186

midst of a torrent of grief, and verily, we are not sorry she is gone. And now, smooth-faced June, we bid thee welcome, and trust thou wilt act more seemly than thy predecessor. Wear thy best smiles and let buoyant joy be enthroned upon thy brow.

6 o'clock P. M. It has been cool all day, temperature, 65o. Sun going down clear. No rain to-night I hope.

Tuesday, 2.--Clear and pleasant. At sunrise temperature 60o. Council convened. Transacted various matters, local affairs, etc. Authorized a call of a National Convention to remodel the government, and appointed Thursday next to communicate to the nation, through a committee, the contemplated call. Adjourned. Took tea at S. A.'s, then came home via Pharoah's Lodge.1

Wednesday, 3.--Dark and cloudy. More rain. Oh! June, June! truly, thou art going to follow the example of thy elder sister, May, whining, crying, weeping, sniveling, and nothing but showers of tears, tears. Shame, shame.

Thursday, 4.--Cloudy and cool, temperature 60o. Fire feels comfortable. Felicitatus.

Friday, 5.--Clear and cold. Temperature 60o. Remained cool all night. At 4 o'clock a heavy shower of rain fell. Planted in the field watermelons, muskmelons, cucumbers, and pumpkins. In the night it rain[ed] again. So we have it.

Saturday, 6.--Cloudy, dreary, and cold. Temperature 50o. The Mexican quasi war. Our frontier is all in commotion. Volunteers preparing and organizing, drilling and equipping themselves to "march over the hills and far away" to the Mexican frontier to reap laurels of renown. The worst of all is our government is in fault. We are ac-

1) The Masonic Lodge of the Wyandot Nation. This name seems not to have been real name of the Lodge. It had its meetings at the home of Matthew R. Walker. The meetings were informal and not regular communications. No Masonic labor was attempted.

187

tually the aggressors. This I deeply deplore. Received a letter from H. Barrett--all well.

Sunday, 7.--Clear and cool. Temperature 60o. Pleasant all day. Being unable to walk to meeting, went to town and spent part of the day with C. Graham. The city ice house empty, already, even before real warm weather has set in. It melted away, not being put up in the right way. What's to be done now? Drink Kaw water.

Monday, 8.--Clear and cool. Temperature 55o. A general "turnout" of the Wyandotts to-day on the roads, cutting down timber and clearing out as well as widening the road.

Wrote to-day in the agent's office. Came home. Taking the blue mass again. Sweet and delectable morsel! How pleasant art thou to the palate.

Tuesday, 9.--Clear and cool; temperature, 55o. Council to-day. Various, grave, and weighty matters to attend to to-day. 210 Senecas1 landed to-day from Cattaraugus, Tonawanda and Buffalo, destined to the great Osage River. Indicted C. B. G. for committing a burglary upon the ferry.

Wednesday, 10.--Clear; temperature, 55o. Pleasant today. Went to town. Saw Mr Guthrie on his way to Ohio, waiting for a boat. Wrote by him to Col. Goodin again. Visitors to-day; Mrs G. and H. Glad to see company.

Thursday, 11.--Nothing worth recording.

Friday, 12.--Cloudy and lowering. Prospect of rain.

Held a diplomatic interview with the emigrants, Senecas, from N. Y. Tauroome and Sarrahas being the orators on the occasion [on the part of the Wyandotts]. An eloquent response from an old Seneca Chief.

Saturday, 13.--Staid at Kansas waiting for the mail. News from the Mexican frontier. The American arms victorious.

1) These Senecas were on their way to the Cowskin River country, in the Indian Territory.

186

Sunday, 14.--Hiatus.

Saturday, 20.--A violent attack of the pleurisy confines me to the house for four days.

Sunday, 21.--Read all day and played the idle man.

Monday, 22.--Attended Council. No business of importance.

Tuesday, 23.--Worked in the garden and did some "pottering" about the house.

Wednesday, 24.--Staid at home; read all day; and worked some.

Thursday, 25.--Ditto; nothing strange.

Friday, 26.--Got our mail; but no interesting news from Washington.

