___________________________________________________________
In her own words, from a short autobiography, circa 1870:
My father's name was John Parmely. His native place was Killingsworth on the seashore, in Connecticut. His ancestors came from England. I once saw in a newspaper the remark that the Parmelys were very numerous, but an indigent person was never known among them. And I have never known one that was a drunkard, or that used profane language.
Grandfather Parmely had seven sons and two daughters. Not being able to give his sons farms in that country, he went to Vermont, 130 miles, thought to be a long journey in those days, all wilderness and a poor country at that. On the Green Mountains the snow was frequently five feet deep in the winter, and that deep in the valleys on the east side.
My father was the oldest of the family. He was married in Conn., and had two children when he came to Vermont. He went onto his farm, cut down a few trees, built a log house, and moved his family in when they got there. His oldest child cried, said she would not go in, that she would not live in such a house.
Father and mother had three sons and five daughters. They all worked hard, and the children bought several hundred acres of land, and built good buildings. The boys did not want to stay there. They got a chance to swap their farms for wild land in Ohio, and did so, though they had to sacrifice a good deal. They all came to Ohio, but one. We all lived near together. My youngest brother died in about two years after he came. We did not all come at once to Ohio; there were six families started together the first time, the first settlers in the place. They started with ox teams, drove their cows, and were six weeks on the road. Some of the way the roads were very bad, and they had to cut the roads before them for seven or eight miles before they got to their land. There was not a stick of timber cut on their land and the timber was very heavy, but they did not mind that for they were Vermonters and used to hardships. They cut down some trees and built some huts to live in till fall when they built some block houses (hewed log houses.) One morning brother went out for the oxen and found they had started to go back. He started on as fast as he could (I believe he had not any hat on). He traveled eight or ten miles before he overtook them. Not long after they moved to Ohio they were building a bridge over a creek and my second brother got his leg broke, and they had to go twenty miles for a doctor to set it. My oldest brother had three quarter sections of land lying together commencing at the center of the township, but he must always be going into some big business. In the first place he put up a horse mill, but it did not do the business that he expected and finally ran down. He was always making some great calculation. He had a good deal of public spirit, and he wanted to see the place grow. Things did not go to suit him, and he moved to Elyria, the county seat, twenty-five miles from Sullivan, and bought him a farm one mile from the village. Next he took a large job of drilling a hole in a rock to set a mill on, but lost in that. Then he took another job, and worked very hard. I think he made something on that. He always worked very hard. He persuaded his brother to move down there, sold him his farm, and he moved into town and built him a great house, the finest in the country. Then he took a notion to sell his house, and came back to Sullivan, expecting to get the county seat there. He built a store and built a steam mill, but the mill did not do the work that the men who built it for him promised that it would do and he sued them, but they went broke and he did not get any damage. He likewise failed in getting the county seat. His son died that he expected to tend his store, and he gave up the mercantile business. He then thought he would go into the dairy business. He put up a very nice cheese house, had everything convenient for making cheese, but his women folks did not like the business, and they would not work at it, and he could not hire anyone to make it profitable.
I do not know what became of his cheese factory. The next job he tried was to build a meetinghouse, and he accomplished that. I think that will be his last great job as he is now 82 years of age.
My other brother stayed on the farm, worked hard, and had a good deal the most property when he died.
Vermont was my native place. I was married to Joseph Carleton in 1811. He fell from a tree, hurt his back, and was not able to do anything for a year. We moved to Massachusetts, and he learned the comb makers trade. We lived there ten years.
