Goshorn - 1939 - Montgomery InGenWeb Project

My grandfather, Ezra Goshorn, kept a journal, which I have somewhere. He died in April 1930 and that is when these diaries start. Lula wrote for her church magazine and the county paper, but apprently had not been keeping a journal. The first entry is a few days after Ezra's funeral, when the older (Marie, John and Roland) children were going back to their lives. Only two children were left at home, my dad, Lewis, age 15, and Ruth, age 9. The running of the farm fell to my dad and Lula. I am amazed at the work a 15-year-old boy did, while attending school and doing well there.

Many of the snapshots I have are early 30s and make good illustrations for this journal :) ENJOY! - JWG

Note: Their church was the Brethren Church on 750 South - Ezra had both the pastors :)

1931 -- 1932 -- 1933 -- 1934 -- 1935 -- 1936 -- 1937 -- 1938 -- 1939 -- 1940 -- 1941 -- 1942 -- 1943 -- 1944

(no date) – Lewis is SS Supt for this year.  Bonnie Miller, who has been Supt for several years is asst. Ruth is asst. childrens Division.  It has been decided to buy a rebuilt power motor to mow the church lawn – cost $50.

Jan 8 – Ruth started to school after 7 days absence due to cough she’s had since Thanksgiving and head and ear trouble of a weeks duration. So very many people are having it & Drs say its something they are having trouble to control. She is not well yet but thinks she feels able to go. Hadn’t missed any school at all this fall & winter until now.

Jan 24 – Ruth went with her class to Indianapolis today. Visited legislature, Kingran’s packing plant, Omar Bakery, Scottish Rite Temple and Indianapolis News office, besides Blocks Store and the monument.  This evening Roy and Marie were received by President & Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt at a White House reception for various department heads of the government. There were between 800 and 900 guests. Roy is Director of Tax Research for the Treasure Department. It was a brilliant affair. Flowers, uniforms, beautiful dresses and everything. Such an experience and to come to our family. How grand! (photo - Indianapolis Star of Omar Baking Company ovens)

Feb 15 – Webster sale at Harshbarger place now owned by Mr. Bash. Very large sale – over 100 head of cattle sold besides machinery. Very cold stormy day. Lewis took sore throat. Laid up for 9 days. Ruth & I took care of things here best we could.  Victor Taylor, who lives in little house tended stock there but didn’t do very good job. Am so thankful we were not all down at the same time. So much sickness hard to find help.

Mar 2 – Sowed clover seed on wheat. First fit day since Lewis was able to work.

Mar 17 – Victor Taylor moved from little house today. Has been promised work on PWA project this spring. House in bad shape, wind blew kitchen roof almost off and things need so much fixing we can’t afford to do, so will not rent it anymore. Did not charge them rent during Feb so they do not owe us.

Mar 23 – Sowed oats today.  Kesslers sowed on other place yesterday. Turned warm suddenly. Two days ago the ground was frozen in the morning and had been for several morning but would thaw during the day. Today the thermometer is up to 76 – Lewis disced the field before he sowed oats.

Mar 24 – Paul sowed oats today.

Mar 25 – We planted the garden at the little house in potatoes. Ground in fine shape.

Mar 29 – Set 18 fruit trees in the garden beginning on east side of garden and going west. 1 Sechel Pear. 1 Apricot. 2 White peaches (Polly) – little sugar ? Beginning east again 1 Richmond cherry. 2 Sungold peaches. 1 Late Crawford East again 1 Large Montmorehoy cherry.  3 Sungold Peaches and all below the above are Sungold peaches ? (Photo: Sungold peaches - from - Specialty Produce.com)

April 20 – Lewis sick with sore throat and cough. Bad temp of 102.2 couple days ago. Down to 100 now. I have had case of conjunctive infection and Dr. forbids reading and close work. Eyes very weak. Have been going to specialist for 2 weeks. Have to doctor my eyes every hour. Very bothersome. Ruth went to Bloomington Ind today in bus with senior class. Bus wouldn’t start when time to come home. Finally got home at 12:30.

Apr 25 – Planted 5 rows of “six weeks” potatoes today. Lewis not very well yet. Coughs hard and is weak. Insists on doing the work. Do wish he could take better care of himself. I still have to doctor my eyes every hour – the eye glands are affected.

Apr 27 – Lewis still not well, fortunately it is too wet to plow so that isn’t a worry altho there’s other things to do. His cold got worse after he started out Monday.

