1851
May 30th Friday Have been sweeping & dusting the
chambers put things in order in the shed chamber
again. Jane has cleaned the boys chamber Frank left
their room last night. Have sewed a very little
Frances Linscott came to see Orinthia in the
stage to night and Frank went to Mr Howards
after her It was past nine when they got
here It is very cold for the season
Mrs Johnson buried to day in the new Cemetery
The first burial in the new cemetery in South Easton took place today. Catherine Lothrop Johnson, the wife of Thomas J. Johnson of Newtonville, and their infant son were buried there. Catherine was 35 years old. She would not have had a service in a church; rather, there would have been a gathering of friends and relatives at the Johnson home, after which some or all would have ridden or walked to the burial site for the committal ceremony. To bury a mother and her baby was a double sorrow, obviously, but not all that unusual in a period when childbirth carried such risk.
Orinthia, meanwhile, came back to the Ames’s for a visit, bringing along a friend from out of town, Miss Frances Linscott. The two young women arranged to stay at the Ames’s house. Certainly part of the reason for this was Orinthia’s fondness for the Ames family, especially Evelina. Is it possible, however, that the Ames sons were also an attraction?
The three Ames sons who had been sharing one bedroom returned to previous sleeping arrangements today. Oakes Angier and Oliver (3) stayed in the room they shared and Frank Morton Ames returned to his own smaller quarters. After tea, Frank took a carriage south to Elijah Howard’s home, where Orinthia had been staying, to carry her and her friend to North Easton.
