The History Center on Main Street

61 North Main Street, Mansfield, Pennsylvania 16933

Community History & Genealogy


In Their Own Words - Diaries and Letters of our Ancestors
Diary & Ledger of Dwight Bliss - Table of Contents
Township: Charleston Township, Tioga County PA
Year: 1881-1891
Transcribed by Esther MAYS Harer 2005
Charleston Township Page
This collection includes eleven full years of diary notations and financial information for Dwight Bliss of Charleston Township. Not everyone is interested in Nineteenth Century farm economy. There's me and maybe three other people on the planet. However, do not overlook these pages. If nothing else is of interest to you, the last column, Memorandum, includes notation on countless deaths and other events in the area. It is at the far right and you'll need to use your scrolling bar to get over to it. Also the daily financial transactions give us great insight into the lives of people operating in a barter (trade) economic sytem. Don't pay too much attention to the prices. We'd need a Consumer Price Index to convert them to a 2005 equivalent to get significant comparative information from them. Many thanks to Esther for making this available to us. Back to Table of Contents
Diary of EVENTS, &c., FOR THE MONTH OF__April___ 1881            
Day of Week WEATHER Wind/Asp'cts Principal Occupation of the Day Sales Purchases Contracts Made & With Whom Cash Received Dollar/ Cents Cash Paid Out Dollars/ Cents  Bills Receivable  Dollar/cent  Bills Payable Dollar/ cents  Memoranda
1 Fri NW Snow  Went to J Evans 1-2 Snow is a foot deep            Fitting saw J Evens  0.25           
2 Sat Nor Cldy Clear  i am at home today                         
3 Sun Nor Clear  Went to fathers Broughton today                         
4 Mon Nor Clear  i am at home Eugene & Mary are here                        Eugene & Mary was here 
5 Tues NW Cldy  At home to work 1-2                         
6 Wed NW Cldy  Merve & i drawed wood 1-2 i split wood 1-2                    Merve Maconel  0.50   
7 Thur NW Cldy Clear  Merve & i sawed wood 1-2 Went to vilage 1-2  Pail of Butter  Grocery _?_ Goods 17 c    1 pail of butter  15.50 New York store For Goods  0.17      O Bullard for grocery  8.26   
8 Fri NE Clear  Worked in the Birch To work in the sap buch                         
9 Sat NE Clear  To work in the sap buch Fetched over 4 pails Surups                         
10 Sun North Clear  Gathered up the sap Went to Sunday school                         
11 Mon NE Clear  To work at the sap buch Fetched two buckets surup                         
12 Tues NE Snow Cldy  To work at the sp buch Fetched 3 pails of surup                        Snowed four inches 
13 Wed NE Snow Rain  i am at home Sorted potatoes 1-2                         
14 Thur North Clear  i am to work in the sap buch                         
15 Fri North Clear  To work in the sap buch        2 Deacon skins  1.00             Feched in 2 pails surep 
16 Sat North Clear  To work in the sap buch                        Feched in 2 pails surep 
17 Sun North Cldy  At home today doing chores  [CC Mathers 33 lbs of shugar      Cach paid out                 
18 Mon North Clear  Boiling Sap all day  [8 doz of Eggs at 15c-1.20  {CC Mathers 1 pair of overhols    [O Bullard groceryes  2.82             2 pail of surep 
19 Tues NE Clear  i went to the city of Wellsboro[  [O Bullard 20 of shugar  {For Diches and Grocery    [Roberts milk pans  1.50 C Mathers 1 pair paints  0.75           
20 Wed SE Cldy 1-2 Clear  Geathered my bucket Boiled Sap  {CC Mathers 129 lbs shugar  [W Roberts 12 milk pans    [CC Mathers for goods  7.66 O Bullard for Grocery  1.35  C.Mathers O Bullard  3.85 1.77      Geathered my buckets 
21Thur   Scoled my buckets put up a grist  (Mibraw 2Deacons 1.00  {CC Mathers 1 suit cloths    [GW Navel harness repairs  0.25             Maid this year shugar 440 
22 Fri NW Clear  Went to the viladge and grist mill    {O Bullard for grocerys    [P Lions Horseshoing  0.90             Got my horse shod by lion 
23 Sat NW Clear  Went to Mickles 1-2 Fited potatoes growing    {C Mickle 2 stone Boat plank    [West & Herington for seed wheat  9.83 RW Roberts for hardware  1.42  CC Mathers  4.60  W Roberts jack knife  0.75   
24 Sun S Clear  i am to home Went to meting            C Mickle Boat Plank  1.00          Father Broughton + wife was here 
25 Mon S Cldy  went to the vilage 1-2 drawed manure garden  O Bullard 5 dos of eggs 71  O Bullard Grocerys 32    [1 pail of butter eggs O Bullard  10.12 0.71 O Bullard for Grocery  0.40           
26 Tues S Rain Clear  i went over to fathers and maid Boat    N.Hide 5-e        N Hide bolts  0.05          Father + i made a stone boat 
27 Wed NW Cldy 1-2 Clear 1-2  i sowed my wheat and plowed my garden                        i sowed my wheat 
28 Thur NW Clear  Took my horse over to bills 1-2 Planted potatoes & made garden 1-2                        Planted A few potatoes 
