Great Aunt Aida’s 1881 Diary

by Louise Smith Posted on May 12, 2010


Original scan of Aida’s 1881 diary.

In the summer of 2005, I raided my mom’s treasure chest of old photos and family memorabilia. In it was a small, about 2.75 inches wide and 4 inches long, diary that belonged to my great aunt Aida Austin. Great Aunt Aida was 19 years old when she started writing the diary in January.

In 2006, I published Aida Austin’s 1881 Diary. It included scans of each entry, and I typed up what I could read. My husband Gary, laid out the book and got it ready to print.

After working on The Mill on Halfway Brook, I now have a better understanding of who many of the people in Aida’s diary were. I recently met (via email) an Austin descendant that shared some photos of the people mentioned.

A second edition of Aida Austin’s 1881 Diary, complete with corrected info, old and new ‘old’ photos will soon be available.

Much of the Diary will be in book 2, Echo Hill and Mountain Grove, but Aida Austin’s 1881 Diary is also a stand alone book of daily life in Eldred and New York City, New York, in 1881.


The original scan of the outside of Aida’s diary opened up.

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May 14, 2010: Book Signing

by Louise Smith Posted on May 9, 2010

Friday May 14, 2010, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., I will be doing a book signing in Cave Creek, Arizona, at a shop called Western Delights. Cave Creek is in many ways the opposite of the area I wrote about in The Mill on Halfway Brook, as well as a good 2500 miles west, but I am a local author.

If you are in the area, please stop by and say hello and get a free book mark.

Ever your cousin,
Louise

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Do you know who I am?

by Louise Smith Posted on May 6, 2010

I am adding a new category with this post, in hopes one of Halfway Brook’s viewers might be able to identify some photos I have with no names.

Could this be Elizabeth Tether? Photo from cousin Melva.

The next two unidentified photos are from a friend Emily.

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Fanny Austin’s 1857 Letter from Halfeway Brook

by Louise Smith Posted on May 4, 2010

Page one of my great-great-grandmother Fanny Knapp Austin’s letter, courtesy of my cousin Melva. An Excerpt of the letter follows.

Halfeway Brook
January 11, 1857
Dear Children,

You must excuse my not writing sooner. I have been waiting for something pleasant to write but sicknefs and glome over spreads our Neighborhood. Our house had escaped untill yesterday, Henry was brought from Moscow very sick…had the Doctor. He pronounced it the Billous feavor, but he is better this morning. I feal in hopes it is a lite case. It is the prevaling eppidemic and the scarlet fevor. The Doctor says he has 40 patients down with them and many that will not recover. Continue reading →

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Chapter 8 Letters from a Soldier: Four Trees

by Louise Smith Posted on May 1, 2010


Trees on the Leavenworth Homestead. Photo: Gary Smith.

My great-great grandparents, Sherman B. and Charlotte Leavenworth, had four sons. Sherman S., Hezzie B., and Atwell B., were in the Civil War. Son John E. was too young to fight in the Civil War, but fought out West with Custer.

The story is told that a tree was planted for each of the Leavenworth sons that went to war. The tree would be cut down if the son did not come back from the war.

In the photo above, the trees on the right are said to be where the original four trees were planted. The two trees still there were for the two sons that lived—Sherman Stiles and John Ellis Leavenworth.

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U.S. Fractional Currency, Confederate money, Plantation Bank Ad

by Louise Smith Posted on April 30, 2010

United States Fractional Currency notes were issued by the U.S. Government during and after the U.S. Civil War due to the hoarding and shortage of coins in gold, silver, and copper in denominations of 3, 5, 10, 15, 25 and 50 cents. These notes were in use until 1876 and were redeemable by the U.S. Postal Office at face value in postage stamps. This is an 1874–1876, 10 cent Fractional Currency with an image of William Merideth, Secretary of the Treasury (1849-1850). Collection of M.B. Austin.

Confederate money in the collection of M.B. Austin.

A circa-1860s advertising note for Drake’s Plantation Bitters. From the collection of M.B. Austin.

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Aunt Sal

by Louise Smith Posted on April 22, 2010

Sherman S. Leavenworth talks about Aunt Sal in his Civil War Letters home. Whether she is an aunt, I do not know. She had a number of daughters and there is a Sarah (nickname is Sally) in the 1850 Lumberland and 1860 Highland Census.

In 1850, Abraham and Sarah Ingersol had four daughters. One daughter had died in 1849. Another daughter died in 1854.

In 1860, Abraham and Sarah Ingersol have seven daughters and a son. In The Mill on Halfway Brook, I had written up the names as 2 sons, but I have recent information that says there was only one son.

For history trivia folks, I will include some more information about the possible Aunt Sal forwarded to me by my cousin Cynthia.

In 1870, the Ingersol family was in LaSalle, Illinois. One daughter, a son, and possibly a nephew lived with Abraham and Sarah.

In 1880 Abraham was a widower and lived with his daughter Emma’s family in Pleasant Ridge, Livingston, Illinois. Sarah had died in 1873.

Sarah (Sally Ann) Ingersol’s maiden name was Swartout. She was the daughter of Geradus Swartout and Matilda Whitehead.

Abraham Ingersoll was the son of Alpheus Ingersol and Sibel Adams.

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Crazy Quilt from Chapter 5

by Louise Smith Posted on April 15, 2010

Chapter 5 is about my Austin family’s arrival in what is now Eldred, New York, and I included a black and white scan of an Austin crazy quilt coverlet that I have always loved and admired. I remember as a child admiring all the variety of stitches, the rose, the rose branch, the wheat with the golden threads, and the exquisite glove. Here are two colored images of sections of the small crazy quilt which is framed and hangs above my computer desk.

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