*
Thurs Oct 16th Lavinia came back with O & F and spent the
night Sat with her awhile and sewed some on
the waist of my dress and sewed some buttons on
Franks vest Went with Augustus with her
about Eleven and stopt an hour. This afternoon
have been to Augustus Lothrop with Mrs S Ames
He has been sick about a week with the
Typhoid fever. Bought 3 Bl apples of N Alger
Mrs Swain has a son born this morning
Evelina’s niece, Lavinia Gilmore, stayed the night with the Ameses, having ridden from the Gilmore farm with her cousins Oakes Angier and Frank Morton Ames. Lavinia often visited with the Ameses in North Easton, evidently enjoying the bustle that the village of North Easton provided, relative to life on the farm. Today she sat and sewed with her aunt, who always enjoyed company while sewing. Somewhere along the way in today’s comings and goings, Evelina purchased three bushels (or barrels) of apples from Mr. N. Alger, a probable neighbor of Lavinia and her family.
In the afternoon, Evelina went with her sister-in-law, Sarah Lothrop Ames, to visit one of Sarah’s many brothers. This youngest brother, Horace “Augustus” Lothrop, lived in nearby Sharon where he ran a cutlery company. He was quite ill with typhoid fever, a bacterial disease that was all too common in the 19th century. Spread by unsanitary conditions, typhoid fever killed more than 80,000 soldiers during the Civil War. Happily, Augustus Lothrop would survive his bout with the disease.
Another survivor today was Ann Swain, who came safely through the birth of her first child, a son. No doubt the relatives who had gathered to help were thankful and pleased.
* Illustration of nursery furniture from Godey’s Lady’s Book, 1851
