Great-grandfather’s Diary — September 1883
Saturday, September 1, 1883 A. Hamilton and R. Westmorland were going to Nanaimo with Father, but cannot go on account of headwind. Father, R. Westmorland and R. Hamilton went to Nanaimo.
Monday, September 3 J. Goloworthey and J. Riley came on a pleasure trip and remained all night.
Tuesday, September 4 Clearing land by the spring.
Wednesday, September 5 R. Hamilton on the way home from Nanaimo.
Thursday, September 6 Gathering beans at the Spit.
Friday, September 7 Cutting wood. Raining. At home.
Sunday, September 9 Raining. At home.
Monday, September 10 J. Tippet called and brought me a letter from Father, who is in Nanaimo.
Tuesday, September 11 J. Hamilton and Mr. Orwin called. Mr. Orwin will stay and work for us with J. Hirst. Mr. Orwin is splitting rails for us.
Wednesday, September 12 Father returned from Nanaimo.
Thursday, September 13 Splitting rails.
Friday, September 14 Father went to Nanaimo to get the colt shod.
Saturday, September 15 Mr. Orwin splitting rails.
Sunday, September 16 J. and A. Hamilton called. Mr. and Mrs. Tippet and family called and we spent a pleasant day.
Monday, September 17 Chopping trees.
Tuesday, September 18 Wm. Crain is helping us to put up a fence at the bottom.
Wednesday, September 19 Cutting brush.
Thursday, September 20 Les. Lit. Jones called.
Friday, September 21 L. Jones called, returned home.
Saturday, September 22 Cleaning the land.
Sunday, September 23 Father and I went to the head of the way to meet M. Brandy and T. Price. Brought Wm. Inkman’s cattle? May went to R. Willes to let him know we have their cattle in. Father brought two calves from Wm. Inkman’s man.
Monday, September 24 Burning logs.
Tuesday, September 25 Hauling rails to fence the bottom.
Wednesday, September 26 Father and Mr. Orwin fencing.
Thursday, September 27 Father and I hauling rails.
Friday, September 28 Fencing and hauling rails.
Saturday, September 29 Fencing.
Sunday, September 30 Raining. At home.
Excerpt from My Great-Grandfather’s Diary 📖
I’m sharing excerpts from my Great-Grandfather’s diary. They may not always appear in chronological order, so please bear with me as I work through them.
He lived in Nanoose Bay, on Notch Hill, and his diary gives us a glimpse into our family’s life and history.
My Great-Great-Grandfather came from the Azores to Victoria in 1862. He later married my Songhees Great-Great-Grandmother in 1876, the same year the federal Indian Act was enacted.
The diary belonged to my Great-Grandfather. My Great-Aunt Mary eventually donated it to the Royal BC Museum. I was able to have it scanned into a PDF, and I’ve also been working from the handwritten cursive to create a hand-printed transcription so that we can actually read his words.
It feels pretty special to be able to bring these pages back into the family story, more than a century later.
More excerpts to come. ❤️
Transcription Note
Please note: These transcriptions may contain errors. I am working from handwritten cursive that is more than 140 years old, and some words, names and places are difficult to decipher. Where I’m uncertain, I’ve indicated it with [brackets] or a question mark rather than guessing.
I’m sharing these as a work in progress, and I’ll continue to correct and refine the transcriptions as I learn more.
No comments:
Post a Comment