Diary of John Arch Collins
1919
January 1, 1919. This morning I went to Troutman to the store, and after noon went back with Barron Kennedy to Statesville. Went in Barron's car. It was dark when we got back.
Jan 2. This morning it is raining, and I taken Grace and the children to the schoolhouse and come back by the store. Ernest, our baby, was with me, and we come on to Papa's and stayed a while, and then come on home, and have been at home this evening.
Jan 4. This morning it is awfully cold, the coldest day we have had this winter, and I went over to Lydie Ervin's to get some lumber he dressed for me, and this evening I went to the sawmill to make a fire under the boiler.
Jan 7. Sawed at the mill and made nine hours. Alexander Robbins fired, and Grier Nesbitt turned logs, and Will Cook offbarrowed.
Jan 14. Sawed at the mill. W.J. Frye fired, J.H. Troutman offbarrowed, and I sawed and turned logs.
Jan 15. Sawed at the mill. Reuben fired, William Robbins offbarrowed, and I sawed and turned my own logs.
Jan 21. Sawed at the mill. Reuben fired. Alex Robbins offbarrowed, and Grier Nesbitt turned logs. It was almost like spring.
Jan 29. I killed a hog today, and also Papa killed one. Mine weighed 226 pounds, and Papa's, 245 pounds, and I was around home this evening, only I went up to the store late this evening.
Jan 31. This morning I went up to the mill and moved it to the Bost and Cline place. I taken the mill through, and then I moved the engine around the road by Perth Church. Papa hauled one load, and Mr. J.H.Troutman's wagon hauled two, and Mr. Troutman helped , and come on home with me, and I taken him home. Alex Robbins worked till noon. Reuben and Grier Nesbitt all day. Mr. Tom Mills Lambert died this morning with pneumonia.
February 20, 1919. Sawed at the mill until five o'clock, when it got to sleeting and snowing, and we stopped work and come home. Alex Robbins, Grier Nesbitt, and Harve Goodman helped me. W.L. Goodson give me a check for $100 on sawing.
Feb 21. This morning I taken Grace and the children to school and went on to Troutman, and this evening I fixed my shoes and went over to the mill and made a fire under the boiler.
Feb 26. This morning I worked on the buggy and shelled some corn. This evening I went to the mill. John Ostwalt's mill. Albert Mills cut wood all day for me.
Feb 28. Sawed at the mill, and we made 8 hours. Grier fired, Harve Goodman turned logs, and Clive Mill offbarrowed. We sawed till for o'clock, and it commenced raining.
March 21, 1919. Sawed at the mill. W.J. Frye fired, J.W. Jones offbarrowed, and Gaither Sherrill turned logs for me. We got along very well.
March 25. This morning I went up to Troutman, went in the car and got some plow shares and some sugar and stuff. Mr. J.M. Ostwalt come back with me and taken my car back with him, as it misses some. I went to plowing, and plowed the rest of the day.
March 26. Plowed all day. Plowed behind the barn, run off rows, and then bedded it up for cotton, and I got done about six o'clock.
March 27. This morning I taken Grace and the girls to school and went on to Troutman, went in the buggy, and after noon I taken some chairs to the schoolhouse and on to the Lipe's for the organ, and brought it to the schoolhouse, and tonight we went up there to a play they got up.
April 2,1919. I hauled manure most all day and run off my watermelon rows, and fixed it. I went to Troutman tonight to the Junior meeting.
Apr 7.
This morning I went down to J.L. Ervin's and got his stalk cutter and cut my corn stalks, and then taken it back.
Apr 10. Plowed till late in the evening and got done breaking upland, and the I planted a corn patch, and tonight I went over to the church to meet the preacher, J.C. Keever and missionary committee.
Apr 12. I split stove wood till noon, four and a half hours. J.W. Jones helped me, and this evening I went to Troutman and got four bags of 10-1-10 at $7 cash per ton, and two bags of cottonseed meal, and 100 pounds of hulls.
Apr 15. Sawed at the mill and got done at five thirty o'clock. I cut 127211 feet (??) at $.45 per hundred for Bost Cline and Company. W.J. Frye fired, William Robbins and Conrad Sherrill offbarrowed and J.H. Sherrill turned logs.
Apr 18. We all went to Bethlehem School closing. This evening I went to the mill. The morning, I went to the school closing. This evening I stayed for the night exercises.