29 Fri NW Cldy 1-2 Clear 1-2  At home today i planted potatoes & garden    JE Elliott for goods                     
30 Sat NW Clear  i am to home a Fixing fence            J Elliott for goods  0.65           
              27.33       Acount is Balenced    Balenced   
              17.21   23.00    10.82    2.26   
Diary of EVENTS, &c., FOR THE MONTH OF__May___ 1881            
Day of Week WEATHER Wind/Asp'cts Principal Occupation of the Day Sales Purchases Contracts Made & With Whom Cash Received Dollar/ Cents Cash Paid Out Dollars/ Cents  Bills Receivable  Dollar/cent  Bills Payable Dollar/ cents  Memoranda
Sun 1 SE Clear  i and the family went to Antrim all day                        We went up to George English 
Mon 2 S1-2NW1-2 Rain1-2 Clear1-2  i am at home Took the horse to bull        Wm Bliss    Wm Bliss on acount  0.75      H Housel for shoes  3.00   
Tues 3 N Clear E Clear 1-2  i am at home sewing oats 1-2  wm Bliss 3 lb of butter .75              Dew 15th May        Sowed 2_ of oats today 
Wed 4 East Clear  Sewing oats and draging C111  Dew the 15th              J Griff for hay  4.80      finished sowing 
Thur 5 South  At home sowing  j Griffen 800 __ hay 4.80  Mrs Rumsey for a bird 20__                     
Fri 6 SW Rain 1-2 Clear  Grass seed Went to the mill for lumber    224 ft lumber H Clark 134                H Clark for lumber  1.34   
Sat 7 NW Clear  i went to the city of Wellsboro  O Bullare 13 doz eggs 164  CC Mathers Goods & Grocerys 1418    C.C. Mathers on acount  4.64 CC Mathers Goods & grocery  14.14      Mrs Runsey for ___ ___  2.00   
Sun 8 SE  i am to home 1-2 went to the roundtop to meeting                         
Mon 9 South  i am at home moving the stove                        i moved the stove out 
Tues 10 South  At home to work a picking stone                         
Wed 11 SW South  i went over to bills and got the horse went to plowing                    W Housel on acount shoes  3.00   
Thur 12 SW Clear  i am to home a breaking up for corn            W housel on account shoes  3.00          plowing for corn 
Fri 13 SW Clear  i am at home a plowing for corn  H Kimball 1/2 ton of hay 6.00          Miss Rumsey on acount ___  2.00  H Kimbal for hay  6.00  J Evens fixing clock  0.50   
Sat 14 SW Rain Clear  Picking stone and dragging Corn around            W Cress 1 plow handle  0.50           
Sun 15 west Clear  i am to home today birt and all come            O Bullard for groceries  1.1/          Albert Tome + wife was here 
Mon 16 NE Rain  i am to home went over to father + cut potatoes    JS Bliss 1-2 bu of potatoes    O Bullard for butter eggs  8.00 1.07 CC Mathers for goods  0.40      J Bliss for potatoes  0.25  Turned out my cows for good 
Tues 17 NE Rain  i am to home 1-2 went to the village  O Bullard 11 dozen  Goods & grocery and hardware        W Roberts 1-2 dozen  0.75      W Roberts for panes  0.75  All of the week rained the most of the 
Wed 18 NE Rain Cloudy  i went up to Robesant at home a picking stones    Wm Robb 1 bu of potatoes        Wm Roob for 1 bu of potatoes  0.50          cold and rainey 
Thur 19 NW Rain Cldy  i am at home today at work tinker                         
Fri 20 NW Cldy Rain  i went up to Nate Mickles fence post  to ned ler for goods 36  N Mickley Fence post .50    Meet man for eggs  0.20 N. Mickle Fence post  0.50           
Sat 21 SW Rain  At home i went to the round top  Meet man 2 doz eggs  C Close for grocery 23        Close Housel Goods Shoemaking  0.43           
Sun 22 Clou Rain  At home today Sade folks was here                        Father Broughton + wife was here 
Mon 23 SE Clear  i am to home fitting corn ground                         
Tues 24 SE Clear  i and merv maconel planted corn            M Maconel for laber  1.00          Planted my corn today 
Wed 25 NE Clear  i am to home a doing my work    C. Close for grocery                    lindy English is here 
Thur 26 Clear  i helped WA Jones pick stones 1 day            Hering for feed  2.20  Labor W R Jones one day  0.75       
Fri 27 Clear  i sowed some ___ and took lindy home            C Strait Cardting here  0.25          Drove Star to Bull today 
Sat 28 Clear  i went to the village cultivated potatoes    O Bullard for grocery 80    O Bullard for butter  10.00 O Bullard for grocery  0.50           
Sun 29 Clear  my self a+C111nd family went down to broughton            Effie Henrd for cuboard  5.00          Went to the Deckeral__ 
Mon 30 Clear  i am home 1-2 i went to the village            Mrs Smith One hat  3.00          Set a h___ on __________
Tues 31 Clou  i am to home today a tinkering                This acount is balanced         
            Amount  23.91   35.35  Balanced  11.55  Balanced  8.57   
Diary of EVENTS, &c., FOR THE MONTH OF__June___ 1881            

Published On Tri-Counties Site On 01/23/2005
By Joyce M. Tice