A Typical October Week

Wed. Oct. 27, 1926 : We ironed today. Dad, Ma & I went to Galena this afternoon. It was a nice warm day. Yesterday, Mother churned butter and also baked. Len & Ruby were busy husking corn on the Weis’ place*.

On Monday we washed. We also brought in the celery. The Aunts & Uncles* came down this evening.

Sunday the weather looked nice in the morning. And the roads still looked good so we packed our lunch and went to town to church. We ate our dinner in the car over by the park and then we went on the cement to Robert Virtue’s.* We found them home. Mr & Mrs. Charlie Gray and 4 children were there also. They wanted us to stay for supper but we didn’t. We thought it would be too late to get our choring done. They thought we ought to have come to spend the day. Vera teaches at Derinda, IL.

* Len and Ruby rented a piece of the Weis' property and farmed it for a few years.

* The aunts and uncles would have been Annie and Edd Tippet with Tillie, Maggie and Dan Dittmar.

* The present owners of the Trudgian house are related to the Virtues. They are the ones who have seen a elderly ghost in the back yard by the old barn dressed for farming and sitting on what is left of a brick wall from one of theout buildings.

A Trip To The Dentist: never a happy experience

Sat 16:Today we baked bread, coffee cake* and a cake. And, we also cleaned up. Ruby helped hay all day. They also picked corn after dark. It was a lovly moonlight evening although cool. I rather wanted to go to town tonight but Dad didn’t come until it was so late.

We all went to Dubuque yesterday. We went over on the new cement road. It took 45 minutes from Galena going over & 40 minutes coming home. I had six teeth filled. At least that is what was supposed to be done. One of my teeth had nearly as much of a hole as before. I believed I was badly hoodwinked. The dentist wanted me to have 50 or 100 dollars more work done. I paid twelve dollars on the bill. That is all I had but a few pennies.

Thursday was another nice day but cooler. Len and Ruby went to look for a stock hog. Then they went to Elizabeth, then to Wulff’s where they bought their hog but couldn’t have it until Wulffs are done with it. Mother, Ruby & I each dug some potatoes that day and we also ironed. Wednesday, Einer was here all day painting. He and Len put some roofing on the barn. Ma and Ruby washed while I had to do the housekeeping. Einer wasn’t coming till its dry enough for a second coat. It was a lovely day.

* One of the coffee cake recipes that Lillian used can be found on page 49 of Lillian's Diaries: Whispers From Galena's Past. This particular recipe was handwritten by a Miss Sophia Sachs who was born October 22, 1892. Leonard Stauss' mother was a Sachs before she married his father. I will have to do more research as to how Sophia fits into the lineage.

Ever wonder how I obtained Lillian's diaries? You'll be able to find out when the ISGS's Winter Quarterly comes out. I was most honored to be asked to write an article on the subject by the Illinois State Genealogy Society and thrilled that my article was accepted. The ISGS will also be doing a review of the first volume of Lillian's Diariesin the same issue.