Far Guy’s Paternal Grandmother was born June 13, 1895. That was 120 years ago. When I was transcribing her diaries and Grandpa’s Farm Diaries I would watch for those entries.
June 13 1912: Fred went fishing. Emma and I down to Aleck’s. Hazel and Leslie came home with us. My birthday the kids tried to have a surprise party on me. It rained. There were sixteen here had a fine time. Got some nice presents. To bed at 8??or 3??
( Grandma always looked forward to her birthday and having a house full at the farm on the Sunday nearest her birthday! ) In 1912 Grandma was 17.
June 13 1913: Ironed in the morn. Eva went home. My birthday got a watch and a centerpiece. To bed at 8. This was her 18th Birthday.
June 13 1916 Tuesday Helped Dow log Japs Glens here in eve ( Grandpa shorthand= He helped Glen Dow log, Jasper and family and Glen Dow and family came over in the evening.
June 14 1916 Wednesday Made garden fence planted pumpkins ??
This would have been her 21st birthday…since Grandpa didn’t even mention her birthday perhaps the garden fence and planting pumpkins ( or whatever) was part of his gift to her.
June 13 1918 Thursday To PR Ronald to DR. ( To Park Rapids Ronald to Doctor.)
June 13 1919 Friday Took cream Esessor? here cultivated corn (Assessor??)
June 14 1919 Saturday Plowed spuds
June 15 1919 Sunday Aunt Amelias folks McLaughlin Frank Wilsons and Da and Ma here
Later in the month he dug her some moccasin flowers. June 22 Sunday Home rained got Mocisins
June 13 1920 Sunday Home Thresa went to church ( A few days prior to this Marvin age 6 came down with measles.)
June 13 1921 Monday To PR took veal Thresa and kids went
I still have 8 years of Grandpa’s Farm Diaries to decipher…it is a work in progress. Pretty soon I will have to put it on my bucket list…you know things you want to do before you kick the bucket.
Grandma at the farm with her Dahlias in the 1940’s.
Those Moccasin flowers that they dug back in 1919 eventually ended up on the north side of the house near the back door…sometime a flower or two made it to the kitchen table displayed in a bud vase. They would have had many places there on the farm near the river where the Moccasin flowers grew naturally.
Grandma died in 1983, she was 87 years 10 months and 13 days old…she escaped the home…and went straight to a big old party in heaven…and if birthdays are celebrated there today must be one big celebration!
I enjoyed this post so much, and the photos. My paternal grandpa was born June 13, 1898 and lived to be 92. Such a sweet pic of her with the flowers. Wishing you and FG a nice weekend....keeping you in my thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI don't know moccasin flowers so I'm about to go and check them out online. How long did it take you to decipher all those cryptic abbreviations?
ReplyDeletevery nice post you are so lucky to have all that information I would love to go back in time to see what my great grandmother was doing and what she was like maybe with my blog my great great great ' s will have a little insight on my life and what these times were like again thanks for this good post
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday, Grandma, wherever you are. I LOVE your hair in that first picture. Must have taken most of the day to wash and dry it. :-)
ReplyDeleteYou have to think when you see a simple entry like "June 14 1919 Saturday Plowed spuds"
ReplyDeleteEven without all the conveniences we have today to make life easier, I find it amazing that in the past people actually took time and visited their neighbors and family quite frequently. Sadly, that doesn't happen as much now because everyone is too busy.
ReplyDeleteThat is quite the head of hair (is it all hair?) in that first picture. Not quite sure what to think of that....:) It must be wonderful to have so much recorded family history as you do.
ReplyDeleteShe is wearing a hat! :)
DeleteIs there a hat involved in the hairdo in the first picture. She's a pretty young lady.
ReplyDeleteI thought there was a hat but what do I know? I can see the resemblance with Far Guy in the later picture and look at those dahlia's! Are they staked? I didn't know they grew that tall. I love your diary posts as it does point out how hard they worked but yet what fulfilling and simple lives they had. Simple pleasures..that's what it's all about.
ReplyDeleteWe have my hubby's great-grandfather's diary in Danish, and we have never had it translated. I need to put it on my bucket list as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this- I enjoy reading the old diaries..sometimes I wish I could go back to that time so I could meet some of my brick wall ancestors and get some answers!
ReplyDeleteThis is a good thing you do for future generations. I enjoy family history.
ReplyDeleteTo bed at 8 seems early but what time did she get up? I'll bet at least 5 AM! These old journals are fascinating. I have an account book from Mom and Dad and You can learn a lot about their daily life.
ReplyDeleteSuch an interesting post. She did a lot of work on her birthdays.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you dropped by my blog and left a comment. Now I am here to pay you a little visit. How I wish my grandparents would have kept a diary. They immigrated from Russia and I know they would have had hair-raising stories to tell but sadly no one remembers now.
ReplyDeleteMy paternal grandmother was born in 1896. She surprised everybody by living till she was 104. They had the stone ready for her next to Grandpa, but she lived just long enough that they had to have the expected 19__ scraped down so they could carve in 2000--LOL!
ReplyDeleteThose old diaries are so interesting to go through, but I don't know as I'd have the patience to transcribe them like you are doing. Family treasures! :)
It is an interesting read. The farm life is similar and yet things were certainly different at that time with no running water. It is interesting the Granddad is doing the diary but that tradition was probably passed down form family traditions from across the sea.
ReplyDeleteIt must be a work of great patience to decipher and transcribe that journal, but so helpful, once you've got it done. What a treasure! The early photo of Far Guy's grandma is sweet.
ReplyDelete