Diary of John Arch Collins

1916

January 1, 1916. I have been around the house all day, and Mr. Grose come this morning about 11 o'clock, and he and I hunted a while this morning, as I had to go over to Mr. J.M. Haithcox' to phone about the children coming home. So we hunted over there and back.

This house stood adjacent
to the store at Bell's
Crossroads and was the residence of
several of the store's proprietors.

Jan 3. I have been around the house and went to see Bert Parker to get him to come and help divide the land, and this evening we have been working on the tiny house.

Jan 4. This day I have been around the house doing first one thing and then another, as the men was here looking over the place, fixing to divide it, and I was with them this evening.

Jan 5. I have been around the house all day. Mr. and Mrs. Troutman and Grace's uncle and his wife from Washington was also with them, and Aunt Jettie Troutman was along.

Jan 6. Went to Statesville. Papa, Carrie, and Conway was along. We went to have, or start, a proceeding to have the land divided, and it was about night when I got home.

Jan 14. The men have been here dividing our place, and they got through about night. There was Mr. Henry Brown, Tom Smith, and Bert Parker, and of course, R.F. Rivers was there.

Feb 2, 1916. I have been at home all day, only I taken Nellie Blanche to and from school, as the day has been cold and rained steady nearly all day. It is Groundhog Day and the sun never shined.

Feb 3. I sawed at the mill for Papa. Sawed all day. Come home and went up to get Ann Sherrill to come wash for us.

Feb 12. This morning I drug the road. Hauled out some manure on the garden and fixed som of it for cabbage, and after noon I went up to Troutman and got some cabbage plants. Come back and set them out.

Feb 13. I worked around the house. Thrashed some beans, done some other work after noon, and I worked in the newground this evening.

Feb 14. Sunday. Stayed at home all day, as the day was cloudy and rained some...and Glen Grose has the buggy up home.

Feb 15. I worked in the newground until noon, and after noon I hauled some wood to the schoolhouse, and about the time I got home, Dr. Talley was here to examine me for life insurance.

Feb 17. I went over to Lydie Ervin's to take Mr. Ostwalt's wagon over there, to have an axle put in it, and then come and cut board blocks for Carrie Collins' house. Conway was helping me and George Putnam was making the boards.

Feb 23. I have been around the house this morning and went to the store after noon. I helped Papa haul logs, some large poplars.

Feb 24. I taken Nellie Blanche to school this morning and then taken the cream over to Carrie's, and went on to Lydie Ervin's shop, and this evening, I have been about the house.

Feb 26. Went to Statesville. Mr. Glen Grose went with me to get his tooth fixed. He went out with Flake Baity to his boarding place and never come home. I never got my business fixed up.

March 5, 1916. Sunday. Stayed at home all day. Mr. Grose and Nellie Blanche went to church this morning. After noon Roy and Bell and the children was over here.

Mar 6. This morning I went to the sawmill and stacked some lumber and hauled some logs. After noon I worked and put up some meat, and the life insurance agent was here this evneing, and I taken a policy for $2000.

Mar 7. This morning it rained and rained up to about noon. I was over at Papa's a little while this morning after a soap kit, and this evening I worked in the newground. Earl Lipe helped me. We sawed some logs.

Mar 8. Working in the newground, and Arthur Kennedy and Earl Lipe was helping me. We got along fine.

Mar 11. I worked in the newground till afternoon, when I went over to the mill and sawed a coupling pole, and after I got home I worked in the shop making some links for the log chain. Mr. Grose went to town today for his sister, Ruth, and they got here this evening.

Mar 13. I hauled logs all day. I got them out of the newground and taken them to the sawmill. Hazel went to school today for the first time.

Mar 16. Worked in the newground all day. Reuben helped me. We sawed logs and cut some small timbers too.

Mar 17. I plowed until about 11 o'clock when M.P. Alexander come and wanted me to go with him around some, as he is out for Sheriff, so I was around the rest of the day. We had a good time and saw a lot of people.

Mar 28. I was about the house till about 11 o'clock, and then Charley Byers and Stephen Williams come. We worked in the newground the rest of the day.

April 3, 1916. This morning I went to Troutman to get 2000 pounds of cotton seed and hulls, and after I got back it was raining, and had rained steady most all evening, but it slacked up in the evening, and I hauled some sawdust for the cow stables.

Apr 4. I went to Troutman after some hulls, but never got any hulls, so I got six sacks of guano at $24 per ton on time, and this evening I went up to the schoolhouse and helped raise the flag pole. Then after I got back, I hauled wood off the newground.

Apr 5. I went up to the schoolhouse and all the family was there, as this is our last day of the school. We sure had a nice time and a good dinner, and everybody behaved well, and we all went back tonight, but it rained and rained for the exercises, so we stayed at the schoolhouse a while, and it just rained, so we come on home.

Apr 9. Stayed at home all day, only I went over to Earl Lipe's to see how his wife and baby was. When I got there the baby was dead, and they was about ready to start to the graveyard with the little casket, so I helped them some, and when the [service] started I come on home. Papa was here and stayed a while.

