SEPTEMBER 1880

Page 43 continued
September the first Day    Ben and Louisa come    hottest day  I think  that has been   Captain got home    Frank gone to Stay with Dutch to night   Lillie been to Harvilles
2 Day   Mary gone to the Burg  boys gathering in to go with Frank to See him married  Lillie and Margaret gone   I am ready to go    went Saw them maried    Mathis and family Lewis Totty and family was here when I got back   was glad to See them
[BTM] The big day of the wedding for Frank and Mollie Springer and afterwards a family get together with the other members of the TOTTY family.  MATHIS is James Mathis and Sallie TOTTY MATHIS, niece to the Captain and daughter of William C. and Malena TUCKER TOTTY.  Lewis TOTTY HH #257 would be nephew Lewis Henry TOTTY, son of William C and Malena TUCKER TOTTY, and wife Louisa Jane WHEELER TOTTY.  He is brother to Sallie TOTTY MATHIS.

3 Day  Frank brought Mollie home   I hope they will live happy to gether..   Hot day big crowd   glad to See them  Cooked dinner   all had plenty     one seemed to enjoy themselves
[BTM] Back then it was the norm for newly weds to live with one set of their parents until they could make their own home.   Usually they helped out on the farm and in the household to out.

Page 44
1880 September the 4th         go to Pella   Ida goes with Lillie     brother Savage preaches    we go home with Sister Castleman    eat dinner      come back got Lillie a vail  She peeps through it with the utmost Satisfaction    Stop    eat Supper with Mollie Marshall   Lillie Stays with Ida
[BTM]  Is Mollie a nickname for Mary?  If so, Mollie Marshall is likely Mary Marshall widow of Joe Marshall.  Brother SAVAGE is most likely Robert from HH #415 and Sister CASTLEMAN would presumably be the wife of Brother Jim CASTLEMAN mentioned earlier.    Interesting that LILLIE wanted a veil. 

5 Day   Sunday     Pea gone to Pella     Frank and Mollie to Bourlands..   Mr Totty and I all alone Frank May come Said his pa is very Sick we go to See him  find him very Sick they Send for Dr Stolsworth   I think now he will die..    meet Mrs Judge Taylor had not seen her in near 4 years     Lillie and Ida got in after dark   had..  had quite a time    wagon turned over ….. of the bridge with them was nobody Serious hurt
[BTM]  Frank May was the son of Joseph May, they were a neighbor of the widow of Mary Marshall.   Who was Mrs Judge Taylor and was she from Cooke or Upshur Co., Tx?   The wagon accident must have caused Lillie and Ida quite a scare, and I am sure Rhoda was relieved to hear nobody was badly hurt.

6 Day   Mr Patton and whatyoucallem  Stoping     they are from Ark    neighbors to John I am So glad to hear them talk about John    John Harville and Bart called Said Anna is not well   I am uneasy about her    Charley Said Mary and baby are Sick   I went to Mixons after my irons   getting the Captains clothes ready for him to Start in the morning
[BTM]  Rhoda always loved hearing from her son John in Arkansas, even if it was talk from a neighbor.   Anna is sick along with others in the community.    Capt. Totty is off again, most likely on an election tour again.  Rhoda had good intuition when it came to the health of her children.

7 Day     Mr Stemler and Patton Started to Arkansas     Mr Totty out electioneering   Frank and Mollie to the Mill      Pea picking cotton   I and Lillie potering round    I getting ready to go See Anna     went Staid all night   Anna and Tilda and the babys all well
[BTM] So “whatyoucallem” the neighbor of John was Mr. Stemler.  Rhoda was glad to find her dau and grandbaby doing well.  Everyone else very busy.

8 Day   Come home Mollie and Lillie keeping house    Pea gone to the Burg for Charly..   met Ben and Louisa going to Mathises..   Cool
[BTM] The Totty’s dau Louisa and Ben Gage were going to visit the Mathis family. Her cousin Sarah Jane TOTTY and her husband James Mathis,  Sarah was the dau of William C. TOTTY and niece to Capt. F.M. and Rhoda TOTTY.

9 Day   kindled a fire in the fire place this morning    Frank and Mollie gone to Bourland  Pea to Charlys  I and Lillie alone to night    The Dutchman was here to day to See about his lines..   I am lonely to night think I had almost as well be a widow   Sure enough
[BTM]  Sounds like Rhoda is becoming a little depressed  with her husband gone so much while out on the election trail.  I know from her diaries she did not like being alone.

Page 45
September the 10th   been reading the 10th for Some time   now it has Come and gone and what I was reading has not happened yet   I went to Charleys this evening found them all Sick     Come back got Mixon and wife to go Stay with them to night     Pea gone to the Burg    Cool and dry  want to See rain
[BTM] I don’t find a Mixon family listed on the census for Montage Co., in 1880.   They must have moved into the community after the census was taken.