Apr 30 – Lewis better but coughs and head is stopped up yet. Went to SS tho. Yesterday tried to plow, magnets gave out had to quit.  Lewis closed deal for McCormick Deering corn planter. He paid 4100. They allowed $33 for old planter (yesterday this was)

May 4 – Esten Nolan sheared 20 sheep @ 20 c a head and furnished twine for $4. Lewis finished plowing and dragging corn ground today.  Wet weather and sickness delayed work.

May 8 – Sold wool 174 # to Riley King at premium price 24 c lb reg. 23c $41.76.

May 9 – Commenced planting corn today. Paul M. helping with Lewis’ new planter. He wants to use it for his corn as his has no fertilizer attachment.

May 12 – Finished planting corn today. Planted one field in Hybrid corn again.

May 16 – Sowed about 4 ½ acres soy beans today.

May 20 – Lewis & Harley casterated and run 88 pigs today, most we’ve had since the depression.

May 21 – Had nice gentle rains. The corn is up nicely. Garden seeds seem to sprout over night. Weeds growing fine also!  Very sultry and hot.

May 29 – Lewis cut a deep gash in his hand while getting ready to plow. He surely has had a lot of misfortune this spring.

June 1 – Dr. said today I might lengthen eye treatments to 2 hrs in place of every hour as I’ve had to do for 9 weeks. Can use them to read very little. Am so thankful for the relief. Lewis’ hand seems to be healing nicely. Had a nice rain today. Now if his hearing gets normal how thankful I will be. Anyway things could be much worse.

June 6 –[ Bought 6 big loads of alfalfa hay of Clayton delivered in barn $45.

June 16 – Put up 4 ½ loads of hay off field east of the barn. Very light.

June 17 – Blanche Mahorney operated on for ovarian cyst and abcess of fallopian tube. 3d major operation in a year and a half for them. Tough luck.

June 23 – Had the sheep dipped by Farm Bureau men. 6c a head for FB members. 40 head sheep & lambs.

June 27 – Lewis plowed corn for last time and sowed clover seed on field with it. Blanche M. brought home today from hospital. Feeling much better. Marie & children here form Washington DC. Richard is 5’6. Other boys grown so much too. So glad to see them all. Roy coming later.

July 3 – Roy’s took Ruth to No. Manchester today to see about school. They wanted the boys to see the place where they had gone to school too. Had a nice trip.

July 6 – Roy’s left for Washington DC.  A long trip. Raining this a.m. very sultry. Glad they came but always sorry to see them go.

July 7 – Mr. Bennett combined 19 acres wheat for us about a day and a half work. Cost $2.00 per acres. Good bit less than we can get it done the old way. Wheat 57 c per bu. Yield 24 bu and to acre.

July 10 – Paul put up 4 loads of hay for us. Part of our share of the crop. Had our first blackberry pie yesterday.

July 11 – Paul brought 2 more loads hay. Had our first ripe tomatoes today.

July 14 – Finished what threshing in this ring in 1 ½ days. Pauls wheat 10 a yield about 8+ bu to acres. All wheat poor quality around here this year.

July 23- Roland home for vacation. So glad to have him. Mildred stopped with her folks.

Aug 1 – Finished combining oats after various interruptions by breakdowns and weather. The threshing ring will finish tomorrow if it doesn’t rain.  Oats are poor we have about 10 bu yield to acre.  About 16 acres combined.

Aug 4 – Roland left this morning. Always hate to see the children leave. He and Mildred and her sister and Lewis & Ruth spent Wednesday at Shaffer Lake near Monticello. This evening John and LP Burgess highway construction man, came. They were on Ohio State Highway business and on the way to Purdue U – Mighty glad to see John.  Wish the family could have come but business made the trip too long for Johnny as they had to go over places in Ohio. Too bad John just missed seeing Roland.

Aug 20 – Rev. RH Nicodemus just closed 2 weeks series of meetings. No accessions.  Man of about 62. Married 2nd time about 2 months ago to a 34-year-old widow, member of Christian Church.  Sermons mostly good. Delivery not so good. The shouting hounding sort. Talked too fast to be well understood.

Aug 24 – Hog cholera struck us suddenly in our nice drove of 87 shoats. They were so nice and on clean pasture, we never thought of cholera. It was carried by flies or birds from the old Himes place across the road I guess, tho we didn’t know the hogs there were sick. We haven’t had any sickness among our hogs for so long we did not vaccinate ever year as we should have done and the plague has over taken us. The Dr. vaccinated them today but says they are a very sick lot and it remains to be seen how many if any, recover. It’s just too bad!  Lewis has worked hard to raise the hogs and they were doing so well until all at once it happened.

