Page 173 - 1852, James Ireland Writing?

Dec 9th 1852 James W Ireland and

William M Mansfield settled all

these accounts in fall and I owe

Mansfield for one days gathring

Corn and Mansfield is to bucher

hogs 1 day

to Frank husking corn 2 days to self 1 day . . . 1.87

to Mansfield hold Corn . . . 1.00

to Nate at Mcormicks sale 2.64 fo lag chare

to cash paid to winer for scholling . . . 1.33

Jack Smith Dr to 12 bush Con

at 28 cts per bushel . . . 3.36

to 2 hats . . . .87 1/2

to 1 pare shoes . . . 1.25

to 1 pair pants . . . .62 1/2

. . . = 6.11

Cr to Isaac working 21 1/2 day . . . 7.52

at 35 cts pr day

george Enis on Dr to balance due

on settlement oct 1853 . . . $11.42

5h May Cr to stocking shovelplow . . . .75

to one days Clearing . . . .75

to one 1/2 day in Clearing self s west . . . 0.75

Dr to 4 galons Molases . . . 2.00

Cr to stocking Cradle . . . 1.50

Dr to 1 Pair shoes . . . 1.25

to 1 pair boots for self . . . 2.00

Cr to waggon wheal . . . 1.00

to boys 1 day thrashing . . . .75

Dr to one day thrashing 2 horses . . . 1.50

to pare boots for charles . . . 2.00

Cr to boys husking Corn

3 days Each . . . 2.25

Cr to stocking shovelplows . . . 1.25

one to be paid by M Rooney at 75

Dr to 456 ft sheeting at rage . . . 9.12

24 x 12 = 48 +240 = 288 + 12 = 300

456 x 2 = 912 - 675 = 237

Page 13 - June 21, 1838 - Drawing Rails

June the Twentieth first 1838 13

Thu 21 it is clear this morning with the exception

of a little fog the sun rose clear and quite

pleasent it clouded up and had the appear

of rain but broke away and at sun

down it was clear and quite pleasent

some distent thundring I was all draw

rails to post in the yard with no more

Fri 22 the sun rose clear and quite pleasent

it has the appearance of a fine day

the wind is calm very much soe some

time in and through the day it cloude

up and had the appearance of rain

I made and set in post an rails all day

Sat 23 at day light it commenced thundrin

very hard and about six .O. clock it

commenced raining very hard and in

a few minuets it broke away and is

clear and quite pleasent in a few

minuets it began to cloud up and had

the appearance of rain about ten .O.

clock it raind in the south a very

heavy thundring and flashes of lightni

I went to Harveys Streaches and

at night went to meeting at Mr.

Mc creays I had some notion of going

Sun 24 it was some cloudy this morning at

nine .O. clock I went back to lovepeas

a fine day the wind blows cool and

pleasent I went back to Harveys

and got my dinner and then back

to four .O. clock meeting after meeting

I came back as far as William pier

ces and nd staid all night my expalcto

tionts dident turn up as I expected

they would but never mind that

Mon 25 we had a little Sprinke of rain this

morning wind west it broke away

the sun shoen out quite warm and

I plowed in the corn for the first time

Page 6 - May 16, 1838 - Planting Corn

May the 16 . 1838 Page 6

rain ahead with heavy thundring and

lightning the creeks are very high it

contiued raining some all night and was

at it in the morning the ground is very

wet at this time I have been furrowing

out ground for to plant corn so no more

Thu 17 this morning the sun shoen out dimley

six .O. clock the clouds looked broken a little

it drizzled a little about twelve .O. clock it

broke away and betwene two and three .O.

clock the sun shoen out and about four it

clouded up again and was quite cold and after

night it raind I was plowing till noon then

I planted corn for the first time ne

Fri 18 it is cloudy this morning and raind a little

about six .O. clock it broke away the sun

shoen out but it is very cool for the season

it is cold enough to snow about ten .O.

clock it turned some warmer at twelve O.

