APRIL 1877

April the first.     Sunday  all fools day       Norther blowing      John TOTTY and HARVILLE     Jase    Sam SPENCER and Web took dinner       I set at home all day looked for BOURLAND        Lillie went to Bens, John T. HOLOWAY died today.
[BTM]  Rhoda had a full table with all the relatives setting at her table, she must have been very happy since she loved her family and having company around her.       Rhoda did not mention why she was looking for BOURLAND, but it could be that she was waiting word that her friend was about to become a new mother.   I have not been able to place John HOLOWAY, could he possibly be connected to the CANTRELL family thru the HOLLAWAY family?  Does anybody know who John T. HOLOWAY is?

2nd Day       John and Bart planting corn  I went to see Mrs BOURLAND     Comfort was there and Mrs YOUNG      excitment still high about HARRYS death.
[BTM]  What was Rhoda seeking comfort for? could it be over the death of HARRY or of HOLOWAY?, I tend to think it could likely have something to do with the death of HARRY, since she was sitting at home looking for BOURLAND all day before she made the entry about the death of HOLOWAY..... or was Rhoda and the Capt. having problems of somekind, since she has been sick and upset every since he came home from Gainsville?, I guess we will never know what cause her to seek comfort from her friend.   Oh gggm Rhoda how I wish you have had more paper & ink available so you could have elaborated more on your daily happenings and feelings!  so that we could have a better insight into your life, but alas, I guess, maybe things are best the way they were, LOOK at all the fun we would miss chasing all these wild geese.

3rd Day       Mr TOTTYs birthday  50 years old to day      John been to YANDELS rounding the old folks up        I scoured my room to day       feel very well       dont know how to be thankful enough for my health      went to bed BOURLAND come after me to go see Bally    I went     Staid all night
4th   Day       dress a boy come home         Jase brought Bettie down       Mrs CROSS called    Mrs YOUNG   Sarah YANDELL   Mollie SPRINGER and Mag  Mary GRIMES and others come today
[BTM]  Rhoda always drew a picture when she delivered a new baby.    This child was Walter Sidney BOURLAND son of Bally and her husband Samuel Robert BOURLAND.     Jase brought Rhoda and Capts. daughter Mary Elizabeth "Bettie" TOTTY TILLMAN home for a visit, along with many more callers for the day.  That ought to perk up Rhoda's spirits really well, these visitors included two future daughters in law. Sarah YANDELL and Mollie SPRINGER.

5  Day     John Bart and Tilda  Jase and Bettie   Alice and Hessie    here for dinner        Mr TOTTY gone to measure GLASSES land.
[BTM]  This is John Whitfield TOTTY, Bart and Matilda "Tilda" TOTTY TRAYLOR and Jason and Mary Elizabeth "Bettie" TOTTY TILLMAN children of Capt and Rhoda TOTTY.    Alice and Hessie are still undocumented as to positive ID, who are they?. But could be Alice COOMBS and her sister Hessie?    Since great great grandfather "Capt" F.M. TOTTY was the surveyor for Montague County, Texas he was called to duty once more to survey for another family.

6 Day        went to the Store got a load of goods       Frank gone to the party       Pea and Wib got back
7th       Big excitment at YOUNGS   Wib gone     Billy and Alen move to go and hunt him  when lo and behold he was dis covered over in the field..      Mrs SPRINGER come down      I washed and ironed    Alice ironed     Bettie very bad to day    I am necerly crasy about her       high wind from the north to night       Jase here to night
[BTM]  Bettie having another bad day, Rhoda has worried and nursed her through so many times she has been ill, no doubt hopefully this will be case of worry for naught.   Jase TILLMAN was always found by his wife's side thoughout all her episodes of illness...true love.

April the 8th      Bettie very bad        Frank went after COX did not get him      Mr and Mrs YANDEL   Mrs YOUNG and Dolly and Mollie and Mag SPRINGER    the BALLOW gals and all the rest here to day
[BTM]  Rhoda was always so proper, calling my great great grandparents YANDEL by their formal name, instead of their given names.....shucks, will I ever find out their given names for sure<VBG>. anyone out their know their given names??   Bettie still not doing well and Rhoda holding up even though she has a house full of visitors, you know her thoughts are most likely all on worring over Bettie.

