Population of McEwensville, Watsontown, and Milton, 1910 – 2010, with Links to US Census Data

17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Saturday, November 30, 1912: Ruth and I washed this morning. Went to Watsontown this afternoon.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Sounds like a nice way for Grandma to spend a Saturday—doing a little work in the morning with her sister Ruth, and then rewarding herself by going to town in the afternoon. Maybe Grandma started her Christmas shopping.

There are three towns regularly mentioned in this diary—all small in the big scheme of things, but within Grandma’s world there was a small town (McEwensville), a medium-sized town (Watsontown), and a large town (Milton).

Today none of the three would be much of a shopping destination—but a hundred years ago transportation was so much more difficult and each had stores.

McEwensville was the small town, but the one Grandma went to the most frequently . It also was where she attended school. McEwensville was about 1 1/2 miles east of the Muffly farm. It had a general store, a pharmacy, a restaurant, and a few other businesses.

Watsontown was the medium sized town and where Grandma went a hundred years ago today. It was also about 1 1/2 miles from the Muffly farm, but in the opposite direction from McEwensville. Grandma often walked to Watsontown. It was to the west and is located along the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. It had a small downtown with a full range of stores where clothes, housewares, etc. could be purchased.

Milton was considered the “big city” in Grandma’s day—even though the population was only about 7,500 people. At the time, it was a considered a glamorous shopping destination with glittery department stores, women’s clothing shops, shoe stores, and restaurants. It was about 5 miles from the Muffly farm. Grandma would have either ridden in a buggy to get there—or she could have walked into Watsontown and then taken the trolley from Watsontown to Milton.

Since all three towns seem very sleepy today, I decided to see it they’d lost a lot of population across the years (see graph above). I was surprised to discover that the population had changed less than I expected between 1910 and 2010. Milton and Watsontown have lost a lot of factories since the 1970s—and many people moved away. It’s nice to see that the population trends have turned and that the population is increasing.

Links to Census Data Sets

I used data from US censuses to make the tables. There is an awesome amount of census data available for every town in the US. Here are the links to the Census population data for each of the years.

Angry! Lost the Debate

17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Friday, November 29, 1912: Came out a licked dog in the debate. Did feel so mad at first. Felt crosser than the dickens this evening.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

GRANDMA, WHY DIDN’T YOU WRITE MORE?!?! Your frustration and anger are so clear, and you’ve been preparing for a week, yet you never told us what the debate was about.

Okay, that’s unfair. I know that you were writing for yourself and couldn’t have possibly known that we’d read this a hundred years later. . . And, I know that I can’t talk to a dead person. . . .

But, one thing that I do know is that your future husband, Raymond Swartz, was one of the other students in your small senior class. Did you debate against him?

I’m going to imagine that the debate was about women’s suffrage—and that the debate was the guys against the gals. Did the guys make “obvious” points during that debate that would horrify us today, but that you were unable to rebut to the satisfaction of the teacher and other students?

I sympathize—Sometimes I also can’t adequately explain things that are really important to me in ways that others understand.

Notes to my readers—

1. For more about Raymond and Helana’s marriage, see a previous post about their 40th wedding anniversary.

2. I don’t usually “talk” directly to my Grandmother in these posts, but I had so many questions and it seemed like the best way to write what I was thinking. Does it work when I talk to her? . . .or are my usual more straight-forward descriptions better?

Hundred-Year-Old Thanksgiving Poem

17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Wednesday, November 27, 1912: Guess we aren’t going to have much of a Thanksgiving tomorrow cause Ma is sick and we haven’t got a turkey.

Recent fall photo of fields on the farm where the Muffly’s once lived.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Dang it—Thanksgiving was a week later in 1912 than it was in 2012.

From a blog post perspective, it works much better when the dates of holidays are the same for both years—and floating holidays like Easter and Thanksgiving are problematic.

This year Thanksgiving is history—and we’ve moved past Black Friday and Cyber Monday to holiday parties and decorating Christmas trees . But, on the off-chance that you’re willing to read about Thanksgiving at this late date, here is a lovely Thanksgiving poem that was in the November, 1912 issue of Farm Journal.

Our Thanksgiving Day

By Emma A. Lente

The harvests yielded bounteous store,

In spite of all our trembling fears

Lest this, from drought and storms, might be

One of the fruitless, barren years.

.

