Wednesday, Feb. 5

Mr. Burgess here    he has been away several days attending a Sacramental meeting in Mr. Gibsons Church near Chillicothe -- he says he doubts whether he will go there again    he thinks Mr. Gibson apprehended that it will compromise himself if Mr. Burgess goes there.  -- he says he cannot commune with the people here who listen to ministers who preach Geology, which is infidelity  -- he would have no fellowship with those who believe in digging through the earth at Columbus the well of Salvation -- &c.
Maggie here to dinner.  Mrs. James Scott sent down for a black bonnet and shawl to wear tomorrow to the funeral of Mr. John Scott.  Mr. and Mrs. Lyman Hart spent the evening here.  


Peggy's comments:
I am working primarily from a typescript of Julia Cutler's journal, but I have read through the original and compared it to the typescript.  The original journals have been passed down in the family and for a time were in the possession of "little Sarah" Cutler, who in 1862 was six years old.  Later, the journals were in the possession of Mary Frances Dawes Beach (Rufus Dawes' daughter).  Other family members may have read through them, but Sarah Cutler and Mary Dawes Beach seemed to have handled them the most.

The typescript I'm using was made by Mary Frances Dawes Beach and it is remarkably true to the original.  However, when Mary Dawes Beach typed from the original, she occasionally omitted a name or a line or two.  This seems to have been a deliberate omission on her part.  Sometimes the omission of a name was when Julia was referring to someone she deemed a "traitor".  Perhaps Mary Frances, who worked on this while living in Marietta, didn't want to offend any relatives of the family who might still live there.  A few times she left out a line that referred to household work done by an employee of the Cutlers.

Occasionally in the originals there are passages that are erased, scribbled over, or covered with another piece of paper that has been glued over the original.  I don't know if Julia did this herself or if someone else wanted these passages obliterated.

The opening segment of today's entry has a single line drawn through the original.  I suspect that Mary Dawes Beach thought this particular entry was disrespectful to Rev. Burgess.  Rev. Burgess was somewhat a character, quite flamboyant, a bit radical in his beliefs.  He was 76 in 1862 and often visited the Cutlers because he was married to Lizzie Cutler's mother.