{"id":2294,"date":"2021-03-19T09:30:38","date_gmt":"2021-03-19T09:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/?p=2294"},"modified":"2021-03-19T12:40:12","modified_gmt":"2021-03-19T12:40:12","slug":"the-diary-of-john-foss-1852-epilogue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/2021\/03\/19\/the-diary-of-john-foss-1852-epilogue\/","title":{"rendered":"The Diary of John Foss: 1852 (epilogue)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today we\u2019re revisiting for the final time the farm diary of John Foss, who continued to write about farming life at Kingston Russell for the first three months of 1852.<\/p>\n

A few winter months<\/h2>\n

1852 starts with fine, frosty weather. The cows are beginning to calf, and John is kept busy with the cheese. John and Rachel also manage to squeeze in a dinner party, one of the few social events John recorded: \u201cleft 1 o\u2019clock home at 2 in the morning a Beautifull Evening<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There\u2019s a little excitement in early February when John\u2019s daughter Fanny visits Puncknowle with a friend. \u201cSamuel went for them in the afternoon<\/em>\u201d but did not come home. After waiting, John sent their farmhand Cooper out at 10.30pm, who upon arrival \u201cfound them in bed at Puncknowle<\/em>\u201d! They group were brought home, arriving back at the farmhouse about 1am.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, some bad news comes at the end of the month. \u201cDavid came \u2026 to sa[y] Mahalah in the Hospitable found her very ill indeed<\/em>\u201d. Mahalah Read was John\u2019s sister-in-law through his brother\u2019s wife, and a close member of the family.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\u00a0Entry for Mahalah Read in Longbredy burial register<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sadly, news of her death came a few days later. A funeral was held on the 4th<\/sup> March:<\/p>\n

\u201cThurse & Bert & John came from Coyates to a company us to the funeral of Mrs Read who is to be buried this afternoon at Longbredy at three in the afternoon she dies in the Hospitable at Dorchester Sunday evening last<\/em>\u201d. There was \u201ca large attendance at the funeral<\/em>\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Writing practice<\/h2>\n

At the back of the diary are written excerpts which have been used for writing practice. Many of these verses are copied from The Child\u2019s Companion: Being an Easy and Concise Reading and Spelling Book for the Use of Young Children<\/em>, written by Caleb Bingham and first published 1799. The different handwriting across these texts suggest that the family all used John\u2019s notebook to practice their writing and spelling.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There is also a large passage entitled \u201cA Chronology of Remarkable Events Relative to The City of New Sarum<\/em>\u201d. This is another copying exercise from a book of the same name by J. Easton. Those learning to write would reproduce what they had to hand, and<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Looking ahead<\/h2>\n

Using Ancestry and family history sources from across the UK, we can see more about John\u2019s life. Unfortunately, his wife Rachel died in Kingston Russell on the 30th<\/sup> December 1858. Looking at the censuses, we can see that John moved to Broadwindsor and was living there with his children William, Fanny, Emma, and Susan.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In the next census, John is living with Emma, Susan and his brother Samuel in Swindon, and in 1881 is living with his daughter Fanny and her two children at Bath Road, Swindon. John Foss died on the 21st<\/sup> August 1881.<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

Interested in learning more about John Foss? Explore the other months of his 1851 diary from the list below:<\/p>\n

January 1851<\/a><\/p>\n

February 1851<\/a><\/p>\n

March 1851<\/a><\/p>\n

April 1851<\/a><\/p>\n

May 1851<\/a><\/p>\n

June 1851<\/a><\/p>\n

July 1851<\/a><\/p>\n

August 1851<\/a><\/p>\n

September 1851<\/a><\/p>\n

October 1851<\/a><\/p>\n

November 1851<\/a><\/p>\n

December 1851<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today we\u2019re revisiting for the final time the farm diary of John Foss, who continued to write about farming life at Kingston Russell for the first three months of 1852. A few winter months 1852 starts with fine, frosty weather. The cows are beginning to calf, and John is kept busy with the cheese. John… Read more The Diary of John Foss: 1852 (epilogue)<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1892,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[82,124,149,123,109],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2294"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1892"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2294"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2300,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2294\/revisions\/2300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}