Apr 11. I hauled wood off the newground all day. Arthur Kennedy helped me till noon, and this evening I had no one to help me, as Arthur went to a house covering at Mrs. Brawley's.

Apr 13. Plowed with a two-horse plow. Was breaking some land for cotton and got along fine, only I broke the doubletree on my harrow and have to go to the mill to get a piece of timber. Got it and made it, and went on just the same. One of my cows taken the bull a second time.

Apr 20. I hauled some manure today. Were at it all day, only I went to Troutman to see the doctor as Grace is not so well.

Apr 25. Plowed in the bottoms until late this evening when I got done breaking, and then I hauled up some wood, and then went after the corn planter. Henry Page had his cow here this evening.

Apr 27. Planted some corn and finished planting cotton seed. I am done planting all but some newground. Conway helped me till 3 o'clock and then he went back home, and I fixed the road some better here and [at] Carrie's.

May 1, 1916. Sawed at the mill all day for Carrie, and we got her logs done. Hamp Clontz are here tonight. He will work for me for a few days.

May 11. Went up to Harmony to the school commencement. Went with Mr. Tom Smith in his machine. Grace went up to her father's and I come back there and we spent the night. I got to see the children, and we had a nice time.

May 18. I went to Mooresville. Went in the buggy. Taken some young chickens. Got 20 cents a pound for them and got some screen wire for to screen the house, and I also bought off W.C. Johnson $5 worth of tools, and I had them charged. I got home about 3 o'clock and worked around the house.

June 10, 1916. This morning Grace is sick, and I have been around the house, only I went after Julie Sherrill, but she could not come until after noon. I went over to John Haithcox' and phoned for Dr. Talley. He got here about 12 o'clock and was here most all evening. Give Grace a dope and left for the night. Grace rested well all night.

Jun 11. This morning after I got the work done up, I went over to Mr. John Haithcox' and phoned for the doctor again. It was about 12 o'clock when he got here, and the baby was born about 1 o'clock, and everything seems well. Grace is getting along fine. (The baby is Ernest Troutman Collins --ed.)

Jun 14. Plowed cotton all day with the Perry cultivator, and got along all right.

Jun 22. This morning Grace is sick, and I was in the house most all morning. The rest of the day, I was running wheat and hauling it up to the barn.

Jun 23. I centerfurrowed bottoms a part of the day. Went and phoned for the doctor at noon. He come and give Grace more caloma.

Jun 26. Plowed in the stubble all day and sowed peas. Plowed with the two-horse plow.

July 2, 1916. Sunday. Stayed at home all day. Burette Troutman come and spent the day, and this evening Katie, Glorida, and Roy Parker and family, and also Papa and Mother were here.

Jul 3. I hauled manure all day. George Putnam helped me, and Reuben helped me some this evening. After we got the manure out, we raked and hauled some pine leaves for the stable.

Jul 8. Plowed in the bottoms this morning until I got done. After I got done I repaired the fence around the clover lot, so I could turn the hogs in there. After noon I went up to Troutman to the store and to see Ann Sherrill about washing next week.

Jul 14. I have been in the house all day, as Grace has been sick with something like the weed. Her breast has been packed up.

Jul 15. I have been at home all day, as it has been raining all day. Grace is not well.

Jul 16. Sunday. Stayed at home till about four o'clock. Went over to the mailbox, and the people said the river was up, and I went on to Mr. Henry Kennedy's, and the water was in his house, and he had moved out. The river was fifteen or twenty feet higher than ever before. All the bridges on the river washed away, and a lot of them on the creeks and branches. A lot of houses, barns, went down the river. One of Mr. A.S. Alley's houses went off. The water was in our Allison bottom, and was over the tassels of corn.

Jul 17. This morning I went down to see the river, and it was still around Mr. Kennedy's house and had fallen about 10 feet. I come home, and Conway and I went to Mooresville. Went in the buggy. Got back at four o'clock, and the thrashers was at Earl Lipe's and I went on to see about thrashing my wheat. They come on to B. Kennedy's, and then on down here and thrashed mine. 43 bushels.

Jul 18. Helped Mr. Tommie Nesbitt, Lum Erwin, and Carrie Collins thrash wheat. Got through about one o'clock, and I have been around home this evening, only I went to the store at Bell's Crossroads.

August 1, 1916. I plowed some cotton this morning a while, and then Grace, the baby, and I went to preaching at Rocky Mount, and this evening, I have been around the house. I Planted some Irish potatoes.

Aug 2. This morning I went over to George Putnam's after my saddle and to get the post hole digger and wire stretchers. Come back and hoed corn till late this evening and got over it. I then got the mule and plow, and plowed in the corn. It is some late corn.

Aug 8. Grace and I and, of course, Ernest, our baby, went up to Mr. Troutman's and left Grace an the baby up there.

