fair. . . Adam Mowed the Little pasture before the Door & Stacked the oats.

Wednsd 13 [March 1751] fair. . .& aftern I Set out for midletown [from Hartford] & bot 2 qrts of Clover Seed for 40s of one Curtiss near the South Side of Wethersfield. . . Tuesd .26 fair.  in the foren I Sowed the oats att home.  7 Bushells & in the aftern I followed the Harrow & Sowed 2 Quarts of hay seed that I bot of Mr Curtice of Weathersfield Near Midletown uper houses.  Tuesd 2d [July] fair.  I was att home foren & aftern I was out to the Cornfield &c.  Raked ye Clover ye most of itt.  Natt Way Mowed itt ys day.

One of the biggest problems in understanding life in times past is our assumptions.  We all carry around mental pictures of objects and activities based on our experiences, which can include reading and watching videos.  Sometimes these assumptions are valid for earlier times, and sometimes not.

Take hay, for instance.  When I think of hay (before the modern rolled-in-plastic version) I think of large stacks dotted around large, open fields.  The grass that becomes the hay is all the same variety and has all grown to the same length.  The stacks will eventually be transported to barns and stowed in the haymow above the animals’ stalls, ready for use all winter.

The picture is all right, as far as it goes, but as usual the reality was more complex.  The diary entries above show that hay was sown in any available space, and that it was not always the long, straw-like grass we think of.  Both white and purple clover were used, as was grass and salt hay, or marsh hay.  And no one was going to hand weed all those acres of hay, which is why Hempstead notes when he pulled up yellow Blossomed Weeds in Smiths lot [June 1730].  St. John’s wort, or hypericum, is apparently harmful for cattle.  Most flowers and other weeds were just left to be mowed also.

Hay was stored wherever the animals were going to spend the winter, in haymows, sheds, fields, and sometimes (in pressed form) on vessels bound for the West Indies that carried horses.  In all cases except out in the fields it had to be completely dry before being stored, so that it did not spontaneously combust.  And just when you were trying to get your hay in (keeping your fingers crossed it didn’t rain—no weather forecasts), so were your neighbors, leading to a greater than usual shortage of available labor.

Actually, “keeping your fingers crossed” is another assumption.  Perhaps good Congregationalists of Hempstead’s day would have found that a pagan superstition.

Tuesd Mar .1.

Something that fascinates a good many people about Joshua Hempstead’s life is its variety.  One day he’s at court acting as someone’s lawyer, the next he may be surveying or working on the highways.  It’s very different from today’s specialization.

The month of March, 1736/7, gives a representative sample of this range of activities.  In that month, Hempstead:

•  attended two funerals, one for an infant grandchild
• worked for Madam Winthrop by making up accounts with a tenant and renewing that lease, and assisting in an arbitration involving tenants
• spent three days in Norwich at a court
• performed a marriage
• spent several days surveying commons and land taken for execution of a debt
• spent another several days engaged in agricultural work such as pruning apple trees, breaking dung, toppoling a fence, and gathering stones and making part of a wall
• paid the minister’s “rate,” or tax, for two towns where he owned property
• held a court of probates one day
• sold some land and wrote the deed of sale; purchased bass and sent money to Guilford to purchase flax
• shipped two horses to Long Island
• received news from London
• attended meeting every Sunday and recorded the publishments (announcements of marriage intentions)
• spent several days “at home,” with no further explanation.

What didn’t Hempstead do that month?  Well, he didn’t letter any gravestones, an activity that provided income now and then throughout his adult life.  He didn’t write a will for anyone.  He didn’t hold any justice of the peace courts at his house, although he did perform that marriage, also a justice function.  But overall this month gives a very good picture of the scope and variety of Hempstead’s life.

 

Winter, of course, was the ideal time to do survey work in the field. With the leaves off the trees, one’s sight line could be much improved. How Hempstead learned the art of surveying is not mentioned in the diary, but he does make reference in 1722 to buying a needle for the compass and the wire to make the surveyor’s chain, these being the two most important pieces of equipment necessary for the task. The chain is made up of 100 links and is equal to 4 rods of 16 ½ feet, for a total of 66 feet. Thus 80 chains would equal one mile. 

