JANUARY 1880

Page 3
New Year’s Day 1880
Dark Cloudy the Sun has not appeared to day in this part of the world      Commenced again To read my Bible through     read the 2 first Chapters of Genisis for a beginning will read it through in 1880 if I live and keep my sences and eye sight     got on ball rode up to Bens had not Seen Louisa and the Children in a long time all look badly Ferd and Frank having Chills      Come home     Lillie Said Bob Bean eat dinner Said She was a good Cook   that done her a heap of good     me and Lillie alone to night  Boys gone to Whitlys to a dance     their Father Still at Montague
[BTM  Rhoda ever faithful to her Bible reading and worries about her senses and eye sight   Rhoda went to see Ben and her oldest daughter Sarah Louise Totty Gage, their children were Ferdinand and Frank Totty Gage.   Robert “Bob” Bean was the son of William and Betsy Caroline Reeves Bean.   And grandson of William and Nancy Totty Reeves, great gs of Robert and Sandal Andrews TOTTY.

[2]    Day   Warm and cloudy  2 preacher’s come Brother Castleman and Walker was glad they come their conversation very different from what we generally have  took dinner and went off    I feel lonely after they have gone     Lillie gone to Jases     Raining to night  thundering and lighting think there will be a norther it is so warm    read through Genesis to day the Story of Joseph and his brother ……with any bodys reading even if it was not Scripture it is as good a thing as I ever read
[BTM]   Lillie Rowena Totty was the youngest daughter of Capt. F.M. and Rhoda Spradling TOTTY.  She was going to visit her sister Bettie and b-i-l Jase TILLMAN

[3]   Day  Still warm the Captain got home     Frank got fever to night think he is takeing measles   company  Jane and Gus come home with Lillie     Billie Estes Staying with us to night   come to collect money
[BTM] Billy Estes was the son of Mansfield Estes and Elizabeth “Betsy” Tucker and grandson of Robert and Matilda Easley Estes TOTTY.   Mary Jane and Augusta Gage were children of Ben and Louise Totty Gage and the grandchildren of Rhoda and Capt. Totty.

4    Day  Sunday    Frank very Sick think he has the measles     John and Anna drove up     I went out told them Frank had measles they hesitated a good while but got out   Staid till evening    I don’t think now it is measles    he is better to night    Mr Springer and Bill Parker  Seting with us talking about hog stealing  some body been Shooting hogs    Mr Springer Says he will get them to morrow or try too      Hunt took dinner  wanted to joke about his ……..   I don’t want to hear him joking about Dolly
[BTM]  Frank was Rhoda and Captain Totty’s  7th child.   John and Anna Totty Harville were their daughter and son in law coming to visit.    Mr. Springer was Franklin Anderson Springer, father of Mollie Springer.  Bill Parker could likely the same as the son of Peyton and Nancy Josephine Galloway PARKER, gs of William Martin Galloway and Dorinda Reeves Galloway, the daughter of George and Mary O’Barr Reeves step sister of William Steele and Nancy Totty Reeves.  Rhoda was always protective of Dolly and the way Hunt treated her.

Page 5
5     Day January   old Chrismas warm and foggy cant hardly See to the well     Frank better   excitement ripe about the Hog Stealing    Mrs Springer Come She is in a great worry about George and Mr Springer they are gone after the thieves   her and me Start we go to the little prairie  Seen Something glittering in the Sun there think maybe it is a gun barrel    got there and find nothing only horse tracks     we go on to Taylors   See Sons move off   aunt Mollie Sweeping and cleaning up    Mr Totty gone to fix up the Valentine place  if I could stick a match to it like a hay Stack I believe I would be tempted to do so it has been so much expense and no profit
[BTM] Who is “Aunt” Mollie that Rhoda found sweeping? 

6    Day   Harville come guarding B Adkins take …….ng him to trial   all hands gone to the trial
[BTM] part of this faded out to bad to read.  Wonder what B. Adkins did?  Could he have been the hog stealer? 

