Express, Steamer

April 1845 10 .. Fatber and myself y..,orked at tbe fe_nce if _fr_ont of the house tended mill &

Titus kept the plough going.· rt has been very windy. In the morning we drew two loads of _stone from _ttie ploughed grouJ1d in the meadow to the wall . in fr.ant.of ,the;_ ha:us.e· aft,er wb1,c1J.-we arew.· fo;ur/Joads of )lay fr.om the peach .ord1ard_.wh1.ch>occup.ted th~. fo,_rer,oon tbe __ pJqugb.went.-qnJy._i.11 tbe·il.ft.er part of:.c,tfre/ · day·;_c _._./~--· . .:--: ·: ,. ···' : ___ ,.._. . ..,_ -,,~., ..... ,~ .. ·. ...... ~: 0-~/•:-· :. :., ••• • ·-- •• • ••• ~::.:· ·.- •• •• • - •

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11.tn·· the afte-rnoon I went with Titus in the stalk lot to help him start· the plough Father and myself spent most of the day ~ctting posts working at the fence &

12.In the morning Father and myself washed the wagon aft~r which sister Mary and myself went to Pokeepsie or at least I went Mary staid at Mr Platts she and Mary Platt went to Mr Gidleys to spend the aft.ernoon I met Henry

Sleight in Pokeepsie returned to Mr Gidleys some aft.er three oclock spent the afternoon and evening pleasantly I have forgotten to mention in the proper place the sad and awful accident on the river of the loss of the steamer Lwo Clow? on her passage down the river on Monday night nearly opposite Athens. It is stated by the papers that the river is quite shallow and the channel narrow the night quite dark stormy. By some much blame is attached to the pilotwhich I presume deserves the greatest share I will give the particulars as they are stated by the NY Evangelist.When passing through the narrow channel at Athens she ran upon a large rock called 11The

Bug11 The bow ran up so high that it was impossible to stand upon the deck

The keel broke and the stern bent upwards and still went down so much that in three minutes the two ·cab'ins were full of water. The scene among the passengers may be· imagined. It was nine oclock in the evening and very few of them were in their berthsThe upper part of the boat took fire which increased the alarm. The night was dark and the wind high. The baggage and freight was floating about on deck and the water rushing at the cabin doors so that with the inclination of the floor it was difficult to get out. Yet the young mothers snatched their infants from the berths where they were sleepingand rushed for their lives. There were however many circumstances of favour. The people in the forward deck climbed ·down upon the rock until no more could stand. Numerous small boats with torches put off immediately from the shore. The Steamer Express which was coming down but little behind was soon along side and the steamer Rochester also in company was at the rescue as soon as possible. Several ladies who were not able to get out at the door were lifted through the skylight one so far exhausted that two hours of effort on board the Rochester was necessity to bring her back to animation. Later accounts say there has been sixteen dead persons taken from the boat there is no means for knowing the number of lives lost as the list was not fully made out when the accident happened 13.Sabbath In the morning Mary and myself went to church it being quite windy

Father thought best to remain home as he had quite a bad cold.Mr Wile preached. 14. In the morning Titus came and ploughed stalk ground Father and myself workedat the fence in front of the house drilling holes in the stone for the iron posts made soap prepared some cobs for kindling In the evening

I went to the Valley to meet the committee for arrangements for a temperance festivle at temperance house kept by Egbert Seaman. 15.Father Mother and Marywent to Poughkeepsie. In the morning I sowed the long meadow with oats. Titus harrowed and got through about the middle of the afternoon after which he went and harrowed in the'east part of the meadow or that part that was ploughed in the fall I spent the afternoon drilling holesfor the fence in front of the house.

April 1845 16.,Early_.in the morn:ing 1 went to .. :Rochqa)e aft.er Henry Clark the carpenter to ·he'Jp l!.?-. make.; fe.nce 1n the- .aft_ernoori -_Father ·went to· Po keeps ie to take ·_ Lut,hey_.-_Re'f1_,eJd>to. tbe.:bogt and__ §et trees ·for setting out in the vacant ,PJaces~trf·tbe:'pe&ch-.orchard ?bu~. _it .rained- so hard that they were not able -~.9_-~fg·tb~m~-.I "fo_rgot·:to ~menfion· thaf Luther came to our house yesterday

17.Father went to Pokeepsie to get trees to set in the vacant places in the peach orchard and to see Mr Forbush in regard to witnessing the handwriting of George Cunningham Clark worked at the fence and I helped Clark tended mill and Titus ploughed. 18.Father and Titus spent the forenoon setting peach trees in the peach orchard

Inthe afternoon Father transplanted some peach trees quite large from the garden setting them on the sidehill north of the~house and garden Titus drew a load.of wood home for himself in the afternoon after which he went to the shop with the horses and got them shod. 19.In the forenoon Father went to the Valley to the post office to get the news expecting a letter from Luther in regard to getting Cunningham as a witness but did not get any but did not get any I assisted Clark in fixing the fence & Titus went home in the afternoon.

20.Sabbath In the forenoon sister Mary and myself went to meeting to the

Valley Father being appointe~ barer to the funeral of Mrs Skidmore he accordingly went to LaGrange by way of the Valley to take some of Grandpa's folks along it being quite rainy there were not many at church. Aunt Clarissa and Lety Smith went with Father James Redfield much to our surprise came in church with Uncle Daniel having come to Mr Platts the night before.

Hebrought the letter we had been looking for from Luther and much to our disappointment it contents proved as Mr Cunningham health would not permit his going James came home with us after church. 21.Early in the morning Father went~to Pokeepsie to see Alexander Forbush and to subpoenie him as a witness in place of Mr Cunningham. In the forenoon

Henry Clark did not come as we expected but came about noon. Titus and myself worked at the fence. In the afternoon we finished setting the iron posts in front of the wall. I forgot to mention an incident that occured last Saturday while we were engaged running lead in the hole to fasten them it having been rainy there was some water in some of the holes we wiped it o,ut of some of them but by some means we missed a ho 1 e and in running in the hot lead it produced so much steam that all of a sudden it burst forth making a slight report throughing the heated lead some six or eight feet in the air above our heads it fortunately did not happen to hit us in the face but Father ran a very narrow escape as the whole contents of the ladle which he held in his handcame near his face James , spent most of the day with usin the afternoon sister Mary went with him up to Uncle Daniels and took tea. In the evening we went to tee Valley

I went to temperance house to meet the committee or arrangements to appoint for the festivel while he spent the evening at the Doctors. 22.In the forenoon we were all engaged working at the fence In the afternoon

Titus ploughing Father and Clark spent the day nailing pickets on the fence in front of the house I should say that we sowed half a ton of plaister

Titus and myself on the field west of the house in the forenoon after which we helped about the fence & until noon James and myself went up the pond after the boat and at dusk Charles Platt came after him to go home with himas his sister Mary and and Miss Pright wished him to start tomorrow for home as they expect to go with him as far as Clyde but he wishes to stay a day longer in order to attned the festivel