Milwaukee County Wisconsin Genealogy

William Bramwell Sizer Diaries
Sept 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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September 1886

9-1-1886
Joe Fieber's father died this morn. I plowed out brown potatoes. Got about a bushel. Karker told me that Richard had quarreled with his wife & had left after settling up with E. L. Eastman.

9-2-1886
Rained some this morn & I went over & cleaned wheat to go to mill. Startec to plow & Broke a haine tug & came home after dinner. I went to Pt. to mill & came back to S. & took a wagon for Phillip Dopple to Grafton. Got home late.

9-3-1886
Today is my birthday. 28 yrs. old. Went to plowing again. Schultz is threshing. Went over & fed a run. Hauled in my flax. Weather very warm. Rained a little toward eve. I plowed from supper till dark.

9-4-1886
Cleaned some oats. Minnie helped me. At noon Pa & Jimmie came over & helped me. Went to Pt. with 20 bags. Had 57 11/32 bu. Got 33 cts. to a check on the bank. Richard came back & is working in the factory. E.L.E. went home to attend a funeral.

9-5-1886
Went to church. Heard Bro. Johnson from West Bend Preach.

9-6-1886
Hauled two loads of sand & helped Minnie pick the geese. After dinner I went to Myra & got some lime for plastering my hen house. I went to R. Peats & bought two Roosters. Got home at 8:30 o'c. Weather very warm.

9-7-1886
Unloaded the lime & got ready for the Mason (Wolf) to come & mix morter all the forenoon. After dinner I hitched Bon up & took Helen & Minnie home. I went down to see Wolf & find out why he didn't come. Visited with Jake awhile.

9-8-1886
Got a load of sand. Wolf came & commenced plastering on the inside. Corwin & Will (Redhead) Mc Carty came last night. Staid around & bothered me all day. I let them have Doll & the buggy to go to Saukeville. They shot at the mark several times with my rifle. Rained some, so I had to mix morter inside.

9-9-1886
Corwin & MC C. staid all night. Wolf plastered all day inside. Rained some today. C & Mc went to Jakes to stay all night.

9-10-1886
I went to Grafton after dinner. Jim made morter. Pa got Bon to go to Barton. Huston & family came here in the afternoon & Jake & Lois stopped here on their way home.

9-11-1886
Huston's folks staid all night. After dinner Jason took them to Pt. Wolf finished plastering at noon. Minnie was sick all this afternoon & eve. I couldn't do much. Wind blew hard all day. Growing cold toward night.

9-12-1886
Minnie feels quite bad yet today. I didn't go to Pt. Went to Waubeka & brought Huston home with me. Very cold all day. Wind, NW.

9-13-1886
Went to the Fair. Jake helped me drive my cattlr. Sold two Heifers before I got to Reiters for $37.00. Paid one binder note & paid Corwin $50.00. Lutfring came up & said Corwin was mad as a fool & I had better settle. I gave hime (Corwin) a piece of my mind in the eve.

9-14-1886
Had to go to Saukville & give Corwin a chattel mortgarge on my stock, farming tools & my horses. Corwin came back from S. about 5 o'c. I suppose he was trying to sell the note & mortgage. I went to Jakes this eve. Took my rifle along & shot several times at a muskrat.

9-15-1886
Went to W & J's Mill with feed & then went to Cooley's mill & got some lumber. After noon I helped Minnie pull beans & in the eve. we went to Saukville & had a ride by moonlight.

9-16-1886
Rained this morn. After noon I plowed. Eve. we went to Henry's. Left Walter there.

9-17-1886
Plowed out some potatoes & went to the swamp & got a wagon box full of cedar wood for ELE Cheese Factory. Got some bolts & bought a coffee pot.

9-18-1886
Plowed all day. Rain toward night..

9-19-1886
Went to Henry's to prayer meeting & PM to Jakes to preaching. Got home at dark.

9-20-1886
Went to Grafton to the Fair. Sold Walter's calf. Sold a case of eggs. Came home & Jake came & helped me at the wood rack. Bro. Detert came here with a young man who wanted a place to stay for a few weeks. I agreed to give him a trial. HIs name is Herman Jahnke.

9-21-1886
Rained some this morn. Picked crab apples. Herman came to dinner. We worked at the wood rack all the afternoon.

9-22-1886
Went to Grafton with crab apples. Got home at 2 o'c. I went to Jakes to see about going to the fair. We concluded to take the train. Jake went & got the tickets. I came home & got ready & went back over there & stayed all night.

9-23-1886
Started for Pt. Train left Pt. soon after 4 o'c. AM. Got to Mil. at 6 AM. Went to Schlotterbecks for breakfast & then went to Bro Rhode from there to State Fair Ground. Saw & saw & saw till we were tired out & rested & tried again. Missed the freight at 6:45 PM & had to wait until 12:15 PM Fri.

9-24-1886
Arrived at Pt at 1:30 AM. Walked out to Jakes. Went to bed & slept till 7 o'c. Got breakfast & came home. Slept some till dinner time. After dinner we finished off the wood rack. Eddie came over & staid till nearly dark. I took him as far as the school house. Mrs. Boehm came for Helen & staid for supper.

9-25-1886
Went to Pt. with oats for Bro. Detert. got home at 7 o'c. Picked crab apples & went to Pt. again in the eve. Rained some on the way home. Got home at 9 o'c. Herman went to Bro. Deterts tonight.

9-26-1886
Today is M.E. Conf. Sunday. Didn't go anywhere. George & family came over & stayed awhile. Herman came home early. Cloudy all day.

9-27-1886
Rained hard this morn. Threshed flax all day. Went up to Lutfrings woods to see a sick cow left there by peddlars. Bill Hughes came here after dark to get some oats. Sold him 10 bu. @ 32 cts.

9-28-1886
Threshed flax in the forenoon. Went to Minnie Boehm's wedding. Started at 1:40 o'c Got there at 3 o'c. Had a good time. The bride grooms name is Julius Busswitz.

9-29--1886
Got home at 1 o'c. this Morn. Slept till 7. threshed flax. Jake came & got my big kettle. We went to Henry's in the eve.

9-30-1886
Finished the flax this forenoon. Picked some apples & went to Grafton in the PM.
Got home at dark. Had to go over & help Pa get a cow out of the mud. Went to the RR bridge to meet Helen & Minnie.

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