My parents moved to Ohio in 1817. That year my children were taken sick with scarlet fever. My little boy, Orlando, died, four and one-half years old. And Milo's health was never good after that. About five or six years after that my father wrote that if we would move out to Ohio, he would give us 50 acres of land. It had got so that Joseph could not make much at the comb makers trade so he had learned the cabinetmakers trade. My folks wrote that woolen cloth was very scarce and very high in Ohio. So we bought 200 pounds of wool and had it carded. I hired a girl to spin, and I went to weaving as fast as I could, doing my housework at night for a family of five. We sent it to the fullers to be dressed into cloth for men's clothes. We got it done at last and he started off with a span of horses and a wagon full of cloth. But the roads were very bad and one of the horses gave out, and he had to put his cloth on the canal and take it to Cleveland. Cloth was high to be sure, but there was no money. Hogs and corn were cheap, so he traded his cloth for hogs, and took them down where our folks lived, 50 miles from Cleveland, and fattened them. He took them back to Cleveland to sell, but everything was down to the lowest notch, and he could not sell them at all. So he butchered them and salted them and came home. In the spring he got word that his pork was all spoiled. It took about all we had to pay up our debts. (The salt used on the pork was no account.)
We moved out to Ohio in the fall, and moved into the house with father and mother. We had a good span of horses and wagon, but we were four weeks on the road. The land was nearly all woods, with only a few acres cleared, and a small orchard set out. We sold one of our horses for four cows and I went to making butter and cheese. My husband could not work much, but he worked some, and hired a man to clear timber, and help with the farm work. One day they were making hay and tipped the wagon over, and hurt my husband's back again. He was laid up for nearly a year, and never did much any more only work in the shop.
He could make anything the neighbors wanted, such as chairs, tables, wheels, bedsteads, rake, hoe and ax handles. He got a good deal of work done on the farm that way, people paying for things he made by working for him. Milo got big enough to work after awhile and did part of the farm work. But the summer he was sixteen he was working in the harvest field, and got sun struck. He was not able to do any more work that summer, and never was able to work very hard after that. We did not have many store debts. We made our own sugar and our own cloth, woolen and linen, and I made cloth to sell to buy our children's meeting clothes. We used to go to Elyria (25 miles from where we lived) in the fall to do our trading. My husband and I could not both leave home at once for we had cows to milk. One fall I had not got my spinning all done, and the day before we went I spun a day and a half's work, and had company in the evening. Next morning I got up before day, and got five miles on the way before it was light. We had to go with an ox team and Milo drove them. He had to walk much of the time, for it is hard to make oxen go where you want them to go if you sit in the wagon. It was November and the roads were very bad, and I had to walk part of the way for Milo got tired and had to lie down in the wagon before we got there.
I had a brother living two miles before we got to Elyria, and we got there a little while after dark. The next day we went down to the village and I did my trading. I had apples and maple sugar and butter and cheese and eggs and I bought the things we needed, then went back to my brother's and stayed all night again. The next day we started home.
Now I have gone through many hardships and changes, but I had a very kind husband, which made it very pleasant for me, but when he died it left me with a great deal of care. Milo was not able to do a day's work, not even to fodder the cattle.
I am now most two thousand miles from my native place, a great way to go to lay ones bones. I have gone through many changes, but soon my last change will come. Dolly Carleton. 80 years of age.
In her own words, from a short autobiography, circa 1870:
My father's name was John Parmely. His native place was Killingsworth on the seashore, in Connecticut. His ancestors came from England. I once saw in a newspaper the remark that the Parmelys were very numerous, but an indigent person was never known among them. And I have never known one that was a drunkard, or that used profane language.
Grandfather Parmely had seven sons and two daughters. Not being able to give his sons farms in that country, he went to Vermont, 130 miles, thought to be a long journey in those days, all wilderness and a poor country at that. On the Green Mountains the snow was frequently five feet deep in the winter, and that deep in the valleys on the east side.
My father was the oldest of the family. He was married in Conn., and had two children when he came to Vermont. He went onto his farm, cut down a few trees, built a log house, and moved his family in when they got there. His oldest child cried, said she would not go in, that she would not live in such a house.
