mtaggart
I am always thrilled when I see the first crocus poke its head through the soil …..it brings with it anticipation and excitement for spring and warmer weather. As I recently drove to the nursery to select plants and seeds for my garden, I wondered what spring meant to my ancestors. Many of my ancestors were Georgia farmers and so I suspect that for them spring meant work, hope and anticipation for a bountiful harvest.
Here we plant most of our garden after Mother’s Day, so I was surprised to learn that in many areas of Georgia they plant some crops as early FEBRUARY! So while I am still watching the snow drifts pile up, they are preparing soil and sowing seeds . When I am looking through the starts at our local nursery, in many parts of Georgia, they are beginning to harvest crops such as sweet corn, peaches and squash.
According to the 1880 Agricultural Census 1 John Monroe Ganus was the owner of his farm, which included 18 acres of Indian corn, 2 acres of oats, 2 acres of wheat, and 18 acres of cotton. He also had 5 barnyard poultry, 8 swine and one milch cow in addition to one other cow.
While this was not a big farm, by any standards, as I recently surveyed my cluster of simple raised garden boxes and thought of the time required to care for them, I could not help but wonder what farming was like for John and how he managed to care for all that he had. Farming is demanding for the farmers of today, but I can not imagine how grueling it must have been for the farmers of the late 19th century, void of the benefits of modern day equipment.
In 1880, John and Olivia had sons living at home who may have been a source of help. At that time, their two oldest sons, William Franklin and John Thackason, were both married, had families and were farming nearby. The three sons still at home, were Roderick Monroe who was 17, Newton Lafayette who was 13 and Robert Lee who was 10. I also know that for a period of time in 1882, John had help from an Mormon missionary serving in the area at that time. I am so thankful for the insight that the John Metcalf’s journal2 provides into John’s life as a farmer.
According to his journal, when Elder Metcalf visited John ‘s home on May 19, 1882, he learned that a frost had killed some of John’s cotton and corn. Farmers have always been vulnerable to the unpredictability of the weather, but that wouldn’t have softened the disappointment of such loss. From what I know about John, he was never particularly well off, but had to work hard for most of his life in order to provide for his family, so I am sure that losing crop came as a blow. The next next morning, John got up and did the only thing that he could do and that was to get to work. Elder Metcalf recorded that the next day he helped John to plow, indicating that they plowed half a day and were so busy, he ended up staying the night with John and Olivia. A few days later, John had wheat to bind and Elder Metcalf returned to help. On July 28, Elder Metcalf helped John “plow cotton” and the men once again worked long and late into the evening.
As crops were harvested, the farmer was not yet “done,” as the fields then had to be cleared and cleaned. Elder Metcalf found John in the field doing exactly that on September 9, and once again, stepped in to help him. The following day, September 10, it rained all day and Elder Metcalf recorded that consequently they just “waited it out”. I can almost picture the men, anxious to complete the task, periodically peering out the window for any indication of a break in the storm. The following day, the rain stopped and they were able to return to the field to continue their work. In my mind, I can see the steam rising from the field as the hot Georgia sun warmed the drenched soil. I also can imagine John and Elder Metcalf returning to John’s house at the end of the day, sunburned, tired and muddy from a full day’s work. For three back breaking days, John and Elder Metcalf worked to clear the field.
September 14, Elder Metcalf helped John pull fodder. After harvesting corn, farmers use to “pull fodder”, which involves pulling the blades off of the cornstalks and gathering them into bunches to dry in the sun. The fodder was then stored to be fed to the cows later. It was difficult work and the sharp edges of the corn blades often sliced their hands in the process.
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| Sugar Cane |
According to the journal, John raised sugar cane that year and Elder Metcalf was there to help John cut the cane on September 28th, 29th and 30th and again on October 2nd, and 3rd. Cutting sugar cane was also difficult work, in which each stalk was cut individually from the ground and then at the top, after stripping off the foliage along the sides.3
As they came to the end of the growing season, John Metcalf returned to John’s farm one final time on October 31 and helped John “pull and haul corn.”
While Elder Metcalf continued to visit John’s home, no further mention was made that year of helping him on the farm and so for a few months at least, John continued to feed and care for his handful of livestock until the following spring, when he would once again begin the process of plowing, planting and harvesting.
1. Selected U.S. Federal Census Non-Population Schedules, 1850-1880 database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 20 May 2013, entry for John M. Ganus, District 1143 Haralson, Georgia; Archive Collection Number: T1137; Page: 08; Line 10
2 Journal of John Edward Metcalf, Mission to the Southern States. No longer available on the internet. (bulk of material for this post was taken from entries in this journal).
3 Cultivation of Sugar Cane; William Carter Stubbs; Daniel Gugel Purse, Savannah, Morning News Print, 1900, page 144, found on www.books.google.com
Pictures from Wikipedia Commons, all in Public Domain.
Copyright © Michelle G. Taggart 2013
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A fine story. Thank you, so much, for sharing! 😉 Love those old diaries! 😉
Michelle, This is a vivid description of the constant dawn-to-dusk work that it takes just to keep a farm going. Sometimes backbreaking work, as you describe so well. You show these men working well into the evening on one crop and then turning their attention to the next crop before they had had much of a break, if any.
My uncle, in the early part of the 20th century, worked a small farm in Eastover, SC, without the benefit of even a tractor. He had five sons, only two of whom were old enough to work. He rose at 3:30 every morning. The cows had to be milked both before school and after school, and work did not stop on Saturday or even Sunday, though they took time off for church.
I don't know how they kept it up year after year.
We think of farming today as big agri-business, or maybe at the other extreme a hobby on a small scale. We've lost touch with those whose life was the farm, who knew no vacations, who were intimate with the land.
Thank you for this reminder of farming as a way of life, from John Ganus's journal. We may have lost family farming to the big machines, but it was an honest and noble way of life. I have great respect for our ancestors who endured it.
Thank you so much for your comments Mariann.
While visiting a daughter last year, a farmer invited me to ride in some of their tractors because they knew of my love of farm life and that I drove tractor for one of my cousins when I was younger. I was never so shocked as when they set the GPS and off the tractor took creating precision straight rows with the aid of a satellite! You are so right in that farming just doesn't look like it use to!
I can't imagine how tired they must have been "back then"!
Thank you so much! Oh I wish I had more diaries! I love how they let me see inside their world!