About

Friday, August 7, 2015

2015 August 10, Amanuensis Monday: J.P.McPherson's Diary, Review of 1851

The James P. McPherson Family in 1851
An Annual Review of The Diary

HOME AND FAMILY
As 1851 heralded in the new year, James P. McPherson family had only been in their newly finished log-cabin for just two weeks. He and his wife Mary must have been excitedly busy at getting their four children settled into their new home. In addition, he was busy attending to his tailoring and sewing as he had a number of requests. With these orders, one might think that James P. had a large, well-lighted sewing room. That was not the case. Rather, he, Mary, and their four children were all cramped in the tiny log cabin (as shown in a previous post). In addition, the cabin had to accommodate James P.'s his pieces or rolls of cloth and tools of his trade. Then, of course, he had to have room to lay out his patterns and cut the garment pieces before he commenced sewing. It's hard to believe that all of that activity could be done in such a small setting. During January, he finished a coat for Mr. Meyers; made sack-cloth coats for Mrs. Thomson's two boys, vests for George and Alexander Davidson, vests for David and John Beats as well as a coat for John, a coat for Mr. Whyte, and a vest for Samuel Miles.

    In mid-January, a fiercely cold Wisconsin storm hit. Even though the cabin walls had been chinked, the fierce winds and cold blustering through the cabin must have been terrifying for twenty-nine year old Mary as she tended to her four small children, seven year old William (Billy), five year old James (Jim), five year old Jabez (Jabe) and baby Anne, only six months old. James noted on the 16th of January, when the strong winds swept away part of the thatched roof, “slept none at night”. The family must have huddled together for warmth and security all through that long cold night as the temperature plummeted. The next day, a neighbor, Thomas Miles, came to take the McPherson family to his home. For the next three days, the McPherson family stayed at the Miles' house until James P. and neighbors (Thomas Miles, Samuel Lamont, James Beat, Robert Meinzies and Alexander Davidson) repaired the roof of the cabin. Four days later, James, Mary and the four young ones moved back into their cabin. 

    During the next week, James P. again worked at his sewing and also went to the Nash "raising."  Then on the 29th and 30th, the cold weather returned  According to J.P., "So cold I could not work."  When we read about the cold the family faced during that first January in their new home, we must remember that the only heat in the log cabin was a pit in the floor, near one corner -- no chimney and the smoke (and heat) escaped through the thatched roof.  Those Wisconsin folks,  those ancestors, were stout-hearted and resilient.

After the hard work getting the cabin finished and then the brutally cold weather in January,  J. P. and Mary must have been glad to have a comparatively quiet February. March, too, seemed to be a time for McPherson to work on his house, cut logs to split for rails, get seed wheat, and help neighbors.
Although he rarely mentioned his wife or family in the diary; however, on April 30th, he noted “Mary at Mitchells,” but not a clue as to why she is at Mitchells.

On May 5th, J.P.'s notation that he dug his well told us that the family did not have a well during that first year in Springdale.  Their property may have had a creek or spring, or perhaps they carried water from a source further away from their property.  Whichever might be the case, it probably meant that water for the most basic needs required significant.

Another interesting entry concerning their house occurred on June 6th, when J.P. "bot. 225 feet of flooring"  provided the reader with much information. That the cabin had a dirt floor from the time they moved into the cabin in December, 1850, until sometime after June of 1851; also there was an indication of the size of the cabin.   A quick analysis of the cabin based on some "guess-ti mates" of features in the photo of the house, such as the wash tub and the windows, indicated that the cabin was most likely 10'x20' (200 sq. ft) or 15'x15' (225 sq. ft.).  The 15'x15' model was the most likely, given that J.P. purchased "225 ft of flooring" and as a frugal Scotsman, he would not purchase more flooring than needed.  Also, the 15'x15' model also provided 25 sq. ft. more floor space for the same amount of outside materials.

J.P. was able to purchase the flooring after receiving a $200 draft from R. Grant on May 7th.  According to Measuring Worth.com, $200 in 1850 was worth between $4,200 to $5,700 in today's economy.  So far there iAt that point in the diary there was no indication as to the identification of R. Grant, or where he resided, or what his relationship to James P. McPherson. 
About the same time, J. P. also “bot. a red heifer for $11,” to add to their two pigs from Mrs. Thomson and he went to another raising - John Beats' house. 

Although July and August were harvest months in the village of Springdale, Wisconsin,  James P. McPherson managed to go to Madison on July 2nd to pick up the wool bags.  He started to pack wool on July 7th, but was "stopt by rain."  There is no further mention of the wool for the remainder of July and August.  However, he corresponded with R. Grant and received a draft for $100 on August 6th.  Considering the timing of the letters to and from R. Grant and the money drafts from R. Grant over the last few months, it may be that R. Grant and James P. McPherson were engaged in a business relationship and  that McPherson may have been selling the wool to Grant. An intriguing thought.
The last entry for August was rather curious and I was not exactly sure what to make of the entry that stated, "At Henry Bolton's grave for Black Horse."   I suppose that it could have been a very important black horse  -- or perhaps, Bolton just needed help burying his horse.  It would have been helpful if my Scots ancestor had not been so sparse words.  

