A Year in the Life of Cherry River: John Buzzell, 1916-1917

On March 1, 1916, John Buzzell (1850-1944) began a journal of his daily activities. The authors note that more than 125 years later, the journal opens a fascinating window onto an ordinary life in the village of Cherry River of Orford Township in Quebec’s Eastern Townships. He and Julia Wilson (d. 1917) had a small farm producing butter, eggs, potatoes and beans, and a few animals. These were sold in Magog as well as being for home consumption and so his diary provides his careful accounts of the farm. He was also employed by the lumber company, Prouty and Miller, whose large mill was in Newport, Vermont. Buzzell details work at the company’s log landing in Cherry River. The authors point out that the diary reports more than his work. Buzzell also describes, albeit in a telegraphic style, the doings of his family and his community, including some difficult moments. Despite the repetitive quotidian of this typical diary, the authors note that the careful reader will find clear signs that change was in the wind, for him and for Cherry River. The book has three chapters: an essay about John Buzzell and Julia Wilson; a transcription of his diary from 1916-1917; and a chapter identifying the almost 100 persons whose doings he mentions in the diary.

Orford, QC

Société d’histoire du Canton d’Orford

2023

iv-87p.

en

978-2-9818981-6-6