Saturday, May 16th, 1863

To day the boys finished making rail bars and posts to enclose the mill field. I drove my horse Rob & buggy to Crockett in order to get me a pair of boots and while there I tendered to Wm. B. Stokes the agent of Herndon's estate the amount of principal & interest due on a note of hand I gave to his estate but he declined to receive the money. I also made L.E. Downes a title for 2 lots in Crockett viz lots 31 & 32. I returned home in the evening. Sam* [Samuel Houston Sharp] ground 37½ bushels of corn. weather clear & pleasant.

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

Monday, May 28th, 1860

To day we droped? the mill rocks. I went on Joseph Keen's note as security for $59.64 payable to Herndon's admst. Cousin Sally Dillard paid us a visit & remained to tea, a great woman Cousin Sally is. The hands still in the corn. Sam still sick. Weather clear dry & very warm.

Saturday, March 24th, 1860

To day I moved my negroes home. Mr. Tanner bundled ? some augers & chisels. we clear up & fixed for planting a potato patch. weather clear & pleasant. I executed my note to Herndon's adms. ? for $137.75 for purchases made at the sale, due and payable 12 months, with W.A. Stewart & James Collins, ? as my securities.

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YAZOO DEMOCRAT [Yazoo City, MS], March 24, 1860, p. 1, c. 5. Kitchen Memoranda. -- Potatoes to be washed -- meat to be put to soak -- lamps to fill -- knives to scour -- furniture to be dusted -- silver to be polished -- front entry to be washed -- beds to be made -- apples to be pared -- flour to sift -- shirts to be ironed -- dishes to be washed -- beets to be cleaned -- carpets to be swept -- fires to be tended -- dinner to get -- pig to be fed -- pudding to be made -- a run to the store -- front door to tend -- children to be waited on -- baby's frock to be washed -- stockings to be darned -- button to be sewed on the shirts -- skirts to be done up -- tea to get -- griddle cakes -- doughnuts, custards, ginger bread, preserves -- dishes to clear away -- company -- meetings -- bed time. What merchant, politician or president has a longer list of daily avocations than the good housewife; and yet how little are they considered. The hard and constant fatigue of the mother should elicit a deep sympathy, and a more strenuous effort to lighten her burdens. 

Monday, February 20th, 1860

To day I went to Hall's bluff and received the articles purchased at the sale of HERNDON'S est. and from there to Crockett. I visited Mabie's circus & Menagine [sic, i.e., menagerie], at night. I purchased in town for the little woman [Margaret Hall Stewart nee Sharp] a magic watch from J. R. SIMPSON for $175. The weather was cold with a heavy rain & hail at night.

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• To the delight of children of all ages, Mollie Bailey brought her circus, a Texas institution for four fun-filled decades, to Conroe on Feb. 10, 1913. . . . “A Texas Show for Texas People” followed the trail blazed by pioneer predecessors like John Robinson’s “Great Southern Show,” which thrilled citizens of the recently annexed Republic in 1850. “Mabie’s Circus and Menagerie” amazed audiences eight years later with a trio of elephants, including an enormous bull that nearly plunged to his death after breaking through a bridge outside Waco. . . . This Week in Texas History by Bartee Haile
• Within Kansas territory people approached the Fourth of July, 1859, with gratitude and with hope. . . . Mabie's circus of "fine living specimens of wild animals" and clever clowns gave three exhibitions at a pavilion. "Our country cousins were in in immense numbers, and the elephants, the tall woman, the fat man, the serpents, and the monkeys were almost stared out of countenance. The circus had a fat day, and the men who had the gold watch and trinket raffles had a rich harvest of halves and quarters." . . . The Fourth of July in Early Kansas 1858-1861 by Cora Dolbee

Sunday, February 19th, 1860

To day sent the cart to the bluff for the articles purchased at sale of HERNDON'S est. considerable error in the bill, and several articles missing. Darby split rails, & made 110. weather warm & clear.

Saturday, February 18th, 1860

To day I went to HALL'S bluff, and purchased a few articles at HERNDON'S sale. The river down & one flat boat from PARKER'S bluff laying there with 307 bales of cotton. Sent Albert to the mill for wheat bran but was disappointed on getting it. still at work in the clearing burning brush. weather to day warm but cloudy and cold with heavy frost at night.

Monday, February 13th, 1860

To day I went to Hall's bluff to attend the sale of the _____ of Herndon's estate, and purchased some articles. The river is in good boatable order and rising. at home Albert is still clearing. weather cloudy with light rain nearly all day.

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The Weekly Telegraph (Houston, Tex.)

Vol. 25, No. 41, Ed. 1, Page: 2 of 4

Wednesday, December 28, 1859

Regarding the killing of
Robert E. Herndon
at Hall's Bluff, Houston County, Texas