20th — Jess Brown & I cut more corn.

19th — Helped on the new house.

18th — Jess & I cut corn. Chillicothe-born Jesse Brown is a young day laborer renting a house in Green Township (possibly on the Bench property).  In the 1900 census, it shows his wife Mary M. (Reynolds) and their baby daughter, Pearl E., living with him.  It is likely that this is the J. Brown Jesse referred to in his…

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16 — 17th — Helped on the house. At this point unless a descendant knows anything, this is a bit of a mystery. Is this building a house, or fixing up an old one? Is it one that Jim Bench or someone else just bought, or it is a house already sitting on Jim Bench’s property? Jesse’s daughter writes in…

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15th — Went to S.S. & saw a lot of friends who were glad to see me back. Ate dinner at home. Then took Mary home. Jesse has a habit of not mentioning birthdays. Today is Ma DeLapp’s birthday!

Sept. 14th — Pa, Charley Gibbons, Geo., John & I went to Chilli. I got some clothes. Mary came home with us. Remember that Mary is living in Chillicothe with her Uncle Ed and Aunt Sallie, helping out with chores and childcare during the week, and then she comes home to her parents’ house at the Bench property on the…

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3 A.M. Fri. we got to Emporia where Tom Allen worked. Topeka 4:40. Got to K.C. at 7:15 this morning. Ate breakfast & was transferred in a bus from the Union Depot to C.M. & St. Paul & at 9:50 we are moving on our way to Chilli. Got there at 1 P.M. & got home at about 4P.M. &…

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Then at 6:00 A.M. we were at the last station in New Mexico, Raton. Getting into mountains, S.E. part of Colorado & Western part of Kansas. Was the first land that we came to that I would have if they would give it to me. 1:30 P.M. Now at Syracuse, a little town in West Kansas. Salvation Army Colony in…

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11th – We are now speeding across the desert of Arizona. Here Indians & mesicans work on the R.R. Stopped at Winslow at 9 AM. & had breakfast. Got took for $2.75 but you can bet it was the last 6 bit meal on this trip “Experience is a dear school, but fools wont learn anyplace else”. Ben Franklin says…

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Tues. morn. 5:30 We are now at Corcoran, 272 miles S.E. of city. Arrived at Bakersfield at 7:30. Got coffee & peanut butter there. Reached Mojave at 11:10, on time. Mojave is situated right in midst of the Mojave Desert in Calif. Sept.10th-7 P.M. Now at Barstow, the changing point for Los Angeles, the fire country. We have just left…

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