Part 2 of 2
William Shattuck of Granby was 71- to 74-years old at the time he kept a diary that covered the dates of May 5, 1936 to Oct. 13, 1939. Part 1 of this series was published in The Granby Drummer’s April issue. Selected entries described Shattuck’s observations of how his wife, Jessie, spent her days. She was a housewife who ran a surprising number of errands. (She may have been the sole driver as Shattuck himself never writes about driving anywhere on his own.) Her journeys took her, for instance, to Granby (Loomis Bros. for groceries), to Hartford (to have her eyes examined by a Dr. Gill) and Windsor Locks (to have the car officially inspected).
Most entries in the diary are predictable in content. Each begins with the weather for the day and the temperature at noon. There are descriptions of visits from neighbors and detailed accounts of workmen who come to the house. The growth and harvesting of nearby tobacco and hay fields are recorded through the seasons. Following are samples of entries that stand out due to unusual content.
Out of the ordinary
June 11, 1936
We heard today that Dwight F. Newton, a lifetime resident of Granby, committed suicide towards night yesterday. Since his wife died Jan. 20, 1935, he has lived part of the time with his son and family in West Granby. The son is Geo. W. Newton. Yesterday, at suppertime, Dwight F. N. finished his supper with the family, got up from the table, and went out. In a few minutes 2 shots were heard. He was found dead nearby, having used a revolver that had been loaded long enough that the shells in it were rusty. Mr. Newton was about 80 years old (born in 1855) and in good health. He was a prominent figure in this town 40 or 50 years ago. He was 1st selectman and one of the chief officers of the (now defunct) Granby Creamery Co.
October 9, 1936
I have been painting the window screens to our house for the last few days. Work at it about 2 hours in the a.m. We saw an air ship, the “Hindenburg,” a German “Zeppelin,” that has been making trips at intervals the past summer between this country and Germany. Yesterday it made a round trip between an air-port in New Jersey, and Boston. As it went by way of Hartford and Springfield, we saw it passing north just above the hills south east of us about 10:45 a.m.
[Writer’s note: see Todd Vibert’s article, When the Hindenburg flew over Granby, about Shattuck’s sighting of the Hindenburg in the Drummer’s February 2023 issue.]
November 5, 1936
Franklin D. Roosevelt, running for re-election, has been swept into office by a landslide. He received 523 electoral votes, and his chief opponent (Republican), Landon, only 8. Roosevelt carried all the states except Maine and Vermont. This is the ‘new deal’ vindicated.
February 17, 1939
After noon Everett H. Spring came here and spent about 3-1/2 hours tuning our piano. He charged us $3. Afternoon Pattison and Co., Simsbury, delivered to me 100 gal. of oil for use in our kitchen range oil burners. Price today: 8-1/2 cents a gal.
The Natural World
Shattuck had a particular interest in nature’s various manifestations, as seen in the following excerpts.
July 16, 1936
After sunset this evening I was standing facing the west, when I saw an extraordinary meteor cross that part of the sky from above Tudor Holcombe’s, at W. Granby, to about over the south side of Rice Hill. The meteor came from the north and traveled with a slightly downward path. The time was very soon after sunset, which made the meteor appear all the more unusual. It traveled slowly, in a direct line; the head was several times larger than Venus when the latter is evening star; the head was reddish; there was a bright tail similar to that of a comet. The tail was of a green and yellow color; and the head and tail together had the appearance of a ball from a roman candle.
March 20, 1938
The robins have come.
April 26, 1938
Saw the first barn swallow this spring.
April 28, 1938
Apple blossoms coming out. I saw several chimney swifts. – 1st this year.
August 24, 1938
Isabel C.S. killed a large snake this a.m. just outside of the under-pinning of her barn. It was about 2-1/2 ft. long, and very thick in proportion, even within a few inches of the tail. Altho not measured, I should say it was 2 in. or more in diameter most of its length. The neck and head were much smaller. Frank Kendall came from the tobacco piece near by to look at it. None of us (Isabel, Frank self and Jessie) had ever seen one like it. After I had examined such reference books as I have at home here, it seemed that the snake came nearer to answering the description of a snake found in our southern states, called the harlequin. That snake is very venomous. The snake had very distinct red bands circling the body, and about an equal space between these bands that was darker. The pupil of the eye was round, and it had no pits between eye and nose.
Come see the diary at Salmon Brook Historical Society
The society, located at 208 Salmon Brook Street, is open on Tuesday and Thursday, 9 a.m.–12 p.m. The diary can be seen during those hours. Enter Shattuck’s day-to-day life, an innocent time devoid of i-Phones, the internet and AI.
Nine decades separate us from William Shattuck’s words. But, in this Granby spring of 2026, we join with him as we witness the robins’ arrivals on our lawns, the swooping return of barn swallows and chimney swifts to Holcomb Farm, and the pinky-white of apple blossoms at Lost Acres Orchard.
