Wednesday 10 October 2012

A Farm Journal ~ from the 1st to the 15th April 1867

My great great great uncle John Bayliff Bowman lived at Summer Hill, near Monyash in the County of Derby.
The Bowman family, who were Quakers, had three farms, One Ash Grange [which John Bayliff Bowman often referred to as O.A.], Cales and Summer Hill [which he usually referred to as S.Hill or S.H.]

In this photo John is fourth from the left. My great great grandparents, Ebenezer and Hannah Bowman, are the third and fourth adults from the right. John and Ebenezer were brothers and their parents are the elderly couple in the middle, Henry and Mary Bowman.

The Bowman family

"A Farm Journal"continues :~
 
2 - 1st - 4 Mo[nth] Very fine day at Bakewell savings bank bo[ugh]t 5 pigs 25/-
 
3 - 2 plough[in]g etc
 
4 - 3 Fine day self with Father & co[usin] E. from Ashford to C[hesterfield] M[onthly] M[eeting]
 
5 - 4 Fine but very windy sow[e]d few oats broadcast in Watricle
 
6 - 5 Wet Stormy weather very windy to 1 - 7 Fine day
 
2 - 8 Stormy wet day
 
3 - 9 Very windy & wet at times lambing goes on slowly but pretty successful no ewes poorly a few lambs ger [?] - from cold I expect lost 3 & calf died of same complaint - 2 others cured with mint tea
 
4 - 10 Fine day sow[e]d part of Watricle
 
5 - 11 Very windy & wet morn[in]g fine aft[ernoo]n plough[in]g turnip gr[oun]d etc. S.A. & I by Middleton to B[akewe]ll S.A. to Nott[ingha]m
 
6 - 12 Fine day sow[e]d rem[ainde]r of Watricle with old bl[ac]k oats bo[ugh]t of Tho[ma]s Harrison Monyash 1/6 p[e]r stone - 9 st[ones] nett
 
7 - 13 Showery - Jesse with Ebens man to fetch hay
 
1 - 14 fine
 
2 - 15 Fine aft[ernoo]n very windy & wet morn[in]g to B[akewe]ll market open for Cattle 1st time - sheep & pigs low - bo[ugh]t 10 good strong stores 24/- self to Nott[ingha]m with W[illia]m  

15 comments:

  1. I must try some mint tea it sounds it sounds a miracle cure.Ann

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    1. It's interesting that he gave it to his sheep Ann. Any idea what 'ger' could be ~ that's what it looks like in the journal.

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  2. No idea Charlie, I must try and read my comment before sending.I remember my grandfather giving a cow a raw egg including the shell to cure Blain,which was lumps all over its body.It did get better but perhaps it would have anyway.

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    1. I hadn't spotted the duplication Ann. I've never heard of Blain so that's something new.

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  3. Any idea what or who 'Ebens man' is?

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    1. Eben was my great great grandfather Ebenezer Bowman. I assume his 'man' was an employee of his.

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  4. what do you think 'sowed oats broadcast in watricle' means charlie? I haven't got a clue!

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    1. 'watricle' is a field or an area known by that name. As a friend on Facebook told me there is a Watricle Mine [or shaft] not so far away from the farm [and see below]. As for sowing "oats broadcast" I remember my Dad doing this back in the early 1950s. He had a load of seed in a large bag around his neck and he would 'broadcast' them by hand in other words scatter them by throwing them in an arc.

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  5. what do you think 'sowed oats broadcast in watricle' means charlie? I haven't got a clue!

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  6. 'sowed oats broadcast' makes sense to me but I will have to research 'watricle'. Reading about the mint made me feel guilty for gobbling lamb with mint jelly. I buy the best mint jelly I can find, but it is not the same or as good as the concoction my Nanny from Epsom made for us regularly.

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    1. Mint jelly is rather good with mushy peas and turkey escalopes ! As for Watricle see above and below Karyn.

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  7. Watricle is local dialect for "water icicle" or stalactite. There is a "Water icicle mine" nearby.

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    1. Thank you ~ I didn't know that 'watricle' was a dialect word for water icicle though I did know of the Watricle Mine.

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  8. I got a kick out of the first entry...it sounds like he bought pigs at the savings bank. I wonder what he deposited..?

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    1. I do wish he had used punctuation a little bit more ... perhaps he looked at all the interest his money had earned.

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