11 Day    got a letter from John..   Captain got home been in clay   Jack and Wise   he may go to Arkinsaw   no telling he is getting on the pigeon wing electioneering
[BTM] What office was Capt. F.M. Totty running for to travel into so many surrounding counties.  Was Rhoda jesting about a trip to Arkansas for Capt. Totty? Looks like we need to look up political records for 1880 in Montague Co.

12 Day  Sunday  all hands got in the wagon and went to High Point  no body there but Chessers   Surly under the Arbor     we Stoped  laughed awhile went to Jases eat dinner Come home
13 Day  Cool and cloudy this morning Captain gone to McLanes all the rest picking Cotton
14 Day   Mr Totty went to the Burg  I went to Harvilles to See Anna and Tilda found Dave very Sick  his eyes almost out
[BTM] Dave, was David Spradling Traylor, son of Bart and Tilda (Totty) Traylor, and grandson of Capt. & Rhoda.   He likely had the measles.

15 Day  rain rain    after it quit raining we went to the orchard to get peaches and we got them     I got So wet  I could hardly get to the House   Bart Come after me to got to Harvilles   I went Dave no better Sent for Dr    he Come
[BTM] Rhoda must have really wanted those peaches to get so wet and take a chance on getting sick in that wet weather.   Must be having a sweet tooth and planning on making something good with the peaches.

16 Day   I dressed Annas black head boy and Come home   Louisa and Bettie here...  Mr Totty and counted up our grandchildren there is 8 boys and 8 girls which makes 16 all told
[BTM] Rhoda did not name the little black headed boy of John & Anna’s.  This was the third child for them, the child must not have made it.  The granddaughters were; 1) Mary Jane, 2) Augusta, & 3) Sarah Louisa GAGE d’s/o Sarah Louisa TOTTY GAGE; 4) Martha Callie dec’d, 5) Sophronia, 6) Rhoda Ann, 7) Tennessee, & 8) May TOTTY d’s/o John Whitfield TOTTY. 9) Ada Irene Traylor d/o Matilda Jane TOTTY Traylor.   The grandsons were 1) Ferdinand, 2) Frank GAGE s’s/o Sarah Louisa TOTTY GAGE, 3) William Marion TOTTY, s/o John Whitfield TOTTY, 4) Sidney Elijah, 5) Lewis Marion TOTTY, 6) Baby Boy s’s/o Nancy Anna Caroline TOTTY Harville, 7) Robert Tillman 8) Joey B. dec’d, s’s/o Mary Elizabeth TOTTY TILLMAN and 9) David Spradling TOTTY s/o Matilda Jane TOTTY TRAYLOR.  Two of her grandbabies were already dec’d.

17 Day    rain again this morning     I am awful uneasy about Anna for fear She will get damp    got in the wagon went to Jases   got my bed stead
[BTM]  Rhoda is a worrier when it come’s to the health of her children and grandchildren.

18 Day   went to the debate   Griffith opened the debate   Doyel followed it was carried on in a way gentlemanly and Christian manner  Griffith thought he ought to have the Mule but Doyl kept it   I got very tired   I wanted them to quit So I could go See Anna   but they did not quit worth a cent     got a letter from John
[BTM] Rhoda was getting anxious about her daughter Anna.   Her son John Whitfield Totty wrote again from Arkansas.   If only those letters were still around to read, we could find out how John, Sarah and the children were doing.

Page 46
September the 19th   Sunday  go back to the Burg but not to hear a debate but to hear brother Royal preach and he spead him Self    I think he preached near two hours and I did not get tired      come back to Harviles    Anna getting along very well   Johns eyes nearly out    I asked Anna if She got any thing Cooked and brought to her to eat   She Said yes  Tilda had done more than any little thing She ever Saw..   heard Billie Spencer is dead.
[BTM] Rhoda must have really enjoyed the preacher since she did not get tired listening to him for two hours, Rhoda loved her Bible.   John must have been tired from worrying over Anna being sick.  Was Billie Spencer the grandson of Rhoda’s half brother Samuel, or was it Samuel’s son William who died.

20 Day     Captain Started to St Joe      Frank went with him to the Burg     rained this morning before day     Frank and Mollie gone to Mr Springers to night
[BTM] The newly wed’s Frank & Mollie are off to visit Mollie’s parents.  Capt. Totty is gone on political  round’s again.

21 Day    Speaking at the Burg  (they Speak while I think I may Speak yet)    heard Mr Totty is Still there having a gay time     every dog has his day     big rain this morning
[BTM]  Rhoda sounds like she is getting fed up with the Capt. being gone so much.

