Thursday 29 November 2012

A Farm Journal ~ August 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 :~
 
8 Mo[nth] Mostly fine hot weather for the harvest - our corn looks well -  
 
6 - 16 some just turning a little - lead[in]g manure  on to N[ether ?] Flatt S.H.
 
7 - 17 Fine day
 
1 - 18 Ditto
 
2 - 19 Beautiful day har[rowe]d manure etc
 
3 - 20 Deal of thunder & sheet light[nin]g early this morn[in]g - drizzly rain fine grow[in]g weather
 
4 - 21 Ditto Beautiful harvest weather
 
2 - 26 B[akewe]ll Fair Fine full cheese Fair 60/- sheep about same stores low fat 6d to 7d - pigs low - took Star mare & Mountney - sold
 
 
It seems as though John was too busy with the harvest to write in his journal at the beginning of August 1867. 

6 comments:

  1. Sounds like it was good harvesting weather.

    Pigs low? Maybe he should have tried cheering them up, then :-))

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    1. I assume the price of the pigs was low. I suppose if they were going to market for slaughter they might need cheering up.

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  2. I am getting so I can understand most of this journal, but wasn't sure of full cheese fair 60/

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    1. I think by "cheese Fair 60/-" he means the cost [or the standard ?] of the cheese was fair [reasonable] and that the cost was 60/- ... [see below].

      Sixty shillings was shown as 60/- ... Six shilling and sixpence would have been shown as 6/6 ... there were twenty shillings in £1.

      I'm not sure how much you know of our money before it was decimalised Karyn.

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  3. Stores low fat amused me I didn't think they were that concerned about healthy eating.Ann

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    1. That was one entry I wasn't totally sure about Ann ...

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