Diary of Nick Morris

by

Fred McCaleb

The Diary Of Nick Morris
of NE Fayette County, Alabama
1891-1930

This diary was written mostly one line for each day and a page for each month.
He put down what he did, where he had been, and who he had visited or who had
visited him. He even said when it had rained or when it was dry. Who preached
at the churches, what churches and schools were in the community.How many rails
he could split in a day, and how many loads of manure he could haul.
He seemed to be a very intelligent man for his day. His mother was Sally
Hackworth, the daughter of Nickodemus Hackworth. His mother was an early
teacher.Went to a school for women in Tuscaloosa that may have been part of the
University of Alabama, but no records of that school can be found now. He could
make or repair a wagon or buggy, or shoe a horse. He was a farmer, a carpenter,
a tax assessor and collector for the community. He was a local politician, and
associated and wrote letters to the high and mighty such as the Bankheads. He
helped with the bookwork in some of the local stores. He was a store clerk at
times, but didn't have that as his regular job. He was mostly a farmer.
He mentioned experimenting with a water telegraph for communication between
himself and William Erwin, a long time friend and Blacksmith. He cut and hauled
the poles, strung the wire. I never could tell by his notes whether he ever got
his telegraph working or not. He did say he made a drum with a crank on it at
the Erwin shop. Also a water tank which must have been some kind of battery.
Later he was stringing the first telephone lines for the community. He was the
repairman and fixer for the old crank em up short and long, telephone system.
The community begin to know what everybody else was doing. He also installed
the telephones, and replaced the batteries.
He faithfully wrote his Ma(Sally Morris) until her death. Later he wrote
regularly to his daughters and sons and in laws that had moved away from the
community.
My grandpa's brother Bird McCaleb seemed to have been his best neighbor and
friend. Billy Erwin was another big friend.
The first years of the diary is a good lesson on how busy the old farmers were
from 1890-1920.About what it took to make a living back then. He was very busy.
I would have hated to have kept up with him.
The rains seemed to have been about as uncertain and unpredictable then as they
are now.
When he became old and unhealthy in the 1920s he had to depend more on getting
a neighbor to help out with the hard work.
Nick appeared to have been a Civil War Veteran. He mentioned attending at least
4 conventions, two of them in Arkansas.
He mentioned seeing an airplane fly over in early twenties. Also riding to
church with his son Phil in a Ford touring car. He painted a truck cab. The
modern age was upon him and his life was at its end.His diary stoped before the
end of April 1930. Last entry said he had been to Jasper Hospital 2 weeks for
postate gland trouble and that's all he ever wrote. What a man.
Diary copied for posterity by Fred McCaleb & Patsy Box Johnson.