A Farm Journal ~ from the 1st to the 29th July 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.

"A Farm Journal"continues :~

 

2 - 1 7 Mo[nth] Fine & hot - little rain even[in]g at turnips mow[e]d round seeds

 

3 - 2 Wet day to Middleton for Mother A[rmitage]

 

4 - 3 Dull & wet aft[ernoo]n self to Furnace M[onthly] M[eeting]

 

5 - 4 Fine at turnips

 

6 - 5 Ditto began mow[in]g mach[ine ?] aft[ernoo]n Barn close S.H. horses very awkward

 

7 - 6 Fine fin[ishe]d mow[in]g Barn cl[ose] Long cl[ose] & N[ethe]r Pingle

 

1 - 7 Fine

 

2 - 8 Fine day mow[e]d Dale top & lead B[arn & L[ong] closes

 

3 - 9 Ditto weather fetch[e]d 2 ton cotton cake fr[om] Bakewell £6 10/- began mow[in]g at Cales - co[u]s[in] H[enr]y Bowman here

 

4 - 10 Ditto lead Dale top 

 

5 - 11 Ditto

 

6 - 12 Ditto lead Old Meadow & Little Lamp past[ur]e

 

7 - 13 Ditto mow[e]d Bottom close & lead part Broad Meadow wet evening

 

1 - 14 Showery

 

2 - 15 Very stormy W[ind] S[outh] E[ast] Mr Almond here to look at cheese very low sold Cales lot @ 56/- or 7

 

3 - 16 Showery weather

 

5 - 25 Fine day got Broad Meadow & Bottom close hay

 

6 - 26 Ditto dull & cold finish[e]d mowing

 

2 - 29 Very fine finished the hay - belted Peetfield & manured part 

 

 

 

There were no entries for many of the days in the second half of July 1867. Usually John Bayliff Bowman would have made some sort of note but this time he didn't.

Furnace [or Toadhole Furnace to give it its full title] is a collection of a few properties which used to include a Quaker Meeting House. There is an article here ~ http://www.crichparish.co.uk/webpages/quakerburials.html ~ about Toadhole Furnace and its Quaker. It is a good 15 miles from where John Bayliff Bowman lived.