Creator

Purdy, Horace, 1835-1909

Title

Horace Purdy Journal, February 1861 Entry

Date

1861-02-01

Description

9pgs

Subject

Danbury (Conn.) -- History.

United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal Narratives.

Bennetts Store

Brother Pegg

Burr Bradley

David Mills

Democratic Party

E. Goodenough

Edgar Wildman

Essex (Conn.)

Father Griswold

Gussie Purdy

Henry Crofut

Mother Griswold

New Fairfield

Pahquioque Bank

Uncle Chauncey

Washington D.C.

Wooster Guards

YMCA

Connecticut infantry. 1st regt., 1861

Publisher

Western Connecticut State University

Abstract

FEBRUARY 01 – FRIDAY – Pleasant during most of the day. It clouded over just at night and began to snow a little about dark. I went to the shop in the morning and ha one dozen hats. I attended drill in the evening. FEBRUARY 02 – SATURDAY – Abel and Harriet were run away with last night on their way to New Fairfield with David Cosier’s horse. Rain and fog today. The snow was wasted away very fast. The roads and walks are very slippery. I have worked in the shop. We took tea over to Mother Griswold’s I went to the Express Office when the evening train came in for a package of books for the Sunday School. They did not come as I expected. I came home and helped Mother Griswold bottle up some cider. Then we came home and retired. FEBRARY 03 – SUNDAY – Pleasant but very icy. I attended church all day. Gussie did not attend in the morning but came in the PM. We sat in our new seat (No. 31) for the first time with Brother William B. Bradley and wife. Brother Pegg preached in the morning from Job 26:9. A Mr. Griswold from Hartford, a local preacher, preached in the PM from 1st Corinthians 3:16. I wrote a letter after tea to Brother Goodenough ordering some books for the Sunday School. Mother Griswold called for a short time after tea. We both attended Prayer Meeting in the evening. Rev. Griswold prayed, sang and talked during the meeting. FEBRARY 04 – MONDAY – Cloudy in the morning. Clear and pleasant in the PM. I have had work nearly all day in the shop. The Pictorial Catechisms, presents for the Sabbath School scholars, came to us by express today. I went to the store in the evening. FEBRUARY 05 – TUESDAY – Pleasant. Charles Bennett’s store caught fire inside last night about 12 o’clock. It damaged his goods considerably (dry goods), burning many of them and injuring others. I had work nearly all day in the shop. Mother Griswold’s wash woman, Irish Mary, washed for us today. After Gussie had paid her for her work, she filled a basket with vegetables and gave them to her to carry home, for she is very poor. Jonas Giddings lectured here before the Young Men’s Christian Association, subject, John Q. Adams. The rowdies and roughs of the Democratic Party threaten to give him the smell of rotten eggs. I attended drill and on my way home stopped a few minutes outside the hall to see what was going on, but the crowd was made up of such a class and so obscene and disgusting was the conversation that I thought to do justice to myself, I had better leave, and did so forthwith. FEBRARY 06 – WEDNESDAY – Pleasant. I went to the shop and waited all day for work and finally came home without getting any. Mr. Crofut paid us some money. I drew $10.00. A package came for me by express from Mr. Goodenough in New York containing catechisms, Sunday School Almanacs and a catalog of Carlton & Porter’s publications which I ordered for our Sabbath School. Mother Griswold, being alone, we took tea over there. I did not attend class in the evening, but went around doing trading a little and paying some debts. FEBRUARY 07 – THURSDAY – Ran in the forenoon. Sunshine and snow with a high wind in the PM and evening. I went to the shop in the morning and worked a little and then gave up and came home. I felt too sick to work. I have had a bad cold which has settled in my bones accompanied with a bad headache. Gussie was over home and took dinner there. I ate a little myself. We did not attend class in the evening, but stayed at home by a warm fire. FEBRUARY 08 – FRIDAY – We rose rather late. It was a severe cold night last. Some of our choicest plants were frozen and all were chilled. Not feeling very well, I did not go to the shop. I made some molasses candy. Mother Griswold found the molasses and I made it, then we divided the candy. I attended drill in the evening. FEBRUARY 09 – SATURDAY – I went to the shop and worked all day on four hats. They are some which Mr. Crofut is trying to make imitate the imported French hats. It is hard, slow and very particular work. I went into the street in the evening to buy something for breakfast and got into a political discussion with Edgar Wildman which detained me longer than I intended. FEBRUARY 10 – SUNDAY – Warmer today. Misty in the morning. Pleasant at noon and in the PM. Brother preached. Text in the morning, Psalms 73:25. Thirty Three Pictorial Catechisms were given out in the Sunday School to those scholars who had committed the catechism to memory. Text in the PM, Deuteronomy 3:25. Prayer Meeting in the evening, but we did not attend. Uriel Cosie was buried this afternoon after meeting. FEBRUARY 11 – MONDAY – Warm and foggy in the morning. A little sunshine in the PM. I worked all day in the shop on those imitations of French hats, 14/ per dozen. I finished only seven hats. George called in the PM and stayed until I finished my work and then came home with me to tea, after which I cut his hair for him. We called over to other Griswold’s before he went home and stayed a short time, when he went home and I came home with Gussie who had been there all evening. Father Griswold came home on the evening train. FEBRUARY 12 – TUESDAY – Warm and some rain in the forenoon. It rained all last night. It came off clear after dinner and was warm and pleasant, but very muddy. I came home from the shop before night with a sick headache. I stayed away from drill in the evening