Thursday Aug 12th I have been very busy and have not
written in this book for a number of days and
have made a mistake Yesterday it rained and
prevented our going to Boston and it was last
night that Oakes A bled and prevented our
going to day Mrs Dorr returned to Boston
this morning I have been very busy fixing work
for Catharine
Evelina was rattled. She usually kept pretty good track of her days, but this week she was delinquent and confused. She jumbled her activities around. In all probability, she was upset about Oakes Angier’s illness. He had been coughing up blood for a couple of weeks, at least, and wasn’t getting any better. The worry and fatigue was getting to her.
Outside the sickroom, the day was pleasant. The wind was “southerly + pritty warm,” allowing Old Oliver’s crew of outdoor men to sow “grass seed + turnips on one half of the Peckham lott this day.”* Life of the farm and, presumably, at the factory were proceeding as normal. But it wouldn’t have felt normal to Evelina and others. Their lives were threatened by a sinister possibility.
Easton readers and local historians, where was the Peckham lot?
*Oliver Ames, Journal, Stonehill College Archives, Arnold Tofias Collection