Hiatus.

JULY, 1846.

Saturday, 4.--News that our bill had passed the Lower House.

Hiatus.

Tuesday, 7.--C. B. G. and Peter Buck arraigned for violently taking the ferry boat from her moorings in the absence of the ferryman; the former fined $5.00 and the latter $2.50.

Wednesday, 8.--Committee and Council met again.

Thursday, 9.--General Convention of the Nation at the Church, on the subject of the new government.

Friday, 10.--Staid at home. Did various sorts of work.

Saturday, 11.--Warm and sultry.

Sunday, 12.--Read and lounged. Warm day.

Monday, 13.--Did various sorts of work. Got some cash from Dr. Hewitt on the improvement bill, for present use.

Tuesday, 14.--Myself, wife, and Harriet went to Westport, and returned the next day.

Wednesday, 15.--Came home and found all well.

Thursday, 16.--Hoed my potatoes, and [did] other gar-

189

dening work. Heard to-day of yesterday's operations in the nominating Convention, thus 

James Washington vs. F. A. Hicks.1
Tauroomee vs. G. I. Clark.
William Walker vs. J. Walker.
H. Jacquis vs. Sarrahess.
J. W. Gray-Eyes vs. George Armstrong.

Making the Council, after the election, to consist of only four Councillors and a Presiding Chief.

Friday, 17.--Went to Westport and bought a horse at $45.00. How he may turn out I am unable to tell. He has some good marks about him--has a good walk and travels well; seven years old; chestnut sorrel.

Saturday, 18.--Came home with my horse.

Sunday, 19.--Girls went to the Delaware camp meeting.2

Monday, 20.--Went to the Delaware camp meeting and returned in the evening. Had a pleasant ride.

Tuesday, 21.--Council met; transacted a variety of business, and adjourned till next Tuesday.

Wednesday, 22.--Afflicted with the diarrhea caused by too vegetable a diet. Commenced raining at 7 o'clock and continued a steady rain till 11 o'clock at night.

Thursday, 23.--Clear and beautiful morning.

1) Francis A. Hicks was the son of John Hicks, who was the last of the hereditary Chiefs of the Wyandots. I have been unable to learn the Clan to which Francis A. Hicks belonged. His name was Tooh!-uoh-shah'- teh, the meaning of which is lost. He was born in 1800. He became Head Chief of the Wyandots. He belonged to the M. E. Church and opposed the division of the Church. He was married to Mrs. Matilda Driver, widow of Francis Driver, and one of the many Wyandot women famous in the tribe for intelligence, goodness of heart, and a consistent Christian life. She was a Wyandot only by adoption. Francis A. Hicks was buried in Huron Place Cemetery. The following is copied from the stone over his grave:

Francis A. Hicks
Died
Sept 1855
Aged 55 Yrs.

He was Head Chief at the time the Wyandots removed from Ohio.
2) The Delaware Camp-meeting ground was near the present village of White Church, Wyandotte County, Kansas.

190

Friday, 24.--Mr and Mrs Peerey,1 myself and wife went to Mr Graham's and spent the "arternoon," and supped heartily on a roast turkey, and came home well pleased and satisfied with our visit.

Saturday, 25.--Received a letter from Col. J. Goodin. My land cannot, as he says, command more than $5.50 or $6.00 per acre. Good time to sow turnips but [we] have no, seed. Alas! alas!

Sunday, 26.--Fine, warm, pleasant day. Thermometer 92o. W. Bowers called and spent a part of the day. Afflicted with something like the gastritis, from which I suffer much pain. At night, quite unwell.

Monday, 27.--Warm day. Feel but little better. Read and lounged.

Tuesday, 28.--Attended Council. Transacted various [matters of] business. Judgment against Joseph Big-Tree and Theo. Standinwater for $6.00 in favor of John LaSerge,2 for a canoe. Took supper at Hunter's. A pleasant party.

Wednesday, 29.--Warm; mercury 96o. Dissolved the W. I. S. C. and proceeded to wind up the institution by collecting the debts and settling off and paying the stockholders. Present: S. A., G. A., W. W.--3. Absent: C. B. G.