on that account. Fanny came in about 9 o’clock with her list of books which she is going to have me send for to New York for the Infant School Library. My head feeling a good bit better, I wrote the letter ordering them before I retired. FEBRUARY 13 – WEDNESDAY – Pleasant and warm, but very muddy. I worked all day in the shop. I sent a check by John Rooney to the Pahquioque Bank at noon. He drew it for me and brought it to the shop when he came from dinner. It was money belonging to our Sunday School which I mailed this evening to Edward Goodenough in New York to pay a bill for books. Today, Abraham Lincoln has undoubtedly been declared President of these United States in the Halls of Congress in Washington, DC. FEBRUARY 14 – THURSDAY – Pleasant, warm and muddy still. St. Valentine’s Day. I waited for work in the shop from noon until 3 o’clock and then worked as long as I could see. We did not attend Prayer Meeting in the evening. FEBRUARY 15 – FRIDAY – Rainy. A little hail just before night. I waited all day in the shop for work and then came home without doing anything. I received a letter from James Maynard from East Haddam. I brought home Father Griswold’s clock from Mr. Woodford’s when I came home from the shop. I went to drill in the evening. While there, an alarm of fire was raised. It soon became quiet and we supposed it was a false alarm, but on my way home from drill, I found out that it was a reality. It was McDonald & Ford’s Dry Goods Store. It was soon extinguished, but not before it sis a great deal of damage. FEBRUARY 16 – SATURDAY – The fire at McDonald & Ford’s store last night was caused by a leakage of gas until it became so dense that it ignited from the stove. Pleasant and warm, but very muddy still I received another express package with the books and papers for the Infant Class that I ordered. I received a letter from Uncle Chauncey Griswold. I went to market in the evening. Father, Mother and Bell came down and spent the evening with us. Mother Griswold came too. Just after they went away and perhaps before they got home, it commenced raining very hard. FEBRARY 17 – SUNDAY – Pleasant during the day, but windy and muddy. Brother Pegg preached in the morning from John 20:13. Sunday School Prayer Meeting at noon; Sacrament in the PM. After tea, I wrote a letter to James Maynard in North Lyme, Connecticut. We went to church in the evening. Brother Pegg preached from John 5, last of the 4th verse. Mr. Vintz, a German, died this afternoon. He was a member of our church. His family has been sorely afflicted as of late. He has lost several children within the last four years and last fall, his wife had her foot amputated and is only able now to hobble around the house with the aid of a crutch and now he is taken away and the poor family will suffer unless, as I hope they will be, cared for by kind friends and the church. FEBRUARY 18 – MONDAY – Pleasant. I had only one dozen hats at 12/ today. Mr. Vintz was buried at 2 ½ o’clock today. I went down to the church in the evening for my certificate of life membership in the Missionary Society which was in the library. FEBRUARY 19 – TUESDAY – Warm for the season. Cloudy part of the day. I have had work in the shop. Martha Case, from Essex, came to Father Griswold’s on the evening train. I attended drill in the evening. FEBRUARY 20 – WEDNESDAY – It snowed last night and continued until noon when it cleared off warm. I worked as usual in the shop. I went to class in the evening. Peter, Brother Cosier and myself stayed a little while after class and talked. FEBRUARY 21 – THURSDAY – The wind began to blow towards noon and it grew colder. I have had work in the shop. I went to market in the evening, after which it was rather late, so instead of going to class, I came home. FEBRUARY 22 – FRIDAY – The anniversary of Washington’s Birthday. The Wooster Guards (or a portion of them) assembled voluntarily to fire a national salute. At the second volley, a horse became frightened, threw the driver out and broke the wagon at which we stopped and closed the windows to the Hall (for we were firing from the windows). I attended drill in the evening. FEBRUARY 23 - SATURDAY – Warm and muddy. I have had plenty of work in the shop. Cloudy in the evening with a few drops of rain. I went into the street for a few articles at the grocery. The news tonight by the New York Evening Post was that Abraham Lincoln, the president-elect, was to be assassinated at Baltimore on his way to Washington and that he escaped by disguising himself. He intended to arrive there today and undoubtedly did. FEBRUARY 24 – SUNDAY – Warm and cloudy in the morning, but it came off pleasant about church time. It has been windy and very muddy. Brother Pegg preached in the morning from Luke 4:4. In the PM, from Jeremiah 8:22. After tea, I spent the time until evening meeting writing up a list of all the Scholars in our Sabbath School. We went to the Prayer Meeting in the evening. FEBRUARY 25 – MONDAY – Pleasant. Have had work all day in the shop. George and David Mills called at the shop to see me. I spent the evening in writing for the Sabbath School. FEBRUARY 26 – TUESDAY – Cloudy in the forenoon, but the sun shone bright and pleasantly just before night. I have had work in the shop. I worked as long as I could see. I attended drill in the evening. FEBRUARY 27 – WEDNESDAY- Pleasant and warm. I worked as usual in the shop. McDonald & Ford sold off a large amount of goods today damaged by fire and water. Gussie went down and made some purchases. When she came home, she was taken with a severe sick headache. I did not go to class on that account. FEBRUARY 28 – THURSDAY – The last day of winter. Warm and pleasant. I have worked in the shop as usual. We were paid a little more money today. I received $8.00. I wanted $35.00, but it was of no use. I received a letter from Harriet. I went to the store in the evening and went into Prayer Meeting rather late.