Apr 19. I have been at home and in bed most of the time today, as I taken a dose of Caluma last night. I went up to Troutman a little bit this evening to get some fish, but they was all gone.
Apr 26. Went to Statesville. Taken Grace to the teachers' meeting or examinations. Mother went along to do some trading. The children went over to Will Simms' and stayed till we got back. Frost killed the beans and Irish potatoes, and there was plenty of ice this morning.
Apr 27. Sunday. Went to preaching this morning. J.O. Ervin preached, and this evening we went to Mr. J.C. Troutman's a little while.
Apr 28. I have been plowing and harrowing all day, only I taken my mare to the jack. It has been 18 days since I turned her, and there was nothing doing.
May 1, 1919. This morning it is raining, and rained most all day. Grace and I went up to Homer's and spent the day, as their baby is sick, but is better. Nellie Blanche and Hazel went over to Papa's and stayed all day. H.C. Kennedy died this morning with heart trouble.
May 3.This morning I drug the road till noon from Perth Church to Rocky Mount, and this evening I went to Mooresville in the car, taking a cream separator back to W.C. Johnson's and this night I was out looking for someone hauling logs, but found none.
May 8. This morning I made an ash-hopper and worked around the house, and this evening I mowed the creek banks, and then taken down some wire fence and went up to Mr. Sherrill's at Troutman, and got some tomato plants.
May 23. Plowed a while, and then went to Mrs. Ella Troutman's burying. It was noon when we got home. I plowed this evening, and Grace and the children thinned cotton today, our first thinning.
June 9, 1919. Went over to Papa's and fixed up the reaper and cut some wheat for Conway, but it come up a cloud and rained this evening, and during the storm, Oscar Craven was cutting wheat near Mooresville, and he and the mule was killed by lightening.
Jun 21. This morning I cut oats a while, and then went to S.H. Gilliland's burying at Bethel Church. Grace went with me, and the children stayed at home, and in the afternoon, I mowed some oats till it rained just a little bit, and I went to Troutman. Went in the buggy as I broken the car.
Jun 27. I went over to see T.H. Ostwalt about doing some sawing for him, and went from there back to town and seen some others about doing some sawing for them.
July 4, 1919. Went to Statesville to the celebration. There was a large crowd, and an airplane come about noon, and we all had a big time.
Jul 5. I plowed cotton till noon, and this evening I went to mil at L.K. Ostwalt's. Grace went with me, and we went and seen Jessie Ostwalt Parks, as she is sick with fever.
Jul 19.This morning Conway and I worked in the shop most all day shoeing mules and some other work. It rained most all day, and about four o'clock it come a hard rain and rained for two hours, and the creeks and branches was from hill to hill. Washed about all the bridges away, and all the corn and the creeks and branches are washing down and out of.....
Jul 24.Thrashed wheat at Tom Ervin's and Carrie's, and then they come on to Mr. Nesbitt's, and I come on home. We all went to Troutman, and taken the vaccine for fever.
Jul 26. I helped Roy Parker thrash wheat and got done till about 10 o'clock, come home and cut corn in the bottoms, where the creek washed down, and late this evening I went up to Troutman.
Jul 30. Went to court and was there all day, only I made a trip out to the Southern Power Dam to summons a party for the Catawba County people.
August 2, 1919. Sunday. Went to preaching this morning, and this evening went up to Mr. Troutman's, and spent the afternoon, and was about night when I got home. Conway come and told me about R.L. Cloniger being shot, got shot at Camp Meeting, so we went to town, and they had operated on him, and he died about nine o'clock, and we come back to Carrie Collins' and spent the night as Grace and Ernest was there. Note: R.L. Cloniger was shot by a Negro at M...Camp, and died soon after reaching Statesville.
Aug 3.I went on a road to hunt a Negro that killed L. Cloniger. We found him east of Davidson College, and the sheriff taken him to jail, and I got home about two o'clock and worked on the mill yard this evening. Elliott Mills started to work for me today.
Aug 5. Worked on my mill site till noon, and Elliott Mills helped me. Papa cut some clover for me, and this evening we all went to R.L. Cloniger's burying. The funeral was at Mooresville, and he was buried at St. Micheal's graveyard.
Aug 7. Worked at the mill site this morning, or Elliott and W.L. Bass, and I went after the hayrake and raked some clover. W.L. Bass helped me haul it, and Mills went to Troutman to take the vaccine, and never come back.