Thursday, 30.--Hot enough to turn an icicle into a redhot spike. Hunted [for] my horse, but could not find [it].

Friday, 31.--We had an awful windstorm or tornado; trees were thrown "helter skelter" in every direction, but no material damage was done.

AUGUST, 1846.

Saturday, 1.--Cloudy morning; prospect of rain. At 1 o'clock it cleared off and was warm all the afternoon. Spent

1) Governor Walker often writes this name Peery and sometimes Peerey. He was Methodist minister.
2) One of the Frenchmen who lived in the "bottoms."

191

the afternoon in company with the Rev. Mr Jordan, Dr. Hand; and W. Twyman1 called and stayed some time.

Sunday, 2.--Clear and warm day. Went up to see Dr. H., then called upon Mr Graham,2 thence home. Got no mail, so no news; too bad, too bad!

Monday, 3.--Warm. weather; 95o.

Tuesday, 4.--Attended Council; divorced Margaret Hill from her husband, Russell B. Hill. Appointed Sarrahess, Tauroomee, and George Armstrong a deputation to the Senecas, South. But their departure was postponed in consequence of hearing that a messenger was expected from the Senecas, inviting the Wyandotts to be present at the installation of the new Head Chief.3

Wednesday, 5.--Nothing Of interest. Warm, dry weather.

Thursday, 6.--Ditto. Meme chose.

Friday, 7.--Sowed some turnip seed in the garden. Mr and Mrs Peery and Martha went to the Shawnee Institution4 to hear Mr. Patton's Funeral Sermon on the death of Mrs Beryman. H. Jacquis and J. M. A. returned.

Saturday, 8.--Five of us assembled at the school house to clear off the ground by grubbing the hazel and alder brush, hauling away rotten logs and clearing away tree-tops thrown down by the tornado, and fixing seats for our approaching "green corn feast," and "barbecue."

In the evening I was attacked suddenly with a pleurisy.

Sunday, 9.--Took medicine. Nauseating doses.--Sick, --Sick.

1) Lived at Independence, Mo.
2) Charles Graham, the Agency blacksmith; was from Ohio. Often spoken of in these Journals as C. G.
3) These Senecas lived in the present Seneca Reserve in the Indian Territory, and were sometimes spoken of locally as the "Cowskin Senecas," because the Cowskin River is the principal river in the Reservation. They had lived on land adjoining that of the Wyandots in Ohio, which the Wyandots gave them. They belonged to the same great Indian family as the Wyandots and a close friendship existed between the two tribes at that time.
4) The Shawnee Mission near Westport, Mo., but in the "Indian Territory"; mission of the M. E. Church, South.

192

Monday, 10.--Feel better; and continued so all day.

Tuesday, 11.--[I have] taken a cold by going out in the night, without putting on my clothes, for the purpose of killing a polecat. I am much worse, suffering a great deal. Sent for Dr. Hand. In the evening he came; took a quart or more [of] blood. My respiration much improved. Passed a somewhat comfortable night.

Wednesday, 12.--Resumed my nauseating doses; the violence of the symptoms in some degree abating--feel weak and debilitated--no appetite. Afraid I shall not be able to attend the "Green Corn Feast" and "Barbecue" next Saturday.

Worse.

Five days, insensible.

Wednesday, 19.--Recovering slowly. A complete skeleton.

"Viola le commencement du fin."

I move about my room,

"Like some town hack that, spavin'd, old and blind,
Moves to the wheezing of his broken wind.

Hiatus.

SEPTEMBER, 1846.

"Let me think how time is gliding;
Soon the longest life departs,
Nothing human is abiding,
Save the love of humble hearts.
Love to God and to our neighbor,
Makes our present happiness;
Vain the wish, the care, the labor,
Earth's poor trifles to possess.

NOVEMBER, 1846.

Tuesday, 10.--Received a letter from Geo. Dickson., informing me that he had succeeded in purchasing from John Edmonson, his farm in Van Buren County, at six hundred dollars.

Hiatus.

