Villanova University  |  Falvey Library
Library Home | Search | Guides | Get Help | My Account | Contact Us | VU Home

Page

April 6-8, 1864

April, Wednesday, 6, 1864.

lovely day i have bin quite busy all day as usal in the afternoon i went out of an erand stoped home a minute found a letter there  from mary Williams with her Potograph enclosed it was

THURSDAY, 7.

quite a joyfull suprprise beutiful morning i went down to Mr Livelys but did not take my lesson my finger was to raw Mr lively advised  me not to I went around to see Mrs bridge and stoped at aunt Janes Sue and

FRIDAY, 8.

went out shoping Mary holack and i went to see Poor Mr fairbanx he was hurt by the explosion on Wednsday he looks very badly to day i have not bin out sarah sent me word

Annotation 1

Article detailing the explosion at the Merrick & Sons Foundry that injured a member of Emilie’s church.

An article in the The Daily Age on April 7, 1864 titled “Terrific Boiler Explosion” described a devastating blast caused by an exploding boiler at the Merrick & Sons Foundry between Fourth and Fifth Streets and Washington and Federal Streets in Philadelphia.  The windows of nearly all buildings in the area were blown out by the shockwave caused by the explosion.  Seven workers were killed in the blast and a number injured, including Jacob Farbeaux, a member of Emilie’s church and occasional preacher, listed by The Daily Age as having suffered a broken arm and fractured skull.  The death certificate of Jacob Farbeaux, born around 1801 in South Carolina and died on December 26, 1874, lists his occupation as “Messenger to Merrick & Co,” matching The Daily Age article description of Mr. Farbeaux as “colored, messenger.” “Pennsylvania, Philadelphia City Death Certificates, 1803-1915,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JK3L-ZNP: accessed 08 May 2013), Jacob Farbeaux, 1874.

1 Comments ↓

One Response to “April 6-8, 1864”

  1. March 29, 2015 at 10:51 PM #

    I think it’s possible that Emilie was taking guitar lessons with Mr. Lively. Practicing the guitar too much can make your fingers raw, and she mentioned getting a guitar a few days prior to this entry, so I think she may have been learning how to play. Also, on June 20th, 1864 she says “brought my guitar out this morning I hope I will find time to practice”. She doesn’t say what kind of lessons she takes with Mr. Lively, but she mentions her guitar a lot around this time period so maybe that’s who was teaching her.

Leave a Reply