Horace Purdy Journal October 1865 Entry (Still Image)

Horace Purdy Journal October 1865 Entry

Purdy, Horace, 1835-1909

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10/01 SUNDAY - Pleasant. I cooked my own breakfast this morning and while clearing away the dishes turned over a quart of milk. I attended church all day. Brother Hill preached in the morning. A Hungarian preached in the P.M. upon the persecutions of Protestants in Hungary. A collection was taken to enable him to send his mother and sister back to Hungary who have been pardoned as all of them have been banished for the sake of their religion. I got my tea after which John Brayman came over and we hitched George's horse and rode up to the cemetery. After putting up the horse and feeding him, I went up home to see George and John went to the depot to send word home by the milk train. I went rather late to church in the evening. Brother Hill preached. George and Bell came home with me after meeting to see John. I paid the balance of my seat rent today for the year. Also what Mrs. Bradley owed - $6.00. 10/02 MONDAY - Election day. I went with George to buy hay up to L. E. Bartram's. We borrowed his hay cutter. The hay came in the P.M. I helped George stow it away in Father Griswold's barn. George got his wagon repaired up to Chase's shop. I bought 2 barrels of charcoal for 60 cents a barrel. George went to Starrs Plain in the evening on an errand to Uncle Edwin. I went to market in the evening. The town election went republican but the amendment to the Constitution allowing the Negro to vote was rejected by votes. John Brayman came this evening to stay with me for the first time. 10/03 TUESDAY - Cool and pleasant. I went to the shop today for the first time since a week ago Saturday. We raise our prices 2 % (?) on a dozen all round today. I worked until dark. Hatters' Meeting in the evening but I did not go on account of hearing that cousin Anna Heinman was very low and going up to see her. John Brayman went with me. I went to market in the evening. Bought beefsteak, sugar, matches and a ream of notepaper. George went to Ridgefield today and entered one of his sifters for a premium. He returned in the evening. A letter from Gussie in the evening. I wrote an answer before retiring. 10/04 WEDNESDAY - Cool and cloudy with a sprinkling of rain in the morning. I picked apples for Father Griswold in the forenoon in the tops of the trees where he could not climb. He gave me half for picking or rather, gleaning. I made a barrel for myself which is worth $4.00. I drew $10.00 for Gussie out of the Savings Bank in place of what I gave her to go to Canton with. I went to the shop at 3 o'clock and found the journeymen in an uproar about foul shops; as at the trade meeting last evening, they voted to stop working for a man who had both a fair and foul shop in the same locality. There was a meeting called for this evening to take into consideration the case of foul shops. I attended. The meeting finally adjourned until 2 o'clock tomorrow P.M. I picked my dwarf pears before dinner. I mailed the letter this evening which I wrote to Gussie last night. 10/05 THURSDAY - Cold and raw. The difficulty about foul shops not being settled, we could not go to work today. John Cosier and I went hunting. George went to Ridgefield to get his sifter at the fair and to bring Bell home. In the evening I borrowed $25.00 of Mr. Judd for John Brayman to go to Norwalk and pay grocery bill. 10/06 FRIDAY - Pleasant. John Brayman went to Norwalk this morning. In order to get away, we were up early. In a Hatters' Meeting yesterday afternoon, the trouble about foul shops so far as Mr. Crofut's shop went was settled and today we are all at work while William Tweedy and Edmund Tweedy's shops are still doing nothing. They threatened to make them foul and not employ any more fair men. John came home on the freight train and brought some oysters, a bushel for Mr. Brockett and a half bushel for me. We got them in the evening at Raymond's store where he left them when he arrived. O. A. G. Todd got a beating last night at Oscar Serine's house. He had been to see a widow woman who lives upstairs and a man went and called him out and before he was down the stairs, he (attacked) him. Todd cried murder to the top of his voice and alarmed all the neighbors. 10/07 SATURDAY - Pleasant and warmer. I worked late in the shop. Mr. Thompson came in while we were drinking tea, after which we all walked downtown together. I borrowed $25.00 of Andrew Knox to pay A. Judd what I borrowed for John Brayman on Thursday evening. 10/09 SUNDAY - Pleasant and warmer. I went to church all day. Sunday School Prayer Meeting at noon and communion in the P.M. After tea, John and I harnessed George's horse and too a little ride to limber old Jim's legs and settle our suppers. We rode on the hill west of Col. White's Pond, across from there to near Colby Bartram's on the road to the bogs, and then on the Mill Plain road as far as the old Elbert Segar place and then across to the Miry Brook road and home. I wrote to Carleton & Porter ordering 65 Sunday School Advocates and 26 Sunday School Journals for another year, also 4 sheets of tickets for the infant class. The bill according to the catalog will be $29.20. I enclosed $30.00 for the amount; over to stand to my credit. I mailed it as I went to meeting in the evening. 