193

Thursday, 12.--Sent $600. by M. R. Walker to pay Edmonson for his farm, and [to] get the deed recorded.

Hiatus.

Saturday, 28.--Inclosed to J. R. Rowand, Druggist in Philadelphia, $25.00, two ten dollar bills and one $5.00. The two tens on the State Bank of Missouri, and the five on the State Bank of Indiana.

Hiatus.

DECEMBER, 1846.

Wednesday, 16.--Pursuant to previous arrangements, the Delaware Chiefs assembled at the school house to Memorialize the President for the appointment of a Commissioner to shape the agreement between the Wyandotts and Delawares into the form of a Treaty so as [to] enable the President and Senate to ratify the same,--but in consequence of Major Cummins not arriving, it was postponed till Monday, 21st instant.1

Monday, 21.--Sarrahas took sick on Wednesday night, and [on] the Saturday following, at 7 o'clock P. M., he died of a hemorrhage from the lungs2

Thursday, 24.--Had a wedding at our house. George Armstrong was married to the widow Barnett. Company are Rev. E. T. Peery, James Washington, H. Jacquis, Silas Armstrong, J. M. Armstrong, Widow Charloe,3 Mrs Washington, and W. Bowen.

1) The agreement concerning the "Wyandot Purchase."
2) He died on the 18th. He was a good man, with a strong grasp of public questions; he was a fine orator. He is buried in Huron Place Cemetery. The inscription on the stone over his grave reads:

Matthew Sarrahess
died
Dec 18 1846
Aged 60 Yrs.

3) Margaret Charloe, was the sister of Henry Jacquis. She married ----- Charloe. Their children were: 1. John; 2. Hannah; 3. James T.; 4. Robert; 5. Nancy. Robert and Nancy died unmarried. James T. Charloe married Amelia Peacock. They had only one child, Lucy. she married John Winney, a Seneca, and she now lives in the

194

Friday, 25.--Spent my Christmas in Kansas and Westport.

Sunday, 27.--Set out for Harrisonville in company with Mr Munday to attend a negro sale.

1847.

JANUARY, 1847.

Friday, 1.--In Harrisonvillle I this day bought at public sale a female slave about 32 years of age, named "Dorcas." If I have erred in this act, may God in his infinite mercy forgive me, though I feel no condemnation for the act. I shall endeavor to come up fully to what was said by the auctioneer who sold her, who said, when it was announced that I was the purchaser, "Now Dorcas, you have a good and kind master."1

Hiatus.

Seneca Nation. John Charloe married ---- -----. Their children: 1. Jane C.; 2. Margaret. Jane Charloe married John Pipe. Margaret Charloe married Thomas Pipe. After the death of John Pipe, his widow married John Sarrahas. Hannah Charloe married John Barnett, Children: 1. James; 2. Eliza; 3. John Russel; 4. Louis; 5. William. John R., Louis, and William died unmarried. Eliza Barnett married Matthias Splitlog. James Barnett married Jane Tullis. Children: 1. Serena; 2. Martha M.; 3. Henry J.; 4. Silas A.; 5. Izetta. Silas A. died unmarried. Serena Barnett married Alfred Welsh. Martha M. Barnett married William Priestly. Henry J. Barnett married Mary C. Passmore. Izette Barnett married Oliver P. De Ronde. Henry J. Barnett and Mary C. Passmore had one son, William 0. Barnett. Mrs. De Ronde has adopted him.

1) The following is a copy of the Bill of Sale given him:

"Know all men by these Presents that we John W. Briscoe and Greenbury Parker administrators of the estate of John Gipson deceased have this day as such administrators for and in consideration of the sum of three hundred and eighty dollars the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged bargained sold and delivered unto William Walker one certain negro woman slave for life aged about thirty five years of moderately dark complexion called and named Dorcas of the property of said estate - to have and to hold said slave unto said William Walker his executors admrs. and assigns forever.

"And we said administrators as the legal Representatives of said decedent do hereby Warrant the title of said negro and that she is of sound mind and body and slave for life - in testimony Whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals (as such administrators) this 14 day of January A D 1847.

