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Archiver > MDALLEGA > 2004-06 > 1086381546


From: "cbeachy" <>
Subject: MAY 1889
Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2004 16:39:06 -0400


I think Hilary was leading up to writing his book during this period. May was a very exciting month, not necessarily a good one, tho.

Connie

MAY - 1889


1 May 1889 - Mostly cloudy and cool. Charley peeling bark. Norval plowing. Elmira and me were at Jonathan Wilson's

this eve. I bought two old like cows from him for $45.00. One of them is fresh.

2 May 1889 - Mostly cloudy and cool. Plowing and peeling bark. Laura Willison's baby was buried at the Church

yard at noon.

3 May 1889 - Cloudy and cool. Mr. Eyler Linisman was here for dinner this afternoon. Elmira and me were down

to see Aunt Emily Ash. She is quite poorly and has been for some time. (My notes: Aunt Emily was actually

Hilary's sister who married Amos Ash. How sick was she? Well, she died in August 1889.)

4 May 1889 - Mostly cloudy and still cool. Plowing and peeling bark. Norval and Mary went to Alford Willison's

this afternoon

SUNDAY - 5 May 1889 - Mostly clear, smokey and getting much warmer. It has been quite cool for 10 days or more.

At Home all day.

6 May 1889 - Clear and pretty warm. Plowing and peeling Bark. Planted some early roastin ear corn and beans today.

7 May 1889 - Clear and warm and dry. Growing time. Harrowing and peeling bark. The fruit trees are in full bloom.

8 May 1889 - Clear and quite warm and smokey. Everything is very forward and if we could get a good moderate rain

everything would more than grow. The (____) big frost last week did not seem to injure the fruit as yet. I sold

lambs to Frank Bloud's boy for 3 dollars each. I have 38 left but they are April lambs. Those I sold came in

January.

9 May 1889 - Clear and warm wind rather from the east. We are having some very warm weather for May. Was planting

corn in lower end of Barn Field. I sent up by Ben (__ommer) and got a corn dropper. It is a single handed

dropper wit a foot piece and drops pretty regular. Norval kept neighbor with the shovel plow.

10 May 1889 - Mostly clear and quite warm in forenoon. Wind from south-west mostly but buting? around in the evening and after midnight we had a very find rain which came at just the right time. There was some hail also. Peeling bark and Norval was plowing and harrowing Hutslers Lot.

11 May 1889 - Most clear and warm after the rain and pretty windy. Very fine growing time. The boys peeling bark

part of the day. They went to Flintstone in afternoon. I was at Twigg's Mill this afternoon. Took 5 bushels of wheat and exchanged. I am very tired of the Roller Flour. I don't think it as healthy as the other and it drys out so quick and has not that sweet tast that the Bwr? flour has. I stopped to see Anut Emily this evening. She was setting up but

is not much stronger.

SUNDAY - 12 May 1889 - Partly cloudy and warm. Grand Pap Hendrickson and Georg were here for dinner. We were up

at the Brick Church. Sermon by Rev. Harryman, text. Clara and Blanch were at Grandpaps since yesterday.

13 May 1889 - Partly cloudy and warm with showers of rain and at night it rained quite hard. Charley peeling bark

and Norval harrowing some on Charley's corn ground.

14 May 1889 - Partly cloudy and warm. Peeling some bark and harrowing some.

15 May 1889 - Mostly clear and quite warm. Indeed it is quite hot and has been for some time. Was at John Howard sale at the old John Piper house in Flintstone. They have leased the house to a company who are going to make a summer resort. They have also lured the Wilson Mineral spring. John Drake got out a lot of stone in the quarry up the Pike to wall the spring up larger. Murray Perrin is now hauling them to Flintstone. Charley and Norval began planting their corn in Amos' Field at noon.

