Transcribed
from 10 pages of handwritten copies made from Original Diary Entries made by
Nelson O. Brown throughout the years of 1871, 1872, 1875, 1899: I have left all
but 1 typo alone, I have also added some notes of my own under allot of the
following Dates.
Who wrote the 10 pages from the original Diary entries is unknown. I have typed this copy from those pages that were donated to me by J.Z.
1871 - Nelson
O. Brown. Allegon, Mich.
Started diary
March 6-Monday
April 2- Thursday,
visiting sister Adaline, parents were there, all well
April - All month building a barn and working on
fences.
May 4- Thursday, went fishing caught 3 small ones
May 17- Wednesday, left Schoolcraft, went to Casopulas.
(I think he meant Cassopolis which is in Cass County in Michigan have been unable to find any town closer than that in spelling in Michigan.)
May 18- Thursday, started working for for the Penisula
Rail Road.
(
Am still stumped on what Rail Road he
is talking about here did he mean Penninsula??)
July 2- Sunday, went to church in Lawton with sister
Adaline.
(There
are 2 Lawton’s in Michigan one in Kalamazoo County which is a possibility since
allot of the family is in this county, the other is in Van Buren County which I
believe is the one he is talking about because Adaline is found to be living in
this county in the 1870 & 1880 Census)
July 10- Monday, had a train wreck spent most of the day
clearing.
Aug, 1- Tuesday Breakman was run over and killed.
Aug 6- Sunday little boy will stay with Mr.Renick
Aug 7- Monday went to Otsego and called on cousin
Mary & William. Went to Mr. Eaton picked up little girl and had our
likeness taken and left on evening train. Likeness cost $1 Dollar.
(He is referring to his
daughter Mattie here and his cousin he mention's here were Watts.)
Aug 26- Saturday in Edwardsburg went to get boots I
fixed and saw $2 Dollars missing from my pocketbook.
(Edwardsburg
is located in Cass County as well)
Sept 4- Monday worked in Mishawaka putting in side
track living in South Bend.
(Not
exactly sure about this one since there is a Mishawaka in Colorado &
Indiana but none in MI. Could not find anything similar in MI. Also could not
find a South Bend in MI. Did find one in Indiana in St. Joseph County same
county as Mishawawka. Could this be where he is temporarily at?)
Sept 6- Wednesday went to paper mill in South Bend to see
how it worked.
Sept 21- Thursday went to New York Circus in South Bend.
1872 (Note the following is written at the top of the page)
Cousin John Neff Calamine Wisconsin (I have found this to be in
Lafayette County. Have no idea yet though who Cousin John Neff is) (F.J)
Brother George Brown, Alligan Co. Mich. (Note I have searched the Census for him from 1880 to 1920 and have been unable to locate him)
April 16- Tuesday, Marian Flowers poisoned herself cousin William wrote
in his letter.
(Am still trying to figure
out how the Flowers line ties in with the Brown line. But in the 1870 Census
for Pine Plains, Alligan Co. Nelson and his 2 son’s Carl & Albert are found
to be living in Cecil Flowers Home.)
June 13- Thursday got homestead papers for 5 acres in
Jefferson Co. Nebraska, working mill dam.
(Is
Mill Dam in Nebraska?)
Aug 5- Monday
on way to post office in evening to get mail but a sad affair happened man run
over with train car helped carry man to hotel and took handcar some 13 miles
away to get coffin.
Aug 6- Tuesday went to burial 14 miles away.
Oct 8- Tuesday went to Steelcity for election
Nov 3- Sunday went to Filmore County to visit
sister.
(Do
not know which sister he is talking about yet.)
Dec 5- Thursday had my negative taken
Dec 28 - Saturday driving stagecoach.
Dec 30- Monday drove stage from Beatrice to
Steelcity Nebraska
(Someone
wrote the following under that last date)
Nelson attended several temperance meetings last few months of this year.
1875-Sandsprings Iowa Delaware Co.
(He
was not here for long for I next picked him up living in Franklin County Iowa
in the 1880 Census)
March 8- Wednesday stayed home most the day and
made corn brooms.
March 22- went around inviting people to the party
March 23- Tuesday good times with the party
March 31- Wednesday made brooms most the day wrote letter
to the Agriculture Department in Washington D.C.
(I
wonder if they might have a copy of that letter still?)
April 3- Saturday made more brooms and did some
tinkering around the farm
April 7- Wednesday have been hauling manure for
days
June 18- Friday fixed fences all day went to
spelling bee in the evening.
July 3- Saturday worked in mill all day went to pick up
buggy from the doctor and went calling on miss Lisa
Aug 26- Thursday done working in Corn Field for Mr. Philips left on train for Hoppington from there went to Deleware Center and onto Waterloo had to stay the night slept on bench
(Could
Hoppington have actually been Harrington?)
Aug 28-Saturday went to Shellrock River to bathe went to
town in evening
Aug 29- Sunday went to church and went riding with
brother George in Greene
(Do
not know what Greene he is talking about need to investigate more)
Oct 16- Saturday
Went to Montacello to do some shopping
Nov 14- Sunday went to church in Dyersville
(Found
a Dyersville in Dubuque County Iowa)
Nov 16- Tuesday sent letter to Mrs. Crinklo with $5
dollars for my little boy.
(Have
to find out where Mrs. Crinklo lived and which boy did she have Albert or Carl
or both?)
Dec 10- Friday went back home to Sandspring
Dec 13- Monday drove hogs to town
Dec 14- Tuesday had Frank Shod
Dec 30- Thursday went to Mr.Wordles and paid for
wagon
Nov 1899- Sept 1900 Montesano Wash. Was written in
a diary dated 1863
Nov 7- Tuesday got to Montesano Wash daughters with
us.
(I believe it is actually Montesano, Grays Harbor County, Washington)
Nov 23- Thursday brother Adrian came in on the
train
Dec 6- Wednesday wrote letter to Carlos
Dec 13- Tuesday wife & I went calling wife fell
and got pretty bad
Dec 19- Tuesday Adrian left on train
Dec 23- Saturday wife and I in camp only 2 men
1900 Jan 10- Wednesday changed enginemen
Feb 16- Friday Wife went to sew for preacher
Feb 24- Saturday got letter from Carl & Jennie
wife cut my hair
July 14- Wednesday wife was chairman of the ?
(Note made) dates in this diary say that Nelson and
wife were at John Biles camp Dec 21, 1899 and Briscos Camp April 4, 1900, these
camps are Lumber camps. Briscos camp in Washington state.
For
the everyday entries the weather was written down. Pleasant, windy, cold,
cloudy, frost, snowed some, fearful, snow and cooled some were all the words
written down.
Also
written on these pages are notes about Nelson only going to church about 7
times over the years. Some days he would go 3 times and when he first got to
Washington State he would go everyday or have at least a Prayer meeting and
most other writings in his diaries were about visits or worked all day.
Nelson
did a lot of letter writing and would receive many letters. He visited the post
office at least four times a week.
In
1872 Nelson did a lot of farming for family and friends, corn, wheat &
putting up hay.