(Signed) "JOHN W. BRISCOE [SEAL]

"GREENBERRY PARKER [SEAL]

"Admrs. 

195

FEBRUARY, 1847.

Thursday, 4.--Wrote to [The] General Land Office inquiring what the "Cherokee Boy's "1 three-fourths of a section amounted to, and what amount would be deducted for expenses.

Hiatus.

Saturday, 20.--Having received J. C. Berryman's deed to-day, I paid E. T. Perry the balance due on the land, $497.45.

Hiatus.

Thursday, 25.--Wrote to James Dunwoodie, making him an offer for his slave "Ben." R. Gray Eyes was buried.

Miss Peach Blossom gave birth to a fine bull calf, [which I] named "Brutus."

Friday, 26.--Snowing, cloudy, and dark. Snowed all day; prospects of a cold night. Surely there has been a revolution on our terraqueous globe; the frigid zone is taking the place of the temperate.

Saturday, 27.--Weather about ditto. The "Amelia" steamboat came up; the first boat up this season.

Hiatus.

MARCH, 1847.

Tuesday, 2.--Held a session of the Council.

[Wednesday, 3.]--Council met again. Steamboat "John

1) The Cherokee Boy was Chief of the Wolf Clan of the Wyandots. His Wyandot name was Hah-rohn'-yooh. He signed the Treaty of September 17, 1818, by his mark, and his name is written "Horonu, or Cherokee Boy." On September 20, 1818, he signed another Treaty, and his name is there written "Aronne, or Cherokee Boy." In the treaty of September 29, 1817, is the following grant:

"To Horouu, or the Cherokee Boy, a Wyandot chief, a section of land to contain 640 acres, on the Sandusky river, to be laid off in a square form, and to include 1 is improvements."

It was concerning a part of the proceeds of the sale of this land that Governor Walker was writing to the Government.

The wife of the Cherokee Boy was a Delaware, but she had been adopted by the Wyandots, and into the Wolf Clan. Her Wyandot name was Yahn-yooh`-mehn'-tah. Their marriage was permitted because she was of foreign blood--a stranger. What their names signify I have not been able to learn.

196

J. Hardin" came up. Sent to the P. O. a letter to Gales Seaton requesting the "Nat. Int." to be sent to Westport on the same day [I wrote] to W. B. Thrall of the O., S. Journal1 to the same effect.

Thursday, 4.--This day Congress, the 29th Congress, scattered to the four winds of the earth. The members thereof [are] never to meet again.

Mrs. W. went to Randolph a shopping.

Friday, 5.--This day I am 46 years of age.

"Time, like an ever rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day." 2

Saturday, 6.--Paid Dr. Harlan his bill, at Kansas.

Sunday, 7.--Four inches [of] snow on the ground.

Monday, 8.--Cold all day. In the morning the thermometer stood 10o above zero. Boisterous weather.

Tuesday, 9.--Snowed last night. 12o above zero. Stock suffering. Steamboats stopped.

Wednesday, 10.--Cold, dreary weather; at night, snowing. Thermometer 20o.

Thursday, 11.--Weather moderated a little, but [still] cloudy and cheerless. Attended National Council at the Church. New laws enacted. Boundary Commissioners,3 S. A. and M. R. W., appointed; and John Gibson and J. W. Gray Eyes [appointed] Supervisors. Came home [at] 4 o'clock P. M.

Snowing--"storms after storms" succeed storms and snow storms, and storm all the time.

Friday, 12.--Snow storm, as usual. So we go, storm after storm.

1) Ohio State Journal.
2) His birthday almost always caused some such sentiment as this to be written in his Journal. There seems to have been ever present with him a full realization of the fleetness of time and the utter worthlessness of all worldly possessions in the hour of death.
3) To fix the western boundary of the "Purchase."

197

Oh, you hoary headed old scamp! hie you back to your frigid regions. What do you here in the Sunny South at this season of the year? Away with you, with your frosty beard and jingling icicles, no more to be seen till your allotted season.

