July 31, 1851 - Serena's Train Ride to Piqua

Thursday 31^st (July)

Change cars at Venice. Next we passed the Yellow Springs, which is a very pleasant place. We will change cars once more before we arrive at Urbana. Changed at Springfield it is a pretty little place. We got into the car where we found little space. Dined at Urbana at a nasty little hotel where I am sure . . . There we left the cars, and took  . . . to Piqua at which place we expect to arrive by 6 o-clock. We had started and such a time jolt, jolt, jolt until positively I thought we would be jolted to Death. We finally arrived there, dressed, ate supper, and after tea received a call from Frank McHinney and John Jordan, spent a very pleasant evening and retired.

 

 

 

The Cincinnati Enquirer, January 5, 1851

July 29, 1851 - Libby has moved into her own home

Tuesday 29^th (July)
 
Arose rather late, and after breakfast, went up . . . and had quite a time . . . saw her instated in her own home . . . had happened, I arose to go but found nothing serious the matter only the loss of a heel, so . . .

Serena's handwriting is very faint and hard to read. We learn from this entry that Libby and her husband have moved into their own home.

The last two weeks have been mostly concerned with sickness. Mr. Prentiss has gradually recovered from his illness. Various family members have sat with him, night and day. There was a nurse at one point. Dr. Prior Fiore and Dr. E. K. Chamberlin have made house calls. There was a brief scare when Caroline became ill. Serena feared it was cholera. A doctor was called to come see Caroline during the night. She quickly recovered.

Caroline and Serena have been making bed sheets. Although it is no longer necessary for the family to weave their own cloth for sheets, they must hem and finish sheets and make pillow cases from store-bought fabric.

Serena writes that there is "quite a discussion on Slavery, at the dinner table" one evening, but gives no details. It is surprising that this is the only time she mentions slavery in this journal. Serena's father and uncles are active abolitionists.

There was a partial solar eclipse yesterday, but it was obscured by clouds.

July 15, 1851 - Father was quite angry

Tuesday 15th (July)
A little before two-oclock Mr P sent Thomas to awaken me. …?..James. And after I dressed myself, went down stairs to make a cup of coffee. About ½ 3, the omnibus drove up, and I went to the door, but John was not there. Father of course would not let me go. So I took off my things, and in about 1 hour and a ¼ another came stating that John was at the depot. Father was quite angry, and sent word back, that he did not permit his daughter to meet any gentleman at the ..?.. when they were too impolite to come for her. So I put off going until Father should go up, which will be Friday or Monday. I did not believe one who had made such professions of friendship would thus slight me. But I will have to content myself at home. Well evening has come, and we all assembled around the bed of the sick one, Mr Hazelton is sitting up with Mr Printiss, and I do not know where we are to sleep. Father is to sleep on the trunk, and the rest of us are to sleep, where we can. I wrote a note to ..?.. to night.
It is surprising that Father would even consider allowing his daughter to travel to Piqua with a young man. It is even more surprising that the young man, John Jordan, would be so rude as to not call for Serena to escort her to the depot. Father puts his foot down, and Serena feels slighted by John’s lack of consideration.
Mr. Prentiss has been ill for several days. He is staying with Serena’s family, which requires some rearrangement of sleeping accommodations.

July 6, 1851 - I asked Mr. Printiss his meaning of Precocious

Sunday 6^th (July)

Quite an unpleasant morning. I did not go to Sunday school and in fact did not go out all day. In the morning father and Mr Printiss went to the country and did not return until 7 in the evening. In the afternoon William Spooner but was very cool towards Celly (?) and me. In the evening William Lewis preached his trial sermon but none of us went to hear him. Mr Printiss Caroline and I cleared away the table and washed the dishes, but had no dishcloth or towel. Before retiring, I asked Mr Printiss his meaning of Precocious, he said forward, which so shocked me that I was quite vexed, and he also was angry, and I have not seen him since.

The dishcloths and towels must have all been sent away with the laundry. Serena’s family may send their laundry out because Serena never mentions needing to do it herself during the periods when they have no servants.

