March, 1851, seemed to be a settling-in time for James P. McPherson. Working on his house, cutting logs to split for rails, getting seed wheat, and helping neighbors filled his days.
J.P. kept a detailed log of his correspondence, but it is far from satisfying to the reader of the diary. He often sends letters to and receives letters from Ann Adamson. From the diary and family photographs it is clear that Ann and Tom Adamson are related, in some fashion, to the McPherson family. However, when it comes to the Hon. A.A.Bird, R. Grant, R. Duncan, and John Brown, the letter writing becomes more of a mystery.
The Hon. A.A.Bird is an early pioneer of
Dane County, but why James P. McPherson, who has been in Wisconsin for less than a year, is writing to the Hon. A.A.Bird is definitely puzzling. Hopefully these little mysteries will become more transparent as J. P. pens more entries -- .and/or I do more research.
Another interesting facet of J. P.'s life is his interest in politics. In April, he attends his first Town Meeting and his friend and fellow Scot, John Mitchell, is elected Town Clerk. In few days, J.P. notes that he is filing the town papers and he writes to the Clerk of the Circuit Court. When I read these passages, I wasn't sure whether "filing town papers" meant that he was filing ,legal documents and that had to do with writing to the Clerk of the Circuit Court; or whether his friend John Mitchell brought the town papers to him in a bag and said, "Wouldya file these for me, old friend?"; or perhaps it was both.
By the end of April, J.P. notes that he is going to the School Meeting, and shortly after that he is working on the school. Education and politics are two themes that we will often read about in the diary of this McPherson kin of mine.
Our old Scot also mentions his wife Mary. On April 30th, he notes "Mary at Mitchells," but not a clue as to why she is at Mitchells. Perhaps we will find out later, or perhaps not, depending upon whether J. P. leaves us some clues.
Now for a wee bit of the diary.
Journal Entries for
March 1, 1851 through April 30, 1851
March 1st Saturday Splitting
rails &c
2nd Sun. At home
3rd Mon. Splitting rails
4th Tue. Do Do
5th Wed. Do Do and working in the house.
6th Thur. Do Do
7th Fri Do Do. Posted letter to Mr. John Brown, NY
8th Sat Cold and Stormy. Splitting rails
9th Sun At Mr. Lamonts.
10th Mon. Splitting
rails &c
11th Tue. Do Do forenoon. Afternoon helping Mr. Miles with his rafters.
12th Wed. Putting up Mr. Lamonts fence.
13th Th. Forenoon helping Mr. Miles.
14th Fri. Cutting wood
for rails. J.M. lost his steir.
15th Sat. Do Do Do Do and grinding axe
16th Sun. At Mr. MitH chells.
17 Mon Cutting wood
for rails.
18 Tues. Splitting rails.
19 Wed. At Messers.
Mitchell & Jackman and Post Office.
20 Th. Cutting wood
for rails and splitting do
21 Fri. DO Do Do Do
22 Sat. Do Do Do Do At Brittzs with Mr. Bell.
23 Sun. At Messers.
Brown & Bratton.
24 Monday At Mr. Patons.
25 Tues. Ploughing
26 Wed. Do
27 Thurs. Do
28 Fri. Do Posted letter to Ann Adamson
29 Sat Do till noon.
30th Sun. At Home
31st Mon. Splitting
rails. At Mr. Patons for seed wheat.
April 1st Tues. At Town Meeting. J. Mitchell elected Town Clerk.
2nd Wed. At Home. High winds.
3rd Thu. Cleaning my Seed. Received letters from R. Grant and Ann Adamson. At Mr. Mitchells in the evening.
4th Fri. Filing Town papers. Wrote to Clerk of Circuit Court.
5th Sat. At Mr.
Fullers. Bot. 42 lbs. of wool. Borow'd $10 from Mr. Anderson.
6th Sun. At Messers.
Bartell, Anderson & Mitchell. Mr. Fuller brought over the wool.
7th Mon. Dragging Mr.
Andersons oats for Mr. Miles. Rained P.M.
8th Tue. Sowing and draging my wheat.
9th Wed. Fixing My doors
10th Thurs. Do and Splitting rails.
11th Fri Splitting
rails. Posted letters to Brown, Grant, & A.A.
12th Sat, *Cutting wood. See Monday.(Note: I have used an asterisk for a symbol that J.P. McPherson used. His symbol looked like and X with a dot at each intersection. The entries for the 12th and 14th did not look like an asterisk was needed, but if that's what the old gentleman wrote then that's what I will try to approximate. //JGH)
13th Sun At Mr.
Mitchells.
14th Mon. *Hauling my
rails with Mr. Anderth sons oxen.
15th Tues. Putting up Fence.
16th Wed. At Patons,
Meyers, Brown, Whytes &c
17th Thurs. Splitting
rails at Stock Yard.
18th Fri. Working about the house.
19th Sat (Note:Left
blank by JPMcP. //JGH)
20th Sun. At Mr. Mitchells.
21th Mon. Putting in
Garden seeds at Mr. As.
22nd Tues. Putting in
seeds and laying up fence at the house.
23rd Wed. Ploughing
for Mr. Miles when fire came over the lower
ridge and burned all around us. At school meeting.
24th Thurs. Laying up
Mr. Miles fence.
25th Fri. Do Do Do Do
26th Sat. Getting out
stone for lintel at Mr. John Eadies.
27th Sun. At Mr. Mitchells.
28th Mon. Digging
garden - sowed peas and beans.
29th Tues. Working at
schoolhouse forenoon. Afternoon Stormy.
30th Wed. Working at
schoolhouse all day. Mary at J. Mitchells.
End of March and April, 1851, diary entries.
Note: Yellow highlighted words mean that this is my best guess as to the word.//JGH
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© Joan G. Hill, Roots'n'Leaves
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