Saturday, 13.--Clear for once, and prospect for a warm day. Adm's. sale of the chattels of the late Robert Gray Eyes,1 deceased. J. Walker bought the place at the appraisement. I bought nothing! Came home and read newspapers just got out of the P. 0. The papers, however, a "dog's age" old.

Sunday, 14.--Received a letter from my old friend and neighbor, A. Trager. Snowing, snowing, though not cold.

Staid at home all day. Dull, dull.

Monday, 15.--At daylight, 20 below zero! Sunrise,clear. Afternoon, cloudy and snowy. Sunset, snowing. Wind from the South.

Tuesday, 16.--Sunrise, 10o above zero. Clear. About to set out for Independence to attend a sale of Cohn & Black's house and lot, and to attend Court, and various other matters.

Wednesday, 17.--At Independence. Bought Cohn & Black's house and lot, $705.

Hiatus.

Friday, 26.--Came home with the mumps.

Saturday, 27.--Some better. Read all day. Took medicines.

Sunday, 28.--Read, wrote, etc.

Monday, 29.--Sent $705.00 to the Sheriff by C. Graham, being the price of my late purchase.

Tuesday, 30.--Mild and warm. Suffering from a severe cough. Amused with the company of Mr. Murfee from Independence, who staid all night.

Wednesday, 31.--Beautiful day, warm and pleasant.

1) Brother of John W. Gray-Eyes.

198

APRIL, 1847.

Thursday, 1.--All Fool's day, but a very pleasant one. Warm and mild. Wrote to J. R. Rowand informing him when I made the remittance of $25.00.

Friday, 2.--At 9 o'clock the girls made their appearance after an absence of over six months. They came home to spend their vacation.

Saturday, 3.--We both went to Kansas in company with Henry Jacquis and his team, and brought away our effects stored away in the warehouse, and at the same time acknowledged the execution of a deed before Justice Kaufman, and came home quite fatigued.

Nancy Washington died this morning.

Sunday, 4.--Fine, warm day. The funeral of Nancy Washington takes place to-day.

Monday, 5.--Beautiful weather.

Tuesday, 6.--Attended Council at J. Washington's. Transacted various [matters of] business, and adjourned to the first Tuesday in May next.

Wednesday, 7.--Rolled the logs in the woods pasture. In the evening our old and esteemed friend, Col. W. M. Chick,1 departed this life. Disease, Gastritis, Enteritis, and Pneumonia.

Thursday, 8.--We attended the funeral. There was a vast concourse of people at the burial.

Friday, 9.--Settled with Thomas Bowers for his work in the woods pasture. Paid him $23.40. Log- rolled all day for M. R. Walker. A hard day's work!!

Saturday, 10.--Working in the garden. Planted early potatoes, top onions; and sowed onion seed. Planted peas.

Sunday, 11.--Quarterly Meeting. Went to Church and heard a sermon from Mr. Stateler.

1) I do not know certainly whether he lived in the "Wyandot Purchase" or in the City of "Kansas"; probably in the latter.

199

Monday, 12.--Wrote to Col. Goodin, authorizing him to accept of Mr Saylor's offer for my land, one-third down and the remainder in two annual payments, without interest. Wrote to Col. Kirby on the Burlingame case. Hauled rails all day.

"Je suis fatigue cum une chevalle."

Mrs. Walker went to Westport to send by D. W. Simpson to New York for some silver plate.1 J. Walker returned to-day from St. Louis.

Hiatus.

Saturday, 17.--Planted our corn.

Sunday, 18.--Read, all day; kept close quarters.

Monday, 19.--Attending to hauling rails and stakes.

Tuesday, 20.--Employed D. Edgington and hand to build a garden and yard fence of paling, at 40c per panel.

Wednesday, 21.--Done and performed various [kinds of] work, such as fencing and the like.

Thursday, 22.--Done nothing, [it] being rather an unpleasant day. Opened a fresh barrel of sugar.

Friday, 23.--Rolled the logs in the new field.

Saturday, 24.--Frost this morning. Fine pleasant day. Hands split rails and stakes. Received a letter from Martha.