Of course there are other tools to measure lines and angles in the field, including stakes to mark the end of one chain and the beginning of the next as one surveys a line more the 66 feet in length, and poles to help provide a clear sight line where things are obscured by changes in elevation. People too were necessary, as this is a task which could not be performed alone; there need to be at least two other people to carry the chain while the surveyor stands at the compass to sight down the line. Hempstead usually notes in his diary the assistance of Joshua, his grandson, and sometimes Adam, his slave.

The piece of land being surveyed mentioned in this diary entry is one that Hempstead is familiar with. This is land in Stonington adjacent to Hempstead’s property which boundaries he needed to renegotiate and reestablish in 1720. Being able to measure land is not the only skill required in this process. As Pat Schaefer points out, “All of this activity needed judgment and negotiating ability as well as surveying skills. … there was much back and forth about the terms of ownership and the exact amounts of land involved.”

We have a copy of Geodaesia, the Art of Surveying, printed in London in 1783 in our collection. A researcher trained in surveying read it recently to see if she could identify some practices common to 18^th century surveyors. “Not much has changed,” was her judgment, well, that is before GPS.

[November 1756] Thursd 18 “fair. a publick Thanksgiving in this Colony.  I Set out in the morning with Joshua in order to go to Stonington purpusing to meeting att Groton but the ferry boat was gone over & Stayed there a great while and a small wind & Right against us that wee were Late & the ferrymans cellar being broke open ye last night & Sundrys Stole out I stopt to write a Warrant to Serch & by that means was too late for the meeting and wee went the Lower way to Stonington & Dined att Joshuas between 3 & 4. oe Clock & went to son miners & Lodged there.”

This Thanksgiving Day in Joshua’s 79^th year gives a new meaning to “over the river and through the woods” to a holiday meal with family.  It also points up a difference between Thanksgiving then and now.  The Connecticut colony, according to Joshua’s Diary, as well as the colonies of New York and Massachusetts, usually held a day of Thanksgiving in early November.  These days were “publishd” at the local meetinghouse a week or so in advance and most of Joshua’s entries regarding these special days simply read something similar to this: “Wedensd 16 fair. A Thanksgiving day Throughout ye Collony. Mr. ad. Pr. al d.”  (November 1715).

Thanksgiving was a day of prayer, not of feasting and football, although it is clear from the longer entry above, and others in the Diary that it was also a day to meet with family and/or friends and to dine together.  In fact, as Pat Schaefer notes in A Useful Friend, this gathering together of family to celebrate Thanksgiving may very well have been the expected custom. She points out a sad little entry by Joshua in 1732: “Thursd 9 Cloudy.  a publick Thanksgiving & ye most Malancholy that ever I had.  no Brother Sister or Child with me.”

May you all have a blessed and happy Thanksgiving and may you celebrate it with friends and family.

See an index all the Joshua Hempstead Blog postings.

Joshua writes quite frequently in his diary about the highways — there are more references to the highways then there are references to hay! Besides traveling on highways, amongst his jottings he describes laying out highways, measuring highways, the condition of highways, work at the highways and mending highways.  Of the 13 references to mending the highways more than half of them take place in October, so this too was a seasonal labor, an effort to fill in the ruts before the snows of winter began.

Those of us who live in New London today have been seeing a lot of work on the roads as well. The paving blocks shown here were exposed recently in front of the steps to where the Winthrop Mansion used to be (which is also where Winthrop School used to be). Though probably not dating back to Joshua’s time – he most frequently refers to using stones plowed up in his fields and sand for his repair work — these could have been ballast from a ship or cut locally.

Hempstead most frequently writes of mending the highway between his house and the bridge by Chapman’s. In this instance he is not speaking of working on a highway through Stephen’s room; he is using the word “Room” to mean “in place of” or “instead of.” All men were required to work on the roads. Like a tax, one had to work off a certain number of days on an annual basis. Here Hempstead and Adam fill in for Stephen working off a two-day assignment. But this requires some further study — in October of 1754 (when Hempstead would have been 77 years old) he writes, work at Mending the highway a while in adams Room while he went to Mill. One has to assume that Adam, Hempstead’s slave, would have been working on the highway in the first place to fulfill Hempstead’s obligation. [From the Oxford English Dictionary: "b. in one's room, in one's place, denoting substitution of one person or thing for another. (In early use with reference to offices or appointments.)"]

