Milwaukee County Wisconsin Genealogy

William Bramwell Sizer Diaries
May 1886

Milwaukee County Police Department

These diaries are a mixture of work and family affairs of William Bramwell Sizer. William was on the Milwaukee Police Department and a member of the Sherman Street Methodist Episcopal Church, later transferring their membership to Kingsley Methodist Episcopal Church and died in 1916. The diaries give a pretty good view of life in the years involved. The diaries were given to me for presentation on this site by family members see contributors page.

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May 1886

5-1-1886
Sowed oats in the south lot. Weather has been cool for several days. More goslings hatched today.

5-2-1886
Went to church today. Huston preached from Isaiah 40-3. Joe Spehn's Texaas Colts ran away today & came near killing the occupants of the buggy. Henry & Eddie were here awhile. Speckeled Heifer came today. Weather, fine & warm.

5-3-1886
Finished sowing my grain today. Sowed some for Pa. Geo. McCarty came down today to change oats with me. I sowed 65 bu. oats & 16 bu. Barley. Jason helped me fix fence down by the river behind the swamp. Weather cloudy. & sprinkling some.

5-4-1886
Finished sowing Pa's oats today. Richard was here this eve. & I paid him $2.35 in settlement for his winters work.

5-5-1886
Commenced hauling stones away from the hen house. Pa & Jimmie helped until noon. After dinner I fixed Pa's plow & helped him get his potato ground ready to plow. CFT & family came down in the afternoon. Minnie went home & I went to Jakes to meet her. Walter staid with his Grandma all night.

5-6-1886
Jason helped me haul stone today. Weather chaged suddenly about 1 0'c & turned quire cold. Cleaned out the brooder room this noon. Pa, Ma & Uncle Frank & Aunt Emma were here in the eve.

5-7-1886
Jason helped me nearly all day. Pa & Uncle Frank went to see Lutfring about the land biz. Taylors went home today. Lois was here a while. Karker was here to get me to sign a petition for a special school meeting for the purpose of raising a tax to defray the expense of the Law Suit & to pay the expense of an appeal.

5-8-1886
Commenced hauling stones again today. Jason & I went up to the swamp to fix the fence so the young stock couldn't get in the Barley. Uncle Frank & Peavy came at noon. He & I went to see Lutfring. Jason took 3 bags of feed to Weber & Jonas Mill & then went to Saukville. Uncle Frank bought my best heifer for $30.00. Am sorry to part with her.

5-9-1886
Went to church this morn. While there we heard of the funeral & so staid. Went to Bro. Deterts to dinner. Jake Kellers wife buried today, leaving Jake with two girls to take care of. Came home & did my chores & took Huston home. Jason rode bck with me. Weather, cloudy & rather cool.

5-10-1886
Rained last night. Went to the Fair & got my harness fixed. After I came home I took the banking away from the house. Went to the mill & got my feed. Minnie went up as far as Hubbards & staid while I was at the mill.

5-11-1886
Hauled stones again today. Jason helped me in the afternoon. Weather quite warm today. Crescent Club is in session across the road tonight.

5-12-1886
Hauled stones. Pa came over & hauled two loads, Jason took my team & went to Pt. in the eve.

5-13-1886
Helped Pa dress a pig & went to Pt.. with a load of wood for the American House. Rained this eve. Went to Dr. Smith. Got some medicine for sick headaches & dizziness.

5-14-1886
Finished .... & commenced plowing my potato ground. Weather cloudy & cool.

5-15-1886
I plowed some this forenoon. Went to Pt. to attend quarterly conference. Rained a good deal all day. I came in showers, sunshine & clouds all at the same time. Came home with a terrible pain in my right lung. Jimmie helped Minnie with the chores. Ma came over & staid all night.

5-16-1886
I feel lots better. Our folks got to church with our team. Heavy frost last night. Don't think it did much damage. We staid at home all day.

5-17-1886
Commenced taking milk to the factory. Went to Pt. Saw Dr. Smith. He gave me some powders to mix with my medicine. Called at Huston's. Went over to Henry's this afternoon. Minnies mother came home with us. Went to special school meeting tonight. Went to the barn this morn & found a colt, all dry, running around. Shall call it Billy.

5-18-1886
Went to the factory this morn & mailed two letters. Rained most all forenoon. Helped Jimmie plant corn. Jake came over in the PM. Got some Cedar bushes. Cleaned out the Brooder5-19-1885 Helped Jimmie finished corn planting. Cut my potatoes & planted them. Jason dropped & Jimmie & I covered.

5-20-1886
Planted beans & corn. Minnie helped me some. Went to Jakes in the eve. Lois was over all day. Took calf over to Jake. Talked over the acct. with J. He said he was satisfied to call matters square between us.

5-21-1886
Went at my corn ground. Took away the fence on the north side & hauled away the small stones. Buried two large ones & shall haul the [rest] off tomorrow. Plowed some. George came over after some eggs to set. Jake came to see his mother on biz. They both were here to supper. Weather, quite warm.

5-22-1886
Plowed some. Finished planting corn. A man came here to buy hay for Hugh Tulman. Want's me to bring a load Monday. Went to McCartons tonight. We are having lots of trouble with hen hawks. Weather, very warm. Put our calf out on grass. Tied him to a cherry tree. Some lightning.

5-23-1886
Went to church. Ma & Minnies mother went with me. Huston rode out & I took him back in the eve. Weather, cool. Warmer towards night.

5-24-1886
Went to the factory. Tom Mc Carten came over & told me to get his rifle & look at it. & if I liked it we would try to make a bargin. He offered to trade upon wood. Went & gort the rifle at noon. Afternoon: Loaded up a load of hay & went to Waubeka. Had a gale before I got there. Tho't it would tip me over. I had Harkers wagon & rack.

5-25-1886
Jason helped me load another load of hay & went to Pt. Stood around all day & couldn't unload. At last I got a chance to sell & came home late. Had bad luck with the chicks. They commenced crowding & killed 30 of them.

5-26-1886
Salted my young stock. Took the rifle along & shot at some crows. Fixed fence & got a load of Cedar wood for the cheese factory. Shall take it down in the morning.

5-27-1886
Took the milk down to Becker & came back. Got breakfast & went down to the cheese factory with a load of Cedar wood. Got the road warrant & brought up some plank for the road. Jake & Lois were here a while. Jake & I tried the rifle. Shot 12 rounds hitting the board every time except one. I hade two good hand shots, one line & one center at a distance of 10 rods. Sowed flax this afternoon. Cleaned the incubator out.

5-28-1886
My colt died last night. Commenced rolling today. Filled the incubator with eggs. Put in 220. Tore away old hog pen. Helen came home. Minnie went to the train to get her.

5-29-1886
Went to the factory. Got Doll shod. Got Helen's trunk. Came home & warned some of the mud out of the road. Saw Tom McCarten & made a deal for his rifle. Jimmie finished rolling the north lot & Pa took some of the feed up to the mill for me & brought his grist home.

5-30-1886
Went to church. Huston preached from the text, "Choose you this day whome you will serve." Stopped a minute at Uncle Henry's. Came home & Helen had dinner ready. In the eve. Nonie came down after some Castor Oil for the colt. I went up & helped K put it down him.

5-31-1886
Went to the factory with Bonn. Got some oil & did some other trading. Mrs. Reiter came over to see if I would carry her milk. I agrees to carry it for $1.25 a month. Minnie took her mother home today. Jimmie rolled until nearly 6 o'c. I went to call him & took the rifle along & shot a crow.

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