Sunday, 25.--Answered it [Martha's letter.] Read--staid at home. Had the Hermit's company a half an hour. Interesting colloquy.

Monday, 26.--Beautiful morning. Miss Monk gave birth to a fine heir. They are comfortably quartered in the Woods pasture. One more calf. Stock increasing. What shall I do? I will tear down my old pasture and build a new one. Tut, tut, that won't do. I will enlarge it--yes, that will do. Wrote to J. C. Jackson concerning a receipt given me by Col. Chick.

Hiatus.

1) The Wyandots always have their silver plate marked with a figure of the animal for which the Clan to which they belonged was named.

200

MAY, 1847.

Saturday, 1.--Received a letter from Mr Jackson informing me that he had received neither deed nor Col. Chick's receipt by Mr Wilson.

Hiatus.

Tuesday, 4.--Paid by M. R. Walker, the Kansas proprietors, $50.001 for a lot in said town. Council met; transacted various business. Sesssion [sic] lasted two days.

Hiatus.

Friday, 7.--Rained. Hunted a stone quarry.

Saturday, 8.--Attended the sale at the Council room, of the goods, chattels, and effects of Nofat, deceased. Bought nothing.

The company then proceeded to the ferry, hauled out and turned upside down the old flat boat, for repairs. G. A. and myself assorted our lumber.

Sunday, 9.--Read, wrote, etc., till 3 o'clock P. M. Then went to church and heard a sermon from Mr Parrott.

Monday, 10.--Tore down Piert's infamous chimney intending to put up a new and better one in place. Hired F. Wilson and R. Richardson for a month, each at $12.00. Rained in the evening.

Tuesday, 11.--Rainy morning. Rained until 2 o'clock. Wrote to Major Harvey a letter of enquiry about the reported removal of C. Graham. Received a letter from John Wheeler.

Wednesday, 12.--Sunrise. Thermometer at "freezing point." A severe white frost! Summoned to attend a Council at the Delaware meeting house to meet a deputation of Pawnees and other wild tribes, on tomorrow. Business unknown as yet.

Thursday, 13.--Attended the Council. The following tribes were represented, viz.: Wyandotts, Delawares, Shaw-

1) Some idea of the value of town lots in the City of Kansas in those days.

201

nees, Kickapoos, and Pawnees. Entered into a treaty of peace and amity. This is the first time in my life that I heard the Pawnee language spoken.1

Friday, 14.--Rained. Edgington and hands making shingles for the kitchen and smoke house. Hauling the hewed timber. To-day our Wyandott volunteers set out on board the "Amelia" for the seat of war.2

Saturday, 15.--Rained nearly all day. Hauled timber. At noon Edgington and hands left for home. Mrs W. went to Kansas. Got no mail. Evening, went out gunning for squirrels,--killed none. Wounded some and scared some terribly!

Sunday, 16.--Raining, cloudy, and tempestuous. Wrote to Col. Goodin under date [of] the 15th, inclosing him our deed to Mr. Saylor. Wrote to Dr. Boggs enclosing his note given to the proprietors of Kansas for a lot. Cloudy and a drizzling rain. Unsettled weather.

Monday, 17.--Cloudy and cold morning. F. Wilson went to Independence. Sent to the Clerk's office a deed for the certificate and County seal.

Castrated and marked eight pigs. A swallow fork in the right ear.

Tuesday, 18.--Warm and pleasant. Hauling our building timber. Broke our small wagon by Dick's carelessness. Stopped hauling. Waiting for Esau to return my big wagon. Bad luck. Brimstone, Sour Krout and Assafaetida.

Wednesday, 19.--Prepared the new field for the plough. Esau came with an apology for keeping my wagon, and promised to send it home to-morrow.

Thursday, 20.--Rained last night furiously. Set out fifty cabbage plants. Esau called and informed me that he had

1) It was determined at this meeting to convoke the tribes of the Northwestern Confederacy and rekindle the Council Fire in the West, so John W. Gray-Eyes told me. The Council was held in October of the following year.
2) The Mexican War.

Back to the top

Click here to continue

Back to the index