.    Was Charley a hired hand of the TOTTY’s?

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July the 22   Pea and Sim gone to Audubon   Frank and Lillie at School..   Mr Totty Spent the day at the Burg and talked Some  I Suppose.     It is quite Cool to day   I get tired of Solitude    go to Springers Stay till get tired of the gibberish of the young folks   come home get Supper   all get in   Pea got Some kind of a harp or whistle   with which he entertains all hands till time to go to bed..  and I am glad to go
[BTM] Sounds like Pea was playing a “harmonica”

Day 23 Day   my pen wont write worth a cent   Mrs Marshall Come Mr Totty borrowed money from her   Mrs Springer and Bally Spent the day   Meeting Commences at the School House to night     Pea went
[BTM] Wonder what Capt. F.M. TOTTY borrowed the money from Mrs Marshall for?

24 Day   we get in the wagon go to meeting   Stop at Jases   Bart and Tilda come with brother and Sister Boydston    got to the Arbor  find all my girls there glad to See them all together   brother Royal preaches …  eat dinner at Bens  Come home brother Givans comes home with us going to get Supper and go back to night  afraid brother Castleman will preach to night   went Castleman did not preach but brother Savage did   Tilda come home with us   me and Lillie went way over in the orchard in the night and got peaches

25 Day   Sunday   cooked a chicken pie and a peach cobbler went to meeting    brother Royal Spredd  himself preached    I think as good a Sermon as I ever heard    come home very tired found Sam Baird here   was so glad to See him   I almost forgot that I was tired   Mr Totty and Sam gone to meeting   I Stay   Frank and Filo Talking about picnicks
[BTM] Sam Baird was Rhoda and Capt’s brother in law, he was married to Sarah Sandal TOTTY, daughter of Robert and Matilda TOTTY.

26 Day    go to meeting take Sam with us in the wagon    get there find all my gals   Louisa wants to know how I feel with Sam in the wagon   I tell her I am like the Romans was when they carried Ceasar    feel that we have one among the best men on earth..   all go to Bens for dinner go back to meeting at night     Lillie come to me takes me by the hand when the call is made   looks in my face says I want to go I tell her to go  4 she wants too   She walks up and I rejoiced and call for Pea he walks by me gives his hand   I forget my Self  beat him in the back and shout
[BTM] What a wonderful motherly pride Rhoda had for her children to make the decision to be baptized!  I could almost feel her joy as she wrote about shouting out her pleasure.

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27 Day  of July   Staid at Jases last night Come home fix to go to the burying     rains So we cant hardly go   dress Lillie in White   See her and Pea buried with the Lord in baptism    feel to thank God that I have lived to See the day..    I have been weak enough to wish that I could be dead  and be out of my troubles ..  I been felt and thought that there was no more pleasure for me in this world   but I now know all things work together for the good to them that love God   and I humbly hope I may never again have that o’belious<sic> Spirit but trust him for his grace
[BTM] What does Rhoda mean by the written word “o’belious”?  could she have ment oblivious?

28 Day   Sam and Billie Started   Mr Totty Started out   canvassing after dinner    Frank gets the wagon goes after the Springer girls   me and Lillie wait    get inpatient    they come I tell them I will put my swell(?) on ball next time and Start when I get ready     go to Jases after meeting    Stay all night
[BTM] Capt. F. M. TOTTY must have been doing the School Census, or was running for office and trying to get votes for himself.   Billie may have been the son of Sam Baird named William Campbell Baird.

29 Day    go to meeting   brother Savage preaches again   Mrs Hester baptized after meeting     Frank and Mollie come up think it is as pretty a Sight as I ever Saw   to say nothing of my feelings at Seeing my last Child come out on the Lords Side   go back to meeting to night Mr Springer goes with us in the Waggon   brother Savage gets up and preaches and rejoices until he is exausted and nearly faints   most all think he preached a powerful Sermon  (I beg leave to defer with them)
[BTM]  Rhoda was happy to see her son Frank baptized.  This documents the date of his baptism.  Rhoda has a mind of her own, no one can say she was a follower, she always speaks her mind.  Could that be a TOTTY trait?

30 Day    give recess to day   Tilda and me washing  She Says the Sisters will be tired to night    all have to wash and the brothers will look fresh and pert      all have to Sleep Well we are getting ready to go back to meeting to night
[BTM] Rhoda speaks of being everyone being tired, but I think Rhoda is in seven heven, with all the preaching and socializing going on.

31 Day   Frank and Mollie baptized and Lizzy Whitley all walked in to the water to gether   I think it is the prettiest Sight I ever witnessed we come home  get dinner and go back to meeting  brother Savage comes home with us Stays all night  we all enjoy our Selves  go to bed to rest    ready to go to meeting in the morning
[BTM] Mollie was Mary Elizabeth Springer, later wife of Frank TOTTY.   Elizabeth “Lizzy” Whitley was the daughter of Amanda (Pierce) and Hiram C. WHITLEY of Montague Co.

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