Father and mother had three sons and five daughters. They all worked hard, and the children bought several hundred acres of land, and built good buildings. The boys did not want to stay there. They got a chance to swap their farms for wild land in Ohio, and did so, though they had to sacrifice a good deal. They all came to Ohio, but one. We all lived near together. My youngest brother died in about two years after he came. We did not all come at once to Ohio; there were six families started together the first time, the first settlers in the place. They started with ox teams, drove their cows, and were six weeks on the road. Some of the way the roads were very bad, and they had to cut the roads before them for seven or eight miles before they got to their land. There was not a stick of timber cut on their land and the timber was very heavy, but they did not mind that for they were Vermonters and used to hardships. They cut down some trees and built some huts to live in till fall when they built some block houses (hewed log houses.) One morning brother went out for the oxen and found they had started to go back. He started on as fast as he could (I believe he had not any hat on). He traveled eight or ten miles before he overtook them. Not long after they moved to Ohio they were building a bridge over a creek and my second brother got his leg broke, and they had to go twenty miles for a doctor to set it. My oldest brother had three quarter sections of land lying together commencing at the center of the township, but he must always be going into some big business. In the first place he put up a horse mill, but it did not do the business that he expected and finally ran down. He was always making some great calculation. He had a good deal of public spirit, and he wanted to see the place grow. Things did not go to suit him, and he moved to Elyria, the county seat, twenty-five miles from Sullivan, and bought him a farm one mile from the village. Next he took a large job of drilling a hole in a rock to set a mill on, but lost in that. Then he took another job, and worked very hard. I think he made something on that. He always worked very hard. He persuaded his brother to move down there, sold him his farm, and he moved into town and built him a great house, the finest in the country. Then he took a notion to sell his house, and came back to Sullivan, expecting to get the county seat there. He built a store and built a steam mill, but the mill did not do the work that the men who built it for him promised that it would do and he sued them, but they went broke and he did not get any damage. He likewise failed in getting the county seat. His son died that he expected to tend his store, and he gave up the mercantile business. He then thought he would go into the dairy business. He put up a very nice cheese house, had everything convenient for making cheese, but his women folks did not like the business, and they would not work at it, and he could not hire anyone to make it profitable.
I do not know what became of his cheese factory. The next job he tried was to build a meetinghouse, and he accomplished that. I think that will be his last great job as he is now 82 years of age.
My other brother stayed on the farm, worked hard, and had a good deal the most property when he died.
Vermont was my native place. I was married to Joseph Carleton in 1811. He fell from a tree, hurt his back, and was not able to do anything for a year. We moved to Massachusetts, and he learned the comb makers trade. We lived there ten years.
My parents moved to Ohio in 1817. That year my children were taken sick with scarlet fever. My little boy, Orlando, died, four and one-half years old. And Milo's health was never good after that. About five or six years after that my father wrote that if we would move out to Ohio, he would give us 50 acres of land. It had got so that Joseph could not make much at the comb makers trade so he had learned the cabinetmakers trade. My folks wrote that woolen cloth was very scarce and very high in Ohio. So we bought 200 pounds of wool and had it carded. I hired a girl to spin, and I went to weaving as fast as I could, doing my housework at night for a family of five. We sent it to the fullers to be dressed into cloth for men's clothes. We got it done at last and he started off with a span of horses and a wagon full of cloth. But the roads were very bad and one of the horses gave out, and he had to put his cloth on the canal and take it to Cleveland. Cloth was high to be sure, but there was no money. Hogs and corn were cheap, so he traded his cloth for hogs, and took them down where our folks lived, 50 miles from Cleveland, and fattened them. He took them back to Cleveland to sell, but everything was down to the lowest notch, and he could not sell them at all. So he butchered them and salted them and came home. In the spring he got word that his pork was all spoiled. It took about all we had to pay up our debts. (The salt used on the pork was no account.)
We moved out to Ohio in the fall, and moved into the house with father and mother. We had a good span of horses and wagon, but we were four weeks on the road. The land was nearly all woods, with only a few acres cleared, and a small orchard set out. We sold one of our horses for four cows and I went to making butter and cheese. My husband could not work much, but he worked some, and hired a man to clear timber, and help with the farm work. One day they were making hay and tipped the wagon over, and hurt my husband's back again. He was laid up for nearly a year, and never did much any more only work in the shop.
