1851
April 14 Monday Julia Mahoney has been here to day
to work on my foulard silk It is bad to
work on and she has not succeeded very well
but is coming again to finish it. Jane has
done the washing and her clothes dry
Orinthia has finished the shirt for Oliver that
was cut out March 31st Weather Pleasant
Mrs Witherell Mrs G Ames & Mrs S Ames called evening
In his journal today, Old Oliver noted that his son, Horatio Ames, was visiting. Although Horatio would have been, literally, under the same roof as Evelina and Oakes, Evelina didn’t mention his visit. She might not have seen him, of course, although she must have known he was in town and probably staying in the other part of the house. Horatio, like their brother William, was on poor terms with Oakes and it appears that neither wanted to encounter the other.
Another heartfelt topic that found no tongue today was the anniversary of the birth of Henry Gilmore Ames, the son of Evelina and Oakes who did not survive childhood. Henry would have been twelve years old today, but died at age two-and-a-half of an unrecorded cause.
In the future – 1876 in fact – family graves would be disinterred from their original locations and moved to a dedicated family cemetery behind the new Unitarian church on Main Street. Oakes Angier would oversee the relocation; among the graves moved would be the small one for Henry. At the time, Oliver (3) made a few observations about the relocation, including one of the little brother they had lost: “Bro Henry was moved to day and his hair was as perfect as when he was buried. His hair was smooth and parted.” Oliver (3) also noted that his father’s coffin was so heavy that it took seven men to lift it from its original resting place.
If Evelina remembered today’s date, she indicated nothing. She was busy with overseeing laundry day (not that Jane McHanna needed any direction on what needed to be done,) as well as Orinthia Foss’s completion of one last men’s shirt, and Julia Mahoney’s sewing on her silk dress. Many needles at work.
evelinaames 