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MEMORANDUM, CORNPLANTING, &c. THE TIME OF:
1837: flat field, May 10th, 11th, & 4 acres west field May 22nd.
1838: May 1st, 4th, (rain), 12th, old house field; 14th, 15th old orchard.
1839: May 6th, 7th, 8th, north field; 16th-20th, long lane field.
1840: May 8, 12, 13, orchard; 13, 14 cedar tree field.
1841: May 18, 19, 20, hill field; 21, behind the house. (Best we ever had,1,250
bushels.)
1842: May 12, 13,west field; 17, 18, flat field.
1843: May 13-15, stover field; 18, 19 old house field.
1844: May 1, 2, old orchard field.
1845: May 3, 8, north field.
1846; Mat 5th, 6th, 7th, & 14th, cedar field.
1847: May 7th, 8th, hill field; May 10th, 11th, behind the house.
1848: April 28th, 29th, stover field; May 2nd, 4th, old house field.
1849: May 17th, 18th, flat field; 21st, 22nd, orchard before the door.
1850: May 13th, 14th, old orchard or walnut field; 17th, 18th, west field.
1851: May 20th, 21st, 22nd, north field; 23rd, 24th, cedar tree field.
1852: May 22nd, ld house field; 26th, 31st, June 1st, flat field.
1853: May 10th, 12th, 13th, hill field, 14th, walnut tree field.
1854: May 23rd, 24th, field behind the house; June 2nd, 3rd, far end field and
lower side orchard.
1855: May 11th, 12th, 14th, 15th, west field; May 18th, far end field and lower
side orchard.
*************************************************************
William FENTON, Esq., son of Ephraim FENTON, Sen., of Cheltenham.
My nephews:
William W. FENTON, son of
James FENTON, Abington.
William P. FENTON, son of
Samuel FENTON, Buckingham.
William FENTON, son of
Charles P. FENTON, Cheltenham.
William FENTON, son of
Thomas D. FENTON, Cheltenham.
William FENTON, son of
Charles P. FENTON, Buckingham, (grandson).
William FENTON, son of
William P. FENTON, Solebury, my nephew's son.
My namesakes:
William Fenton DOAN, son
of Wilson DOAN, Buckingham, my grandson.
William Fenton OVERHOLT,
son of Samuel OVERHOLT, Buckingham.
William Fenton PRICE, son
of Charles M. PRICE, Plumstead.
William Fenton RANDALL,
son of John RANDALL, Solebury, (gone West).
William Fenton FRETZ, son
Of Mahlon FRETZ, Bedminster.
William Fenton GUILE [GEIL?],
son of _ _ _ GUILE, Warwick.
William Fenton KROUTHAMEL
[CROUTHAMEL], son of Henry KROUTHAMEL,
Buckingham.
William Fenton CATHERS,
son of Alexander CATHER, Buckingham.
William Fenton DORAN, son
of John DORAN.
William Fenton HOLCOMB,
son of David HOLCOMB, died March 28th 1862.
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"MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS"
1837
03 Apr: Elizabeth PRICE removed to Doylestown and Stephen to Dansborough.
11 Apr: This day paid John GOOD five dollars for Franklin GILLINGHAM's coffin.
13 Apr: Jesse FENTON and , his wife, with their two children, Jane Eliza, the
eldest, and Eleazer, the younger, started this morning about nine o'clock
removing to the State of Ohio in company with Jesse ROBERTS, his wife and family
& Samuel ROBERTS, his wife anf two children.
16 Apr: Catharine MALANA died; buried on the 17th.
23 Apr: Sleigh bells jingling merrily, even by those in attendance at Court in
Doylestown, and on the 26th snow not all gone. The ground froze hard each
morning as the ground became bare.
02 May: Got 5 shad of John D. MICHENER, paid 40 cts. apiece.
21 May: first discovered the fly in the wheat this season.
13 Jun: Received invitations to the funeral of Ephraim FENTON's daughter, Upper
Dublin; funeral tomorrow.
28 Jun: Samuel WILSON's wife, Hannah, died.
18 Jul: The crops very late; no harvest ripe.
27 Jul: Got in our first mowing, 50 loads of hay.
28 Jul: Began to harvest, not all ripe (wheat); about the height of harvest (and
poor).
06 sep: Sarah FELL, sen., died.
20-23 Sep: Cleaned up 63 bushels buckwheat.