He could make anything the neighbors wanted, such as chairs, tables, wheels, bedsteads, rake, hoe and ax handles. He got a good deal of work done on the farm that way, people paying for things he made by working for him. Milo got big enough to work after awhile and did part of the farm work. But the summer he was sixteen he was working in the harvest field, and got sun struck. He was not able to do any more work that summer, and never was able to work very hard after that. We did not have many store debts. We made our own sugar and our own cloth, woolen and linen, and I made cloth to sell to buy our children's meeting clothes. We used to go to Elyria (25 miles from where we lived) in the fall to do our trading. My husband and I could not both leave home at once for we had cows to milk. One fall I had not got my spinning all done, and the day before we went I spun a day and a half's work, and had company in the evening. Next morning I got up before day, and got five miles on the way before it was light. We had to go with an ox team and Milo drove them. He had to walk much of the time, for it is hard to make oxen go where you want them to go if you sit in the wagon. It was November and the roads were very bad, and I had to walk part of the way for Milo got tired and had to lie down in the wagon before we got there.
I had a brother living two miles before we got to Elyria, and we got there a little while after dark. The next day we went down to the village and I did my trading. I had apples and maple sugar and butter and cheese and eggs and I bought the things we needed, then went back to my brother's and stayed all night again. The next day we started home.
Now I have gone through many hardships and changes, but I had a very kind husband, which made it very pleasant for me, but when he died it left me with a great deal of care. Milo was not able to do a day's work, not even to fodder the cattle.
I am now most two thousand miles from my native place, a great way to go to lay ones bones. I have gone through many changes, but soon my last change will come. Dolly Carleton. 80 years of age.
___________________________________________________________
In her own words, from a short autobiography, circa 1870:
My father's name was John Parmely. His native place was Killingsworth on the seashore, in Connecticut. His ancestors came from England. I once saw in a newspaper the remark that the Parmelys were very numerous, but an indigent person was never known among them. And I have never known one that was a drunkard, or that used profane language.
Grandfather Parmely had seven sons and two daughters. Not being able to give his sons farms in that country, he went to Vermont, 130 miles, thought to be a long journey in those days, all wilderness and a poor country at that. On the Green Mountains the snow was frequently five feet deep in the winter, and that deep in the valleys on the east side.
My father was the oldest of the family. He was married in Conn., and had two children when he came to Vermont. He went onto his farm, cut down a few trees, built a log house, and moved his family in when they got there. His oldest child cried, said she would not go in, that she would not live in such a house.
Father and mother had three sons and five daughters. They all worked hard, and the children bought several hundred acres of land, and built good buildings. The boys did not want to stay there. They got a chance to swap their farms for wild land in Ohio, and did so, though they had to sacrifice a good deal. They all came to Ohio, but one. We all lived near together. My youngest brother died in about two years after he came. We did not all come at once to Ohio; there were six families started together the first time, the first settlers in the place. They started with ox teams, drove their cows, and were six weeks on the road. Some of the way the roads were very bad, and they had to cut the roads before them for seven or eight miles before they got to their land. There was not a stick of timber cut on their land and the timber was very heavy, but they did not mind that for they were Vermonters and used to hardships. They cut down some trees and built some huts to live in till fall when they built some block houses (hewed log houses.) One morning brother went out for the oxen and found they had started to go back. He started on as fast as he could (I believe he had not any hat on). He traveled eight or ten miles before he overtook them. Not long after they moved to Ohio they were building a bridge over a creek and my second brother got his leg broke, and they had to go twenty miles for a doctor to set it. My oldest brother had three quarter sections of land lying together commencing at the center of the township, but he must always be going into some big business. In the first place he put up a horse mill, but it did not do the business that he expected and finally ran down. He was always making some great calculation. He had a good deal of public spirit, and he wanted to see the place grow. Things did not go to suit him, and he moved to Elyria, the county seat, twenty-five miles from Sullivan, and bought him a farm one mile from the village. Next he took a large job of drilling a hole in a rock to set a mill on, but lost in that. Then he took another job, and worked very hard. I think he made something on that. He always worked very hard. He persuaded his brother to move down there, sold him his farm, and he moved into town and built him a great house, the finest in the country. Then he took a notion to sell his house, and came back to Sullivan, expecting to get the county seat there. He built a store and built a steam mill, but the mill did not do the work that the men who built it for him promised that it would do and he sued them, but they went broke and he did not get any damage. He likewise failed in getting the county seat. His son died that he expected to tend his store, and he gave up the mercantile business. He then thought he would go into the dairy business. He put up a very nice cheese house, had everything convenient for making cheese, but his women folks did not like the business, and they would not work at it, and he could not hire anyone to make it profitable.