Add cooper to the list of jobs that Joshua took on during his life. The casks he’s finishing up at the beginning of this entry adds up to a considerable amount of labor. 1 bb signifies one barrel, a particular sized cask holding 31.5 gallons of liquid, the 5 hhds would be five hogsheads, the size of cask equal to two barrels, 1 Terse,or a tierce holds three barrels, and 1 Pipe, (you guessed it) holds 4 barrels (or two hogsheads). It takes a pretty large container to hold 126 gallons — multiply it out at approximately 8 pounds per gallon and we’re up to a half ton of liquid.

See an index all the Joshua Hempstead Blog postings.

Mond .7.  fair. I fetched a turn of aples fro Holmes’s Lot Ab & Moley. . .Saturd 12 fair. I was picking apples. wee Carted 1 Load to ye mill. . . .Tuesd 15 fair. I was at home all day. I finisht Riming my wheell. Jo Bent[Bennett] & Jno Mowed Rowin & Stackt Stalks. fryd 18 fair. I was about home. I mended highways for the Cart to go to fetch hay to the medows in the forn. aftern Raking hay at Mamacock 20 Cocks in R. Cs medow. Jo Bent & Jno Carted 1 Load from ye Medows & 1 from Mamacock. I help ye Latter my Steers & Horse. 

September meant preparations for winter were in full swing in New London. In 1724 Hempstead still had several of his children at home to help. Abigail was 12, Molly 8, and John 14. There were several other days that month of picking apples and taking them to the mill to be made into cider to store for the winter. Lacking modern refrigeration, the cider would go hard fairly quickly, and then eventually turn to vinegar. (There’s a reason besides efficacy for all those old household tips using vinegar.)

Animals were also provided for. Hay was once again being mowed and stacked. “Rowen” was the second, thinner growth of hay. (See blog titled “Tuesd the 4th”) Hempstead had hired Joseph Bennett the previous month to work for 40s p month, using him for agricultural labor like haying and setting up fence at ye old orchard &c at the farm in Stonington. That must have been a large orchard, since fencing, with at least three men working, took Monday through Saturday, and was not quite finished even then. Hempstead had also hired of Richard Christoprs his Salt Medow on August 24. Salt hay was not as nutritious as “English” hay, but there was a lot of it around New London.

 The whole month wasn’t spent in agricultural pursuits. The selectmen (of which Hempstead was one) took possession of the ferryhouse and rented it out to new operators. The governor, the Honorable Gurdon Saltonstall Esq. Died Suddenly with a fitt of the Appoplex on Sept. 20th, and was buried with full military honors the 22nd. And Hempstead ended the month on a satisfactory note. After several days at the Superior Court on various cases, he could say Wednsd 30 fair. I was at Court al day about geting Sister Mary Divorced & obtained it. Since Mary Plumb’s husband had deserted her at least fourteen years before, it was high time.

See an index all the Joshua Hempstead Blog postings.

Hurricane is a word that originated in the Caribbean in the 16th century as Spaniard and Portuguese explorers adopted the Taino word for a violent storm. It came to English directly from the Spanish. With the many connections between New London and the Caribbean it should not be surprising to see Joshua Hempstead using it to describe a violent storm with rain and wind. But he uses it here almost tentatively, perhaps just learning it himself. A couple of years later he actually uses the word hurricane incorrectly, on 12 March 1714/15, describing a storm with high winds and snow. With our modern weather forecasting those of us who live near the east coast are well aware of huricane season from June through November.

I have witnessed the withering of the leaves of trees Hempstead described. Sailing into Nantucket after a hurricane several years ago, I noticed that the leaves on all the trees had turned brown, looked like fall even though it was late August. I learned that it was the salt in the spray blown off the ocean by the wind that had caused this premature autumn.

Hempstead, who was trained as a boat builder, spent more than a month cutting timber and then working on board Capt. Hutton’s boat. On 11 September he writes, “finished almost.”  Then on the 12th, “wnt into Town to make up with Capt Hutton.” And again on the 14th, “I was in Town making up wth Capt Hutton.” On the 16th he writes, “I sold 4 lb hay to Capt Hutton and he hath not paid for itt.” (I suspect “lb” should rightfully be “ld,” shorthand for load.) On the 17th he records, “I was in Town in ye foren. Capt. Hutton Sayled for Barbados in ye aftern.” I expect Hempstead probably got paid for his hay first.

