OCTOBER 1900
Mon. Oct. 1st. Bright and warm and dry - wind from NW, but some dark clouds in eve from SE. Pa picked cotton for us all day in Gate cut and Willie and I all day in Luckett field (on hilltop) and we hauled our cotton with Joe and cart at 12 and again late in eve.
Tue. 2nd. Bright and warm and dry all morn and we had a hard sprinkle of rain at 12 1/2 to 1 from NE and bright and hot again most of eve but thundered and rained S of here most of eve in sight. Pa picked cotton (for us) most of day in Gate cut and Willie and I picked most of day in Luckett field on hilltop and just below pinder patch and we hauled our cotton with Joe and cart at 12 and again late in eve. Willie picked a sack of peas on H ridge for hogs late in eve.
Wed. 3rd. Bright and cool early in morn but warm and dry after 10 in morn - wind from N of E and some clouds but no rain in sight today. Pa picked cotton (for us) in Gate cut most of day and Willie and I picked all day in Luckett field and hauled our cotton at 12 and again late in eve with Joe and cart.
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Sun. 14th. Lewis and Cousin Mary and all of children but West and Chunk here most of eve. Seymour here awhile in eve and I gave him some pecans to take home. Willie and Minnie returned at dusk from Mrs. James'.
Mon. 15th. Bright and cool and dry. Willie picked peas most of day in new SW corner and Minnie picked some there in morn awhile. Pa picked cotton (for us) on hilltop of Persimmon cut most of day. I drove Joe to Wiley's buggy to Cohen's early in morn and got a 50 lb. can of lard -$3.85- and 13 lbs. meat, 10 of coffee and some other things and paid for all and got home at 9 1/2 and took cart to field and brought home Willie's peas and some pea vines for cows and calves and Joe, before dinner. I picked peas with Willie all eve. Willie had fever and sore throat all day and all night too.
Tue. 16th. Bright and cool and dry - wind from E of N. Ed Ward, Sr. and Robert Earlycut came before sunrise and carried 2 loads of cotton to Cohen's for us and Willie rode Joe and went and they brought the seed back at 2 1/2 in eve. The bales weighed 443 and 448 and Willie let Cohen have the heaviest one on rent and left the other there unsold. I took all of cotton out of house and weighed it - 395 - and put it on Pa's gallery and I got a sack of corn in field and brought in some pea vines for cows and calves and cut up some wood by 12 and I shelled nearly one barrel of corn for bread at 1 1/2 to 2 1/2. Willie and I put cotton seed in back of house and I put some board against them and put the cotton on Pa's gallery back into cotton house late in eve.
Wed. 17th. Bright and cool and dry from N. Pa picked cotton for us most of day in Persimmon cut. Willie and I picked peas all day in new SW corner and hauled them at 12 and again late in eve with Joe and cart and put all in flower pit. I had a dull headache all day but it left me late in eve.
Thu. 18th. Cloudy and cool till 10 in morn and bright and nearly clear balance of day and dry. Pa picked cotton for us in Pine corner most of day. Willie and I picked peas all day in new SW corner and some in 2nd Cane hollow and hauled them at 12 and again late in eve with Joe and cart. Rena and baby and Wiley dined here today.
Fri. 19th. Cloudy and no sunshine and calm and pleasant and dropped rain slowly at 9 to 10 1/2 in morn. Pa picked cotton for us most of day in Pine corner and Willie and I picked peas most of day in new SW corner and in 2nd Cane hollow and we hauled them with Joe and cart at 11 1/2 and again late in eve and put them in flower pit.
Sat. 20th. Bright and pleasant from SE but some dark clouds and wind damp from SE. Pa picked cotton (in his) by front gate in morn and walked to Clara's and back in eve. Willie picked peas in old Cane hollow in morn and I drove Joe to cart to Primm place in morn (early) and carried 3 1/2 bu corn and got it ground and I got home at 10 1/2 and brought in some pea vines from H ridge for Joe and calves and shucked some corn by 12. I threshed 3 pecan trees outside of front gate in eve and gathered 3 pecks, mostly large ones. Willie and Wiley helped me awhile in eve. Nellie kept Bernice here at night.
Sun. 21st. Cloudy and warm from S and windy, but bright and sun shined part of day and wind high at 10 in morn to 3 1/2 in eve and rained in thunder showers from W at 5 1/2 in eve to 8 at night - a heavy rain in all and needed too for it hasn't rained for 2 weeks. Nellie and Rena walked to Clara's and Wiley rode on horseback and carried Bernice (in morn) and they returned at 4 1/2 in eve and Willie and Minnie drove Joe to Clara's in eve and returned at 5 1/2 just as rain began. I picked up some pecans in morn and some just after dinner, which the wind blew down - about a peck in all. Gordon here most of day. I had a dull headache all morn but it was better in eve and left me at night. I walked to Lewis' at 2 to 3 1/2 in eve and carried some papers. I got some pea vines in old Cane hollow, one turn in morn and one in eve, for cows and calves and Joe. Nellie and I milked in eve and finished just before rain began.
