Diary of a Young Girl from the 1850s (Morning)

Mary-Anne's Diary

Tuesday, April 12th

My older sister, Nadia, woke my brother and I up early this morning to start our daily chores. First I went to the chicken barn to gather all the eggs they had laid. I brought them into the house, but I accidentally tripped and dropped a few eggs. My sister saw the mess that I had made and hit me. I had to clean it up fast before my mother saw. After I cleaned the broken eggs and put the rest somewhere safe, My younger brother and I started to play with each other while waiting for my older sister and mother to make breakfast. When breakfast was ready, my family all sat down and ate. My older brother, David, had to go to school so he didn't get a chance to finish all of his breakfast. Later on, my father decided to go hunt for animals to eat for lunch. 

After everyone had finished eating breakfast, Nadia and I gathered all the dishes and cleaned the table.While my mother and sister were washing the dishes, my brother and I decided to knit my older sister a hat since she doesn't have one at the moment. When we were done knitting the hat, we showed it to her. She was very happy and thankful we had done that for her. 

My sister and I started to gather all the dirty clothes to wash them. After gathering the clothes we went to the bathroom and started scrubbing. My sister went to help out my mother to start making lunch, leaving me alone with all the dirty clothes to wash. An hour later I had finished washing the clothes and hung them on the dryer line.

                                                           -Mary-Anne

By: Parez, Aria, and Michelle

Diary of a Girl from the 1850s

Nadia's Diary

Thrusday, April 09th

I started the day by waking up about an hour after my mother woke up. David was quickly finishing his short morning chores. He rushed out to meet his friends and started walking to school. I woke Mary-Anne and Jaremiah up. I decided to start my chores early by going out to the cows and milking them, then I started the crop work. Checking on the animals and helping my mother mend clothing. I took a break while my mother did some outside work to look after my two younger siblings, I made lunch for us all. My brother got home from school at around 1:30 pm and we all went to the church to pray for fertile crops that we could sell for money.

My father got home a few minutes after we got back from the church and quickly made a short dinner. It was lights out half an hour later because the sun was going down fast today.

-Nadia

By: Aria, Parez, Michelle

Diary of Women in the 1850s (Afternoon)

Linda's Diary

Friday, April 10th

Since I didn't have enough time earlier to finish my last diary entry I think I have a little time before dinner to write. Well, after I broke up the fight between Jeremiah and Mary-Anne, I've soon realized that is was time to pick up David from school. We were lucky to live pretty near the school, compare to others, but it is still a 3 mile walk just to the school. When we were home, I immediately fix everyone a quick snack and asked David how his day was.  He said It was okay, but he recieved quite a bit of homework. So after he finished his snack of some fruits, I told him to wash up, and get started on his homework. I went to do some dishes and head on to all my other every day chores with Jeremiah and Mary-Anne, since they had nothing better to do. With having six hands, work was done early, all the fruits and vegetable was gathered for dinner, the cows were milked, and David even finished his homework and went down to the well to get some water. So I decided to sew a scarf for my husband, Frank so it would be a pleasant suprise for him. It's time for dinner.
                                                                                                    -Linda

Written by: Michelle, Parez, and Aria.

Diary of Women in the 1850s (Night)

Linda's Diary         

                  Friday, April 10th          

Now Nadia and myself are starting on dinner. First she set up the table while I got started with cooking. I decided to start heating the goat up, then Nadia and I chopped the vegetables and fruits. After the food was cooked and ready to eat, Nadia and her little sister helped put everything on the table. I yelled out to the family saying dinner was ready. After eating dinner I washed the dishes, and cleaned the table. An hour later the kids went to bed to wake up early in the morning for a visit to their grandparents house. My husband and I sat at the table talking for a few minutes about how our day went today and then we decided that it was getting late and went to bed.
                                                                                         - Linda

Written by: Parez, Aria, and Michelle.

Diary of Women in the 1850s (Morning)

Linda's Diary

Friday, April 10th

In the morning, my husband and I woke up before everyone else,  I started the fire before the kids got up, so when they get up it's not freezing! Then I started the morning chores. I cooked breakfast and made our bed. Frank, my husband, went to do his field work with the other men of the village at 8:00 am, he'll be there all day. After he left for work, David got ready for school, Jeremiah and Mary-Anne started to help me with the easier chores that they could handle, like cleaning their rooms. Nadia went out to start the garden work, so her brother wouldn't have to do so much when he got home. Well I have to go now, because Jeremiah and Mary-Anne are fighting over a rope to play with.
                                                                 -Linda

Written By: Aria, Michelle, and Parez.

Poll Info

Knowing that....

Girls:
Learn to spin (wool), knit, sew, cook, garden work, cow milking, and caring for the younger.
Girls at the age of 14 are to do any domestic chore

Boy:
Help feed livestock and gather firewood. They clear fields, build fences, and harvest crops.
At the age of 14 they work a full day.

Day in the Life of Girls in 1850s

Nadia's Diary

Saturday, April 4th

Today I woke up and started to cook breakfast for the entire family. After everyone ate, I cleaned the dishes, then dried them. After that, I decided to go and milk the cows, for the next few days. After milking, I helped my little sister, Mary-Anne, knit herself a scarf, for the winter is coming up soon! Later I met up with my older brother David in the field and we gathered the season's crops. He stays out for the next few hours to finish plowing, planting, and looking after the livestock. I decide to go back in and play hand games with my younger sister and brother. I lost track of time playing with my brother and sister and realized dinner was soon! I made potatoes, mixed vegetables, and chicken with my mother. About an hour after dinner, we all went to bed because the day's light was almost gone.
                                                                                              -Nadia

Written by: Aria, Parez, and Michelle.