9th   Day      Bettie Still very Sick   COX come to day       John went to CASTLEMANS    I hope he will get fixed after a while        Louisa went home      COX  Staid all night
[BTM]  Bettie is not the only one sick, sounds likely my great grandfather John Whitfield TOTTY was sick, but a different way, he got bit by the love bug, and has a case of love sickness, he went to CASTLEMANs to make arrangements for his marriage ceremony.    Dr COX sitting and watching over Bettie, so she is in good hands with both the Dr and Rhoda taking care of her.  The CASTLEMAN family was Capt and Rhoda TOTTYs neighbors.

10th       Bettie a little better     Ben HODGE come this morning   Hesie here doing for um       John went after his licence     Tilda Staid with me to day        Mrs YOUNG and Sallie called this evening   Mollie helped me milk the cows
[BTM]  Well finally looks like great grandfather John Whitfield and Sarah Ellen YANDELL are going to tie the knot with a little help from James CASTLEMAN the MG !!   Rhoda should be happy now that John will have someone to share his life and be mother to his children and future children., I know I am glad or I would not be here! to share her diaries with her descendants.    Daughter Matilda visiting with her Mom.  I can just sit back and picture Rhoda in her long dress and full white apron sitting on a milk stool,  milking the cows, slapping at the cow's tail as it swishes back to shoo away the flies, while at the same time keeping the milk pail steady between her legs so she won't spill a drop.    I bet she could even sneak a sip of milk to the cats who were waiting for their little treat to come shooting their way.

11th  Day     Cool and cloudy   rained a little      Bettie very weak and low  I am uneasy about her..    a little lamb come up    the old man caught it and put it in the Smoke House  Lillie in estacies   almost
[BTM]  Lillie the youngest daughter of Rhoda and Capt. TOTTY is really happy about the lamb, did they keep it there?  or possibly slaughter it for food? or find it's mama to return it too.    I would think since Lillie is happy, then she was just happy to see the  new little lamb, likely a new born one.  Poor Bettie is really having a time getting well and on her feet.

12th Day of April 1877      John and Sarah Maried    the younge folks nearly walking on thier heads       Dr COX here this evening     rained all night last night      raining again to night
[BTM]  The day finally came my great grandparents are married and sounds like they are so happy.  What an happy eventful day for John Whitfield TOTTY and Sarah Ellen YANDELL TOTTY!.     Dr COX most likely checking on the health of Bettie again.   If it is indeed the Malaria that is keeping her down, all the wet weather just makes it worst for mosquitoes to breed and spread the disease more.

13th   Day         John and Sarah come this evening       Bart and Tilda come to night       Hessie and Lillie went to YOUNGS to night     Bettie beginning to Survive a little
[BTM]  I wonder if Hessie was a child of the YOUNGS or the COOMBS/COMBS, Lillie seem's to go to their home with Hessie often.   The newly weds come home to see the family the day after their marriage; guess pioneer life back then had no time for the luxuary of taking time off to spend with just each other, especially with a built in family of four young children, Rhoda, Bill, May, and Tennie from his first marriage to Martha Ann Walker TOTTY.

14th   Day         Washed to day     been a month  Since HARRY drove round in his buggy.   oh where is he to day lying low by the side of Laura        John and Anna    Bart and Tilda    Jase and Bettie all her to night      Bettie resting to night       Mrs TINDALL was here to day.
[BTM]  I found that Jim was NOT a HARVY) The one who died who Rhoda mentioned in her diary on March 29th 1877 as dying, was James P. HARRY married to Laura VANCE daughter of David VANCE and Mary WARWICK FREEMAN, this is documented in the 1860, and 1870 census for Montague County, TX.     The VANCE family were also found in Hickman County, Tennesse and likely came to Texas with the rest of the group in 1853.   Could they have been just friends or related in some way?       Rhoda and Capt's children all at home, what a close family life they led......   not like we have in our fast paced world today, oh what we have missed out on.

