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June 1880

June the first Day
rain rain   Pea Lillie and the Thompson girls Started  to School rained So they come back         Started again about 10 o’clock   All but Pea went to the Forest Burg     Mr Totty and me went to Taylors got potatoe Slips              well now it is raining to night      Lillie come home through it School out.  I am Sorry
[BTM]  The Thompson girls were most likely Evie J. and Lucy found in the hh 374/375 of their parents Andrew and Ruthie in the 1880 census of Montague Co.    Mr Taylor was most likely George Taylor found as a neighbor in hh#354/355 of the Montague Co. Census of 1880

2 Day     Jewel called talked Some    Frank rode off Said he was going to Clear Creek Come back to night did not go Lillie went dewberry hunting     Creek running for the first time in a long time      I washed in rain water this evening  very tired   and Sorter mad   wont say what about     Marys baby very Sick   I dont think it will ever get well    Charley hoeing his cotton      every body almost wanting to See it quit raining    tired of rain   Some talking of leaving Montague County

3 Day    Mr Totty and Charley had a little tiff this morning     looks like rain   I told Mary if it did rain we would just make a ring and let them fight     her and me laughed and Said we had not guarlled yet     deaf Thompson was here    Dutch got the wagon to haul Corn    Frank gone to Jases to night

4 Day   Tildas birth day 25 to day   Mr Totty says he has one piece of corn laid by     Mary and Lillie ironed      I broke my last needle quit Sewing      Wagner come for Frank to go and help him take the girls to meeting   he did not go was too tired   Sent his regrets    Andrew Walker called    I went out in the field Saw lots of silks     Pea helped Charley   Lillie went to Mrs Taylors this evening
[BTM]  Wagner may be David Wagner, listed as a border in hh#199/213 of James Wiley on the 1880 Montague Co., Census.    Andrew Walker was also a neighbor of Capt. & Rhoda.    Charley may? Be Chas. Parmer  found in the hh of Robert and Amanda BEAN as a laborer in the 1880 census.   Mrs. Taylor may likely be Mary Taylor wife of George.

5 Day    got a needle from Wagner     Ben and Louisa   Come     rain this evening    Frank gone  he said to Bob Beans    Pea to Taylors to night
[BTM]  Bob Bean is Samuel Robert BEAN, descendant of Robert and Sandal (Andrews) TOTTY through Nancy and William S. REEVES’ daughter Betsy (Reeves) BEAN.   Ben is Benjamin A.  and Sarah Lousia (TOTTY) GAGE.

6   Day   Sunday  Jase and Bettie Spent the day   Charley and Mary   Pea and Lillie gone Dewbery hunting     Mr Totty and me walked over the field    corn Silking out looks fine   Cotton as fine as I ever Saw at this time of year    ground wet every body in high Spirits    Bart come got a horse went to hunt his oxen      did not find them

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1880 June the 7th    Day   Lillie helping his pap his cotton   Frank and Pea plowing   Mr Taylor brought Some Sewing    Cloud in the North east to night    Lightening incessantly    Storm Some place   hope it wont come here     I laughed hard think it does me good   Pea just put on my dress apron and bonnet went to the well to fool Frank      All went to bed     Snake got after my my chickens  me and Pea got up and killed it
[BTM]  Wonder what Rhoda had a good laugh over!  What ever it was made her happy.  I can just picture Rhoda getting up in the middle of the night to protect her chickens from a snake.   Pioneer women had to be tough and unafraid of snakes and other critters back then, because their men folk were not always there when they were needed to get rid of unwanted intruders on the farm.

8 Day    all laying by corn    Frank and Pea plowed for his pap this evening    I have been Sewing on my brown dress     Pea gone to Thompsons to night going to work for him
9 Day    Frank gone to Bens to plow took Joe    hogs come up   been gone a long time    warm and clear    New moon to night   all say it is a wet moon
10 Day   me and Lillie washed     Dolly Come   I was Sewing for her    broke my needle    Mary been washing this evening
11 Day  finished my letter to John   getting ready to Start to the Burg    went on enjoyed my Self very well    eat dinner with Anna Lillie Staid at Harvilles   got home Frank come from Bens   brought a letter from John   I heard Frank read it then I read it over and over and then went and read it to Mary    So glad to hear from my boy    Mollie Mag and Sue took Supper
[BTM] Getting a letter from her Arkansas son John Whitfield TOTTY was surely a high light of their day from what she wrote.   IF only she had enlightened us about what was said in Great Grandpa’s letter!