clock I am a plowing to day the ground is se

Sat 19 it is clear and very pleasent there is a little

frost this morning it has the appearance of more

fine weather I plowed all day oh dear mee

Sun 20 the sun rose clear this morning it is warm

and quite pleasent the wind west at this

time it is quite warm the wind is got roun

in the East I was about home all day

I wrote a letter to William Lucas to Day

Mon 21 it is a little cloudy this morning the wind

in the East at this time the sun rose

dimly it is quite warm at this time about

eight .O. clock it clouded up again and about

twelve .O. clock it began to rain lightly and

it continued to rain lightly till three .O. clock

then it broke away and the sun shoen out

dimly till seven .O. clock then it shoen out

clear I plowed and the rest planted I

am quite trimbley in my hands now sse

Journal of Harmon Lucas - Cover

The Journal of Harmon Lucas

The journal of Harmon Lucas measures some 170 millimeters wide by 395 millimeters in length and 17 millimeters thick. The pages are divided by vertical lines at intervals of, counting from the left, 29, 129 and 146 millimeters. There is a margin of 19 millimeters at the top of each page, followed by horizontal lines at regular intervals of 9 millimeters to the bottom of the page, for a total of 44 lines. The folios are folded in half to form quires of twenty pages and sewn together with cord. It is covered, front and back, in thick cardboard. There are 105 leaves surviving, in part or whole, for a total of 210 pages.

I first saw Harmon's journal in the weeks after my grandmother, Zula Lucas Harris, died in 1966. I can only guess how she came into possession of the book. I can safely assume she got it from her father, William Lucas. Before that all is conjecture. Zula died at the age of seventy and was born in Kokomo, Indiana. Zula had one older brother, Chester, and their mother was Rebecca Ridgeway Lucas, who came to Indiana from Tennessee. So they came from the right part of the country, but William could not have been a descendant of Harmon. Harmon had only two girl children, Mary and Jane, neither of whom carried on the Lucas name to any more children. Harmon was born on July 12, 1819, in Ohio, he died on February 26, 1846, in Tippicanoe County, and his widow, Maria, died in Jones County, Iowa 48 years later to the day. Harmon's parents were Benjamin Lucas and Mary Rogers, and he had several siblings. My best guess would be that the book came through Harmon's brother, Curtis, who in turn may have been William's father. I have not investigated my family history all that well. Anyone who wants to do the research for me is welcome. I know that the family, William, Rebecca, Chester, and Zula Lucas, moved to Riverside in Southern California around 1900, and were joined by some cousins who became railroad men and firefighters in Bakersfield, California. Many members of the Lucas family still reside near Lafayette, Indiana. Other descendents have dispersed around the globe, and I have brought Harmon's book from Southern California, through Nevada, to Oregon.

Harmon did not seem very concerned about spelling, punctuation was almost unknown, and he used capitals erratically. He often employed shorthand grammar, and he ended sentences abruptly at the edge of the paper. At the time that he bought and wrote in the book, he seems to have been motivated first by an effort to record the weather. Other observations crept in with time. Then he turned to recording his financial transactions, and working up ideas about the Methodist church. Later still the book became a child's playtoy and scratch pad, with scribbles and ripped pages. Some pages have been torn out entirely! Harmon probably had no idea he was leaving a record for posterity. Given that this is not a photo reproduction, I have still tried to preserve the general format and his idiosyncratic spelling.

The inside of the front cover has been used at various times, by various hands, in ink and pencil, to practice penmanship, to calculate sums, and to take notes. For the sake of completeness, the doodlings recorded there, from top to bottom, and left to right, somewhat resemble the following:

___________________________________________________

2035

900 + 900 + 500 + 500 + 700 + 500 = 4000 + 250 + 400 = 5050

300 + 2.800

John Graves wood act 15

Marshfield Postoffice by Thomas Green

125 + 60 = 185

Franklin Poseland

Franklin Joselanel

Mary Mary