2000
--These pages are part of the Schuyler co., NY Genweb page.Daniel Howard was born in 1781 (possibly in New Hampshire) of English descent. He came to Reading, NY in 1812. This diary written 1812 - 1814 was very fragile, some pages were so faded it was impossible to read. It was made up of pages held together by very thin leather strips. I have done my best to read this and get what I can in print for safe keeping. Of course some pages may have been lost entirely. I have typed each page as a paragraph hoping to keep it in the correct order.
I believe Daniel Howard was a brother of Joseph Howard Sr. who was born in New Hampshire. As the family story says "Joseph Sr., with his brother and grown sons, came west"...but Joseph Sr. became ill and stayed in Howard, New York while the rest went on to the shores of Seneca Lake. Joseph Sr. died in Howard, NY and is buried there. Daniel & Joe Jr. were both in the militia in Vermont and in Schuyler co., evident from the diary...and in Marlboro, N H there is a monument with all the right names on it but I've not been unable to prove they were ours.
It was in 1814 that Daniel Howard went to Vermont and he told that it was 2 years since they came to "the wilderness". He lived next door to Joe Jr. - their plots were long and narrow
reaching from what is now Route 14 and bordering Seneca Lake.
Daniel Howard died in 1814 & is buried at Rock Stream. Other family members may be buried near him, but their is no evidence of this now. While living in Sandgate, Vermont Daniel was the administrator for the estate of Christian Hill, wife of Levi, and mother of the Christian Hill Howard born in 1793.
Joseph Howard Jr. survived the fever, and he moved to Irelandville. His home was on a now abandoned road on the west end of what is The Howard Homestead. He dropped dead while doing chores on Christmas Eve 1873. According to his Bible he married Christian Hill 1 Nov 1813, in Reading...they had 7 sons and 3 daughters.
Abner (that visited Daniel) must be related, but the connection is unknown. The names Daniel, Abner and Andrew appear in every generation. Joseph Jr. named his first son Abner.
[It seems that Daniel Howard journeyed to Vermont in 1814 from Reading, NY, leaving on the 19th of January and getting home on the 19th of February 1814.]
Daniel Howard Diary
Reading, JANUARY 7 - ------- I went down to CHASES and --- Sunday some snow not cold. 4th cold, 5th cold I went to FULKERSONS. 6th cold flurries of snow sat out 3 apple trees. 7th cold snow all day ----. cold and cloudy----- rainy and cold. 10th cold & clear in the morning. 11th clear. 12 snow 13-cold 14cold 15cold 16 warm 17 warm 18 snow cold 19 warm I started to Vermont and stayed at HAWES Tavern in Ulyses 19 snow stayed at OTIS Tavern in Truxton 20 at Whitestown Tavern in Sherburn 21 at Johnstown 22 at Saratoga 23 arrived at Sandgate VT snow & rain 24 Keane 25 Snow at night I stayed at Beebees 26 Stayed at Beebes 27 at Henry BEEBE very cold 28 I went to Punt Hollow-and Sansford- at H Beebes at HILLS ------(damimay?) Youngs at RANDALLS 30 at very cold snow at D GRAYS 31 at Grays
FEBRUARY 1st started from GRAYS to cross the mountain and stayed at Deacon WITTMORE snow at night and 2nd day snow in the morning, blows all night 3 at Winchester at Winchester snow 4th Townshend 5th at Grays 6th pleasant at David HURDS 7 Sunday at David Hurd, Randall 8 at RANDALLS 9th at Randall to Salina 10 at Capt SANDFORD 11 at Beebes 12 started home and went to REID 13 at --white in GRAYS very cold 14 cold stayed Friday in COWNAGA 15 cold stayed at--- ten miles from Utica 16 cold no conajenago Hollow? ? at HAMMOTH at Cauta [Cayuta] 19 Got home 20 cold 21 went to Joel JOHNSONS snow 22 warm 23 very warm went to cutting logs 24 to mill 25 very warm 26 snow cold drawing logs 27 cold drawing logs 28 Sunday very warm S wind.
MARCH 1st warm 2 cold I went to town meeting
3 snow & cold S wind 4 cold clear 5 cold cloudy
6 severe cold 7 cold cloudy snow we went
to funeral at CRONKITES 8 cloudy & snow I went to Judge DOWS
to (court?) on Willis Van--OVER and I took a summons for JOHNSON (chair?)
9 cold 10 cold 11 cold I started to go to
Col MENDEN stayed at SMITHS 12 Col at olds 13 at
OLDS 14 started 15 at home 16 snow in the morning
frosty is change in weather 17 rained very hard I went to BENNETTS
18 warm thaw 19 warm 20 warm 21 cold the snow almost
gone 22 cold & clear 23 clear 24 cold
25 cold 26 warm I went to smithy 27 warm cloudy 28 warm
rain in the morning 29 warm 30 clear & warm 31 warm.