16 May 1889 - Clear and warm. The Boys harrowing and planting corn in the afternoon.

17 May 1889 - Clear and warm. I was at Cumberland today. Charley finished planting his corn.

18 May 1889 - Clear and warm. Plowed and hoed our early potatoes today.

19 May 1889 - Partly cloudy with strong south east wind all day. Late in the evening it began to rain moderately. It was

needed very much to let some of the corn up. The heavy rains had baked the ground very hard. We have had

some very fine growing weather. Every thing is very far advanced. I measured orchard grass today, four feet high in full head. Clover comming in blossom. The little blue grass and June grass up high in full head. Great prospect

for heavy grass crop. We put up our sheep this evening before the rain, to shear them tomorrow. We brought down

two fresh cows out of the range this afternoon, making four fresh ones. This is my birthday. I am 46 years old

today and still crippled up wioth Rhumatism in back and hips.

[Before moving on the the 20th, Hilary wrote an additional 12 lines, mostly illegible. He had scratched through them all but here and there I can pick out the words: intoxicating.....I will try.....and here.....again ... believing....God....duty.....intend to advocate the ..........etc to the ending."Christian Duty of every right thinking man to do so." Every month I've transcribed so far just makes me love this wonderful cousin more and more. Wish I'd known him...well, wish I could sit down and talk with him every day.]

20 May 1889 - Cloudy with light sprinkling at times. Charley and Dan Baker shearing my sheep today. They sheared

thirty four head of sheep, averaging 6 lbs per head.

21 May 1889 - Partly cloudy and windy and quite cool. Boys peeling some bark.

22 May 1889 - Cloudy with more rain again. I was at Cumberland today with my wool. It rained on me going in, it was so cool yesterday and last night I did dream of rain. Sold my wool at 26@ lb to the Firm of Heinrichs, Jews.

23 May 1889 - Mostly clear and cool. Peeling bark in forenoon. Afternoon hauling some Flat Rails out of the woods.

24 May 1889 - Partly cloudy and cool. The Boys were plowing in the new ground up the hollow to plant potatoes on

shares. Sis Riser and children came here.

25 May 1889 - Partly clear and warmer plowing and hoeing early potatoes in forenoon. Afternoon planting some late ones.

In the evening Mira and me were down to sister Emily's. We took Sis Rizer along and left her there. Sister Emily is

not much better. She sits up a little at times.

26 May 1889 - Mostly cloudy and cool. At home all day.

27 May 1889 - Partly clear and cool. Boys replanting corn. The cut worms took nearly allof Charley's corn in Amos'

field. Jasper Ash was buried at cemetery this afternoon, aged about fifty.

28 May 1889 - Mostly cloudy and cool. I was down at Flintstone this afternoon.

29 May 1889 - Partly clear with strong east wind.

30 May 1889 - Mostly cloudy with strong south east wind with rain in the evening and all night. Was plowing corn

part of the afternoon.

31 May 1889 - Cloudy and raining nearly constantly all day and nearly all last night and the ground being full of water and

the streams flush, already much destruction of property and loss of life may be the resullts. I intend to leave space

here until we can get the correct reports from the high waters. Our little dry runs were not up at all to what I have

seen them. A hard thunder storm sometimes sweeps out all our water. Ga-- this time not a sail was moved but the

ponds and sink holes up in the woods are the highest ever known. I expect the water raised half way up the sides of

sink holes that I never knew to hold water before. Always before it would sink faster than it ran in...and strange to

say the holes that smart streams of water were pouring into had the least water in them. The two large ponds

are way up above anything I ever saw. I have known the lower large pond in the spring of the year to rise until

it would overflow into the little dry pond at the south end, the little connecting stream between the two would

be quite shallow and but a few feet wide. But this time the water is within six inches of running over the top of the Ridge at the south end of the little pond and I could not more than wade between the two with high top boots on.

The news from Johnstown, Pa. is most horrible - a large Reservoir 18 miles northeast from the town bursted through the damn and a tremendous body of water said to be 30 feet high, rushed with the speed of the wind down through a narrow valley, wiping out railroads, bridges, Forests, villages, towns and everything in its course.

Yesterday's paper, the 7th day after puts the number of lives lost at between 8 and 10 thousand, a great many of the dead bodies will never be recovered.

Full returns - lives lost 2142; missing 319; whole families drowned 99. The artifical lake was 2½ miles long and one mile wide. Water travelled the 18 miles in 7 minutes.

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