Aug 28 – Cut soybeans for hay. Hogs still dying – Lewis got 2 ribs cracked Wednesday when struck by fork handle. One things seems to follow another.  Too bad!

Sept 2 – Put up 10 loads beans hay, very nice has never had any rain on it.  Paul took 2 loads, making 12 loads off about 4 acres.

Sept 3- War declared by England and France against Germany to help Poland.

Sept 8 – Today Ruth left for North Manchester to enroll in the college.  We miss her so much. Its going to be very strange around here with out her. No piano music, no clarinet, no helper outdoors or in – Lewis and I both will be lost. But after all I’m glad she can go as she seems to want to do so and hope she may have a happy successful year.  Paul M. will help with milking. But we’ll miss Ruth not only for what she does, but what she is.

Sept 19 – The hogs have finally quit dying. Have 11 left out of 87. I never will quit blaming myself for not vaccinating every year as we had done.

Sept 21 – Lewis has contracted for the 40 acre farm across the road from the barn. Price $55 per acre ($2200) they -  Brown heirs asked $2500 but Lewis could not pay so much, besides its not worth that, so they decided to sell for less to get the estate settled. None of them live here anymore. The Dave Peffley 40 acres sold a short time ago for $2750. Little more house room and better fencing, otherwise about the same as this other farm.  Lewis gets possession Nov 1 – and may he have success and prosper.  

Oct 2 – Sowed 4 7/10 acres wheat back of little house where the soybeans were. The ground is too hard and dry to work anywhere else. Haven’t had a good rain for a month. Had first frost and ice yesterday morning. Temp 34.

Oct 14 – Home coming at No. Manchester. Nice cool day. Lewis & I went to see Ruth. She has a nice room although on north side. She is getting alone well – having a good time too. And I’m glad she can. Her roommate is May Millard of Larwill (a Junior)

Oct 27 – Vaccinnated (sic) 63 little pigs $20. Here’s hoping we’ll never again have the experience with sick hogs that we had this fall. Paul has been sick with flu. Settled in his bowels. Is able to work some again. Clayton, John Russell and I took turns at the milking. Paul has fixed a nice back porch out of the west room of our little house.  Made a wood house out of the chicken (coop? house?) out down there and Lewis used the old wood house that was down there to make some pens for the sows. Not much left but the three rooms and smoke house – probably use the two big rooms for corn storage.

Oct 30 --   Paul brought first load of corn today.

Nov 1 – Paul brought load of corn today.

Nov 18 – Elmer French built 60 rods partition fence between us and Roy Stover farm (was Himes’) 20 c rod for building; 5c  rd tearing out old fence and $1.00 for cutting out brush. $16.00

Nov 21 – Had our first snow. Two inches or so but melted next day.

Nov 23 – Roland’s came thru Manchester and brought Ruth home for Thanksgiving which Pres. Roosevelt had moved up one week in time.  Ruth is getting along fine and looks so well.  We’re so glad whenever any of the absent ones can come home

Nov 27 – Lewis has his first tenant today. Many have called but none chosen before.  The banker says he is a fine fellow. Name: Wilburn Long, wife and two small children. He intends working for Kenneth Davidson next year but can’t get the house until Feb and wonder of wonders, he paid all the rent for the three months he’s supposed to be here. Later – he has decided to stay here.

Dec 8 – Lester Graham finished our corn husking today. 1803. Bu corn. Did not husk steadily as he worked part time at the canning factory. We had about 34 acres.

Dec 9 – Paul Mahorney finished his husking. Total yield of his crop 1300 bu. He had about 22 acres.  Lewis signed for the use of a frozen food locker if and when a plant is established here. $10.00 per year.

Dec 11 – Lewis signed for 1 share ($50) of the Frozen Food project and made first payment $2.50 to C. Williams, New Richmond, who is working it up here as a Farmers Cooperative.

Dec 14 – Aid Society met with Stella Kessler in her home built this summer & presented her a Pyrex glass covered cooking dish.

Dec 25 – I bought of Arlie Bymaster Poll Angus male to be one year old in spring $55.00 trucking fee $1.00 extra.

Dec 28 – Lewis bought 2 yr old mare colt of Amos Boone for $65.00 named her, “Lady”