2000
–2018
These pages are
part of the Schuyler co., NY Genweb page.
2000
–2018
These pages are
part of the Schuyler co., NY Genweb page.
Not for commercial use without permission of the author/owner.
*#
THE DIARY OF DANIEL HOWARD
written 1812 - 1814
*
Contributed and typed by Helena Howard of Schuyler co., NY
*
Notes from Helena Howard:
Daniel Howard was born in 1781 (possibly in New Hampshire) of
English descent. He came to Reading, NY in 1812. This
diary written 1812 - 1814 was very fragile, some pages were so faded
it was impossible to read. It was made up of pages held
together by very thin leather strips. I have done my best to
read this and get what I can in print for safe keeping. Of
course some pages may have been lost entirely. I have typed
each page as a paragraph hoping to keep it in the correct order.
I believe Daniel Howard was a brother of
Joseph Howard Sr. who was born in New Hampshire. As the family
story says "Joseph Sr., with his brother and grown sons, came
west"...but Joseph Sr. became ill and stayed in Howard, New York
while the rest went on to the shores of Seneca Lake. Joseph Sr.
died in Howard, NY and is buried there. Daniel & Joe Jr.
were both in the militia in Vermont and in Schuyler co., evident from
the diary...and in Marlboro, N H there is a monument with all the
right names on it but I've not been unable to prove they were ours.
It was in 1814 that Daniel Howard went to
Vermont and he told that it was 2 years since they came to "the
wilderness". He lived next door to Joe Jr. - their
plots were long and narrow
reaching from what is now Route 14
and bordering Seneca Lake.
Daniel Howard
died in 1814 & is buried at Rock Stream. Other family
members may be buried near him, but their is no evidence of this
now. While living in Sandgate, Vermont Daniel was the
administrator for the estate of Christian Hill, wife of Levi, and
mother of the Christian Hill Howard born in 1793.
Joseph Howard Jr. survived the fever, and he moved to Irelandville.
His home was on a now abandoned road on the west end of what is The
Howard Homestead. He dropped dead while doing chores on
Christmas Eve 1873. According to his Bible he married Christian
Hill 1 Nov 1813, in Reading...they had 7 sons and 3 daughters.
Abner (that visited Daniel) must be
related, but the connection is unknown. The names Daniel, Abner
and Andrew appear in every generation. Joseph Jr. named his
first son Abner.
[It seems that Daniel Howard journeyed to Vermont in 1814
from Reading, NY, leaving on the 19th of January and getting home on
the 19th of February 1814.]
Daniel Howard Diary
Reading, JANUARY 7 - ------- I went down to CHASES and --- Sunday some snow not cold. 4th cold, 5th cold I went to FULKERSONS. 6th cold flurries of snow sat out 3 apple trees. 7th cold snow all day ----. cold and cloudy----- rainy and cold. 10th cold & clear in the morning. 11th clear. 12 snow 13-cold 14cold 15cold 16 warm 17 warm 18 snow cold 19 warm I started to Vermont and stayed at HAWES Tavern in Ulyses 19 snow stayed at OTIS Tavern in Truxton 20 at Whitestown Tavern in Sherburn 21 at Johnstown 22 at Saratoga 23 arrived at Sandgate VT snow & rain 24 Keane 25 Snow at night I stayed at Beebees 26 Stayed at Beebes 27 at Henry BEEBE very cold 28 I went to Punt Hollow-and Sansford- at H Beebes at HILLS ------(damimay?) Youngs at RANDALLS 30 at very cold snow at D GRAYS 31 at Grays
FEBRUARY 1st started from GRAYS to cross the mountain and stayed at Deacon WITTMORE snow at night and 2nd day snow in the morning, blows all night 3 at Winchester at Winchester snow 4th Townshend 5th at Grays 6th pleasant at David HURDS 7 Sunday at David Hurd, Randall 8 at RANDALLS 9th at Randall to Salina 10 at Capt SANDFORD 11 at Beebes 12 started home and went to REID 13 at --white in GRAYS very cold 14 cold stayed Friday in COWNAGA 15 cold stayed at--- ten miles from Utica 16 cold no conajenago Hollow? ? at HAMMOTH at Cauta [Cayuta] 19 Got home 20 cold 21 went to Joel JOHNSONS snow 22 warm 23 very warm went to cutting logs 24 to mill 25 very warm 26 snow cold drawing logs 27 cold drawing logs 28 Sunday very warm S wind.
MARCH 1st warm 2 cold I went to town
meeting 3 snow & cold S wind 4 cold clear
5 cold cloudy 6 severe cold 7
cold cloudy snow we went to funeral at CRONKITES 8 cloudy
& snow I went to Judge DOWS to (court?) on Willis Van--OVER and I
took a summons for JOHNSON (chair?) 9 cold 10
cold 11 cold I started to go to Col MENDEN stayed at
SMITHS 12 Col at olds 13 at OLDS 14
started 15 at home 16 snow in the morning
frosty is change in weather 17 rained very hard I went to
BENNETTS 18 warm thaw 19 warm 20 warm 21 cold
the snow almost gone 22 cold & clear 23 clear
24 cold 25 cold 26 warm I went to smithy 27
warm cloudy 28 warm rain in the morning 29 warm 30
clear & warm 31 warm.
