Diary of a female school teacher of Moravia, Cayuga County, New York.
Diary of a Female School Teacher, possibly of the Hinman family of Moravia, Cayuga County, New York, 1885.
219 mss pages, bound in cloth, pocket diary flap binding, measuring approximately 3" x 5", minor wear, written in ink, in a legible hand, one page per day, includes 199 pages of diary, plus 20 pages of memorandum, cash accounts, bills payable, and addresses, dated January 13th to December 15th, 1885.
Our diary writer is a female school teacher at a local school on the "hill," which appears to be Summer Hill, Cayuga County, New York. However, she does not live at Summer Hill, rather perhaps closer to Locke, or Moravia, New York. She mentions the family of Curtis B. Hinman a lot, who lived at Moravia with his wife Lucy Ann. Curtis and Lucy Ann were the Aunt and Uncle of our diary writer. A number of members of this family are mentioned in the diary; with further research, one should be able to identify the writer.
Our diary writer has a younger brother Lewis and lives with her parents. When the diary opens, her grandmother has died at the age of 87 years, on 14 Jan 1885, another clue to our writer's identity. An uncle Drury and an Aunt Pollie are mentioned, as is the Rev. Miner, who preached at our writer's grandmother's funeral.
There is also an Uncle Charles and a number of other individuals mentioned. Our writer's father regularly travels into town, which appears to be Moravia; she lives near Moravia, perhaps on its outskirts.
Our diary writer tracks the weather, which was rather severe in the winter of 1884-1885, and also helps out around the house doing her chores, besides teaching young scholars on "the hill." At times she appears to be staying with someone, perhaps as a border, during the teaching year, then at home during breaks. An interesting little diary, showing the day to day existence of a female school teacher in West-Central New York State.
Print Inquire
