Wednesday 15 May 2013

A Farm Journal ~ from the 16th to the 31st December 1868 ...

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.]

John Bayliff Bowman is fourth from the left in the photo below ...

The Bowman family

 A Farm Journal continues :~
 
4 - 16 Fine day S.A. & baby Ann & self to Nott[ingha]m found Mother A[rmitage] not so well we lodged at Aunt Lucy's
 
5 - 17 Fine self with others off to Lincoln Q[uarterly] M[eeting] - not a large meeting tho very satisfactory testimony to Catherine Hopkins deceased read & referred to Committee a good deal of instructive communication from divers individuals - Self off by 1.15 train & home in even[in]g - weigh[e]d SH cheese for G R Baker of Thirsk 12 cwt 65/- & rem[ainde]r of dairy in spring
 
6 - 18 Fine day cheese off Rob[er]t Bramwell here bo[ugh]t red barren or cast cow £9 - 5 sturks £4 each heifer & bullock £12 Sold Strawberry cow Redfern 11£ & Grindy £12
 
7 - 19 Fine day fin[ishe]d turnips took 4 tups away - ewes all together 100 with 1 tup thieves in 3 lots - 10 sturks to go to S. Davy's give cake to teach em - to eat it - fine weather for time of year - Chas plough[in]g Crags ley turf Jesse O Intake ley
 
1 - 20 -
 
2 - 21 Very wet day self to B[akewe]ll market bo[ugh]t calving cow £10 15/- a confirmed kicker - a March calver for Jesse £9 15/- sent home - self off aft[ernoo]n to Nott[ingha]m to fetch my dear wife & babe
 
3 - 22 Fine day S.A. & I went to see Mother A[rmitage] - she was very low but cheerful & appeared quite desirous to be gone to a better country where sorrows are unknown & after blessing us & desiring us to endeavour to do right & to train our children in a proper manner we took our last farewell of her - reached home safely aft[ernoo]n 10 calves were taken down to B[akewe]ll in morn[in]g for co[usi]n H[enr]y B[owman] to go in morn[in]g by rails also 10 sturks went to S. Davy's of Warsop - cow home from Swans - calver cost £18
 
4 - 23 Fine Mrs. Slack & Mrs. Milland here [can't make out next few words] & allot[tin]g the dole
 
5 - 24 Showery got a truck of grains in broke & ground cake at Cales
 
6 - 25 Fine aft[ernoo]n showery morn[in]g - Mother Armitage died at about 6 oclock this morning aged 79 - her birthday -
 
7 - 26 Showery
 
1 - 27 -
 
2 - 28 Snowed all day 6 in[ches] deep next morn[in]g
 
3 - 29 Winterly - got stock in at Cales & thrashed
 
4 - 30 Fine day S.A. & I to Nott[ingha]m
 
5 - 31 Fine day at Nott[ingha]m the Funeral day of dear Mother A[rmitage] conducted very nicely - Edward Everett spoke at the grave side Friar Lane burying ground & in meeting Eliz[abe]th Hopkins Eliza Southall [?] S. Knott C.Barnard suplic[ate]d* S.A. & baby stay at Aunt Lucy's self home in even[in]g as far as Ashford - all night walked up in morn[in]g frost & gr[oun]d cov[ere]d snow - 2 cows to Jos Kirkam & Jesse's cow up £17 - Bakewell cow Flower cast calf
 
 
* I'm not totally convinced the word is 'supplicated' ~ it appears to be written 'suplic' with a little 'd' behind and above the 'c'.
 
  

6 comments:

  1. Hi Charlie. I was wondering what 'sturks' are. Wasn't too sure from the journal entries.

    If you are interested, I have posted some of my photos from my recent trip to the US. You can find the Grand Canyon shots HERE and the shots for Montezuma's Castle HERE

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. First time I've logged on for over 48 hours Mitch ... a stirk [JBB misspells it] is a "yearling bullock or heifer". I will be along to have a look at your photos shortly.

      Delete
  2. A very interesting journal today,lots of people mentioned.Could the word be supplicant as it is a person who is religious.Why would he buy a confirmed kicker,perhaps he didn't have to milk it.Ann

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was quite a fortnight wasn't it Ann. The part about Mother Armitage particularly interesting. I am sure there must be people out there who are descended from her who would be interested in this.

      I still think it might have been 'supplicated' as there seems to be a smaller 'd' behind 'suplic' ... and we know he wasn't a brilliant speller.

      Delete
  3. Good evening Charlie. I am in a fishing camp but have a one bar signal so decided to read blogs posted by my Blogger friends. It will take a while to get through them all. I will not be able to write about all we have been up to but will try to post a catchup soon. The trout fishing is not good right now. I keep written journals too and your struggles to interpret remind me to be more precise when writing in case somebody wants to read them in the future.

    I wonder about the dole. I was under the impression that Quakers and such would not accept any welfare and insist on paying their way for everything.

    I will be lurking around from this fishing camp for a few more weeks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good morning Karyn ... good to hear from you. I hope the trout fishing picks up soon.

      As for the dole I wonder if this is something the Bowman doled out to some non-Quakers who were not quite so fortunate.

      Will look forward to hearing from you again sometime.

      Delete