I do not know what became of his cheese factory. The next job he tried was to build a meetinghouse, and he accomplished that. I think that will be his last great job as he is now 82 years of age.
My other brother stayed on the farm, worked hard, and had a good deal the most property when he died.
Vermont was my native place. I was married to Joseph Carleton in 1811. He fell from a tree, hurt his back, and was not able to do anything for a year. We moved to Massachusetts, and he learned the comb makers trade. We lived there ten years.
My parents moved to Ohio in 1817. That year my children were taken sick with scarlet fever. My little boy, Orlando, died, four and one-half years old. And Milo's health was never good after that. About five or six years after that my father wrote that if we would move out to Ohio, he would give us 50 acres of land. It had got so that Joseph could not make much at the comb makers trade so he had learned the cabinetmakers trade. My folks wrote that woolen cloth was very scarce and very high in Ohio. So we bought 200 pounds of wool and had it carded. I hired a girl to spin, and I went to weaving as fast as I could, doing my housework at night for a family of five. We sent it to the fullers to be dressed into cloth for men's clothes. We got it done at last and he started off with a span of horses and a wagon full of cloth. But the roads were very bad and one of the horses gave out, and he had to put his cloth on the canal and take it to Cleveland. Cloth was high to be sure, but there was no money. Hogs and corn were cheap, so he traded his cloth for hogs, and took them down where our folks lived, 50 miles from Cleveland, and fattened them. He took them back to Cleveland to sell, but everything was down to the lowest notch, and he could not sell them at all. So he butchered them and salted them and came home. In the spring he got word that his pork was all spoiled. It took about all we had to pay up our debts. (The salt used on the pork was no account.)
We moved out to Ohio in the fall, and moved into the house with father and mother. We had a good span of horses and wagon, but we were four weeks on the road. The land was nearly all woods, with only a few acres cleared, and a small orchard set out. We sold one of our horses for four cows and I went to making butter and cheese. My husband could not work much, but he worked some, and hired a man to clear timber, and help with the farm work. One day they were making hay and tipped the wagon over, and hurt my husband's back again. He was laid up for nearly a year, and never did much any more only work in the shop.
He could make anything the neighbors wanted, such as chairs, tables, wheels, bedsteads, rake, hoe and ax handles. He got a good deal of work done on the farm that way, people paying for things he made by working for him. Milo got big enough to work after awhile and did part of the farm work. But the summer he was sixteen he was working in the harvest field, and got sun struck. He was not able to do any more work that summer, and never was able to work very hard after that. We did not have many store debts. We made our own sugar and our own cloth, woolen and linen, and I made cloth to sell to buy our children's meeting clothes. We used to go to Elyria (25 miles from where we lived) in the fall to do our trading. My husband and I could not both leave home at once for we had cows to milk. One fall I had not got my spinning all done, and the day before we went I spun a day and a half's work, and had company in the evening. Next morning I got up before day, and got five miles on the way before it was light. We had to go with an ox team and Milo drove them. He had to walk much of the time, for it is hard to make oxen go where you want them to go if you sit in the wagon. It was November and the roads were very bad, and I had to walk part of the way for Milo got tired and had to lie down in the wagon before we got there.