APRIL 1 warm rain I went to PHILIPS vandue 2
warm rain 3 clear cold a frost in the morning 4 rainy and cold
APRIL 5, 1813 clear & warm 6 do 7 do 8
do hewed timber 9 do 10 do 11 do 12 cloudy south
wind all day 13 rainy wind 14 warm 15 rain
16 cold clear 17 warm 18 I went to Tom HURDS mill------ day
warm 19 warm I went to J DOWS & got out an execution as/us (versus?)
Johnson CHASE 20 warm rain ----- 21 warm and rain 22
warm cleared all day 23 rain and warm (lbuit?) 24 clear
warm grass grows very fast 25 Sunday clear & cool
26 clear and warm 27 warm went to election 28
clear and warm 29 rained a little 30 rained
MAY 1st cloudy I went to the head of the lake a fishing
and sawed flax 2 Sunday cool 3 I back plowed
4 warm rain sowed oats 5 rain dragged in oats
6 rained 7 cloudy plowed for corn ----- we helped raise
his house 9 rained very fast Sunday 10 cold and cloudy.
[MAY] 11 cool 12 cool clear 13 cool 14
cold and cloudy 15 clear and cool I raised my house 16
clear and cold - Sunday - 17 clear 18 clear warm 19 clear warm
20 clear warm 21 clearn warm 22 I planted corn
clear warm day 23 clear warm and dry Sunday
a shower 24 Rain 25 clear 26 rain very fast I went
to Big Stream Point after cord and got up to SMITHS Point 27
got the board home 28 rained 29 rained 30
Sunday rained and is very wet 31 clear and cold.
JUNE 1st clear warm I went to Mr WAIT vandue
2 clear and warm 3rd clear warm 4 clear warm dry
weather 5 clear warm I was summoned on a jury of
Inquest on the body of Aaron SMOND (SNOW?) found dead near the dwelling
house of John DAVIS in Reading 6 Sunday warm and
____? 7 showers 8 rain 9 clear warm 10 rain all
day 11 rain in the morning 12 clear 13 warm
and clear Sunday 14 warm 15 warm showers
16 warm showers very hot 17 warm and clear 18 clear
I worked at the road 19 rained.
JUNE 20 Sunday very hot showers 21 some
showers in the morning 22 clear 23 showers in fore part of
day 24 very hot 25 hot dry 26 hot
27 Sunday 28 hot a very hard shower 29 showers
in the morning Hot 30 rain (fadel?) ----
JULY first on Thursday rain (fadel?)
3 clear and warm
4th Sunday warm & showers 5 clear and pleasant
6 showers in the morning 7 clear th---- covered
my house 8 rain 9 rain - clear and cool
11 Sunday clear 12 rain 13 do 14 I sowed
buckwheat 15 do and it rained 16 rain 17 clear I slept
a while outside and watched (with Simon?)- at night.
18 Sunday rain 19 pleasant 20 a shower 21
pleasant 22 clear warm 23 rain I got new wheat ground
had 40 wt of flour out of a bushel 24 showery 25
Sunday clear 26th good harvest day I (kept?)---my grain 27
a shower in the afternoon 28 cloudy 29 good day
30 showers 31 hot and clear I finished drawing in my
grain.
Sunday NOVEMBER 14th (1813) very cold 15
cold the ground froze hard 16 not very cold 17 cloudy
19 snow and rainy 20 clear and warm 21 do
22 do 23 do 24 rain all day 25
cold 26 cold 27 cold 28 Sunday cloudy
29 clear and cold 30 south wind cold
Dec first cold 2 do 3 very cold
4 cold 5 Sunday cloudy and some rain at night 6
cold 7 do 8 snow about 6in deep 9 snow
ao cloudy and cold 11 cloudy I went after brick
over the lake 12 brought them over the lake 13 sunday
clear and cold I went to Simeon J HURD with a shay 14 cold
15 clear and cold 16 it began to thaw 17 warm 18
warm 19 sunday some snow and cold 20 Fort Niagara
taken by British 21 cold 22 do 23 cold
24 cold 26 I started on the alarm and went on 11
mile creek 26 Got to SMITHS in Leroy 27 started
to Clarence 28 do on 29
from the head of Seneca Lake to Ithaca to Junius to Dryden
30 The battle was fought at Buffalo and the place burnt by the British
31 I went to the 11 mile creek and the people were all moving
away.