APRIL 1 warm rain
I went to PHILIPS vandue 2 warm rain 3 clear cold a
frost in the morning 4 rainy and cold
APRIL 5, 1813 clear & warm 6 do 7 do
8 do hewed timber 9 do 10 do 11 do 12 cloudy
south wind all day 13 rainy wind 14 warm 15
rain 16 cold clear 17 warm 18 I went to Tom HURDS
mill------ day warm 19 warm I went to J DOWS & got out an
execution as/us (versus?) Johnson CHASE 20 warm rain -----
21 warm and rain 22 warm cleared all day 23 rain
and warm (lbuit?) 24 clear warm grass grows very
fast 25 Sunday clear & cool 26 clear and warm
27 warm went to election 28 clear and warm
29 rained a little 30 rained
MAY 1st
cloudy I went to the head of the lake a fishing and sawed flax
2 Sunday cool 3 I back plowed 4
warm rain sowed oats 5 rain dragged in oats 6
rained 7 cloudy plowed for corn ----- we helped
raise his house 9 rained very fast Sunday 10 cold
and cloudy.
[MAY] 11 cool 12 cool clear 13 cool
14 cold and cloudy 15 clear and cool I raised my
house 16 clear and cold - Sunday - 17 clear 18 clear
warm 19 clear warm 20 clear warm 21 clearn
warm 22 I planted corn clear warm day 23
clear warm and dry Sunday a shower 24
Rain 25 clear 26 rain very fast I went to Big Stream
Point after cord and got up to SMITHS Point 27 got the
board home 28 rained 29 rained 30
Sunday rained and is very wet 31 clear and cold.
JUNE
1st clear warm I went to Mr WAIT vandue 2
clear and warm 3rd clear warm 4 clear warm
dry weather 5 clear warm I was summoned on a jury
of Inquest on the body of Aaron SMOND (SNOW?) found dead
near the dwelling house of John DAVIS in Reading 6
Sunday warm and ____? 7 showers 8 rain
9 clear warm 10 rain all day 11 rain in the
morning 12 clear 13 warm and clear Sunday 14
warm 15 warm showers 16 warm showers
very hot 17 warm and clear 18 clear I worked at the
road 19 rained.
JUNE 20 Sunday very hot showers 21
some showers in the morning 22 clear 23 showers in
fore part of day 24 very hot 25 hot
dry 26 hot 27 Sunday 28 hot a very hard
shower 29 showers in the morning Hot 30
rain (fadel?) ----
JULY first on Thursday
rain (fadel?) 3 clear and warm
4th
Sunday warm & showers 5 clear and
pleasant 6 showers in the morning 7 clear
th---- covered my house 8 rain 9 rain
- clear and cool 11 Sunday clear 12
rain 13 do 14 I sowed buckwheat 15 do and it
rained 16 rain 17 clear I slept a while outside and
watched (with Simon?)- at night. 18 Sunday
rain 19 pleasant 20 a shower 21 pleasant 22
clear warm 23 rain I got new wheat ground had 40 wt of
flour out of a bushel 24 showery 25 Sunday
clear 26th good harvest day I (kept?)---my grain 27
a shower in the afternoon 28 cloudy 29 good
day 30 showers 31 hot and clear I finished
drawing in my grain.
Sunday NOVEMBER 14th (1813) very cold 15
cold the ground froze hard 16 not very cold 17 cloudy
19 snow and rainy 20 clear and warm 21 do
22 do 23 do 24 rain all day 25
cold 26 cold 27 cold 28 Sunday
cloudy 29 clear and cold 30 south wind
cold
Dec first cold 2 do 3
very cold 4 cold 5 Sunday cloudy and some
rain at night 6 cold 7 do 8 snow
about 6in deep 9 snow ao cloudy and cold
11 cloudy I went after brick over the lake 12
brought them over the lake 13 sunday clear and
cold I went to Simeon J HURD with a shay 14 cold
15 clear and cold 16 it began to thaw 17 warm
18 warm 19 sunday some snow and cold 20 Fort
Niagara taken by British 21 cold 22 do 23
cold 24 cold 26 I started on the alarm
and went on 11 mile creek 26 Got to SMITHS in Leroy
27 started to Clarence 28 do on 29
from the head of Seneca Lake to Ithaca to Junius to Dryden
30
The battle was fought at Buffalo and the place burnt by the British
31 I went to the 11 mile creek and the people were all
moving away.
Jan first 1814 - I started from Mr. HILLS in
Clarence to come home and came to SMITHS in Leroy and stayed there
until the 5th and started home 6 stayed at (Syuand?)