22 Day   been washing all day     So tired cant rest but when I set down my mind goes back over my whole life and a miserable life it has been     toil trouble and hard labor has been my reward in this world  (Frank and Mollie gone to Bourlands)     I feel a rebellious Sprit in me this evening  think I desire something better for my Self   denying and faithful life..  but if it is not for me I recon I ought to try to be content
[BTM] Rhoda is down and depressed over her daughter being sick, & her husband out on the road so much on election business.

23  Day   washed again   think I have washed as much as any nigger    put on a clean dress and went to Mixons   I and Pea reading the Bible to night   I and he miss the references..   have not got the blues as bad to night as last night    Duck and Lillie got a lamp out in the yard  having a good time   Mollie not well
[BTM] "Duck" is Julia, the youngest sister of Mollie Springer.   She and Lillie are near the same age and are good friends.    Rhoda really was down in the dumps on day 22, it is good to read that she is feeling a little better this day.   Rhoda had washed a big washing the day before and was tired from that days work.   It most likely made her feel a little better to freshen up and put on a clean dress to go visiting the Mixons.   They must have been close neighbors, however they were not listed on the 1880 census near the TOTTY family.   Mollie was the brand new wife of Frank TOTTY.

24 Day  I and Pea go to the Burg buy some goods    come to Harvilles   find them all geting along very well   come home try on my new Shoes   Show Mollie and Lillie how I will kick Hixon if he ever makes me any more Shoes    bring Ada with us
[BTM]  Harvilles are Rhoda's son in law John and Daughter Anna & their children.  Mollie is Mary Elizabeth (Springer) the new wife of Frank Totty her son.  Lillie is the youngest child of Rhoda and F.M. TOTTY.   I think most likely, that Mollie & Lillie got a big laugh out of Rhoda showing them what she would do to Hixon<VBG>, those new shoes must have hurt her feet while going shopping at the "Burg" ie Forestburg.

Page 47
Sep 25 Day   plowing    Pea gone to Mill..     meeting at Highpoint to night     Lillie thought She was bound to go Cloud riseing    I would not go    Bart come Staying all night   Said if it rains Harville will be to be Buried  and I think it will come    thundering and lighining to rain   I went to Mixons   he is mad at Levi     I looked for the old man he has not come    begining to feel like a grass widow     (now it rains)
[BTM] Rhoda is talking about Mixon again, was he made at Levi Perryman?  Or another Levi, likely Levi McLANE in HH #287   I wonder if John E. HARVILLE, Louisa’s husband was baptized that night or not.

26 Day   Sunday    Cold wind from north and rain    we go to meeting    House full brother Savage preached on the conversion of Cornelius   come home with Ben and Louisa   cold     got there the boys made a fire    eat dinner    come home    Willie Taylor here after the wagon
[BTM] Sounds like the Fall weather is setting in with a cold spell.  Willie Taylor was most likely the s/o George and Mary Taylor, neighbor’s of Rhoda and Capt. TOTTY.

27 Day    Still Cold    all go to Mr Springers     Mrs Springer not at home   I go to Hunts   meet George Palmer     Dollie comes home with me    find Tilda here   glad to See her and Dave..  (grass hoppers parsing over to day)
[BTM] I wonder if they had grasshoppers as bad as we have had them for the last couple of years!  They eat everything in site and cause a lot of damage.

28 Day     Bart come   him Pea and Tilda gone to Harvilles     Charley here Sick    I am Sorry for Charley     I cut out my dress    don’t care much whether I get it done or not    Mollie and Lillie gone to Mixons..     finished reading my Bible to night   that is I have got through it again..    I do thank God to night that I have lived to get through it again and also for the information   I have received from reading   I don’t expect to quit reading by any means but non   I will read more as I please and look over what I have read
[BTM] Rhoda must have had a good education growing up, she loves to read, especially her Bible.

29 Day   Frank and Mixon Hauling corn   Mollie and Lillie washing..     See old Hixon at Mixon’s   his eyes look like two gimlets Seemed to try to look through me    broke my machine needle cant Sew any more to night
[BTM] Needles were hard to come by back then, It must have been hard on Rhoda and the family when they wanted to sew and the needle was broke.   Hixon must have been sick or just looked that way from old age and hard work?

30 Day     got on ball went to Bob Beans     Spent good part of the day with Manda    gave Alan a raking for not comeing to See us..   Sol Ode…. Come after me to go to Bourlands   I went dressed a girl (coria)  for Bally Staid all night
[BTM] Rhoda rode on her horse Ball and went to visit Robert “Bob” and Amanda (Perrin) Bean.  She delivered the baby for Mollie’s sister Bally and her husband Robert Samuel Bourland.  The baby’s name was likely “Cora” Bourland.

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