Tuesday, April 3rd, 1860

To day we finished rolling logs in the new ground and went to staking & ridering the fence. one plow breaking up. Sam* [Samuel Houston Sharp] stocked another bull tongue. I took my first dinner at the old place. Weather cloudy & windy. We branded 2 oxen "Brandy" & "Spot" ? on the right hip & turned them out.

*This Sam is a 2nd great-grandpa to the Keeper of this family history blog.

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stake-and-rider fence -- A rail fence assembled without the use of post holes, as follows: two stakes are crossed, forming a crotch near their upper ends; a horizontal rail (called the rider) is supported by the crotch, then this assembly is bound together at the crotch; a series of such assemblies is required to form the fence, often with additional horizontal rails below the rider.

Monday, April 2nd, 1860

To day I re-employed I. Tanner for one month @ 12¢ ? per month. Sam* Sharp moved up to the old house. Still at work clearing up the new ground. Weather cloudy & rather cool with good prospects for rain.

*This Sam is a 2nd great-grandpa to the Keeper of this family history blog.

 

Sunday, April 1st, 1860

To day in the forenoon negro Dan was buried. In the evening I went fishing and caught 53 fine perch. Weather clear and windy.

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There is no mention of where this burial took place . . . but there is a Hall family cemetery . . . now marked with a Texas Historical Marker . . . and the wording on that marker is as follows . . .

Hall Cemetery. Joshua James Hall (1790-1871) gave a portion of his land on this site about a mile from his homestead to be used as a burial ground. Hall Cemetery was already in use when freedmen French Taylor (1842-1937), Bob Denby, & Alf Warfield petitioned Hall for permission to bury their dead in the graveyard. Hall agreed, & the cemetery was used by both Anglo & African American Settlers. The earliest marked grave is that of MARY A. SHARP (1843-1876). Hall Cemetery had several owners during the 20th century. A 1997 count revealed 29 marked & more than 105 unmarked graves. Descendants of early settlers continue to care for & maintain the land. (1998).

As indicated above, the earliest marked grave is that of Mary A. Sharp (1843-1876) . . . aka Mary Alexandrien Lemaire . . . aka Nellie . . . who is a 2nd great-grandma of the Keeper of this family history blog. But if the named gentlemen talked to Joshua James Hall about "permission to bury their dead in the graveyard," then that had to have occurred before Hall's death in 1871. The marker is located on FM 229, 10.9 miles NW of Crockett.

Saturday, March 31st, 1860

Still at work in the new ground, and in the evening the boys went to the river fishing etc. Weather clear by very windy.

Friday, March 30th, 1860

To day we are rolling logs, with one plow braking up. I. Tanner's time or month expires to night. Negro Dan died at about 10 o'clock P.M. Weather changeable with high wind from the S.W. and prospects for rain.

Thursday, March 29th, 1860

To day we are still rolling logs in the new ground. In consequence of a runaway scrape with the oxen, we lost all the afternoon. We succeeded however in catching Spot when I sawed his horns off. Weather clear & pleasant.

Wednesday, March 28th, 1860

To day we all heaped logs in the new ground, preparing it for the plow. Let I. Tanner have 1 pr. ? shoes @ $175. and advanced Mr. Tanner 11¢ to go to Navarro. Weather clear & rather cold with another frost at night.