Wednesday, January 30, 2019

July Entries in the 1873 Diary of Ida Isadore Reynolds (1860-1946) of Acton, Maine; Future wife of John Jotham Shapleigh (1856-1923)


July entries in the 1873 diary of Ida Isadore Reynolds (1860-1946) of Acton, Maine.  Ida would marry John Jotham Shapleigh (1856-1923) in 1881.

Links to the months of April 1873 and June 1873 appear here and at the end of this post.

This diary is one of three known: 1873, 1874 and 1876.  If a reader knows of the existence of any other diaries of Ida, please contact me.

Shown below are images and transcriptions of the entries and a description of the people mentioned, in order of appearance, first time only.  Your comments noting errors and sharing information are requested.

See an overview post for a description of Ida's 1873, 1874 and 1876 diaries, which also contains combined alphabetical lists of surnames and people, with descriptive information where known.

Ida was the  daughter of Jonathan Prescott Reynolds (1820-1899) and Rachel E. (Tupper) Reynolds (1833-1923), who were natives of Maine and Nova Scotia, respectively.  

Other members of the Reynolds household, at times, were Ida's older brother Edward Everett Reynolds (1855-1945) and a Samuel/Sam/Sammy, presumably Ida's maternal cousin Samuel Muir Francis (1858-1928), son of Dr. Daniel Francis (1810-1867) and Christie Ann (Tupper) Francis (-1893).

In 1881 Ida married John Jotham Shapleigh (1856-1923), a native of Lebanon, Maine.  After the death of their son Ernest in 1882, they moved to Rochester, New Hampshire, where they had a daughter Doris, born in 1898.

As you can see from the images below, Ida's physical address in 1873 was Acton, Maine, but the family received the mail through the North Lebanon, Maine, Post Office.


J. P. Reynolds farm along the southern border of Acton, Maine; with Lebanon, Maine, to the south; from an 1872 map of Acton, Maine, held by the Digital Maine Repository

Following the images and transcriptions below is a list of the people mentioned, in order of appearance, only once, as some are mentioned multiple times.


Friday, June 27, 1873:  Fair. Made 8 vests.  Callers, [very faint] ___Zeke, Walter, Hiram. I went to ______ Mother went to the  ____ to C?---

 Saturday, June 28, 1873: Fair. baked. ___ made 4 vests.  Cherries ripe____[partly ?]

 Sunday June 29, 1873:  Fair. Read. Went to Enoch's to see John &. Sarah Hersom and baby.

 Monday, June 30, 1873:  Fair. Mother sent her  ___[wool over ?]  by George L. Prescott . ___ went to Clara's; she and Myra and Hattie here.

 Tuesday, July 1, 1873: Rainy. Broke our Needle to our Machine. Made 1 Vest could not do any more. I ironed.

 Wednesday, July 2, 1873:  Fair. Mother went to Great Falls. Mr. Fisk here. Paid him for 3 lessons, all I have taken. Went to Clara's. Hattie here.

Thursday, July 3, 1873:  Fair. Mother went to Enoch's. They___ here come here ___. Uncle John and Enoch here. ___ [Commenced ?] haying yesterday.

 Friday, July 4, 1873:  Fair. Visitors, Nell, Uncle John & Aunt Sarah Sherman here.  Callers, Mary & Enoch, Zeke, Carlos, Clara & Hattie;  went to Hattie's.

 Saturday, July 5, 1873:  Fair. Baked. Made 4 Vests.

 Sunday, July 6, 1873:  Fair. Read. Hattie here.

 Monday, July 7, 1873:  Sold our lamb __ [to ?] Bill. got 5 Doll [dollars ?], my one Fair. made 9 [or 4] vests.

 Tuesday, July 8, 1873:  Fair. Went to Clara's. Made 4 Vests

Wednesday, July 9, 1873:  Fair. Made 4 Vests.

 Thursday, July 10, 1873:  Fair. Made 4 vests. Lame ankle

 Friday, July 11, 1873:  Rainy. Made 5 Vests. Lame ankle.

 Saturday, July 12, 1873:  Fair. Went to Clara's. Made 3 Vests. Got home at 4 from Clara's.  Baked. loaded a load of hay. Lame ankle.

 Sunday, July 13, 1873:  Fair. Read. Mother ____  . Worse ankle.

 Monday, July 14, 1873:  Fair. Mother a very bad headache. Most made me an under waist. Washed.

Tuesday, July 15, 1873:  Fair. Went to Clara to learn my music lesson. Almost got it.

 Wednesday, July 16, 1873:  Fair. We have got 17 loads of hay in the barn.

 Thursday, July 17, 1873:  Fair. Went to Clara's to take my lesson of Mr. Fisk. 40 cts.

 Friday, July 18, 1873:  Rainy. Went to ___ [Odells ?], Mr. Hilton's and to Clara and Hattie's to stay all night. Sam went a-blueberrying.

 Saturday, July 19, 1873:  Rainy. Learned to hem on Machine. Mother cut a pattern from Nell's wine colored dress.

 Sunday, July 20, 1873:  Fair. Mother and Father went to Mr. Hilton's. Nell went home to the Junction. I went up there. Georgia; we came down.

Monday, July 21, 1873:  Fair. Washed.

 Tuesday, July 22, 1873:  Fair. Old Fisk came here and stayed to dinner. Supper and all night. got a qt. of raspberries. Went to Clara's. Ironed.

 Wednesday, July 23, 1873:  Fair. Went nowhere. Hemmed my ____

 Thursday, July 24, 1873:  Uncle Sawyer & Aunt Lucy came over. they and I went up to Clara's. Hattie up here. Went to Mary Sherman's.

 Friday, July 25, 1873:  Fair. Picked Peas and Beans. Finished my dress.

 Saturday, July 26, 1873:  Fair. Baked. Mother went to the Falls with Father. Hattie here, I down there.  They went ____[to see ?] Hannah Worster

 Sunday, July 27, 1873:  Rainy. Read. Father went to Aunt Martha's.

 Monday, July 28, 1873:  Fair. Clara here. We up to Clara's. ___ made 7 vests. Washed.

 Tuesday, July 29, 1873:  Showers. Went to Clara's to get my music lesson. Made [?] vests. Ironed. Baked.

 Wednesday, July 30, 1873:  Fair. Made 7 Vests.

 Thursday, July 31, 1873:  Fair. Read a very little; made 4 vests. Went to Clara's.  Orie got home. Everett has been (12) weeks in Eastman's Business College.

 Friday, August 1, 1873:  Showers. Made 4 Vests.  Hattie here and Georgia Hilton.

 People mentioned in order, first time, only. Readers are requested to provide more information.

If you have corrections to anything above or information to share on any of the people mentioned, please leave a comment or contact me directly.

Advance to August 1873 or return to  June 1873

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