But kindly sun and rain and dew

Have ministered to all our need

The fertile earth has given full store

Her countless multitudes to feed.

.

No pestilence has stormed our shores,

No wars have racked our hearts with fears;

Strength have been given for minor ills

And smiles have followed transient tears.

.

So, let us render fervent thanks

For sheltering homes, and kindred dear,

And say with heartfelt gratitude:

“This year has been a goodly year.”

Don’t Want to Miss School

17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Tuesday, November 26, 1912: Ma’s so sick. Hope I don’t have to miss school. That would spite me something dreadful.

Her mother probably needed help with both housework and barn work

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

I wonder what’s wrong with Grandma’s mother. Maybe she caught whatever ailment her little brother Jimmie had the previous week. On November 19 Grandma wrote:

Poor little Jimmie got sick last night and had to miss his first day of school.

It seems like Grandma’s parents were quicker to consider having their children miss school when extra help was needed than parents today. For example, on November 18, 1912 Grandma also was concerned that she might need to miss school:

I’m half way out of something I’m worrying about since before school started and that was that I was afraid I’d have to miss school when Pa had his threshing done. They started today and well I went to school today too. So glad I don’t have to miss, that would be too bad for me.

(A positive note about Grandma’s parents–Even though Grandma periodically worried that her parents would make her miss school for one reason or another, I don’t think that she ever actually missed school because they needed her at home.)

How to Make 15-Line Drawings

17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Sunday, November 24, 1912: Didn’t even get to Sunday School this morning because it was raining, then it changed to snow. And today became the first day of the snow fall.

DSC06633.crop — Source: Farm Journal (October, 1912)

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

What did Grandma do on rainy Sunday mornings like this one? Did she ever doodle or draw pictures to while away the time?

Maybe Grandma saw these directions for making fifteen line pictures in the October, 1912 issue of Farm Journal:

Draw a picture with fifteen straight lines. Just fifteen, and no more. Take any subject, landscape, animal, bird, fruit, flower, a household article, or even a human being. The object is to produce a striking picture in fifteen lines. This is lots of fun and in a short time you will be surprised what you can do.

I’ve become hooked on 15 line drawings. Ever since I read this suggestion, my doodling has become more purposeful, and I enjoy the mental challenge of trying to make really cool 15-line drawings.

There was a follow-up article about how to do 15 line drawings as a child’ party activity in the November 1912 issue of Farm Journal.

Here’s how to have a picture party: Give each boy and girl a pencil and three sheets of paper. Tell them to draw something in fifteen straight lines; a different picture on each sheet of paper. Let them work for fifteen minutes, then collect the papers and fasten them on the wall. and have the entire party vote for the best drawing. The one whose drawing received the most votes is the prizewinning one.

Cork the Barbs

17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Saturday, November 23, 1912: Was pretty busy today. That’s usually the way on Saturdays.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Source: Wikimedia Commons

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Since not much happened a hundred y ears ago today, I’m going to go back to a post from two weeks ago—

Sometimes I post an entry—and then find additional information and think—I could have written a better post if I’d known that.

Well, that’s what happened after I posted the November 10, 1912 diary entry. Grandma had written:

. . . This afternoon I went over to see Margaret. Such a time as I had getting there a crawling under fences and so on.

I thought it seemed really odd that she crawled under fences rather than walking on the road. But it apparently it was common a hundred years ago to take short-cuts through under fences and through fields. I recently was browsing through the December 1912 issue of Good Housekeeping, and it contained this tip to make it easier to traverse fields with barbed wire fences.

Cork the Barbs

In taking cross-country walks, provide yourself with a couple of dozen, medium-sized corks. When coming to the inevitable barbed-wire fence, protect each barb with a cork until you are safely under the fence. The corks may be returned to your pocket and used a good many times. The cork-safety device may be used to good effect on the barbed-wire fence between country neighbors. We have found it a most grateful saving of torn garments.

Whew, it sure is easier today to just hop in the car when we want to visit friends.. .

Old Women’s Suffrage Cartoon

17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Friday, November 22, 1912: Am trying to get some points for a debate which comes off next Friday.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Did Grandma enjoy debating or did she dread it?

What was the debate about? Here are a few of my guesses about possible topics:

Should women have the right to vote?
Should the sale of alcohol be prohibited?
Should drugs be regulated?
Should factories be unionized?

There’s probably lot of other things that were controversial a hundred years ago that would have made great debate topics. Other ideas?