Celebrate the 4th of July with Sherman Barnes in 1838 in Whigville Ct.

Celebrate the 4th of July with Sherman Barnes in 1838 in Whigville Ct.
Whigville hasn't changed much since 1838 except that it's much more quite since being the center of commerce for the Town of Burlington. You no longer see much evidence of the myriad of small shops and mills that lined the two streams on either edge of the pictures included here. The white house shown in this blogs header is about 700 ft beyond the red barns and up the hill. The fields are mostly hay now, but if I interpret the excepts from the diary I will quote, they were filled with peas,corn and ruta begas. The photos are from right to left at the corner of Main and South Main Streets as I stood in front of the Grange Hall.

From the diary of Leavet Mills of Whigville:
"1838
Sunday July 1st cloudy and warm
2. Hot. hoed potatoes for J S Peck .
3 very warm. Mowed clover for J S peck in A.M. P. M.Plowed corn for Do

Independence Day Hot. 100 cartridges had been previously prepared to celebrate this day & the people of this vicinity repaired to the appointed place at an early hour joyfully and with glad hearts.
We had discharged the piece 8 times & at the 9th shocking to relate the cannon burst with an awful explosion. The owner of the gun Mr Sherman Barnes had his thigh badly broken & lacerated. The others about 15 in number & myself amidst the whiling pieces of iron and wood wonderful to relate escaped unhurt. I was standing about 1 rod in the rear of the cannon & the butt end of which came whirling by me very swiftly & very nearly; our escape can only be ascribed to an all wise Providence and we all have reason to thanks to the giver of all good that matters are no worse. For myself I sincerely do that our lives have been preserved when we were so near eternity.
In Canton one person was killed and several wounded.
Hoed Ruta Bagas the remainder of the day"

I've posted about Sherman before and the more I find , life in his house hold was by far not dull. Notes for Sherman Barnes and the above quoted diary are from the efforts of L. Alderman, the Burlington historian which he has left recorded at the Town Library.Some of his additional notes for Sherman are:
He held offices of justice of the peace, county surveyor, was grand juror. He was a pensioner of the war of 1812. he was a man of marked mechanical ability and was engaged for some time making telescopes. I had posted before how he enjoyed giving friends and family views of the heavens down in those meadows. He belonged to the local debating society and I bet he won most of them. There is another note that while attending a church meeting the wood stove was not working and late in that winter afternoon Sherman developed
frostbite in his feet. Sherman and his wife Luanna (Smith) were Universalist. He was born 05 Aug 1793 and died 21 Jan 1878.
Such was the life of a patriot in 1838

My wife Nancy, the GGG Grand Daughter of Sherman and Luanna, was born on the 4th of July and we have a good gathering. I think we'll raise one for old Sherman.