Amos Gorrell, my husband’s paternal great-grandfather, grew up on a farm in Ross County, Ohio. After his Civil War service and marriage to Elizabeth (Livy) Shotts Sayre, they moved to Cooper County, Missouri, where they lived the rest of their lives. See this post about their move. We know the details of that move and what it was like the first few years because Amos kept a yearly journal in a small notebook that fit in his pocket. He kept track of small things: the weather, who he saw, what he purchased, what he planted, and correspondence with friends and family. Many years later, the surviving journals were transcribed and copies of the transcriptions were given to descendants of the six children he and Livy raised. My father-in-law received one of the little books. The entries are short and somewhat cryptic, but reading the entries over a few days paints a picture. Here is weeks’ worth of what he wrote in late May of 1871. Spelling and punctuation is kept as written. Sabba...
Researching: Davey, Gleeson, Gorrell, Hork, Hutson, Johnston, Jones, Lundquist, Nilsen, Selman, Sievert, Sullivan, Tierney, & Wollenweber.