I've got such a big fascination with all things 1800's.  You think it might be a simpler time, right? Maybe, maybe not. So nowadays we have social media, and it seems like everyone knows everything about everybody before you even know yourself.  People often say that nobody can mind their own business anymore.  Well, buckle up buttercup, because we've been nosy for hundreds of years now!

A newspaper that used to print here in Sedalia, The Sedalia Bazoo, is available for you to view online in a few different sources.  Well, I was looking through it, and I saw a "personal" section. So I thought, "Oh, it must be their version of the Classifieds, right?" WRONG.  It is literally a printed list of who came in and who left town for the day, and where they were going, and sometimes even WHY.  You think people can't stay out of your business now? They didn't stay out of your Great Grandmother's business, either! Here's a few interesting excerpts from 1883:

Joe Mills, the well known jeweler, is now holding forth at Bischel's.

So, he came into town, he reached out to the local newspaper and said, "Oh hello there, I'll be holding forth at Bischel's tomorrow, good man, report that in please."

Harry Robinson, of insurance fame, left yesterday afternoon for Chicago.

Insurance fame? Like good or bad insurance fame?

JH Parker and his wife left last evening for a visit with relatives in Kansas.

I'm so not sure why anybody needs to know that. Isn't that kind of saying, "Hey burglars, their house will be empty! Pillage away!"

Mrs A Garrett of Joplin, Mo, has returned home after a brief visit with her parents.

Why is it my Business who Mrs Garrett goes to visit? Let her LIVE.

RE King left yesterday afternoon for Kansas City, and will witness the ball game this afternoon.

I love the idea that he wanted to rub it in SOMEONE's face that he was going to the game.  People say Sedalians are petty now? Psssh. We've been petty Always.

Mr EE Johnson left last night for Chicago, to lay in a fall stock of the newest and nobbiest ready made clothing.

NOBBIEST? I had to look that up. Apparently it meant the highest society stuff, super expensive. Thanks for teaching me a new word, Mr EE Johnson.

Mrs WH Walters and two children will leave this morning for DeSoto, Kansas, on a visit to her parents, and will be absent about a month.

Maybe what the deal was, is that you wanted to know where they were in case you..... I don't know. I guess so you can follow them? So you know why they weren't in church this Sunday?

I guess we've always been nosy so and so's who want to know what our neighbor is up to. Maybe that's small town life? I don't know. I do know, however, that Mrs Garrett visited her parents, it was brief, and it was in Joplin. Didn't know that before! I also didn't know what Nobby meant, but now I do. And I also know now that there is such a thing as "Insurance Fame".  Learning!

Nosily yours,

Behka

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