10/09 MONDAY - John Brayman and I went to the shop as usual after getting our breakfast and washing the dishes. John went to Norwalk this afternoon as he was not to have any work tomorrow. A special Hatters' Meeting in the evening to take into consideration the case of apprentices in the shop lately declared foul and to do any other business proper to be done. I could not attend on account of a Sunday School Teachers' Meeting at the church. I being secretary and having the books was obliged to attend. After the meeting I went to the Jeffersonian Office and got 50 large cards for the sellers of Tilden's Flour Sifters to hang in their stores. I got them for George, he having ordered them. 10/10 TUESDAY - John being in Norwalk, I had to get my breakfast alone. I was in consequence late at the shop. George came before I got away and carried my dirty clothes over to Alex Pine's and carried me as far as Concert hall on my way to work. John came home on the morning train and was here again to tea. George went to Stebbins' store to see about their underselling his sifters; he had some words with Amos about them but finally arranged the matter. I attended a Hatters' Meeting in the evening (a special) but the object to rescind the vote previously taken to not work for a boss who has a Fair and a Foul shop in the same locality was not gained. 10/11 WEDNESDAY - I earned $8.12 today, the largest I ever earned in one day. John Brayman not having any work went hunting in the afternoon, but got nothing. I went to class in the evening. 10/12 THURSDAY - Windy and cool. I went to the shop immediately after breakfast, leaving Cousin John to wash the dishes as he had plenty of time not having any work. He and George went to Norwalk selling sifters as they went or rather started; they are to return tomorrow or the next day. We had but one dozen hats today. I finished mine about 11 o'clock. My last ton of coal came in the P.M. I busied myself around the house until just at night when I took my gun down to Charles Hull to have a new tube put in but finally remedied the difficulty with the old one (there was leakage around the tube). I then went to the Wooster House and got shaved and my hair cut bought a loaf of bread, a pound of coffee and came home and got my tea. I took a letter from the Office for Gussie as I came home from work at noon. The postmark was so indistinct I could not tell where it came from. I opened it and found it to be from Edwin's wife. I carried it up to Father Griswold's for the family to read. I went up home in the forepart of the evening to see Bell who is very sick with lung fever. From there I went to the Post Office and home. 10/13 FRIDAY - Cool. I worked as usual in the shop. While I was getting my tea, Father came in to borrow our syringe. I looked all around for it and then went up to Father Griswold's and Fanny said that Gussie took it with her to Canton, thinking that the baby might require its use. After tea, I went to market and at the same time carried a lamp to Joseph Ives to have the top fastened on. As I came from work, I took a letter from the Office from New Haven for George, he not being home. I shall keep it until he returns from Norwalk. Before retiring, I washed myself all over in a tub. 10/14 SATURDAY - Very cold for the season last night and in fact today. There was ice on a water pail outside this morning of considerable thickness, the first I have seen this fall. I have felt rather poorly today, not really sick but a used up languid feeling. When I came home from work at night, I put on my underclothes. Just as I was about to eat supper, George and Cousin John Brayman drove up having come from Norwalk. I helped John unharness after giving George two cups of jelly for bell (who is sick). John and I took tea, after which we went into the street to do some marketing, etc. I took three letters from the Post Office for George, two of them from St. Augustine and one from his lady correspondent while he was in the army directed to Willie Franklin. As I came home from work in the P.M., I got a letter from Gussie who is in Bloomfield. She wants me to come for her next week. 10/15 SUNDAY - Rain last night and storm and wind today. Sunday School was thinly attended. The presiding elder was with us in the P.M. at the prayer meeting and preached in the evening. After tea, John and I harnessed Jim and rode up home to see bell and down to see Beatty to have him come to Father Griswold's tomorrow morning and carry Miss Sutherland to the depot. We stayed at home in the evening. George called as he came from evening meeting. 10/16 MONDAY - Started for Bloomfield this morning. I had the company of Peter Starr; he was going to Boston. I met Father Griswold at Norwalk. The trains were delayed about an hour on account of the burning of the Cos Cob bridge in the town of Greenwich. While waiting at Norwalk, Father Griswold and myself visited Seymour's Nursery. While waiting in New Haven, Peter with me called on Elisha Dickerson, druggist in Chapel Street. We took dinner in the depot building (a branch of the Merchant's Hotel). I took stage at 3 P.M. from Hartford to Bloomfield Center. From there I walked to Uncle Lorenzo's and arrived about sundown where I found wife and baby. George Wilson, known as Nicodemus, called in the evening. 