No Pine Boxes

Their graves may be unmarked, but they rest in walnut and oak.


(Click on images to enlarge)
Images courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.





Of all these names I can identify only Edward Ensign, who appears in the 1850 Census in Hobart Township. To judge by his neighbors, he lived northeast of the village of Hobart near the county line. He was by trade a cooper; that is, a barrel-maker. He and his wife, Emmarilla (married in Ohio in 1844[1]), had three children: Clarissa (4 years old), Sarah (2), and Linus (3 months). I can't find the family in the 1860 Census, so I can't guess which of those little ones the walnut coffin of 1851 was meant for.

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[1] Ancestry.com. Ohio, County Marriage Records, 1774-1993 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016. Original data: Marriage Records. Ohio Marriages. Various Ohio County Courthouses.

Hard Times by the Yard

It's October 1840, and everybody wants hard times.


(Click on images to enlarge)
Images courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.


Fortunatus Daggett, Jacob Wolf, Jr., and Milton Wolf all bought three yards of hard times. I assume it's some kind of textile.

Lest we think that "hard times" is useful only three yards at a time, in comes Myiel Pierce to buy ten yards of it …



… but on the next page, there's three yards again, going to Philander Sprague.

And just below Philander, a Daggett (Fortunatus?) buys some dog mittens. I'd like to pretend those were mittens for his doggies' paws, but a couple of entries on other pages make it clear that this store sold mittens made from dog hides.