Journal from y^e 1^st of March 1773
1773--- Mar 1^st- Went with M^r Cutler in y^e Morning to Leiut
Fields drank Egg Pop and from there to Hoyts
drank Cherry and then back to L^t Fields & dined &
in y^e Afternoon to Dickinsons Shop drank Cherry from
there we went to Joiners and in y^e Evening we had
a dance and I waited upon M^r C Williams the C^o
were Doct^r Barnard et lexor J Williams & Sister T. Cutler
Murray Dickinson Cooley Peggy Ingersoll & Vira d^owith several other Gentleman and Ladies a very fine
Dance, the C^obraking up I came and Lodged w^th Murray

Tuesday Maj^r Murray paid y^e fine of 10/0 to
Col^o Tho^s Williams Esq for riding of a
Sunday from Hubbards in Sunderland to Deerfield he
complain^d of himself up & y^e Afternoon I began
to read Van Swietens Commentaries upon Boerhaaves
Aphorisms drank Tea with y^e Ladies, in y^e Evening
went to L^t Fields to get an order of Abatement w^c he
promised he would make when he saw y^e Selectmen
from there I went to Ensⁿ Barnards & from there
went to Catlins w^th Murray, and from Catlins we
went to Doct^rBarnards and play^d Checkers, Murray
married me to Vira and I married him to Peggy after
which Murray and Peggy in truth like married People
went to Bed in presence of Theo^d Barnard & Vira & myself
where I left them when I came away Theo^d took Vira away
& into y^e Kitchen and them I see no more---

(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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There is currently no available "Beginner" label. The following is the default level label: Elihu Ashley was a physician from Deerfield, Massachusetts, and a member of a prominent family known for their Tory affiliation. These pages of his journal show Ashley's changing views of the political unrest in the American colonies as the Revolutionary War drew closer. While his early entries from 1773 focus on his social life and the courtship of his future wife, later pages reveal how Ashley became involved as the political climate grew more volatile in the months before the Revolution. In 1775, he cut down Deerfield's Liberty Pole, a symbol of dissent towards Great Britain, which had been erected by neighboring Whigs (or Patriots). He goes on to report the local response and outcome of the Battle of Lexington, the first open conflict in the war. As the war raged on and his friends took up arms for the colonists, Elihu distanced himself from Tory activities by refusing to meet with and assist English prisoners of war.

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