I had a brother living two miles before we got to Elyria, and we got there a little while after dark. The next day we went down to the village and I did my trading. I had apples and maple sugar and butter and cheese and eggs and I bought the things we needed, then went back to my brother's and stayed all night again. The next day we started home.
Now I have gone through many hardships and changes, but I had a very kind husband, which made it very pleasant for me, but when he died it left me with a great deal of care. Milo was not able to do a day's work, not even to fodder the cattle.
I am now most two thousand miles from my native place, a great way to go to lay ones bones. I have gone through many changes, but soon my last change will come. Dolly Carleton. 80 years of age.
In her own words, from a short autobiography, circa 1870:
My father's name was John Parmely. His native place was Killingsworth on the seashore, in Connecticut. His ancestors came from England. I once saw in a newspaper the remark that the Parmelys were very numerous, but an indigent person was never known among them. And I have never known one that was a drunkard, or that used profane language.
Grandfather Parmely had seven sons and two daughters. Not being able to give his sons farms in that country, he went to Vermont, 130 miles, thought to be a long journey in those days, all wilderness and a poor country at that. On the Green Mountains the snow was frequently five feet deep in the winter, and that deep in the valleys on the east side.
My father was the oldest of the family. He was married in Conn., and had two children when he came to Vermont. He went onto his farm, cut down a few trees, built a log house, and moved his family in when they got there. His oldest child cried, said she would not go in, that she would not live in such a house.
Father and mother had three sons and five daughters. They all worked hard, and the children bought several hundred acres of land, and built good buildings. The boys did not want to stay there. They got a chance to swap their farms for wild land in Ohio, and did so, though they had to sacrifice a good deal. They all came to Ohio, but one. We all lived near together. My youngest brother died in about two years after he came. We did not all come at once to Ohio; there were six families started together the first time, the first settlers in the place. They started with ox teams, drove their cows, and were six weeks on the road. Some of the way the roads were very bad, and they had to cut the roads before them for seven or eight miles before they got to their land. There was not a stick of timber cut on their land and the timber was very heavy, but they did not mind that for they were Vermonters and used to hardships. They cut down some trees and built some huts to live in till fall when they built some block houses (hewed log houses.) One morning brother went out for the oxen and found they had started to go back. He started on as fast as he could (I believe he had not any hat on). He traveled eight or ten miles before he overtook them. Not long after they moved to Ohio they were building a bridge over a creek and my second brother got his leg broke, and they had to go twenty miles for a doctor to set it. My oldest brother had three quarter sections of land lying together commencing at the center of the township, but he must always be going into some big business. In the first place he put up a horse mill, but it did not do the business that he expected and finally ran down. He was always making some great calculation. He had a good deal of public spirit, and he wanted to see the place grow. Things did not go to suit him, and he moved to Elyria, the county seat, twenty-five miles from Sullivan, and bought him a farm one mile from the village. Next he took a large job of drilling a hole in a rock to set a mill on, but lost in that. Then he took another job, and worked very hard. I think he made something on that. He always worked very hard. He persuaded his brother to move down there, sold him his farm, and he moved into town and built him a great house, the finest in the country. Then he took a notion to sell his house, and came back to Sullivan, expecting to get the county seat there. He built a store and built a steam mill, but the mill did not do the work that the men who built it for him promised that it would do and he sued them, but they went broke and he did not get any damage. He likewise failed in getting the county seat. His son died that he expected to tend his store, and he gave up the mercantile business. He then thought he would go into the dairy business. He put up a very nice cheese house, had everything convenient for making cheese, but his women folks did not like the business, and they would not work at it, and he could not hire anyone to make it profitable.
I do not know what became of his cheese factory. The next job he tried was to build a meetinghouse, and he accomplished that. I think that will be his last great job as he is now 82 years of age.