10/17 TUESDAY - Picked corn with Uncle Lorenzo a part of the forenoon until Alfred Humphrey called at the house on his way to Hartford and Gussie sent Willie Dean to the field for me. Alfred made arrangements with Hiram Barber of Canton to carry us to Canton in the P.M. if we wished to go. Fearing that tomorrow would be stormy we concluded to go on the baby's account. So about 3 o'clock Mr. Barber came along and we started. Arrived at Alfred's at dark. I paid Barber $1.50 for the job; he thought himself well paid. We were met with the usual hearty welcome and good cheer. 10/18 WEDNESDAY - Cloudy with a little rain. I rode with Alfred to the mill in the morning, after which Lydia and Gussie rode with us up to Mrs. Foot's. I husked corn in the barn in the P.M. and milked a cow for Alfred at night. Boiled chestnuts, put stamps on 3 dozen Salves and told stories in the evening. 10/19 THURSDAY - Stormy all last night and this morning; the sun finally came out and in the P.M. we all went up to Lucien Case's and stayed to tea. Windy and colder towards night. Starlight and rain squalls in the evening. Alfred made salve in the forenoon, as I wanted a gross to take home with me for George to peddle. 10/20 FRIDAY - Went up to Lucien Case's in the morning and borrowed a gun to hunt partridges. I got no partridges, it being too windy but found a fine lot of chestnuts. I went for chestnuts again in the P.M. with Anna, Gussie and the children. We returned in time to visit with Lucien's folks who came down and stayed to tea. 10/21 SATURDAY - We rose about 5 o'clock. Alfred started with us to Collinsville about before 7 o'clock. The train left 20 minutes before 8 o'clock. We arrived in New Haven about 10 o'clock. Our trunk was checked through to Norwalk. My carpet bag I deposited in the Merchant's Hotel and then we went up Chapel Street and called on Elisha Dickerson; from there we went over to Cousin Charles Bradley's in Hubbard Street near the hospital and took dinner. After dinner I went with Mr. Bradley to the carriage factory, his place of business. I returned and in about an hour we left there and called at Mr. Chauncey Dickerman's in York Street, but he and his wife were away so we went to Elisha's and stayed a while. From there we went to the depot where Gussie got a beefsteak. It was tiresome waiting for the train in the crowd. We arrive home at 9 o'clock in the evening, an hour behind time on account of the difficulty of changing trains at the Cos Cob Bridge. Mother Griswold had tea for us when we arrived. John Brayman went to Norwalk today with George with the horse. George intends spending a week or more in that vicinity with his sifters. I brought home a gross of salve for him to sell. 10/22 - SUNDAY - We feel rather tired today. I went to Sunday School at noon and then returned home again. Gussie did not go to church, only in the evening when I stayed with Georgie. After tea, I went up home to see Bell who has had the lung fever. I wrote to Carleton & Porter in the evening ordering additional copies of Sunday School papers 5 S.S.A.'s and 4 S.S.J.'s. I enclosed the money for them - $2.90 and Gussie mailed it when she went to church in the evening. 10/23 MONDAY - The milk train from here last evening had a collision on the N.Y & N.H. Railroad between Stamford and Greenwich. The train form here was chartered by the N.Y. & N.H. Railroad to run as far on that road as the Cos Cob Bridge to carry the milk but was run by an engineer of that road. A man by name of Horace Wildman was killed. Conductor Parsons of this road had a leg broken. Engineer George Stevens was badly injured but not dangerously hurt. I worked all day in the shop. I expected Joe Kyle to bring some butter to Judd's store this evening for Oscar Serine and myself, but he did not. I got a letter firm the Office for George tonight and with one that came on Saturday, I mailed them to him at Norwalk where he is now with his sifters. I saw A. Knox in the street about the $25.00 I borrowed of him for John Brayman which should be paid this evening. John could not pay him; I am to see him again tomorrow evening when John expects to have the money. Bought 62 lbs. of bar soap of Mr. Judd this evening for 16 cents per pound. He is to bring it tomorrow. I am to pay him as soon as I can. John Brayman came home from Norwalk this morning on the train. The dead body of Wildman and the wounded from the railroad accident came by the same train. John is to board with us until he moves his family which will be in about a week. 01/24 TUESDAY - Cold; ice was on a water pail at the back door this morning. After tea, I went to market. I saw Andrew Knox in the street and paid him $11.00 which John Brayman gave me last evening toward the $25.00 I borrowed for him over two weeks ago. I went to the depot when the train came with Clark Beers to see if the tea and coffee which he bought for me in New York came but it did not. There was a letter in the mail for George from his sieve manufacturer, Mr. E. C. Andrews of New Haven. I mailed it to George at Norwalk. Mr. Judd brought the soap today which I bought last evening. 