12 Day    McLane called    Frank gone back to Bens     Charley gone to the Burg   put my new needle in the machine fixed the Shuttle and now its Sews all right     Showering all day thundering this evening   my pen wont hardly write at all    had a big mess of beans that I brought from Annas      every thing So Still  Mary took her baby out to the cotton patch     Mr Totty on the bed reading Major Joneses Courtship    nobody here but me that is up     rained this evening

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Sunday   Mr Totty and me went to hear the hard Shell and we heard him    I was Sorry for him   he Said it was a great cross for him to preach and I thought if I was him I would not do it as it could do nobody any good   but he Sweat and labored and cried and worried  till he looked almost like he would faint   and quit   (we took dinner at Mr. Chessers   it rained a big rain in the evening    we come home    walked through the water and mud
[BTM] Rhoda did not mention the name of the Preacher “hard shell”

14 Day   boys went to Cooks    Bettie and Rob come      Harville come this evening    Frank at Bens to night    Mr Totty and Charley  talking out in the yard    me and Pea writing
15 Day   rain again   Frank come home been working at Hesters..    I am thinking of going to Barts to morrow
[BTM] Bart is Rhoda’s son in law married to Matilda (Totty) TRAYLOR.

16 Day   got on ball paced all the way to Barts    was Sent for to go to Potters    went dress a little Keltner [  ]  eat dinner   come back to Barts   mounted ball paced home let in got Supper So tired havt got good sence   boys eat Supper and Started to preaching
[BTM] I don’t find a family by the surname Potter on the 1880 census.   Can anyone identify who this Potter family was that had a child born/delivered by Rhoda  on June 16, 1880?

17 Day   Charley  found a cotton blosson   almost in escstacies that..   put my new Lenses   read on last night    Ida Marshall come   the assessor and the Sensus man was here
[BTM] The “census man” was most likely William Robertson who was the enumerator for the 1880 census on record.

18 Day  Me and Mary washed together..   had our first Chicken for Supper..   So tired cant rest
19 Day   ironed and pottered round   Sewed on my basque   quit and tried to go to Sleep could not
20  Day   Sunday   Harville  brought Lillie     her me and his pap went to Mrs Marshalls    Frank took Joe for Mollie to ride   Pea got on the paint went to meeting   no body from here went to hear Jim Williams
[BTM] Wonder if Jim Williams was the same as the “hard shell” preacher listed above by Rhoda?   Sounds like Frank was courting Mollie by letting her ride Joe so they could also go.

21 Day   Frank gone to Bens   Pea and his pap cutting oats   Charley hauling his cotton   Dolly come with Sewing   Lillie gone home with her to get vinegar

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22nd of June 1880
Said to be the longest day in the year    Charleys cattle in the pen this morning    Hunt drove them in the night    Lillie gon to Bens    Mrs Marshall Spent the evening.
23 Day    I went to Mr Taylors they were getting ready to go to Rosston to morrow   I come home found Louisa and Bettie and their Children..    Mollie come this evening..   Frank not come back yet
24  Charley and Pea gone to the Burg   Lillie gone to Bens to take Ferd home..   Officer here for Mr Totty to go to Mon…..  old man in a big way    going to Start Soon in the morning   Frank got back    been to Rosston      we had a big mess of roasting ears
[BTM] Nothing like a mess of fresh corn on the cob.

25 Day  Mr Totty Started early  me and Lillie went to See Mandy Bean   Staid all night
[BTM] Amanda “Mandy” Perrin BEAN was the neighbor and wife of Bob Bean, and more kin of the TOTTY family.

26 Day     Come  to Mr Crosses   Mandy come with us taken dinner with Mrs Cross     come home found all hands asleep but charley   every thing topstervy     Will Jewel and family   Mathis and family   Hixon and family all come Staying all night   glad to See them but not prepared   (rain)
[BTM]  William C. Jewell was the husband of Matilda K. TOTTY, daughter of John E. and Elizabeth Caroline SMITH TOTTY.  John E. TOTTY was the brother of Francis Marion TOTTY and bro-in-law of Rhoda.   The Mathis family was James and Sarah Jane TOTTY MATHIS.  Sarah Jane was the daughter of William C. TOTTY, and grand-daughter of Robert and Sandal (Andrews)  TOTTY.   I do not have a family connection to the HIXON family in my data base.   Anyone know if and how this HIXON family would be related?

27 Day  Sunday   all stiring round got breakfast  Dilard   Come after me   I Said I would not got but relented and went Staid till evening    come home all the company gone but Helen   I am glad She is with Lillie
[BTM] I find a William DILLARD family on the 1880 census age 40 from Alabama with wife Nancy and son’s Willie, John J. and Robert J. DILLARD.   Was Rhoda there to help with someone sick or maybe for false or real labor for Nancy??

28 Day   Hixon and Lillie gone to Bens   I told them to kick up their heels and do as they pleased    Frank and Charley gone to the Burg     rained a big rain last night   ground very wet   I went to the garden got a mess of beans    think the Captain will be at home this evening   did not come   gave my beans to old Watch
[BTM]  old Watch may have been their “watch” dog. Any other idea’s?

29  Day   Lillie gone home with Helen   Frank carried them   Pea gone to Pella     I got lonely Started to Bens got So warm   I turned and went to Mr Taylors   Captain got home    Mr Cole with him    Frank and Dutch come after work (stole Coles buggy)
[BTM] Who stole Cole’s buggy?  Rhoda did not elude to the identify of the thief.

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June the last day   rained a little this morning   Mollie come   She is on a high hoss about Dutch   I don’t think they can hurt him much

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Transcribed from Original Diary by Birdie (Totty) McNutt ©2001