Part of a year-long weekly series of excerpts from Ypsilanti teenager Allie McCullough's 1874 diary, from the last year of her life.You may remember that last week Allie was still not feeling quite well. She took the horses with her girlfriend Carrie and went to pick flowers, and made a rock garden. She skipped school and church last week.
May 29 Fri. It was so very warm in the afternoon that I could not go back to school. Put on as cool clothing as possible. Laid down, went to sleep about an hour. When I awoke the wind was blowing and it was raining. It stopped in time for Lyceum so I went. Was chairman and had some fun (Pinch Bugs).
May 30 Sat. Did quite a little work this morning. Carrie N. came down about three in the afternoon and we took the horses and went to Spencer's Woods for flowers. Had a jolly time. Got home about six o'clock and then went to work and made a rockery and put the vines and flowers in it.
May 31 Sun. Didn't go to church but stayed home all day. Had a very good paper to read.
June 1 Mon. Very cool today. Stayed up to school all noon. Had ever so much fun.
June 2 Tues. There is a show in town. It is show enough to see the people go by for it is upon this ground past our house. Came home from school, found a letter which surprised me very much. Went up to Aunt Lizzie's. Came home and Will insisted upon my going to the show, so I went and stayed to the concert.
[Will is Allie's four-years-older brother, and Marion is her sister, seven years older and a twin to Allie's other sister Mary; click on family tree below for larger image]:
June 3 Wed. Marion brought home her flowers today. They were very nice. Aunt Lizzie and Clara B. were here all the afternoon and stayed to tea. Carrie N. came down. Had a splendid time. She stayed and went up town to get my hat and lace for my cape. Did not go home until almost nine.
June 4 Thurs. Stayed this noon in the Library and Alfred Lucking and J. S. was there too and we had a splendid time. Never want a better time. Have written on my essay. Am afraid that it will not be very good.
June 5 Fri. Intended to go to the Lyceum at the Normal [EMU] and it commenced to rain very hard and did not slack p enough so that we could, so that we could not go. It is perfectly terrible and Will is out in every bit of it. I pity him. Got a letter from Ida tonight.
June 6 Sat. Fixed my shirt waists [blouses] this morning and did several other things. Went up to Carrie N.'s and stayed all the afternoon. Went down to Jennie Carson's and her babe is lovely. Went up town all over and then went to Miss Coe's for Mary and then went up town for her.
Nice to see she is feeling better this week and doesn't really write about being ill.
ReplyDeleteNice to know what a shirt waist means also. I've read that term before and tried to figure it out...
> "we took the horses and went to Spencer's Woods for flowers. "
ReplyDeleteDo we know where Spencer's Woods is?
Yep, a shirtwaist was like a woman's (daintier) version of man's shirt; like a modern-day woman's blouse, worn with a separate skirt (as opposed to a whole dress). Usually buttoning down the front.
ReplyDeleteTo confuse matters, just the term "waist" could refer to the bodice portion of a dress OR a separate blouse (shirtwaist).
Dear Mr. V.: I do not. But I bet I can find out. Something tells me it was just a local farmer named Spencer who had a big woodlot. Let me check my plat maps and see what I can find--I'm interested, too!
ReplyDeleteHm. Some more poking around with Google Books gave a likely name of Burke Spencer for the owner of the woods, or some member of his family; he's listed in the 1891 "Portrait and Biographical Album" (a facebook of its era)
ReplyDeletehttp://books.google.com/books?id=HVhfp1DVDDwC
as it says "His farm is not extensive, comprising only sixty acres of land".
There is also listed a Spencer Cemetary, now gone
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~miwashte/cemspencer.html
with more info at
http://www.dyanesdesktop.com/watson/cemeteries/spencer/spencer.html
saying (astonishingly)
"Spencer Cemetery is located at the north-east corner of Michigan Ave. and Spencer Lane in Ypsilanti Township, Washtenaw Co., MI. The last date of death marked in Spencer Cemetery was of Thebe Spencer in 1925.
Willow Run School Administration Buildings are now located on this corner."