7    Day   Harville come to haul cotton  I and Lillie commenced to wash    sewing machine Agent Come we got one for Lillie     Frank got fever think he is beginning to break out with measles     Ben Come to get opium for Jase  expect he is taking the measles    Lillie went after Mollie   She come like the good girl She is and Staid all night.
[BTM] Beginning of measle out break in Montague Co., that made so many sick.   Mollie was Frank’s future wife and dau in law of Capt. & Rhoda.   Ben & Jase were their son’s in law.   Harville was most likely James Harville, father of John E. Harvill the son in law of Rhoda & Captain who married Nancy Anna Totty.  Opium was the medicine used back then for most sicknesses, they thought it was a cure all medicine. 

8    Day of January anniversary of the great victory at New Orleans   I got on the cotton went to the burg got dinner with Mrs Wilson    Saw Mrs Tindal   bought 2 dishes   come home   Mrs Springer here     Frank got high fever  very uneasy about him he is very bad off to night    I left Mollie and Lillie with him this morning   his pap and Lillie are sleeping I am not Slepy   Seting up by my Self..    been very warm to day birds Singing like Spring

9   Day   I commenced to try the Machine    Mollie and Mag come   all hands telling me how to operate on it found out none of them knew any more about it than I did   I worried and freted    got in a pucker  took …… all over  threatened to throw the Machine over the fence wished we had not got it  finaly gave it up to Lillie   and she went to sewing   Frank very sick   eating is well first night  don’t think he is doing as doing as well as he can with …….
[BTM]  Can’t you just picture Rhoda fussing and fuming at the new sewing machine and getting upset enough to want to throw it over the fence!  This really brought a smile to my face as I read her comment because I was the same way with my new sewing machine until I got the hang of how it worked. 

10  Day  Sent for the Dr  I don’t think we need him at all   he come talked doctoring of the Liver   I opposed   he did not do it made up some cough drops and left   Frank doing very well under the Sircumstances
[BTM] Spelling was how Rhoda wrote it down, she had a quaint way of expressing herself and was fascinated with the letter “S”.

11   Day   Norther this Sunday morning    Harville come went with us to See Jase  found him measling along pretty bad   Dutch Bourland and Mollie Staid with Frank    Come back  John Crawford here to See about the Land
[BTM]  Does anybody know who John Crawford was?  Could he be related to the Totty family, or was he just looking for land?
[BTM] see diary April 1881 day 2. 
{TLD} As I stated in above, John Crawford was the attorney acting on behalf of Hamilton Crawford of Hunt County.  John Crawford was from Collin County as
stated in the deed.

12  Day   Weaver come  Some men come to kill hogs    Mr Totty gone to fix the Land again    Still home he will get done with Land Some day    Frank better   fixed up the Land got a deed    rented it to McLane     Weaver hanging the meat     Jas killed hogs     men got the cow that is the Sewing machine Cow 
[BTM] Could the “Sewing machine Cow” be one traded in payment for the sewing machine? 

13    Day   Lillie gone to See Jase    Frank and his pap in bed    I come very near getting crippled in the night Steped out at the door the Step was gone  I fell out in the yard  did not break my neck   I was able to get up and get breakfast and that was all right   this is a beautiful morning  Sun Shining    Weaver Cuting wood    Jase come with a load of rails   Bob Bean come he is afraid of measles and I don’t blame him  they are to be dreaded   Mr Totty very Sick    Mr Dennis took dinner    Frank been up most all day   Lillie Said Jase Still very Sick
[BTM]  Mr. Dennis was likely the neighbor James Dennis, but I have not ID’d who Weaver is yet, does anybody know who he is and how he fits into the picture of the Totty family?

14    Day   Frank Sent Weaver to the Burg to get rice he ready to eat    heard Avry Wirtman was killed this evening   Jim Spencer come   Sewing Machine Agent here to night  (Lillie and I drove up old yellow and a little calf))  all hands talking some to night
[BTM]  Who is the Jim Spencer family?  Most likely he could be James Spencer a cousin of Rhoda Spradling Totty, and the son of Charles and Elizabeth Cantwell Spencer?  Anybody know who he married, etc.?

15   Day    Weaver Started to haul rails   old ball would not work and he quit   Wagner  Showing Lillie how to Sew on the Machine  and I told her I thought he was trying to Court   She looked amazed at the idea    nobody here to night but our own folks    Seems like a calm after a storm.

