Diary of H H Walters - 1882 Donated by and transcibed by Lori Craynor ************************************************************************ USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ************************************************************************ Jan 2, 1882 Monday Went to Albany and attended county court. Found that my title to our land was faulty and must be corrected before I could borrow money from the school fund. Rode on the cars as far as Evona and took the hack from there to Albany. Coming back, I walked to McCurry and took the cars for Stanberry. Feb 18 1882 Saturday Last day of fourteenth term of school. Had no visitors living in the district. Isaac Scarlott was present. Felt worn out and was only too glad to close a term that was taught under many disadvantages. March 1, 1882 Wednesday Made another trip to Albany in company with Wils Stockton. The irregularities in my land title having been corrected, I borrowed $400 00/100 of the county school fund at 10 % interest from date. April 19, 1882 Wednesday Laura Dell, our second baby, was born at 4-30 A. M. Weight 8 1/2 lbs. Both of our children are robust. May 22, 1882 Monday A very heavy frost during the night forming ice in troughs 1/8 of an inch in thickness. Hickory trees in the bottoms were ripped badly, the leaves and tender shoots being frozen. My tomatoes were nearly all destroyed, having out over a thousand at the time. No serious damage was done to farmers as the season was backward. ++++++++++++++++ Transcibers NOTE: Laura Dell was my great grandmother, named for her aunt Laura Ellen. Her middle name was Adel; her entire life she was known as "Dell". +++++++++++++++ July 4, 182 Tuesday As there was no celebration at Stanberry this year, I spent the day at work. Helped fix a crossing in the morning. Sept. 18 1882 Monday Commenced my fifteenth term of school two miles east of our place in what is known as the Morris or Cogdill district. Had an attendance of 20. Nov 13 1882 Monday My schoolhouse came very near burning down owing to loose stove pipe. As the platform of the flue was nearly destroyed, I was compelled to dismiss school. Edward, being up on a visit, had taken me to school that morning on his way home which he had also done on the first day of the term when up to visit before. Had a vacation of one week. Nov 30 1882 Thursday Thanksgiving day. Dismissed school for the day and took my family to town to Minnie's parents. Dec 7 1882 Thursday My schoolhouse came very near burning down a second time owing to the pipe settling. The platform was nearly destroyed and a second vacation was necessary. Both times the flames were fast spreading when discovered. Dec 23 1882 Saturday Made a trip to Albany on business. Rode to McCurry on the cars and walked to Albany. Coming home rode to Darlington, walked to McCurry and from there took the train to Stanberry. 1882 The winter of 1881-2 was very mild. I have noticed that every other winter is mild and others severe. My observations date back for 14 years. and I am beginning to make my calculations accordingly. The spring was very backward and late frosts did much damage to gardens. The season was cool and wet, just the opposite to that of last year. Many parts of the country as Iowa and Illinois where the drouth of the year previous had been so severe were now flooded so that crops were again nearly a failure. The Mississippi bottom was overflowed doing much damage. The stream in some places was over 75 miles wide. Nothing like this rise was remembered by the oldest pioneers. In Northwest Missouri, crops were fair, and in some parts were the best for years. Wheat was very good though in many bottoms it was ruined by the heavy floods during harvest. My success at gardening was indifferent owing to such an excess of rain. However, I had much to be grateful for as our health was good and we had plenty to live on. The fall proved dry and warm and farmers had no trouble in storing away their crops. During the summer, I had a well bored and a cave dug and as I did all of the work that I could myself, I was kept very busy. In September, I commenced teaching again and so had but little time for recreation during the year.