15th    Sunday     beautiful morning      Bettie better     John and Anna gone home took Lillie to go to School      Mollie SPRINGER and Lisa CROSS took dinner      Frank went ELIOTS to get quinine     Saw new moon to night     lightening in the north    look for a norther
[BTM]  It would look beautiful to Rhoda when she feels Bettie in getting better.     John and Anna TOTTY HARVILLE, daughter of Rhoda and Capt. TOTTY took little sister Lillie to School.     Mollie SPRINGER, future wife of Frank spends a lot of time with her future mother in law.   It is so nice to know they were getting along so well.    Frank going after quinine, the medicine they used to treat the family when they had their episodes of Malaria.

16th   Day      Lillies birthday    baby not at home, cloudy high wind  from South to night       Bettie Still better   could not get  Hessie  She Said they was all sick     nursed the baby my self    gussie sick    COX come to day
[BTM]  Just like a mother to call her youngest child her "baby" when she is  turning 11 years old today, for that matter it is not uncommon to call the youngest child your baby when she/he is married and has a family of their own.   In a mother's eyes, the youngest is always the "baby" of the family.  Not always to the desire of the last born child, my daughter still exclaims "Mother!!"  when I called her my baby, and my grandchildren just giggle.      The baby being nursed by Rhoda is most likely Joey B. little son of Bettie and Jase TILLMAN.

17th   Day     rain  quite  warm    COX at Ben's     Gussie got putrill sore throat      I been sewing and rocking Joey B.     old man put up a gate at the cow pen 
[BTM]  Rhoda alway called her husband Capt., old man or Mr. TOTTY, I wonder if she had a preference on what she called him depending in the mood she was in, haven't pin pointed it yet.    Bettie was so lucky to have such a wonderful caring Mother to take care of her little son when she was recuperating.

18  Day   Commenced to plant cotton      Daniel come down to help them       Mrs LATEN called..   high wind from west   a Storm all day
[BTM]  This is most likely her half brother Daniel SPENCER  who came to help out with the cotton planting.    In the Tennessee census records it lists Daniel as David SPENCER and according to one researcher, Mrs FARRAR, she believes that to be an error because she descends from this line and his name was Daniel SPENCER, possibly David Daniel SPENCER son of Susannah _____ SPENCER SPRADLING, the mother of Rhoda.   My research still in progress as to the documentation of the SPENCER connection.     Mrs LATEN is likely LATHAM their neightbors, I could never find a family called LATEN in the records in Montague Co.

19 Day     wind still blowing hard       Bettie could not go home it was too cold    Ben was here     Gussie no better      Frank and Daniel got the cotton planted
[BTM]  Gussie was most likely Augusta GAGE, daughter of Ben and Sarah Louise TOTTY GAGE and grand daughter of Capt & Rhoda TOTTY.

April the 20th         Bettie gone home     I am afraid her next move will be to her grave,    DORCEY and BEAN here to day     Frank gone to get his hogs up      John and Sarah gone to See their kin
[BTM]   I wonder where g-gparents John and Sarah went to visit the YANDELLS?, most likely could not have been in Arkansas where they later moved or Rhoda would have been more upset.    Most likely somewhere close in Texas, but where?  still haven't found the right great great grand parent YANDELL's  for sure.    Rhoda was really uneasy to see her daughter Bettie go home.

21   Day       Mr TOTTY went to Forestburg       Frank gone to Clear Creek     I went to Bens to see the children      Pea gone up the Creek     and Lillie gone to School       old man and me all alone to night
[BTM]  Sounds like the TOTTY's were scattered all over the place instead of being on the home place this day.     You would think that Capt. TOTTY and Rhoda would enjoy the peace and quite, but......    I bet they were wishing the family was at home instead of off and about.  They truly loved the closeness of their family.

