In records, Lovina is sometimes spelled Lavina. To complicate matters, her mother's name is spelled Louisa. Sometimes. Other times, it's Lavisa. If I were a betting woman, I'd guess that their names were actually Lavina and Lavisa. Why? Because why the variation in spelling? I mean, I get mixing up Lavina/Lovina. They sound the same, but Louisa/Lavisa? Not so much. Maybe. I dunno. But maybe Lavisa's mother wanted to pass on a little of her in her daughter's name, too. Who knows? [But it gave me something to blog about, eh? I'll definitely be delving into more records to try to come to some type of conclusion on their names.]
Now, Lavina's mother Lavisa [or Lovina and Louisa, whichever] was a Logsdon before she married Lavisa's father, James Richmond, in Hart County, Kentucky in 1839. And there are a TON of Logsdons everywhere in Hart, Kentucky as well as in this part of Iowa with obvious naming patterns in 1900. And I thought trying to figure out just how Bert Logsdon, who Lavina had for dinner on April 1st, was related to her was going to give me a headache. But, as per usual with these Haleys and Richmonds and Logsdons, these folks make my research life pretty simple. They stayed in one place or thereabouts once they moved from Kentucky to Iowa. God bless 'em. [And that's how we know they aren't blood related to me. They're easy peasy to research. But I digress.]
Bert Logsdon was Lavina's first cousin. Her mother's [Lavisa's] younger brother's [John's] son. Or one of them anyways. [These Logsdons had lots and lots of kiddos.] She also mentions taking her dress to a Jessie Logsdon -- another first cousin. And then she mentions the Kintz family -- neighbors -- again. And then she mentions a Mrs. Evans. There are several Evans households there in Jasper County including in nearby Newton and in Washington [Colfax is a part of Washington]. So it's hard to tell which one this Mrs. Evans is, but obviously she is at least an acquaintance of Lavina's and she lived nearby. [And if she shows up a lot later, perhaps we'll delve into the Evans of Jasper County, Iowa. Maybe. Maybe not. But perhaps. We'll definitely see.] Then the Haleys ate dinner with the Brewers. Quite a few Brewers in and around the county of Jasper with the closest being a Nora Brewer in Newton so perhaps this is her.
And she wrote a letter to Ed. I'm going to take a guess that this Ed is her adopted son who is living and working in Nebraska at this time. But perhaps it's another "Ed."
And Lavina got an oven. Just wait until May's entries where she mentions her new oven some more. [That's a cliffhanger in case you were wondering. ;) ]
But I'll let Lavina's entries do the rest of the talking. Here's Lavina and the Haley family in April of 1900 in Colfax, Jasper County, Iowa. Still cold, just not as cold. And I'd never, ever plow a garden when it was 38F. N-E-V-E-R.
But? She only cleaned the house once this month.
I'm lovin' Lavina. [Loca.]
~Caroline
Colfax Ia. April 1, 1900 morning
1 clear Bert Logsdon for dinner 34
2 clear 29
3 clear 36
4 clear, frosty 26
5 clear 30
6 clear 35
7 clear wind in east 36
8 clear wind east 40
9 clear east wind plowed garden 38
10 clear strong east wind 28
11 cloudy snowy went to Newton 28
12 cloudy set out the strawberries 26
13 clear west wind planted potatoes 28
14 clear set out evergreens 40
15 Easter rained hard all night 44
16 clear in after noon set out apple trees 46
17 rainy hailed last night hard thunder 54
18 clear north west wind wrote letter to Ed 44
19 clear got gasoline stove 40
20 clear took my dress to Jessie Logsdon 54
21 hazy got 4 gal gasoline .05 cts gal 54
[page 8; first-half of page]
Colfax Apr 22, 1900 morning temperatures
22 clear 54
23 rain in afternoon wind in east 52
24 clear wind in east 54
25 cloudy wind in east cleaned house 54
26 clear, Mrs. Evans called 54
27 clear wind in east 55
28 clear went up to the farm 48
29 showery went to Kintz to church to Brewers to eat dinner 52
30 clear 48