Mon. 22nd. Clear and pleasant and calm - a beautiful day. Pa picked cotton in his by front gate part of day and Wiley and Willie and I cut and ricked all of our sugar cane in orchard (in 2 ricks) by 2 3/4 in eve. Rena and baby here all day and Lucy too. I picked up about 1 peck of pecans - some just before dinner and some in eve - and I packed in 2 turns of pea vines and little corn from old Cane hollow in eve. Willie picked some peas for hogs and fed Dan a little late in eve.
Tue. 23rd. Clear and cool early in morn and very heavy dew but warm in sun shine after 9 in morn. Pa picked cotton for us in Pine corner part of day. Nellie and Rena and baby drove Bonnie to Cohen's in morn and returned at 1 1/4 and Rena got a "White sewing machine" on credit. Willie and I began at 8 in morn and pulled corn all day. We gathered in sacks and packed it out of hollows. We finished old Cane hollow and fence row cut and water hole cut by late in eve.
Wed. 24th. Bright and warm in morn and till 2 1/2 in eve and began to rain around in showers then and we had a sprinkle at 2 3/4 or 3 and a thunder cloud came up from SE at 4 and we had a hard shower at 5 and another slow one at 7 to 10 at night. Pa picked cotton for us in Pine corner till 3 in eve. Willie and I pulled and packed out corn all morn and till 3 1/2 in eve. We finished new 2nd Cane hollow and some in Pine corner (lower part) and some in new SW corner.
Thu. 25th. Warm and cloudy all day and very wet early in morn but sun shined dimly part of day and the ground dried good deal by eve. I cleaned out our barn early in morn and Willie walked to Seymour's and got Lewis' wagon and 2 mules and we hauled corn all day after 8 in morn. We hauled 5 loads in morn and 5 in eve (about 11 1/2 bbls to load) or 115 bbls in all. The corn was wet some but not enough to hurt. Pa picked cotton in his in orchard today.
Fri. 26th. Cloudy some all day but bright and warm - wind from NE. Pa picked cotton in his in orchard most of day. Willie and I pulled corn most of morn in SW corner and we hauled 4 wagon loads in eve, about 45 or 50 bbls with mules and wagon. We pulled part of last load late in eve and we hauled in all pulled - about 160 or 165 bbls in all with what we hauled on yesterday.
Sat. 27th. Bright and warm and sun shined most of day - wind from E. Willie drove the wagon to Lewis' early in morn and hauled in a load of cotton and drove the wagon on to Luckett field and we pulled and hauled home the wagon body full of corn (about 20 bbls) and put it in barn by 12 - making 180 or 185 bbls in all put in barn. Willie took wagon home in eve and brought the mare mule home and put her in cow pasture. All of Lewis' children but Lila here all eve and we threshed and gathered 3 1/4 pecks of pecans and I gave all of them to the children. I had a dull headache all morn but it left me in eve.
Sun. 28th. Bright and cool early in morn but warm after 9 in morn and sun shined most of day but some clouds in eve. I packed 2 turns of wood early in morn and picked up about 1/2 peck of pecans and brought in some pea vines for cows and calves. Joe Miller and Gussie D and B C and Dixie and Ruby and Lewis' 4 oldest children here most of day. I walked to Wiley's at 2 1/2 in eve and brought Bernice here and Rena came late in eve. John Deloach and Chalmers Morris came to Wiley's late yesterday eve and left this eve.
Mon. 29th. Bright and warm and calm - sun shined all day - and it thundered in W and S of W most of eve. Pa picked cotton for us in Gate cut most of day and Willie and I pulled and hauled in corn all day (with Joe and cart). We hauled in 8 piling cartloads in all, about 45 bbls - making about 230 bbls in all, and we finished all late in eve in new SW corner. We hauled 1 3/4 carts from Luckett field early in morn and balance of day from SW corner.
Tue. 30th. Bright and warm from SW. Pa picked cotton for us in Gate cut most of day and Willie and I picked all day in SW corner of Luckett field and hauled cotton at 12 and again late in eve with Joe and cart.
Wed. 31st. Bright, but some clouds, all morn and a damp breeze from S and began to thunder in W and S of W at 9 1/2 in morn and continued till 2 in eve and a dark cloud came up then from NW and we had a very hard rain at 2 to 3 and slowly most of eve. Pa picked cotton for us in Gate cut in morn and Willie and I picked in SW corner of Luckett field all morn. Willie and I got some peavines and a few peas (for hogs and cows) at 1 1/2 to 2 and rain ran us home. Pa and I picked up more than a 1/2 pk of pecans late in eve and I fixed watergap too.