June 15 Sunday Have been to meeting all day.
At noon went with Alsons wife & Rachel to
Mr William Reeds had a very pleasant call
Since meeting walked with Mr Ames & Susan
up to the fly away pond and home by
Edwin Manlys to see his flowers he has
fine plants in blossom, among others the
Fraxinella It sprinkled some and we called
at Mr Peckhams & saw Mrs Washburn
The weather over the past week was so mild that, despite the occasional sprinkle, folks were outdoors as much as possible. Evelina made all kinds of social calls today.
At the intermission between services, she went calling with a sister-in-law from the Gilmore side of the family: Henrietta Hall Gilmore, wife of Alson. Henrietta was Alson’s second wife, his first having died young, and mother of six of his seven children, including Lavinia, of whom we have seen much this past spring. With Henrietta was someone named Rachel, who was possibly Henrietta’s daughter or another niece with the same name. The ladies called at the home of William and Abigail Reed. Mr. Reed, older than Evelina by a generation, was a former teacher at Milton Academy and a graduate of Harvard’s Divinity School, although he never settled in a particular parish. An acting Justice of the Peace, Mr. Reed was well known and well liked.
This afternoon after church, Evelina, Oakes and their daughter walked the road to Fly Away Pond and on to Edwin Manley’s garden. There the Fraxinella, also known as Burning Bush, caught Evelina’s eye. More for her garden?
* Fraxinella, seedempire.com
evelinaames 
They also stopped at Mr Peckham’s, who lived on Picker Lane, and, I believe, is the man that was Oliver I’s trusted book keeper. At least once, Oliver sends him down to show Horatio how to keep his books, mentioning the double-entry method in which Oliver is a great believer. Alas, apparently Horatio never really was able to balance his books. There is a Mr Peckham, who is very instrumental in the development of the Methodist Church in Stoughton and I have wondered if it could be the same Peckham. We drive to the end of Picker Lane, park and walk a circuit with the dog(s) to Flyaway and then the ruins of the Hoe Shop. My son tends to drive to the old water works and make the same circuit from that area. When visiting Flyaway, I almost always think of the diary entry where Oliver talks about gong up to Flyaway on a Sunday and somehow taking the elevation readings that convince him to build the dam up there. A Gilmore moves a lot of the earth for him and I think of that as well, when I see the large earth berm and stones that comprise the bowl-shaped reservoir. For a few years, we had the tradition of taking an extended family walk in there on Thanksgiving Day, and a few of us still do. In any case, I love being able to read your entries, first thing in the morning and sometime get to share a few things I have found in the books, seen on the maps, visited in the land. Dwight
As best I can tell, there were two Mr. Peckhams in Easton at this time. One was John Peckham who did, indeed, serve as clerk/bookkeeper for the Ameses, although a later entry in Evelina’s diary suggests that he and his family soon moved to Taunton. The other Peckham, a furnaceman, was named Joseph. Both men had wives named Susan. Neither man draws a mention in Chaffin.
Thank you, Dwight, for your continued interest and information.