Aug 9. I went over to Amity Hill to see Mr. Marshall Clontz about a saw mill engine. Was about two o'clock when I got back, and I had Reuben hauling sawdust for my stables, and we unloaded a load. About that time, it rained and was awfully hard. The creek was all over the bottoms.

Aug 18. We went to the Troutman Reunion at the Troutman Graveyard Schoolhouse. Grace the baby and I. There was a large crowd and we all had a nice time.

Aug 21. Worked on the road all day. We started to grade in a road from Bell's Crossroads by Rocky Mount. I had a large crowd of hands and sixteen horses.

Aug 22. Worked on the road all day and had fourteen teams. We got along fine.

Aug 25. Worked on the road all day. We are on yon side of the branch.

Aug 26. Worked on the road all day. Got along fine. Had ten teams and some extra hands.

Aug 28. Went to Statesville with my payroll and to take tools I had up there. I also went in the wagon and brought Grace's sewing machine home. Got it from Clayton Kyles.

Aug 30. This morning we come home from Will Sims and done up our work and went over to Lydie Ervin's to phone W.C. Johnson, and on to meet him and Mr. Murdoch, and they told me to go and finish the road by Rocky Mount, and this evening we went and put some boxes in it. Ed Clontz and Flay Overcash helped me.

September 19, 1916. This morning I went over to Papa's and got the mowing machine, and mowed some cane and peas. George Putnam come over here, and said the government was going to pay off for working the road, and wanted us to come up there, so we went, and it was noon when I got home. Then after noon, I mowed some and about 4:30 I went to Mooresville to mill, and back home about 8 o'clock.

Sep 20. Cut some corn. Pulled some corn fodder and taken a load up to the mill. Taken it to Mr. Tom Clodfelter's. Ed Clontz worked for me.

Sep 22. This morning Ed Clontz gathered some corn for to can, while I went to the road to see how the road work was getting along. When I got back, we worked with the corn, and a while before noon we shocked hay, and after noon we hauled hay and got done. Mother was over here canning some beans.

Sep 27. Working on the road by Rocky Mt. Church and got along fine. I had four teams and some extra hands.

October 1, 1916. Sunday. Went to preaching at Rocky Mt. and Mr. Bert Parker come home with me and spent the evening.

Oct 3. This morning I went over to Papa's to get a cow I had over there in the pasture, and got some brick from Carrie, 75 in number. This evening I fixed up my wagon and went over to the mill and put on a load of lumber, and pulled it up as far as Bell's Crossroads.

Oct 16. This morning I went over to Earl Lipe and come back and sowed with the oat sower till noon, and this evening I went and helped Arthur Sims shuck corn.

Oct 19. this morning Reuben and I started to Statesville to hear the Matheson for killing Claud Warren, but the hearing it was compromised, and he got thirty years in the pen. We came back home and pulled and hauled corn. Fed and Grier Nesbitt helped me this morning.

Oct 21. This morning I helped Conway move the corn crib, and this evening helped Carrie shuck corn. We got done about sunset and I come on home. The children had a party.

November 1, 1916. This morning I taken the school census of No. 5 and no. 2 in Fallston Township. This evening I drilled wheat for Arthur Kennedy, drilled 6 acres.

Nov 4. I went over by Oscar Lytle's and on to Troutman on some business. It was about noon when I got home, and this evening we all went to Statesville and spent the night at C.A. Kyles.

Nov 7. I went to the election at Troutman and spent the day and night till about 11 o'clock when I got home. Everything went Democrat. The President Wilson and all.

Nov 13. Went to Statesville. Went in a buggy. Went to see C.H. Turner about buying an engine, but didn't trade.

Nov 14. I fixed the bridge on the branch at the creek and then hauled a load of wood to the negro schoolhouse. Then it started to rain. I put up the team and went over to Lydie Ervin's and made a pair of quilting frames, and after noon I hauled some wood to the house. Grace went up to her father's today.

Nov 16. I started after a load of corn at Scott's Crossroads, and the lady had sent me word she had decided not to sell it, and I got as far as Troutman and got the word. I come back home and killed some hogs. The two weighed 480 pounds.

Nov 20. I went to Statesville. Went to Troutman in the buggy, and from there I went with Mr. Tom Smith in his car, and it was about one o'clock when I got home. I then made a crate for a calf, and taken it to Troutman and shipped it.

Nov 21. I started plowing, and the Kennedy children come to pick cotton. I stopped plowing and picked cotton the rest of the day. A.B. Parker come over here and spent the night with us.

Nov 26. Sunday. Stayed at home this morning. The children and Miss Campbell went to Sunday School, and this evening Grace and I went to Will Sims. Florida had a little baby (Willie Mae).

December 3, 1916. Sunday. We all went to church and to the graveyard with Mrs. Cartwright this evening. This evening we have been at home. Mother was here a while this evening, also Mr. and Mrs. Nesbitt.

Dec 31. Sunday. Grace and the baby have been here at home with me all day, and we haven't been off the place, only I went over to Carrie's late this evening to see if Conway would meet our school teacher, Miss Campbell tomorrow at Troutman.

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