09 Oct: got 73 tons of hay this year, as follows:
Clover
hay.................................24 wagon loads
Timothy
hay...............................63 "
"
Seed
timothy................................1 "
"
Wheat (166
doz.).........................7 "
"
Oats (4072
doz.)........................21 "
"
Stubble
hay................................11 "
"
Buckwheat in the
straw.................5 "
"
Seed
clover.................................14 "
"
Cornfodder.................................14
" "
18 Oct: Randal FENTON bought real estate which was Ephraim FENTON's, dec'd: Lot
No. 1, containing 76 acres and 133 perches, for $42¾ per acre, amount
$3,284.54; Lot No. 2, 9 acres 54 perches, $17½ per acre, amount $165.77.
18 Nov: Charles P. FENTON and wife came to our house from Montgomery County and
went home on the 20th (county meeting day). [This was a county meeting called
for the purpose of opposing Abolitionism and Negro suffrage. William FENTON was
one of the elected delegates from Buckinghan Township].
1838
02 Mar: Been 3 days housed up with a cold, pain in the head, face and back,
cramp in my feet, &c. (half dead, and cross as thunder; can hardly see).
09 Mar: Pigeons [Passenger pigeons, now extinct] flying in the evening.
[Pen drawing of a flight of pigeons]
17, 18 Mar: Snowing fast and blowing hard; Durham Road drifted
full.
19 Mar: Shoveling snow out of the road.
12 Apr: Began to garden; planted onions, beets, onion seed, peas.
06 May: Spring very backward. The woods look like winter except the maple trees;
the orchards just beginning to push open their buds, peach blossoms coming out,
cherry blossoms not appearing, wheat and rye begin to appear greener than in
winter garb, but only three or four inches above the ground, but no appearance
of rye shooting, probably this in two or three weeks. The most of the summer
birds are here, harrywicket, snipe, woodcock, catbird, thrush, cowink, swallow,
whip-poor-willow, robin, bluebird, titmouse, lark, pewee, chimney bird, wood
pewee, but no bullfinch as yet to be seen.
12 May: Woods not putting out yet.
20 May: Apple trees now in bloom.
01 Jul: Mary ROBERTS came; went away 6th.
[Pen draw of "Big Mary"]
04 Aug: Dry weather, the most uncommon; corn dying for want of
rain and people cutting it off for fodder; never was a better prospect for corn
in the first part of the season and never a worse prospect than now, a few
fields only excepted, among which I have 2 of the best I have seen.
03, 04 Sep: Frost about the neighborhood.
22 Sep: Sowed 7acres of rye and one land our wheat and one land Mediterranean.
(Trial wheat experiment.)
06 Oct: Road jury, David HEISTAND's, New Britian; attended as juryman.
15 Oct: Samuel FENTON's baby died; buried next day.
22, 23 Nov: On the State road view along with Isaiah JAMES, Thomas PAXSON,
Joseph WATSON, Abraham BLACK & Cornelius SHEPERD. Could not agree.
24 Nov: Got done husking corn, 810 bushels. The men were 7½ days husking,
besides what we done ourselves. Slow work, that.
24 [sic] Nov: Bo't my 2nd pair of waterproof boots of John H. ANDERSON; price
$3.25.
[Pen drawing of boots]
11 Dec: Killed 4 hogs and a beef; one hog weighed 313½, one
311, one 306, one 247½; altogether, 1,178 lbs. pork, and beef weighed 467 lbs.,
altogether, 1, 645 lbs.
[Pen drawing of hogs and beef]
1839
09 Apr: Susan BRADSHAW bo't Samuel FENTON's horse for $100.
19 Apr: Charlotte SHAW buried; same day Edith FELL buried.
19 [sic] Apr: John PICKERING died & Joseph CAMBELL's buried.
21 Jun: Charles M. PRICE raised his large stabling shed.
04 Jul: Our folks pulled a yellow beet this day measuring 10 in. in
circumference.
13 Oct: Aaron WATSON died ¼ past 11 o'clock; buried 15th.
1840
26 Apr: White oak leaves larger than squirrel's ears; whip-poor-will hollowed.
27 Apr: Trees in woods getting green; orchards in full bloom.
13 Jun: Mr. WISE jumped Jail yard.
[Pen and ink drawing of
the "jumping". This refers to the successful balloon ascension made by
Jonathan WISE, the celebrated aeronaut, from the jail yard of the old Bucks
County Prison in Doylestown. An account of the ascension, together with an
interesting letter from Mr. WISE, may be found in the Doylestown Democrat of
April 17, 1840.]
13 [sic] Jun: Amos COAR killed running horses on Academy Lane.
[this accident occurred after the balloon ascension on the same date, when festivities of the day wound
up with a horse race on Academy Lane, now East Court Street, Doylestown. COAR
rode a blind horse, which stumbled, and COAR was thrown under the horse and
crushed to death.]
