David Schultz, a farmer in Pennsylvania in 1750, kept a diary of his daily activities. This note continues a report on his activities starting with the month of July.
July: Cut grain and bound 1680 sheaves [bundles]. Finished picking flax [I believe we would say pulling flax]. Began to mow oats. Sold two sheep. Bound 65 sheaves and repeated the next day. Then in the next two days, bound 113 sheaves for a total of 370 sheaves. Began the second plowing. Hauled manure.
August: Finished the second plowing and shifted the fences. Threshed wheat [may have needed seed to plant or to eat]. Began to sow a little [probably winter grains]. For four days continued seeding.
September: The brown cow had a calf. Began to sow. Finished sowing rye and wheat. Joseph mowed. Began to sow buckwheat. Continued to sow buckwheat. Rode to Philadelphia [about 30 miles one way] for the election [required three days to do this].
October: October 1 was election day. Returned home on the 2nd. Hauled the second crop of hay in. Cut buckwheat. Threshed some buckwheat. Continued threshing buckwheat until finished. Finished making the second crop of hay. Made cider from my apples. Began to dig out the turnips. Brought in the cabbage. [Apples, turnips, and cabbage were very popular with the Germans.]
November: Cleaned the stables. Made a new bake oven. Had a flax breaker come in.
December: Had much rain and high water. Threshed rye. Cleaned rye to get 15 bushels. Cleaned the stables. Butchered the first hog to get 95 pounds of meat. Threshed wheat. Butchered at Abraham Jaeckels. Cleaned wheat for 9 ½ bushels. Sold the wheat.
David Schultz was also a surveyor but the report above omits his mentions of it. Because he had surveyed so much land in the community, he was called in to clarify land disputes. His standing in the community was high and he was sought as a fair judge and arbitrator.
Flax and wool were the choices for cloth. Cotton was unknown. [Christian Herr, when he died in 1750, left an enormous amount of flax cloth which was the second most valuable thing in his personal estate.]
(30 May 06)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.