Sat Sept 11th Mother had a sick night and is very unwell
to day not able to sit up but very little.
Orinthia Miss E Burrell Alice Ames came
about ten and spent the day. Abby Torrey
passed the afternoon and Emily & Mrs Shepherd
Hannah went to bed sick about two and
I had to get tea for them to go home early
Evelina invited several female friends to spend the day, but her plans were thrown into disarray by her mother’s indisposition during the night and her servant, Hannah Murphy, falling ill after the midday meal. Orinthia Foss and others had gathered and instead of sitting in the parlor with them while Hannah made and served the tea, Evelina had to be in the kitchen herself preparing the meal. Not what she had planned. She must have been reminded of times past when her previous servant, Jane McHanna, was often ill and unable to cook or serve.
According to Old Oliver, “the 11th was rainy part of the day and cloudy all day wind south east + warm there was half an inch of rain”* Perhaps the women were grateful to be in the parlor and not out in the weather, however welcome the rain might have been. The Alice Ames who came to visit may have been married to a George Copeland in Plymouth, although her name would have been Copeland, not Ames. Are any readers out there versed in the wider reaches of the Ames (or Eames) name in Massachusetts?
*Oliver Ames, Journal, Stonehill College Archives, Arnold Tofias Collection
evelinaames 