Aug 10. Sunday. Went to Sunday School this morning. After noon went to T. L. Ervin's to practice some songs for Children's Day. James Clontz and Eva Wilkerson was married this evening.
Aug 15. Went to the Troutman Reunion and spent the day, only I went to town a little while this evening. I got $75 from the Merchant and Farmers' Bank for sixty days.
Aug 18. I worked at the mill. Clarence Bailey helped me till noon, and Reece Jones helped Papa three hours thrashing wheat and four hours at the mill. I broke the rocker valve at five o'clock this evening and had to stop.
September 17, 1919. Sawed at the mill all day. W.L. Bass fired, Lee Lipe offbarrowed, Will Simms turned logs, and Clarence Bailey come in at 8 o'clock and hauled out some lumber, and then logged the rest of the day.
Sep 18. Sawed at the mill all day. W.F. Bass and Clarence Bailey helped till noon. Will Sims and Lee Lipe all day. Mr. Cavin logged 2 and 1/2 hours for me, and we all went to St. John's tonight to preaching.
Sep 22.I cleaned out roads, and Lee Lipe hauled logs and this evening I went to Troutman to mill, to get my wagon wheels. I paid C.A. Litten $22.50 for fixing wagon wheels. Hazel Lipe fixed roads for me this evening.
Sep 24. Went to Statesville, to John Robinson's Show, and we spent the day. All the family was there.
Sep 28. Sunday. We all went to T.E. Ervin's and spent the day.
October 2, 1919. We stacked lumber and hauled logs till noon and sawed this evening. J.F. Cavin, J.R. Jones, and Lee Lipe helped me. Lee was thirty minutes late, and Mr. Cavin 3/4 hour.
Oct 5. Sunday. We all went to preaching at Rocky Mount and after noon we all started to Bethel to a Woodman of the World (meeting). They unveiled James Josey. Mother was with us, and we heard about Reed Jones' baby being dead, and Grace went over there and is there tonight, and I am home with the children.
Oct 6. I went to the mill and got the hind wheels of my wagon and put them together and brought some oak lumber to the house, and then fixed [the] brakes, and taken the wagon to the pea field, and then to Reed Jones' baby's burying, and this evening I fixed up and plowed some.
Oct 8. I finished the shed loft, and Lee Lipe hauled logs till noon and also went over to Mr. J.H. Troutman's to get a pipe wrench, and this evening we dug around the well and taken out the top joint curb, and put some tiling around it.
Oct 11. We hauled out some manure, only I went to E.O. Lipe's baby's burying, and hauled the corpse in the car. Lee Lipe helped me till noon, and I paid him off $7. Grace and I went to town this evening.
Oct 16. I went to court this morning. Went by F.K. Ostwalt's, and he paid me $75, including $5 for which I had sold Mr. W.H. Haney of East Monbo six hundred feet of inch plank, and paid off a $75 note at the Farmer's Bank in Statesville. The Negroes were put on trial today for the murder of Deputy Sheriff Lloyd Cloniger at the Negro camp meeting, the third of August, 1919.
Oct 18. Went back to court and was there all day. Got through with the Negroes, and found them both guilty and sent to the chair Nov. 21, 1919.
Oct 23. This morning it is raining and rained most all day, and this evening I taken some wheat over to A.S. Alley's place and graded it. It was night when I got back.
November 1, 1919. Went to Statesville. Went in the car. Grace and Ernest went with me. Grace was attending the teachers' meeting, and I taken her and attended to some business.
Nov 3. Plowed all day, only I broke my plow handle, and then went to Troutman and got a set, and after I got them, I plowed the rest of the day.
Nov 4. Plowed all day in the pea stubble for wheat, and got it done.
Nov 9. Sunday. Grace went up to Mr. J. H. Lipe's to see how his baby was, because it is sick, and the children went over to Carrie's. This evening we all went to church to preaching.
Nov 10. This morning I got Reid Jones started to plow, and then I went to collect some tax and was gone the rest of the day. I ate dinner with Flake Wagner.
Nov 11. This morning I taken Grace and the children to school, and Ernest and I went on to Papa's, and Mother come home and spent the day with us, and I shucked corn a part of the day. Mr. J. H. Lipe's little girl died this evening, and after school I taken Grace up there, and she stayed all night. I come back home, and we done up the work and went home with Mother and stayed all night.
