Mon 2. Made Ruth a dress today. Had my girls come to finish their paper Easter lilies in the evening. Met with Miss Berry & Miss Reece after school to plan club programs.
Tue 3. Washed today. Had a Cemetery meeting at our house in the evening. Weighed 189½ today. Am going to eat lemons.
Although it wasn’t a fad like the grapefruit diet, apparently eating lemons has been touted as a weight-loss solution for a long time.
Wed 4. Have done a big ironing. Sewed some & taught this PM. Ordered my garden seed today. Miss Mendill came down today.
Thu 5. Daisey & Nora spent the day with us. Marie Albery gave a recital in the evening at Mrs. Spode’s. Katharine & I attended.
Fri 6. I finished Ruth’s green & white suit today. It looks very pretty. My SS made candy in the evening then we went to choir practice.
Here are some 1920s candy recipes—fondant, fudge, candied orange peel, and more! I also found an Amazon listing for a “nostalgic” assortment of candies that were popular in 1928. How many of them do you recognize?
Sat 7. It has been so cold & windy today. We have been sewing all day. Our nice green grass is covered with onion. Peggy’s birthday.
Sun 8. Easter Sunday. My SS girls & I sung to five different old people & gave them baskets of candy. After church the girls came here for their baskets of candy. It is snowing.
Mon 9. Went to Des Moines today with Mrs. Ports & Adelaide. Bought me a new hat. Had my washing partly done & got Libbie to finish it.
Here’s an interesting article on women’s hat styles in the 1920s. The cloche hat was the “classic” of the era, along with berets and other close-fitting styles.
Tue 10. Went to the shop to work—then to an Electric Demonstration. Each of us was given a light bulb. Ruth has gone to Story City to a Missionary meeting with Haas’s. Weighed 187½ today. Lost 2 lbs.
Most rural towns had electricity in the late 1920s2, but it wasn’t until the Rural Electrification Act of 1935 that widespread efforts to bring electricity to farms were undertaken. Incandescent light bulbs with tungsten filaments were the standard.
Wed 11. Uncle John & Aunt Alice ate supper with us and stayed all night.
These are Tell’s brother and sister-in-law.
Thu 12. WFMS met with Mrs. Rowley. Planted my sweet peas in the evening.
Fri 13. Will came over today and painted my bedroom. Clyde forgot him so he stayed all night. Alice started for Cal. today.
Sat 14. Had a snow storm last night & this morning. Will got to go home in the PM. We sewed most all day. Weight 187 today.
Sun 15. Mrs. Fisher died this AM.
Mon 16. Washed today. Had my SS class this evening. Charlie’s birthday!
Charlie was Emma’s brother. I don’t believe he was living in Iowa at this time.
Tue 17. Attended Mrs. Fisher’s funeral this PM. Swept & dusted upstairs in the AM. Betty ate dinner with us. She was playing with the “cracker-nut”.
Wed 18. John & Daisey came over this PM to the burial service of Bertha Mossman. I went to the cemetery with them. The day is cold & damp.
Bertha Boylan Mossman was a cousin of Tell’s. She was born in 1876, and was buried in the Hubbard Cemetery (different from the Boylan Cemetery).
Thu 19. Mrs. Rowley, Mrs. Beck, Mrs. Baker & I went to Sac City today to the WFMS convention. Had a fine meeting. Got there just in time to begin.
Fri 20. Mrs. Baker & I stayed with Margaret Strother Davis. We had a lovely time. Stopped in Fort Dodge on our way home. Mrs. Dudley said some very lovely things to me about my presiding.
Sat 21. Cold & rainy again today. Am tired after my trip. Katharine & I got ready to go to Iowa Falls but the bus had changed time. Felt too badly to go to the class play.
Sun 22. Daddy & I took a walk as far as the windmill west of town on the railroad track.
Mon 23. A pretty day though cold. Did the washing.
Tue 24. Tell drove the truck to Cedar Falls. Took Uncle John. I stayed at the shop with Gerald. Strung beads & made some bead flowers on wire. We all did the ironing in evening. Arvine Marshman’s 9½ lb girl arrived today3.
Wed 25. Today I painted a bedroom then taught in PM Bible school. After school I went to Iowa Falls with Katharine & Miss Reece. Got my glasses fixed. Went to prayer meeting & choir practice in the evening.
Thu 26. Have sewed some today. Have a bad cold.
Fri 27. Finished two house dresses today. Went with Tell to the farm. Drove the truck home.
I am pretty sure that Emma and Tell had a house in town where they lived, in addition to the farm and Tell’s farm implements business.
Sat 28. We planted garden today—peas, potatoes, radishes, onion, lettuce, parsnips, carrots, mustard, & tame lambs quarter. Planted potatoes that yielded 23 bu. from 40 lbs. We planted 13¼ lbs. We should have 7.62 bu. Stayed with the kiddies while Miriam & Gerald went to Iowa Falls.
Okay, so lamb’s quarter was this week’s rabbit hole (although there’s never just one…). Also called “wild spinach,” this is an edible weed that is a member of the amaranth family and has good nutritional and medicinal properties4.
Sun 29. Special Sermon to the Rebeccas & OF today. John drove to Ackley after Alice today. She got home from Cal. Rained some today.
I’m guessing Alice traveled by train to California. The Illinois Central Combination Depot in Ackley was built in 1926 to replace older buildings, and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Mon 30. Washday! Dust storm! Steward’s Board Meeting, SS class meeting & a trip to Eldora in the evening taking 18 in the truck to hear the Drake girls glee club.
A glee club was a choral group that specialized in the singing of short songs by trios or quartets. Although the term is still used, it mostly refers to choruses that sing most of their pieces as a large group.
Here is a map of Farm Home conveniences for each county in Iowa based on scores for automobile, telephone, electric lights, radio, and water system for 1930. (Thanks to my transcriber and assistant J.D. for continuing to dig out these interesting references!)
This 1883 history of Tipton Township, Hardin County, Iowa, lists the names of many of the “founding families.” Many of these surnames show up in Emma’s journal.
