Monday 21 October 2013

A Farm Journal ~ from the 9th to the 26th March 1870

My great great great uncle John Bayliff Bowman lived at Summer Hill, near Monyash in the County of Derby, until the end of January 1870 when he moved to Sandycroft Farm, Queensferry, Flintshire.

The Bowman family, who were Quakers, had rented 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 - 9 Fine - Father better - SA & I off for Sandycroft arr[ived] Chester noon & home found all well - they had sown the lints 1 ac[re] & were on sowing the beans & 5 cwt Laws man[ure] p[e]r ac[re] 

5 - 10 Fine breezy day W. N. W. sow[in]g beans & cross cut[tin]g fallows - ewe dead - from that curious dull complaint  - scour & mouth watering - gave Godfrey & Flour grind - (Ewe lambed 2) - SA LA Sarah & I to Chester LA. to Longstone S.A. & I to buy furniture - Dodds

6 - 11 to 3 - 15 Fine sow[in]g beans bro[ther] Eben[ezer] came even[in]g

5 - 17 Showery sow[e]d oats - 13 ac[res]

6 - 18 Fine - fin[ished] sow[in]g oats & har[rowe]d Capt. Arthur's - fetch[e]d seeds fr[om] Chester 

7 - 19 to 7 - 26 Mostly fair few hail storms [word indecipherable] frost & cold N.W.Winds

3 - 23 [this date does not appear to be correct] Showery drizzle sow[e]d  Grass seeds on 13 ac[res]/roll[e]d beans & chain harr[owe]d roll[[e]d oats in lambs come very slowly - 15 E[wes] & 22 L[ambs] - had ewe torn behind & bit in fore leg by dog - she died next day (had two lambs) went with Jones - butcher of Saltney to look for some bar[ren ?] cows went round by Ruton Dodleston Broughton bo[ugh]t 3 - 2 of John Challiner 30 15/- & 1 of John Sheen 14 17/6 of Broughton 

14 comments:

  1. They seem to be very busy on the farm sowing etc,it would be an exciting time learning about a new area.There are lots of new names cropping up in his diary,but he still seems to see family quite regularly.Poured with rain here today Charlie.take care.Ann

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    1. It's interesting looking at Google Maps of the area, there is a 'Sandycroft' but no Sandycroft Farm to the north-west of the city of Chester on the southern side of the [canalised ?] River Dee. It would have been a very different area from the hills if Derbyshire.

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  2. Not having a lot of luck with the ewes around this time.

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    1. I don't think he ever did Mitch and perhaps it was the same for them all.

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  3. I wish that I understood farming jargon.

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    1. Feel free to ask for clarification Pet ...

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  4. He really didn't get it easy since the move.

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    1. I wonder whether he ever lost his Faith ... or questioned it. I rather suspect he didn't.

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  5. Raising livestock of any kind can be heart-breaking if you are not innured to it. I wonder about the beans. Is he sowing eating beans or sourghum or some kind of animal fodder. They might also just be to replentish the nitrogen in the soil and are meant to be plowed under like green fertilizer. Do you have any idea from former journal writings? How are things going with your health? Or dare I ask? My prayers are with you often.

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    1. I'm not sure why they grew beans ... and it hasn't registered with me as to what sort.

      As for me I have been put on some more steroids and this has resulted in my left leg and my scrotum losing the swelling ~ this is making life easier. As they have intimated though it is just a case of maintaining a quality of life ... and at present I push a zimmer around outside [when the weather is good which isn't often] and I have a wheelchair to fall back on ... literally perhaps. If I was asked to be honest I would suggest that I am entering the last few months of my life but I am happy to be proved wrong. Thank you for your prayers Karyn.

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  6. The beans were similar to broad beans,and would be ground up and fed with oatmeal for cattle feed as a protein,as we had to import most of our protein cattle feed.Ann

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  7. I hope that they can keep you as pain-free as possible, Charlie. ((hugs))

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