Nov 12 This morning we come home from Papa's and come by after Grace as she is at Mr. Lipe's, and we went to the burying. It was three o'clock. We all went. It was at St. Michael's graveyard.
Nov 13. This morning I taken my low-wheeled wagon up to Troutman and got Ira Clodfelter to help me put a tongue-and-groove bottom on it. I was up there about all day. Ernest was with me.
Nov 14. I hauled wood to the schoolhouse all day. Ernest, my baby, was with me. The day has been cold, and we also had as big a frost as we have ever had, and the first killing frost we have had this fall.
Nov 16. Sunday. We all come home this morning and done up our work. I went to see Mary Honeycutt to get her to stay with us, but she was not at home. I went by J. F. Jones', and he went with me, and I come back and ate dinner with him, and then I come home, and we all went to preaching at Rocky Mount. Our newground preacher was there today for his first time. His name is Byrum.
Nov 17. I hauled wood all day, some to the schoolhouse and then to the house. Hoyt (?) Lipe cut wood all day for me.
Nov 18. I hauled wood this morning, and this evening I plowed with a two-horse plow.
Nov 19. I plowed all day for oats, and when I got the oat land done, I began plowing in the cottonstalk land.
Nov 20. Plowed some and drilled some oats late this evening.
Nov 22. We all went to Statesville and got the children something, and it was about night when we got home, and we done up the work and went up to Uncle Quince Troutman's to a singing.
Nov 25. It has snowed some this morning, and I went to take my sow up to Mr., Ransom Overcash's and then up to Troutman and on over to East Monbo and back by Mr. J. H. Troutman's to see him,, as he is sick. It was dark when I got home.
Nov 27. Today is Thanksgiving, and we all went up to Troutman and spent the day. Grace and I went to see Mary about staying with us while Grace was teaching school.
December 1, 1919. This morning I plowed, and this evening Webb Mills plowed, and I went to town.....
Dec 2. I fixed up the pipes, and got ready and sawed some boards to cover the Ostwalt house for Webb Mills to move in, and Webb and Elliott Mills helped me wage(?) in about 8 hours work.
Dec 4. Covered on the Ostwalt house. Webb Mills and Elliott Mills and Mr. Ostwalt made 10 hours time. Got done about dark.
Dec 10. I taken Ernest up to stay with Hattie Collins and went after a negro to collect some tax.
Dec 11. This morning I went to W. D. Lippard's sale and bought a walnut wardrobe, and I give $81.00 for it.
Dec 13. This morning I fixed some mule shoes and shod the mules, and Webb raked some leaves, and I hauled them this evening, and late this evening I went to Troutman to get some feed I had at the mill. I paid Mr. Brown $13.31 and got a bag of meal at $4.00.
Dec 20. We all went to Statesville, or Grace and I did. The children went over to Carrie's, and Mrs. W. F. Overcash went with us to town. Papa was up there paying his tax.
Dec 21. Sunday. This morning while we were at breakfast, Annis Ervin come over and told us that Papa was dead. They found him dead in bed, and we got ready and went over there the rest of the day. Papa talked to Mother at two o'clock this morning, and was not sick or complained any, and was found dead in the bed.
Dec 22. This morning I went over to the church to show the men where to dig Papa's grave and come back by Mother's and stayed there till about twelve o'clock, and come on home. We all went back over to Papa's and went on to the church, and after the burying we come by with Mother and then come on home.
Dec 23. This morning I went over to Mother's and stayed awhile. Come back and went to Troutman and .... till noon, and this evening I helped cut some wood for Mother.
Dec 24. This morning I went to Statesville and got back to the schoolhouse till 2 o'clock for the Christmas tree, and after it was over, come on home. Hazel and Nellie Blanche went up to Cartwright's, as Blaine and Barron come after them this evening.
Dec 25. Come home from Mother's this morning and fed and done up the work, and I have been around home till late this evening, and we went up to Mr. Troutman's and stayed all night.
Dec 30. This morning I went over to Conway's to see if I could get a team to plow, but didn't. I went on to see Mother, and come on home. Webb was plowing for me. He had plowed two hours. I taken the plow, and he went to clean up some on the Ostwalt place. I finished mine and went and plowed for Webb till noon, and about two hours after noon, and I then fixed to kill a hog, and Webb plowed.
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