17, 18, 19 Jun: Catching thieves.
[Illustrated with pen
drawing of FENTON and a companion driving a horse to a buggy. FENTON was a
member of the "Eastern Division of the Brownsville Persistive Company for
the detection of Horse Thieves and Other Villains", which at that time had
a membership of 130. He was a "rider" for one of the company's
routes.]
1841
04 Mar: Smith PRICE took Dick, alias "Brownsville Persistive
Messenger" to keep him on shares... and return him again to moon the first
of August, 1841.
04 Apr: President General William HARRISON died.
04 May: Crispin WOOD died this morning of the measles.
27 May: Ephraim FENTON and myself administered Mary GILBERT's estate.
1842
04 Feb: Emmor HAMILTON sold his farm to Hiram JONES some weeks ago. Frogs
peet-weeting and bluebirds have come back.
22 Feb: Big blackbirds in Rich's woods.
25 Feb: Doctor ELY's kitchen burned.
26 Feb: John BALDERSON died.
26 [sic] Feb: An uncommon open winter; no snow of any amount since last November
and beginning of December; a great deal of south wind and mud plenty.
02-05 Mar: Warm weather, no frost, frogs a-peeping, robins, bluebirds, spring
blackbirds flying in flocks towards north, pewees, wild geese yesterday, pigeons
the day before, people plowing and sowing grass seed.
07 Mar: Abraham GARES buried this day.
20 Mar: Peach blossoms and cherry blossoms.
26 Mar: Bought 6 traces at YARDLEY's, Doylestown, and lines at DYER's same day;
and 3 traces at Shaptown day before yesterday.
17 Apr: Pear trees in bloom; apple blossoms coming.
21 May: Stephen E. PRICEs' wife, Rebecca, was buried; died on the 19th.
08 Jul: We keep no account of the growth of corn this year. Why? Because it is
so Darned little and poor. Last year's corn was in tassel on the 9th and silk on
the 21st. This year it is not weaned yet.
02 Aug: Strained my back pitching hay.
07 Aug: Down and fast for about a week.
[Pen drawing of a sick man. "Jakey, iss you no petter?"
"No; I wants a parrel of mackeral right here."]
04 Oct: Got done cutting off corn, all killed by frost more than a week ago.
1843
16 Jan: Dick sick, Doc ISAIAH steaming him all day. He had the lockjaw,
occasioned by a gathering in his throat.
15 Mar: appraisement of the goods and chattles of Ephraim JONES' estate.
17 Mar: Clerking the election at Centerville.
05 Apr: John GILLINGHAM moved down to Uncle Benny's.
13 Apr: Snow drifts in the road towards Doylestown 3 feet high and can't be
traveled yet this season.
24 Apr: Charles, Hannah, Henry and Rebecca began to go to writing school to Fell
FIRMAN.
30 May: Appraising the real estate of John FRETZ, late of Plumstead Township,
deceased.
02 Jun: Plenty of frost and ice; potatoes, beans and clover killed; the top of
the ground froze to a crust and out corn froze off even with the ground.
23 Jun: Abner DOAN buried.
16 Jun - 01 Jul: No rain, ground very dry and weather hot. From the 24th of June
to 2nd of July the thermometer ranged in the middle of the day from about 90 to
97 in the shade.
30 Jun: Bought grindstone and crosscut saw in Lambertville; saw cost $3.00,
grindstone $4.00
[Pen drawing of grindstone and saw, "Our Grindstone, Our
Saw. Won't borrow nor lend."]
28 Jul: Very dry weather; pasture nearly all gone; the shortest oats and
grass for many years, I think since 1822-3.
15 Aug: Road jury, Samuel NASH and others, Plumstead.
22 Aug; Camp Jackson began, ended the 26th.
05 Sep: John M. FENTON married - Samuel's John.
13 Sep: Gave Col. Daniel BOILEAU and William RIDGE a power of Attorney to settle
William RIDGE, Se., estate. They have Letters of Administration and the Will,
with the statement from the Court. Same day entered in bonds with John C.
SHEPHERD as surety for Albert JONES and Doc. JAMES, administrators of the estate
of Ephraim JONES; both of Plumstead, deceased.
31 Oct: Took Matilda KRAMER to Christian SMITH's to board for Dr. MATTHEWS to
cure her of St. Vistus' Dance.
25 Dec: Got my box and hat of Theophilus CORNELL and paid him $4.18¾ in full.
[Pen drawing of a high hat] |
