Speaking of Bacon...

Page 6

Hogs Sold

11 hogs     Feb. 26 1917
                   $174.75
1 hog              20.35
5   "                 68.85
12 "               154.75
19 "               205.30
1   "                 18.80
12 "               221.85
Jun 3rd 36 hogs   190.50

[Line drawn beneath the above entries.]

Road Drag (1924)
Sept. 13     5 3/4 miles
   "      30     2 1/2 miles
Oct       6     7 1/4     "
  "       10     5 3/4     "
Nov             5 3/4     "

[Line drawn beneath the above entries.]

Nov. 16      5 3/4 mi.                     $22.92

[Line drawn beneath the above entry, and the word, "Paid" is written across both of the above 2 Road Drag entries.]

Plant Corn

Sim
  Tues.                       1/2 da
  Wed.                          1   "
  Thurs.        A.O.         1   "
  Fri.     1/2 day rain 1/2   "
  Sat.    made well       1   "

Fence
Out     Wed.              1/2 day
           Thurs.                1   "
           Fri.                     1   "
In        Mon.                   1   "
"         Tues.                1/2  "  sheer shee[t??]

My Thoughts

Image via Wikipedia

Marion Co, IA Farm Boy Riding Hog (Not the Pointer's)

My parents had a hog farm way before I was even a thought in their minds. [But that's a story for another time and blog. ;) ]  Now, the Pointer farm was not a hog farm, but, apparently, they did dabble in swine.  The money that Pearl received from the sale of their hogs seems a little inconsistent in the last entry where she records the sale of 36 hogs for $190.50.  By June, were they just trying to get rid of them?

More road work in 1924.   All that road work must have been a drag.  [Sorry. Couldn't resist.]

Because of Great-Uncle Donald, I do know they grew and sold corn (and other crops) when he was growing up because he worked the farm with his brothers. [And, hey, this is Iowa. Of course, they grew corn.]  However, it's unclear what year this crop was planted.  There are 2 words in this entry that, at first glance, no one would know what Pearl was talking about except a few Pointer family members [myself included] ~  "Sim" and "A.O"

You are so very lucky that  I know what a "Sim" and an "A.O." are.  Actually they are a "who".  And before  I start sounding like a Dr. Seuss book, I'll tell you who they are.  A.O. was Alvis Oliver Williams, Pearl's father, and Sim was William Simeon Williams [or Uncle Sim], Pearl's uncle and A.O.'s brother.

So, it looks like Uncle Sim [with help on one day from A.O., her father] helped Pearl [and Harve] out with planting corn.  And quite possibly he helped with the fence.  The writing and the writing instrument [pencil] used seem very similar.  The weight with which she wrote and the sharpening of the pencil of  both entries seem very similar as well.  

Image by The Library of Congress via Flickr

Corn Planting, Jasper Co, IA (Not the Pointer's)

Further, considering the type of relationship they had, it doesn't surprise me that Sim and A.O. only worked together 1 day planting the corn.  In fact, as I read that entry, I could almost hear them bickering. [Snort.] I bet when they walked home that day, they didn't even walk on the same side of the road.  How would I know?  'Cause of Great-Uncle Donald. That's how. [Wink.]  Read about what Great-Uncle Donald had to say about their relationship here.  I also blogged a little more about them here and here.

~Caroline

The "Why" Behind This Blog

When I mentioned on my main blog, Family Stories, [in my Life's Not Fair post] that my father-in-law had shared his grandmother's (Pearl Williams Pointer's) day books from the farm in Iowa that spanned from approximately 1916 to about 1943 with me, Nancy commented if I had any plans to transcribe and post them on the internet.  She went on to say that her ancestors had had a farm in Pennsylvania, and that the business end of the Pointer farm in Iowa had to have been similar to her ancestor's farm in Pennsylvania from the same time period.

"Huh," I thought to myself. Nancy had a very good point.  It'd be kind of selfish of me to keep it and not share it.  So, this is why I started this blog. A blog about Pearl Williams Pointer's farm's Day Books.  The business end of the farm.  [I wasn't lucky enough to get her personal journal.  That is, if she had one.]  I'm going to try to post a page a day.  [Notice I wrote, "try".]  Not only will I post the page, I'll try to post pictures of the people mentioned, applicable excerpts from Great Uncle Donald's memoirs [one of her sons], and my own personal comments from my research of the family wherever appropriate to make the story come alive.  Yes, you read correctly.  The story.  Indeed, her Day Books cover the business end of the Pointer farm, but they still tell a story.  Or maybe I'm biased and I try to find a story in everything.  [Shrug.]

Anywho, I find them interesting, and I think the family historians out there will find them interesting as well.

~Caroline