7 went to Job WOODS in Honeye and left 2 notes with Wm BAKER
Esq to collect 8 got home 9 cold I
drawed wood 10 Sunday cold 11 cold 12
cold and dry 13 cold 14 cold
Joseph started for Vermont I thrashed oats 15
cloudy and began to snow 16 ---Sunday snow all day
17 cold and cloudy 18 cold I went over the
lake and carried some rye and killed a buck 19 some
snow cold 20 cold 21 cold 22 cloudy and cold
23 cold Sunday
(1814) JANUARY 24 cold 25 do 26
snow 27 David HURD came here 28 Gregory was
at our house 29 cold 30 I went over the lake
Sunday 30 coldest this winter 31 went down
to RICHARDS
Feb 1st winds south begins to thaw
2 Major SMITH came to Reading 3 very cold 4
cold I went to the head of the lake with David Hurd and Major
Smith 5 cold 6 sunday Major started for
home 7 modeerate 8 pleasant 9
rain and snow 10 cold snow and froze 11
cold 12 cold I went over the lake to mill 13
Sunday cloudy and cold 14 snow it fell
8 inches in 3 hours 15 cold 16 Joseph
got home 16 snow 17 and 18 and 19
very warm 20 rain 21 warm and the snow was gone
almost 22 warm 23 warm Joseph HOWARD
began to keep house 24 rain went to mill 25
made troughs 26 do 27 Sunday I went to mill
28 cold made troughs
Mar 1st cold I went to
town meeting 2 cold 3 cold 4
cold 5 cold 6 Sunday it bagan to
moderate 7 warm I cut down old timber before John
ROBERTS door.
FEBRUARY (year ?) warming 9 cold 10
cold snow cold winds squalls 12 gravely
sunday very cold 14 dressed flax for John ROBERTS
15 cloudy and rain my wrist is hurt out of joint
16 cold 17 do 18 do 19
warm 20 warm Sunday is running fast 21
snow and cold I went to John WEEKS and to HURDS Corns.
22 cold 23 cold with some snow a shower
storm 24 snow 25 a draft was made of 5 men
and a sargeant 26 warm 27 Sunday warm
sap run fast we made 400 lbs of sugar 28 warm
29 snow gone 30 warm 31 warmer
MARCH
1st warm in the morning cold at night 2 cold 3
rain 4 rain 5 clear and warm the grass begins
to grow 6 warm 7 do 8 warm 9
warm 10 Sunday rain 11 rain 12
cold 13 cold sapp runs 14 I worked for
Dr ROBENSON snow 16 warm I took out my
potatoes
APRIL 17th Sunday warm and pleasant
18th cool I loged before John ROBERTS door 19 I
worked for -----hr. 20 cool I began to plow for
flax 21 warm 22 warm 23 cool
24 Sunday cold with some hail 25 warm
26 very hot 27 warm 28 clear and warm
29 I sowed flax seed 30 rain
MAY first
Sunday clear and cool I went to Ovid after
appletrees 2 rain and hail Abner HOWARD
came to Reading stayed 2 days 3 warm 4
warm 5 warm 6 do 7 do 8 cool
Sunday 9th warm 10 warm cloudy I began to plant
11 and 12 planted that hill before J ROBERTS door.
12 it began to rain rained sunny until the 15
which is Sunday and it is showery all day and cool 16
rain all day I went to Judah WEEKS
MAY 17th (1814) I plowed 18 warm 19
warm 20 sunny hot I finished planting corn 21 rain
22 sunday Cloudy and warm 23 I finished sowing oats
and Joseph was taken sick with the fever. 24 warm 25
very hot 26 do 27 cloudy and rain 28
Joseph very sick hot 29 hot 30th I
worked for Joseph 31 hot I was at Josephs (again?)
June 1st Hot and very good growing season 2
do 3 do 4 I planted potatoes 5
warm Sunday 6 do 7 I began to hoe corn
8 I howed corn ---? 9 do 10 I finished
howing 11 I plowed at Joseph' corn 12 warm
Sunday 13 warm we had a bee to plow buckwheat land for
Joseph 14 warm 15 rain 16 I went
to mill across the lake
17 JUNE 1814 ----- to come to Reading to the unknown
land so called 18 warm rain we finished plowing buckwheat
land 19th is Sunday cool it is 2 years this day since we came
to Reading 20 very hot dry weather 21 do I
was cutting fallow 22 do 23 a fine shower
24 clear 25 warm and clear 26 do 27
do 28 do we have our corn (thinned?)
2nd time fallow (burn?) 28 began to mow some
clear 29 dry weather 30 do
July 1st
warm dry weather 2 do 3 some rain is sunny
we went to Big Stream Point to meeting 4 (clear guard?) 5
do 6 very hot
JULY 7 Hot dry on the 4th day of July Fort Erie was
taken without the loss of a man and soon after there was a hard
fought at Chippewa. this month is a very dry month however it
----this season
On the 28 of July I rec a letter from Abner
AUGUST first good however ---- on the 6 day finished
drawing in wheat 7 is Sunday warm.
[Helena Howard]