Jan first 1814 - I started from Mr. HILLS in Clarence to come
home and came to SMITHS in Leroy and stayed there until the 5th and started
home 6 stayed at (Syuand?) 7 went to Job
WOODS in Honeye and left 2 notes with Wm BAKER Esq to collect 8
got home 9 cold I drawed wood 10 Sunday
cold 11 cold 12 cold and dry 13 cold
14 cold Joseph started for Vermont I thrashed
oats 15 cloudy and began to snow 16 ---Sunday snow
all day 17 cold and cloudy 18 cold I went
over the lake and carried some rye and killed a buck 19
some snow cold 20 cold 21 cold 22 cloudy and cold
23 cold Sunday
(1814) JANUARY 24 cold 25 do 26
snow 27 David HURD came here 28 Gregory was at
our house 29 cold 30 I went over the lake
Sunday 30 coldest this winter 31 went down to
RICHARDS
Feb 1st winds south begins to thaw 2 Major
SMITH came to Reading 3 very cold 4 cold
I went to the head of the lake with David Hurd and Major Smith
5 cold 6 sunday Major started for home 7
modeerate 8 pleasant 9 rain and snow 10
cold snow and froze 11 cold 12 cold
I went over the lake to mill 13 Sunday cloudy and cold
14 snow it fell 8 inches in 3 hours 15 cold
16 Joseph got home 16 snow 17
and 18 and 19 very warm 20 rain 21 warm and the
snow was gone almost 22 warm 23 warm Joseph
HOWARD began to keep house 24 rain went to mill 25
made troughs 26 do 27 Sunday I went to mill
28 cold made troughs
Mar 1st cold I went to town meeting 2 cold
3 cold 4 cold 5 cold 6 Sunday
it bagan to moderate 7 warm I cut down old timber before
John ROBERTS door.
FEBRUARY (year ?) warming 9 cold 10
cold snow cold winds squalls 12 gravely sunday
very cold 14 dressed flax for John ROBERTS 15 cloudy
and rain my wrist is hurt out of joint 16 cold
17 do 18 do 19 warm 20 warm
Sunday is running fast 21 snow and cold I
went to John WEEKS and to HURDS Corns. 22 cold 23
cold with some snow a shower storm 24 snow 25
a draft was made of 5 men and a sargeant 26 warm 27
Sunday warm sap run fast we made 400 lbs of sugar
28 warm 29 snow gone 30 warm 31 warmer
MARCH 1st warm in the morning cold at night 2 cold
3 rain 4 rain 5 clear and warm the grass
begins to grow 6 warm 7 do 8 warm 9
warm 10 Sunday rain 11 rain 12 cold
13 cold sapp runs 14 I worked for Dr ROBENSON
snow 16 warm I took out my potatoes
APRIL 17th Sunday warm and pleasant 18th
cool I loged before John ROBERTS door 19 I worked for -----hr.
20 cool I began to plow for flax 21 warm
22 warm 23 cool 24 Sunday cold with
some hail 25 warm 26 very hot 27 warm
28 clear and warm 29 I sowed flax seed 30 rain
MAY first Sunday clear and cool I went to
Ovid after appletrees 2 rain and hail
Abner HOWARD came to Reading stayed 2 days 3 warm
4 warm 5 warm 6 do 7 do 8 cool Sunday
9th warm 10 warm cloudy I began to plant 11 and 12
planted that hill before J ROBERTS door. 12 it began
to rain rained sunny until the 15 which is Sunday
and it is showery all day and cool 16 rain all day I went to
Judah WEEKS
MAY 17th (1814) I plowed 18 warm 19 warm
20 sunny hot I finished planting corn 21 rain 22 sunday
Cloudy and warm 23 I finished sowing oats and Joseph was taken
sick with the fever. 24 warm 25 very hot 26
do 27 cloudy and rain 28 Joseph very sick
hot 29 hot 30th I worked for Joseph 31 hot
I was at Josephs (again?)
June 1st Hot and very good growing season 2 do
3 do 4 I planted potatoes 5 warm Sunday
6 do 7 I began to hoe corn 8 I howed corn
---? 9 do 10 I finished howing 11 I
plowed at Joseph' corn 12 warm Sunday 13
warm we had a bee to plow buckwheat land for Joseph 14 warm
15 rain 16 I went to mill across the lake
17 JUNE 1814 ----- to come to Reading to the unknown land
so called 18 warm rain we finished plowing buckwheat land
19th is Sunday cool it is 2 years this day since we came to Reading
20 very hot dry weather 21 do I was cutting fallow
22 do 23 a fine shower 24 clear 25
warm and clear 26 do 27 do 28 do we
have our corn (thinned?) 2nd time fallow
(burn?) 28 began to mow some clear 29 dry weather
30 do
July 1st warm dry weather 2 do 3 some
rain is sunny we went to Big Stream Point to meeting 4 (clear
guard?) 5 do 6 very hot
JULY 7 Hot dry on the 4th day of July Fort Erie was taken
without the loss of a man and soon after there was a hard fought at Chippewa.
this month is a very dry month however it ----this season
On the 28 of July I rec a letter from Abner AUGUST first
good however ---- on the 6 day finished drawing in wheat
7 is Sunday warm.
[Helena Howard]
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