16   Day    Jim Spencer and Ben come to get Mr Totty to Survey     I got on Joe went to See Jase he is Still Sick   Betty getting round all the same   Says She is used to it   come back stoped at Bens  Come home  Pea Come had a epistle from Penton to his pap    Frank and Lillie making Sure ……Sick taking measles ………
[BTM] Wonder what the formal letter was the Pea brought his Pap?   Parts of this sentence was so faded and torn that it was not legible.  Penton was what Rhoda wrote here with a “P” not a “D”, so Penton must have been the one who sent the epistle.

Page 6
17    Day   January 1880
Thompson and Spencer come to get their deed wrote   Bob come to get Mr Totty to Survey    Weaver cleaned out the Cellar   Gass hauling rails    I have been Sewing on the machine done good work    Frank went to Jases    Lillie high fever to night   I am very uneasy about her   She is about all the tie that binds me to life now  diped my pen in the ink to write but will not do it now [next two lines were erased and blotted out]
[BTM] Thompson could likely be Andrew Thompson their neighbor.  Could he be buying land to Jim Spencer or vice versa?  Andrew Thompson was found in the 1880 census in HH#374/375, but Jim Spencer was not found in this same census record.  What/Why was the two lines erased or blotted out?  Would love to know what was written there. 

18  Day  Sunday  beautiful morning don’t look like winter   Mr Totty gone to Barts   Lillie up      Hixon come on business     Ben and Louisa drove up did not let the Children get out of the wagon for fear of measles   Frank gone   he said to Walkers   think it has been the pleasant day I ever Saw in the winter
[BTM]  H. M. Hixon was a neighbor of the Totty family in the 1880 census, he was likely coming to have Capt. F. M. Totty survey for him. 

19  Day  Cloudy and warm  Sprinkled rain and cleared off warm   Frank gone to the Burg   Lillies nose bleeding   I am awful uneasy about her   hope though She will break out by morning   Gass  Staying with us to night he is a very Sensible and interesting man   I drawed out my machine and Sewed right along   think a heap of it
[BTM] Does anybody know who this Gass is?  Could he be Gassaway Gage? 

20    Day  Frank Started to Gainesville   Gass hauling rails   Lillie Still very Sick   Tax man here   Springer girls Come to Sew

21   Day  feel badly this morning wind from the North  glad of that   Mollie Sewing    heard from Bettie  her and Rob both Sick with Measles    Lillie broke out  think now She will get well..   Gass gone after his last load of rails   be in the night when he gets back   I got Supper    washed dishes   had a high fever all night
[BTM]  Rob is Robert Tillman, Rhoda’s 2 year old gs by Bettie and Jase Tillman.  Was “Gass”, Gassaway Gage, brother of David F. Gage and Uncle of Benjamin A. Gage who married Rhoda’s daughter Louise?

22  Day   Still high fever   Lillie very bad   I think I am in for a hard Spell have fever and is So I think it will be my Last Sickness   I am Suffering a great deal Soreness in my breast and sick
[BTM] Rhoda is the one who usually takes care of the family when they are sick, now she is coming down sick, who takes care of the care taker?

Page 7
23 Day  January   fever cooled a little   Frank got home   his pap gone to Jases   got back   Bettie and baby mighty bad   Lillie very bad to night   I am so uneasy about my Children   I cant go to Sleep

24 Day   I have no fever this morning not able to get up and cook and that always makes a bad time here   Harville and Pea come to kill hogs    Pea did not come in fraid of the measles     I wanted to See him but did not want him get Sick  too many Sick now..   Frank and Harville went to Jases   Bettie a little better    my hands and wrist Sore  cant hardly write   Dolly come  I was glad to See her    I believe I am taking measles

25   Day   Still warm and pleasant   I got up this morning ground Coffee and helped wash dishes  can hardly turn my hands over they are So Sore    Ben Come Said Bettie and Rob was a little better   Frank dressed up rode off Said was going to Rosses to get Margaret to come and Stay with me  but he did not go the right course     Mr Totty gone to Jases this evening   left me and Lillie alone he thinks She is a heap better   I only wish it may be So but I cant See it  that way much   her eyes are nearly out and She Still has fever   Duck come to See her   he come back brought Some milk for Lillie She relished it very much  I hope She is better   Mr and Mrs Taylor  Set with us till bed time was glad they come think a great deal of both     Frank got back could not get Margaret She has not had measles       been another beautiful Sunday
[BTM] Duck was Julia Springer, sister to Mollie Springer.  Margaret was likely the daughter of Rebecca Ross found in the 1880 census living with her mother.  She was the widow of Cash Wainscott.