My other brother stayed on the farm, worked hard, and had a good deal the most property when he died.
Vermont was my native place. I was married to Joseph Carleton in 1811. He fell from a tree, hurt his back, and was not able to do anything for a year. We moved to Massachusetts, and he learned the comb makers trade. We lived there ten years.
My parents moved to Ohio in 1817. That year my children were taken sick with scarlet fever. My little boy, Orlando, died, four and one-half years old. And Milo's health was never good after that. About five or six years after that my father wrote that if we would move out to Ohio, he would give us 50 acres of land. It had got so that Joseph could not make much at the comb makers trade so he had learned the cabinetmakers trade. My folks wrote that woolen cloth was very scarce and very high in Ohio. So we bought 200 pounds of wool and had it carded. I hired a girl to spin, and I went to weaving as fast as I could, doing my housework at night for a family of five. We sent it to the fullers to be dressed into cloth for men's clothes. We got it done at last and he started off with a span of horses and a wagon full of cloth. But the roads were very bad and one of the horses gave out, and he had to put his cloth on the canal and take it to Cleveland. Cloth was high to be sure, but there was no money. Hogs and corn were cheap, so he traded his cloth for hogs, and took them down where our folks lived, 50 miles from Cleveland, and fattened them. He took them back to Cleveland to sell, but everything was down to the lowest notch, and he could not sell them at all. So he butchered them and salted them and came home. In the spring he got word that his pork was all spoiled. It took about all we had to pay up our debts. (The salt used on the pork was no account.)
We moved out to Ohio in the fall, and moved into the house with father and mother. We had a good span of horses and wagon, but we were four weeks on the road. The land was nearly all woods, with only a few acres cleared, and a small orchard set out. We sold one of our horses for four cows and I went to making butter and cheese. My husband could not work much, but he worked some, and hired a man to clear timber, and help with the farm work. One day they were making hay and tipped the wagon over, and hurt my husband's back again. He was laid up for nearly a year, and never did much any more only work in the shop.
He could make anything the neighbors wanted, such as chairs, tables, wheels, bedsteads, rake, hoe and ax handles. He got a good deal of work done on the farm that way, people paying for things he made by working for him. Milo got big enough to work after awhile and did part of the farm work. But the summer he was sixteen he was working in the harvest field, and got sun struck. He was not able to do any more work that summer, and never was able to work very hard after that. We did not have many store debts. We made our own sugar and our own cloth, woolen and linen, and I made cloth to sell to buy our children's meeting clothes. We used to go to Elyria (25 miles from where we lived) in the fall to do our trading. My husband and I could not both leave home at once for we had cows to milk. One fall I had not got my spinning all done, and the day before we went I spun a day and a half's work, and had company in the evening. Next morning I got up before day, and got five miles on the way before it was light. We had to go with an ox team and Milo drove them. He had to walk much of the time, for it is hard to make oxen go where you want them to go if you sit in the wagon. It was November and the roads were very bad, and I had to walk part of the way for Milo got tired and had to lie down in the wagon before we got there.
I had a brother living two miles before we got to Elyria, and we got there a little while after dark. The next day we went down to the village and I did my trading. I had apples and maple sugar and butter and cheese and eggs and I bought the things we needed, then went back to my brother's and stayed all night again. The next day we started home.
Now I have gone through many hardships and changes, but I had a very kind husband, which made it very pleasant for me, but when he died it left me with a great deal of care. Milo was not able to do a day's work, not even to fodder the cattle.
I am now most two thousand miles from my native place, a great way to go to lay ones bones. I have gone through many changes, but soon my last change will come. Dolly Carleton. 80 years of age.
Inscription
Mrs. Dolly Carleton. Aged 92 years, 10 months, 16 days.
Family Members
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Records on Ancestry
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Geneanet Community Trees Index
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Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970
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Massachusetts, U.S., Compiled Birth, Marriage, and Death Records, 1700-1850
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Massachusetts, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1633-1850
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Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988
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