When laundry is done at home, it is usually takes most of the day on Monday. This is the traditional wash day because there should be enough leftovers from Sunday dinner so that the housewife would not need to cook a full meal in addition to doing the laundry. The dirtiest items are soaked in lye or caustic soda and then boiled in a large pot. They are agitated by hand-operated wooden “peg dolly” or rubbed over a ridged washboard. Lighter articles are washed in a tub of lukewarm or cool water. Stains are removed by using Fuller’s earth (a type of clay), lemon juice, onion juice, or even urine. Linen is bleached by soaking it in urine, which contains ammonia. On sunny days linens can be bleached by laying them out in the sunshine. Men’s shirts and collars are starched stiff as boards. After the laundry is rinsed, it must be hung to dry. It must first be wrung as much as possible to minimize the drying time. Hand-cranked wringing machines are available in the nineteenth century. Laundry is hung on lines in the yard (or possibly hedges and bushes) or racks in the kitchen. Finally, ironing is done using flatirons heated on the kitchen range or box irons filled with hot charcoal. There are a multitude of special tools used to iron ruffles and frills (Seymour 278-287).

William Lewis is Serena’s cousin, the son of Uncle Samuel and Aunt Charlotte.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the definition of the word “precocious” is:

Of a person (now esp. a child): prematurely developed or showing an unusual degree of advancement in some faculty, ability, or proclivity; (hence, of attributes, behaviour, etc.) indicative of such development. Now freq. mildly derogatory, with connotations of overconfidence, self-assertiveness, or pretension.

 

 

July 4, 1851 - Every one is out trying to Hunt the Fourth

Friday 4^th (July)

A memoral day, every one is out trying to Hunt the fourth, and many I trust will find him, some in the grog shop, others at balls and some like myself will find him in the kitchen. We did all the work as usual and in the afternoon Libbie, Thomas, and I went out to the farm. Spent a very pleasant day in the hay field, lying on the new mown hay. Got a lecture from Cousin Joe Nye and returned home. Had many fireworks of every description. A little past 9 went down to get some ice cream and such a time. After we came home, sat on the steps a while when father called us in to look at the fireworks from Sterritts, after which we retired.

The farm may have been in Maineville, Warren County, Ohio. According to the 1860 Federal Census, Joseph T. Nye lived there with R. T. Nye, H. Wilson and Sidney Stacy. Perhaps he was not happy to have the young people trampling his freshly mown hay. Joseph Nye’s wife is Serena’s aunt. Roxanna Tolman Nye was the widow of Timothy Wilson. She is the mother of Lewis, James, and Henry Wilson, as well as Abigail and Samuel Nye (Spooner 178-180).

 

Ice cream is included in the list of products prepared by confectioners (Parkinson). Williams’ Cincinnati Directory and Business Advertiser, for 1850-51 lists more than forty confectioners in Cincinnati. They are scattered along the main streets throughout the area between the Ohio River and Ninth Street. Serena has previously mentioned going to Bakers for ice cream. There is a grocery operated by Charles F. Baker, located at the northeast corner of Seventh and Elm. Perhaps he also sells ice cream. This ice cream would be made using natural ice cut from frozen lakes and rivers, insulated with hay in ice houses, and delivered by ice dealers. There are no freezers to store the ice cream; it must be eaten soon after it is prepared.

July 3, 1851 - Taking a ride to the Cemetery

Thursday 3^rd (July)

Rose rather late got breakfast, and then sat down to wait for the girl but finding she did not come, Libbie and I again ..?.. stations in the kitchen. Did all the work and after dinner Thomas proposed taking a ride to the Cemetary. He and Libbie and Caroline went with Albert but as I was very tired and did not get ready in time I did not go. We still have no girl. We thought Mr Printiss was going to stay out to the farm all night but who should knock at the door but him.

The family has been without a maid since Bridget left on Saturday. Libby and Serena must do all the housework until they can hire a new maid.

Churchyard cemeteries are becoming crowded in the mid-nineteenth century. Public rural cemeteries are now desirable. Mount Auburn in Boston, Pere la Chaise in Paris, and Laurel Hill in Philadelphia are examples of this new type of cemetery. They feature landscaping, many types of trees and flowers, statues, monuments, columns, stone vaults, and winding lanes. Spring Grove was consecrated in 1845 on about 166 acres four miles from Cincinnati. It has become one of the most beautifully landscaped areas in the city (Green, and Bennett 40).

Serena’s grandparents, Samuel and Abigail Tolman Lewis, and her mother, Serena Rose Lewis, were originally buried at the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1846 they were moved to a family vault in Spring Grove. The vault is topped with a stone lighthouse, perhaps in memory of Samuel Lewis’s seafaring days.