In 1914, Stephen Graham, a traveler from Britain, was tramping along the border of Northern Ohio and Southern Michigan, from Toledo to Angola, Indiana. He was entering the West, where fields were wide and square and roads were straight and flat. One evening, he stopped and took a rest at a farm, where he noticed that there was no labor but just the family working in the field. He noted in his journal,...
Between February 13th and April 9th, 1840, Joseph Borden was absent from work multiple times. He worked as a hired farm hand for Laban Morey Wheaton. Sometimes he was gone a half day or the entire day, but Wheaton took note of every absence in his daybook. Borden seemed to be a loyal and favored worker, however, for he continued to be paid for his labor over the months. There are a number of possible...