*
June 27 Friday John left here this morning
Worked a long time in the garden
this morning for the weeds were very plenty
afterwards finished picking over the hair and
a long job it has been. This afternoon put the hair
into the hair cloth cover and just commenced tying
it when Mrs Clark and Mrs Stetson came from
Sharon and of course had to leave it and go
into the other house house to see them. Mother & I stoped to tea
Pigweed, thistle, crabgrass, and purslane: Such weeds – and more – are the collective bane of the flower gardener. Evelina tackled some of them this morning as she addressed the “very plenty” weeds that were pushing into her flower beds. Perhaps she ruminated about her brother John and his short visit while her fingers dug into the soil.
After midday dinner she turned to her sewing, as usual, going right to her haircloth slipcover project, but abandoned it with alacrity when an opportunity for socializing turned up. “Had to leave it and go..” she noted, when two friends from nearby Sharon arrived next door. She and her mother, Hannah Lothrop Gilmore, went over for tea.
Frank Ames Mitchell, a nephew of Oakes and Evelina, turned ten years old today. One of two grandsons of Old Oliver named Frank (the other being Frank Morton Ames,) he was the eldest son of Oakes’ sister, Harriett Ames Mitchell. He, his mother, and two younger siblings were living temporarily in Bridgewater while their father, Asa Mitchell, was working in coal in western Pennsylvania.
Our knowledge about Frank Mitchell is limited, as he never married or had any known issue. We do know that he was the only Ames grandson to fight in the Civil War. He served in both the 44th and the 56th Massachusetts Regiments, and ultimately made captain. In 1864, he was wounded at Cold Harbor. Hospitalized in Washington DC, where his mother rushed to his side, he eventually recovered but remained in indifferent health for the rest of his life.
After the war, Frank bought a plantation in Tallullah, Louisiana, an effort that was underwritten and ultimately bought out by his Uncle Oliver Ames, Jr. Family records show that Frank subsequently depended on financial support from his cousin Fred Ames. The remainder of his life consisted of traveling from one healthful climate or resort to another in search of good health.
* A modern flower garden, full of weeds, from canoecorner.blogspot
evelinaames 