See an index all the Joshua Hempstead Blog postings.

We could use “a good hay day” right about now after two months of rainy summer weather; the wettest June and July since records have been kept by the National Weather Service. Of course that service didn’t exist for Joshua Hempstead, so the hay that Adam mowed on Tuesday got rained on on Wednesday (Adam was put to work hilling the corn on Wednesday probably due to the threat of rain). But good weather on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and the combined labor of four men, including two slaves, resulted in stacks of hay equaling four cart loads being put up. Interesting to note here that both Adam, Hempstead’s slave, and Mingo, a slave of one of his neighbors, were working alongside Hempstead and another white farmer, doing what appears to be undifferentiated work.

That Adam could be put to work on the farm fairly independently was important to the creation of Hempstead’s other entrepreneurial opportunities–such as carving a headstone for Mr. Christophers.

Pat Schaefer, author of A Useful Friend, is now involved in researching some of the departed residents of New London’s “Ancientest Burial Place” for our newsletter. You should look for these articles, perhaps she’ll tell us more of the Christophers’s family. But it is a rather amazing experience to read of Hempstead’s work on a grave stone in 1731 and to be able to go and see that stone.

Here lyes interred the body of Richard Christophers, Esq., an Assistant in the Colony of Connecticut and Judge of the County Court and Court of Probates in New London, who departed this life June 9th, 1726, in the 63d year of his age.

See an index all the Joshua Hempstead Blog postings.

A different view of the fourth of July, 40 years before it became known as Independence Day. Here we see some of Hempstead’s typical shorthand: foren, or fore-noon, for morning, and aftern for afternoon. The wife of Hempstead’s son Stephen, Sarah Holt Hempstead, was “delivered of a son,” Thomas, in 1738 who didn’t do as well as was hoped. A second son named Thomas is born in 1740.

Adam is Hempstead’s slave, whose work is recorded in the diary on a very regular basis. But in this case, Hempstead is recording something a bit more significant, the beginning of the hay mowing season. In 1728 Adam’s first mowing is recorded on 1 July; in 1732 on 10 July. In the seasonal realm of farm work this marks the beginning of one of the most labor intensive and all-summer-long tasks. A good mower would have been expected to mow about an acre of ground a day; and then there was the raking, putting the hay up into stacks, loading onto a cart, carting and then unloading and putting the hay up – although, at this early time the lack of large barns meant the hay was stacked in the field much longer.

To modern farmers this may seem like a late start, but when cutting hay with a scythe, one would wait until the grass was thick and heavy so that there could be a good cut and resistance against the blade. The first cutting of hay is always the rankest, has the largest quantity, but the lowest quality. The second cutting, later in the season, called the rowen, was lower in quantity but greater in food value. Of course, few farmers of the time would have used the phrase, “food value,” but they would certainly be able to know that the rowen was prefered by their livestock.

See an index all the Joshua Hempstead Blog postings.

Sund 31. Sacramt Day. Mr ad pr al day. Joseph Southmayd of Midle town & Abiah Douglass John Brooks & Sarah Lester pbullisht. Samll Leech & wife ownd ye Covnt & had their Child Baptizd Abigail.

 Mr Adams probably didn’t preach ALL day. This was Joshua’s shorthand to record that Mr Adams preached at both the morning service and the afternoon service.  Mr. Eliphalet Adams was pastor of the Congregational Church in New London from 1709 until 1753 when he died. An offer was made in 1724 to make him president of Yale College but the town voted in the negative their willingness to let him go — he was a town employee as the pastor of the church. This image is from a painting attributed to the “Pierpont Limner” and is matched by a painting of his wife Lydia. The paintings date from early in his ministry, perhaps as early as 1720, and may be some of the earliest paintings created in New London. The pictures hang in the Shaw Mansion.

Being “published” meant that their intention to marry was made known to the church and community. These two couples being recorded by Joshua as having their vows published may provide a family history clue that appears nowhere else. Similarly, the fact that Samuel Leech and his wife “owned the covenant,” and had their daughter Abigail baptised that day could provide an important connection for a future descendant of the family.

Owning the covenant, was not the same as joining the church. It was a step below that level of commitment. Owning the covenant allowed your children to be baptised, but did not allow you to take communion.

See an index all the Joshua Hempstead Blog postings.