Quinn Blog- The farm at Fidelity in 1880

                              
                            

The farm of Charles Brooks -Township 8 Range 11, one and a half miles north east of Jerseyville (1872)

 In 1880, Nellie Quinn, the youngest of her family, was eight years old. She lived with her parents, Thomas Quinn (age 53), and Ellen Kinsella Quinn (age 45) on a farm near Fidelity, in Jersey County, Illinois.  Her closest siblings in age were her three older brothers; Thomas 9, John 11, and Richard 13. She also had four older sisters; Katie 14, Bridget 16, Maggie 18, and Mary 20.

An agricultural census, taken in 1880, tells us something about the farm where Nellie grew up.  Her father rented 120 acres of farmland, which was valued at $6000. He owned farm implements valued at $125. An agricultural revolution had taken place during the post civil war period; horse power was now harnessed to farm tools to assist in plowing, planting, cultivating, and harvesting crops. Thomas Quinn had seven horses on his farm.

John F. Chapman plowing his fields- Township 8 Range 10, Jersey County

His main crop was corn; he raised 3000 bushels that year on 60 acres of land. Corn was a labor intensive crop; the cornstalks were chopped down one at a time, then stacked in teepee like shocks to dry. At harvest time a field would be covered with hundreds of these. After the stalks were dry, the family would have pitched in to shuck the corn. Some of the corn would be used fresh, but most would be taken to the corn crib to dry. The stalks and leaves were used for feed for animals as well. A welcomed innovation was the development of a machine that cut and bundled the corn stalks, and later a hand powered husking machine-stalks of corn were fed into the machine which separated the ears and shredded the stalks for fodder. The ears were then fed into husking rollers and the kernels removed.

James B. Fitzgerald's corn and wheat crops- Township 8 Range 11, Jersey County

Thomas also raised other crops- he grew 900 bushels of wheat that year, on 50 acres of land,  and 400 bushels of oats on 10 acres. By the 1880's horse drawn grain drills allowed seeds to be planted in furrows, greatly increasing the acreage a farmer could plant from the days when furrows were dug and planted by hand. Horse drawn cultivators kept weeds down during the season. At harvest time families and neighbors worked together to cut bundles of wheat, and set them in shocks to dry. Later they would be taken in wagons to be threshed to separate the grain from the stalk, and set out so the wind would blow away the chaff. Again, in time, machines helped with this laborious task. Hay was mowed down with hand sickles and later with horse drawn rakes.

A hay wagon on the farm of Josiah Vaughn -Township 8 Range 10, Jersey County

Needless to say, Thomas could not do all of this by himself.  His sons, John and Richard, were only 11 and 13 years old. The extended family surely helped and neighbors likely exchanged work, especially at harvest time, but still, the work load was staggering. The agricultural census shows that Thomas paid $350 that year to hire laborers to help with the farm work. All in all, including personal consumption, the farm was able to produce $1600 worth of goods that year.

Besides the field crops, Thomas seemed to have focused on raising hogs. He raised 75 that year. It seems from the drawings of Jersey County farms that the breed of choice for this area was the Poland China Hog. They look huge in the pictures! Those which were not sold would have been butchered in the fall for meat and lard, which was used for cooking, and soap making.

Henry Christopher's Poland China Hogs - Township 8 Range 10, Jersey County

The family also kept three milk cows, which had given birth to three calves that year. Two additional cows had been sold. All of the milk had been used for their personal consumption- not surprising in a family with eight children! Ellen and her daughters had been very busy with the churn- they estimated making 250 pounds of butter that year. They also kept a flock of chickens and estimated a production of 100 dozen eggs. A kitchen vegetable garden was certainly a large factor in their daily diet, although not mentioned in the census. Thomas did mention that he had cut 15 cords of wood, which was certainly used for heating and cooking their meals.

Cows owned by Silas Bates- Township 8 Range 10, Jersey County

The town of Fidelity in Township 8 Range 10, Jersey County, Illinois

All of the above drawings are from : "Atlas map of Jersey County, Illinois, compiled, drawn, and published from personal examinations and surveys" published by Andreas, Lyter, and Co. 1872

To see many more drawings (zoomable) and read more about Jersey County in 1872 go to the free online link for this book:

Atlas of Jersey County Illinois 1872

To read more about the agricultural census go to:

Agricultural Census

Here is the 1880 Agricultural Census for Fidelity, Jersey County, showing the data for Thomas Quinn.