26  Day   I got on ball rode up to Jases found Bettie and poor little Rob very bad tried to encourage Bettie about her baby although I don’t hardly think it will ever get well  but I know it will be better for her now if she does think he will get well  it will relieve her mind for the time being and it can do him no good for her to be uneasy   Frank Sick again  Mollie got dinner    Lillie better Weaver hauled rails

Page 8
27     Day  January 1880   Went to Jases after dinner met Mrs Taylor   Come to See me  Sorry to leave her but went on found Bettie a little better but I think  poor little Rob will die my heart aches for Bettie to night it will nearly kill her to lose her baby   Jase Sent for the Dr but I don’t think he can do any good..   come home Frank has fever don’t think he can ever be well any more    Lillie is better got her Some cough medicine   just gave her a dose   She Cried Says if that ever quits burning there will never go another bit of in her mouth   baby is mad    Come by  Bens put on my Specks to look at mary Jane   She is broke out with measles it is not hurting her much   I did not believe She had it till I looked at her good   Weaver gone to night to See his baby  (this is Tenniers birth day She would have been 20 years old today if She had lived but She is gone 10 years ago and is better off))
[BTM] Rhoda is remembering her young daughter Susan Tennier Totty who died on January 5th 1870. 

28 Day   We went back to Jases   I am greatly distressed  Bettie grieving for her baby and I cant give her no encouragement for I am bound to think it will die    Jase went to See the Dr and I think that will be no good    Frank and Lillie better    Mr Totty got a letter from Walker     Jim Smith and family at Springers    Weaver Come Said Mrs Houston would wash for me  I am glad of that for I don’t feel like doing it myself    my jaw Swelled from a rising   I believe thats all I can think of to write to night
[BTM] James Smith family of Tennessee, was found in HH#214/227 next door to the Eli & Narcissia Taylor family.  Could the Aunt Molly be somehow related to this Taylor family?

29  Day    my rising no better   Mr Totty gone to Jases   Come back Said Rob is bound to die wanted me to get some Clean Sheets to lay him out on   I hunted Could find but one took em old clean white linen wraped up got in ball   went up there found Bettie better and Rob as ill ass a little cat   told Better we would not lay him out sick and not stall if he did not get a heap worse   I think maybe he will get well   Come home Slep very little my jaw hurts me awful bad     Frank nearly crazy with his head   Lillie Whispering Could talk above a whisper   I hope Harvilles and Taylors folks will miss the measles this time   don’t want any more of my children to have it  this time and I would be ……….
[BTM] Little Robert Tillman was a trooper to be as sick as he was.  Last of this page was very faded and worn off on the edges.

Page 9
30   Day   Cold Norther blew up last night     Frank got on Josh went to Jases   come home had been to Mordises got better   Said Bettie and Rob are better    his pap gone there now   Joe May Come get a load of Cotton Seed     Mr Springer glad to See this Norther   killed hogs yesterday    got a writing Spell wish I had something good to write   I cant write only about Sickness   my jaw hurting  all the time    I am pretty near like Jim Cro Owens when many held him and picked the Splinter out of his hand he Said I wish I was dead.  But I don’t quite wish that yet
[BTM] Wonder if Rhoda had an abcessed tooth that was causing her so much pain?

31  Day  last day of January   Frank ear running blood   my riseing broke last night while I was asleep  I woke up did not know what made me feel so easy    Mr Totty went to the Burg   Harville and Pea come and Jase he Said his folks are better I am glad of that..    all took dinner   Pea talked of Staging but I am afraid yet he will take measles  So he went back..   Sleeted a little to day   Lillie not as well to night    eat too much      better I think 
[BTM]  Sometimes we are not as thankful as we should be for the medical treatments we have today for our illnesses.   Here Pea was likely talking about being a stage coach driver.

NOTE: This copyright© data CAN NOT be reproduced in ANY format for profit or other presentation "without" the express written permission of the the owner and transcriber of these diaries. 
Transcribed from Original Diary by Birdie (Totty) McNutt ©2000