J. Meeker Townsend diary, January-December 1865.
Collection Number: 6042
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Cornell University Library
DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY
Title:
J. Meeker Townsend diary, January-December 1865.
Repository:
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Collection Number:
6042
Abstract:
Diary kept by a 13 year old boy from Townsendville, Seneca County. Includes accounts
of everyday life including school, church, visitors, weather, and chores, which consisted
of threshing flax and caring for his own sheep. Much of December is used for itemized
lists of goods with prices and there are five poems or notes written to him by friends
and family in the memoranda section.
Creator:
Townsend, J. Meeker, 1852-1927.
Quanitities:
1 microfilm reels.
Language:
Collection material in English
Meeker Townsend was a 13-year-old boy at the time he wrote his diary and resided in
Townsendville, Seneca County, N.Y. His father was John Townsend (b. May 18, 1810)
and his mother was Emeline Meeker. He was the eighth of nine children and apparently
became a medical doctor. (See History of Seneca County, N.Y. 1786-1876. Philadelphia, 1876.)
The diary contains brief daily accounts (3 to a page) of the boy's daily activities
consisting mostly of school, church meetings, chores, purchasing food and supplies,
and visiting friends as well as what visitors his family received. It covers January
to December of 1865 with some months apparently torn out. The condition of the diary
is poor and since much is written in pencil, whole sections are illegible. Since Meeker
was quite young when these accounts were written there are no real insights of depth,
but only simple accounts such as, "Attended school today." Much of December is used
for itemized lists of goods with prices and there are five poems or notes written
to him by friends and family in the "Memoranda" section.
INFORMATION FOR USERS
J. Meeker Townsend diary, #6042. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell
University Library.
Places:
Seneca County (N.Y.) -- Religious life and customs.
Seneca County (N.Y.) -- Study and teaching.
Seneca County (N.Y.) -- Social life and customs.
Townsendsville (N.Y.) -- Religious life and customs.
Townsendsville (N.Y.) -- Study and teaching.
Townsendsville (N.Y.) -- Social life and customs.
Subjects:
Boys -- Diaries.
Families -- New York (State) -- Townsendsville.
Form and Genre Terms:
Poems.
Diaries.
CONTAINER LIST
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Container
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Description
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Date
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Pocket Diary for
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1865 | ||
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Scope and Contents
Contents: The diary starts out on Sunday, January 1st and there is mention of a Rev.
Hitchcock preaching. Most of the winter he attended school where he did well, saw
his best friends, the Colemans, bought "dride appals and got 12 cents and 1/2 per
pound there was 477 pounds $59.62" with his "Pa" in Trumansburg and wrote about heavy
snow and other weather. He mentioned his mother and brothers and sisters, Helen, Robert,
Ida, and Lewis. His chores consisted mainly of thrashing flax which he often stayed
home from school and church to do. He often missed Sunday meetings because of visitors
who were frequently in his home. He mentions his own sheep who gave birth a few times
during the early spring, his grandpa's death on March l4th, and building fires at
the schoolhouse.
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