22nd Day     Rode out went up to Bens   WOD threw Mr TOTTY off       Louisa nearly crazy about the children    went on to Johns    Saw his Arkansas kin   good looking folks    I golly   George here to night
[BTM]   Ben, is Benjamin GAGE; Sarah Louise TOTTY GAGE was the daughter of Rhoda and Capt. TOTTY and wife of Ben.   Who is WOD?? and wonder why he throw Mr. TOTTY off??? was it the Ben GAGE place or where??, whatever the reason, it seems to upset Louisa TOTTY GAGE  with regards to her children and the grandchildren of Mr. TOTTY.   Next the TOTTY's visited their son John Whitfield TOTTY and his wife Sarah ELLEN YANDELL TOTTY and her YANDELL family, which Rhoda seemed to above saying their good looking folks.    Rhoda seems excited to see George, but who is this George she is so happy to see?? she does not give a clue to who he was!     She has a half brother George W. SPRADLING, I wonder if he could be  the one to surprise her with a visit?

23rd Day        Rain all the evening      all the field hands come in out of the rain   house full of men and boys        Shelled corn in the house   could hardly turn around.
[BTM]  Sounds like Rhoda had her hands full with a house full of men and boys shelling corn, can't you just see the mess she had to clean up after all of those males!    Not to mention all the corn that had to be put up, stored, canned etc.   To say a farm wife's work is never done, is really hitting the nail on the head.

24th   Day     rained all night last night   raining again to night       Joe MARSHALL tak dinner     crowd here gain this evening
[BTM] What relationship if any did Joe Marshall have with the totty family other than being a neighbor?

April the 25th     Rain again to day      wind from north this evening      Mr SPRINGER and Mr TOTTY thinks now it wil quit raining     Allen and Pea went to the office       I have been sick all day
26th Day   big rain this morning water all over the bottom    frogs balling like rip to night       Mrs BOURLANDS baby sick   been over to see it this evening       made a shirt to day      feel better to night
[BTM]  This is one time that Mr SPRINGER and Capt. TOTTY were a little wrong on their predictions,  can't you just hear those frogs in your imagination?  Sound's that are not heard as much today as they were even 25-35 years ago.   What has happened to all the frogs?, likely the environment of today!

27th  Day     done a big washing    feel as big as goliah      clothes all hung out to dry      Mr TOTTY gone to the store       Frank gone to hunt his mule       Pea and Lillie helped me wash      wind high from north   cleard off for good now     cold to night
[BTM]   After all the rain Rhoda most likely had a lot of muddy and wet clothes to get washed and dried.   Good thing that she has a high wind to help get those clothes dried quickly.  I am sure with help of her children Pea and Lillie plus the wind  Rhoda was glad to get the washing done in fast order     Sounds like Frank's mule decided to go wandering during all the rain.

28th Day      Still cold      Mr TOTTY went to Jases       Frank and pea went to the Burg to mill
[BTM]   Most likely Frank and Pea took corn to the mill that they worked on in the house during the rain.    Capt. TOTTY went to Jase TILLMAN's his son in law.

29th  Day     Cold    a fresh norther tacked on        Singing at Mr SPRINGERS   I went to BOURLANDs  Saw Dolly     Bart was here Said Bettie and Tilda was well
April the 30th       White frost     Looking for Mansfield and Betsy got a ham boiling    Sent for flour   could not get it have to do without it     Mr TOTTY gone to HARRYs      John and Sarah come down Staid all night
[BTM]   Mansfield is the son of Matilda EASLEY ESTES TOTTY and her first husband Robert ESTES.   Betsy is Elizabeth TUCKER ESTES wife of Mansfield.  Betsy's sister was married to William C. TOTTY son of Robert and Matilda EASLEY ESTES TOTTY my g-g-gparents.    HARRY's would likely be the family of James P. HARRY who Rhoda spoke about dying at the end of Feb. 1877.   Laura VANCE HARRY's was the widow of James P.  Her parents were David VANCE b.Tennessee and Mary WARWICK VANCE b. New Jersey.   John and Sarah were my great grandparents. 

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Transcribed from Original Diary by Birdie (Totty) McNutt ©1999
Posted May 20, 1999