Tuesday 1 January 2013

A Farm Journal ~ from the 16th to the 30th November 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 :~
 
7 - 16 Fine very cold N.E. many of the Common turnip in Stonepit Close S.H. are gnarled at the roots not much to be seen till pulled 
 
1 - 17 Fine but very cold N.E. wind
 
2 - 18 Fine frosty morn[in]g - N.E. B[akewe]ll Fair cheese dull 40/- to 60/- saw Winders ab[ou]t mine to send the cheese in no price fixed - beef in demand but lower sheep dull - no stir in wool at present -
 
3 - 19 Very fine day W. North - Jesse finish[e]d his lot of pitting turnips left 1 ac[re]to pull began cutting swedes off at S.H. fair crop - calf dead Speed Cales
 
4 - 20 to 6 day 22 Most beautiful fine dry weather cold North wind finish[e]d cutting swedes & carting off at S.H. began at Cales
 
7 - 23 Ditto weather
 
1 - 24 Fine day
 
2 - 25 Dull & inclined to rain W.S.W. weighed cheese for Proctor & Co Selby @ 46/-
 
3 - 26 Showery day cheese to B[akewe]ll coal back
 
4 - 27 Frosty
 
5 - 28 Fine & frosty
 
6 - 29 frosty morn[in]g began plough[in]g Kiln close S.H.
 
7 - 30 Showery day 
 
 

13 comments:

  1. Sounds very cold there for November,but I guess weather was different in those days.I see the calf died of speed not a name we use now.Ann

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    2. What is/was speed Ann ? I don't know and Karyn doesn't either.

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  2. I'm assuming that in the phrase "Fair cheese dull 40/- to 60/- ", the word 'dull' is a reference to poor price?

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    2. I think it must be Mitch ... I was going to say the 'fair' and the 'dull' seem to contradict each other but of course the 'fair' relates to the weather.

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  3. What does that word speed mean in this context?

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    1. I've asked Ann ! She knows much more about this sort of thing than me. It's the name of a disease, I know that.

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  4. Charlie, I don't know any other way to mention this ... so even though it has nothing to do with your blogs, you should know that your Twitter account is sending out malicious (sp???)messages. By that, I mean that the message directs you to a malicious site. Not sure there is anything you can do about it, but I thought that you would want to know.

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    1. Thank you Pet. I've had 10 or 12 people point this out to me and hopefully I have sorted it out. Thanks for letting me know though ~ you might have been the only one.

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  5. Charlie, Maria Gyte,from Sheldon talks in her diary,1913-1920, of calves that have died from Speed,it said it was fluid in the legs due to mineral deficiency.We had another name for it but can't recall it.Ann

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  6. Hubby thinks it's Blackleg after some thought,sounds right to me.Ann

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    1. Thanks to you and your husband Ann ~ I've done a search online but nothing comes up for speed as a cattle disease.

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