10/25 WEDNESDAY - Quite cold again this morning. I worked until noon in the shop and then came home with a headache. I felt so much better out of doors than I did in the house. I took my gun and with Henry Blair's dog, Bird, I went out a short distance to get a bird for Bell as she is now much better of her fever. I got one quail and two chipmunks. I went to bed early and left Cousin John Brayman to rock the cradle while Gussie and Louise went up home to see our folks and to carry the bird to Bell. 10/26 THURSDAY - The baby sick; John went for the milk this morning while I held Georgie to let Gussie get the breakfast. As I went to the shop, I stopped and left word on Dr. Bulkeley's slate at his office for him to come and see the baby. He came about 9 o'clock. He could not tell exactly what to call the disease but feared both Scarlet Fever and Diphtheria. I brought home a Blk. Spring Brim hat with me at night that I got up from a damaged body. John and I went to market in the evening. I called on Dr. Bulkeley to see about the baby. Mr. Pond gave us about a peck of quinces this morning. A brakeman on the freight train was killed today at Norwalk while coupling cars together. He was jammed between the cars and died soon after. 01/27 FRIDAY - A little rain in the morning; cloudy all day with the appearance of rain every hour. The baby a little better today. George F. Bailey's circus exhibited here this day and evening. After tea, John Brayman and I went to market. The train came in this evening about the usual time as the detentions at Cos Bob Bridge are at an end, they having it now so far rebuilt that the trains run over it. Before retiring, I wrote out a card for George for publishing (subject to his approval) in reply to Edwin Gilbert in reply to one previously written by George. 10/28 SATURDAY - Stormy last night and this morning; it cleared off after dinner. We had but one dozen hats today. I came home at noon and went over to Mallory's shop to see Theo Lyon about getting the Russell Strawberry plants which I engaged to him. He was not at the shop so I returned and let Alban Hurd have some of them. Gussie made quince jelly and preserved some of the quinces today. John Brayman went home on the afternoon train. I went into the street in the evening and received a letter form Alfred Humphrey about the flour he was to buy for us. He was disappointed in not getting it, the parties having sold out all of that brand which they had on hand. I also received a bill from Carleton & Porter for Sunday School Advocates and Sunday School Journals which I supposed I sent the money for when I ordered them. I intended to do so and was surprised to learn there was no money in the letter accompanying the order. George arrived home from a peddling trip of 1 week this evening. 10/29 SUNDAY - It was nearly 8 o'clock when we rose this morning. I had Sunday School Advocates to mark off this morning and in consequence of that and late rising, I did not go to church in the morning. I went down to Sunday School after which I came home to let Gussie go to the Union Sunday School Concert at the 1st Church, which took the place of the usual afternoon service. George came down in the afternoon to curry his horse. William Warren came with him and called a few minutes. While they were here, Henry Blair's dog, Bird scratched at the door. I opened the door and let him in. He having hunted with me, he came around I suppose to give me a call and see if I would take my gun and go with him not knowing the difference between Sunday and any other day. He stayed with me until about two o'clock and then left. Gussie stayed with the baby and I went to church in the evening. Brother Hill preached. Fido came in church and stayed until meeting was out and then climbed over the seats to get to Fanny. 10/30 MONDAY - Cloudy, but no rain; the sun shone however just before it went down. After tea, Louise came down to stay with the baby to let Gussie go into the street with John and myself. While in Benedict & Nichols, George came in and Gussie and I took his horse which was standing in front to f the store and rode over to Theo Lyons' to see if he wanted to take the Russell Strawberry plants this fall which I engaged to him as Alban Hurd wants them if he does not. When we came back, we papered up the cups of jelly (quince) which she made on Saturday. 10/31 TUESDAY - Appearance of storm in the morning. It commenced raining after dinner and rained hard all the afternoon. It broke away in a measure about 7 o'clock in the evening so that the moon shone a little. George helped Gussie and Mrs. Stone clean the bedroom and pantry today and harnessed the horse and came to the shop for me a little before 5 o'clock. We took Oscar Serine in and carried him home as we came home. There was a special Hatter's Meeting this evening held over Harris' Clothing Store. It was to take measures to prevent foul shops and diminish foul men; also to rescind a resolution previously passed regarding pouncing (?) I attended the meeting.

1865-10

Danbury (Conn.) -- History.

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

Western Connecticut State University