The major endeavor of the last 10 days in October was raising and hauling stone, and then building the chimney for their cabin. When I read this series of entries about the fireplace and chimney, I realized that the McPherson family had spent the first year in 15' x15' log cabin with only means of cooking and heat had been a fire in a pit in the dirt floor. That realization made the winter storm when the thatch roof blow off even more harrowing for the family. 

As winter weather was approaching J.P. McPherson's diary entries focused wa on finishing the work on the fireplace for their cabin. Once the stone was raised and hauled in October, the task took 11 more days of work to complete. McPherson's frustration and irritation was almost palpable when after 8 days of working on the chimney, the entry for the 9th day tersely stated, “working on the chimney. On the last two days, he is assisted by William Henderson, William Brown and Mr. Anderson(J.P. rarely uses Mr. Anderson's first name, and to make matters more confusing, in 1850 there were two Anderson's in Springdale) and the fireplace and chimney are ready just in time for winter weather.

As we have seen throughout the diary, Sunday was a day reserved for more family and social activities for the McPherson family. In the early days of the diary, James P. did most of the visiting and when neighbors visited, they seemed to come to talk with the man of the house. As the family became more established in the community, a few women came visiting, and in October, Mr. and Mrs. Jackman visited as a couple. 

As the reader starts to get glimpses of the McPherson family life in Springdale, we find there are more unanswered questions. For instance, did Mary attend the funeral for the child of Christian Morich? She was definitely called on when folks were ill and needed help, so it seemed likely that she would have been in attendance. On the other hand, walking was their means of getting from once place to another, which would have been problematical with four young children. A question to ponder. 

September and October of 1851 were busy times for James P. McPherson.  Harvesting, haying,husking, and thrashing for neighbors as well as for himself comprised about one-half of the entries.  He also described an incident when he was husking corn for Daniel Lester and he “fell across the tumbling rod, got caught by the coupling pin and was carried around the roll two or three times.”  J.P. wrote that he “escaped with only bruises,” though it sounded like the tops of his pants and drawers might have suffered damage.

J.P. did, however, have his priorities.  The next day, October 8th, there was no mention of the accident, Only this cryptic entry, “Husking corn. No Paper.” As you might remember that he ordered the newspaper, Wisconsin Argus, on September 20th. Newspapers had long been important to McPherson and it worth noting that his order of the newspaper subscription was the first non-necessity item that was noted in the diary and he had to walk to Madison to order the subscription.


CORRESPONDENCE
J.P. kept a detailed log of his correspondence, but it is far from satisfying to the reader of the diary. He often sent letters to and received letters from Ann Adamson.  Based on 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 became more of a mystery. A quick search of the internet revealed that the Hon. A. A. Bird was an early pioneer of Dane County,  but it's puzzling why James P. McPherson, who had been in Wisconsin for less than a year, was writing to the Hon. A. A. Bird.  

During the summer and fall, James P. evidently had little time for correspondence, but as winter approached he again took up his correspondence with Ann Adamson and John Brown. He was apparently trying to convince them, both living in New York, to move to Wisconsin. He sent copies of Statistics of Dane County to each of them at least once, and possibly twice. He also wrote to the Land Office, as well as Mr. Crawford, S. Westwood, R. Brand and A. A. Bird. As the diary unfolds perhaps the relationship between McPherson and these folks will be clarified.


POLITICS AND COMMUNITY
Politics is another interesting facet of J. P.'s life.  In April, 1851, he attended his first Town Meeting and his friend and fellow Scot, John Mitchell, was elected Town Clerk.  A few days later, J.P. noted that he was filing the town papers and he also wrote to the Clerk of the Circuit Court.  When I read these passages, it wasn't clearwhether "filing town papers" meant that he was legally filing the 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 another of J.P.'s ongoing interests showed up in the diary, as he noted that he was going to the School Meeting. Shortly after that he was working “at the school.”  Education and politics are two themes that we will often read about in this McPherson diary.


Even though summer work took up most of his time, James P. McPherson found time to sttrnf s meeting on July 20th, as his diary noted "At Meeting."  Shortly afterward, he noted that Mr. Lamont was appointed Post Master and that the Board of Health was organized.  These are interesting entries because as we will see in the future, James P. McPherson was a long time Post Master in Springdale and very involved in county education and health issues.


In the last few months of 1851, McPherson's increasing involvement in the village politics became more apparent.  On September 29th, he was appointed Town Clerk, Pro Tem by Morgan.L. Curtis, Clerk of Election. The next day, he commenced his appointment by tracking down the “town box.” He posted a notice of a General Meeting and Special Election for the town of Springdale on October 18th and the meeting was held on the next day. Then on October 30th J.P. was “visited by the Hon, Mr. Bird,” with whom he had been in correspondence over the past year. It is not clear why McPherson contacted the Hon. A.A. Bird, nor the content of their subsequent letters, but it does seem to be important, whether the reason was political, town, or business related.


Springdale, Wisconsin, in 1851 was a very good time and place for James P. McPherson and his family.


~ ~ ~


 © Joan G. Hill, Roots'n'Leaves Publications


1 comment:

  1. I work hard to not have heirloom envy here, Joan. This diary is so awesome!

    ReplyDelete