Original diary in Lancaster County Historical Society Archives.
Summary
Francis Ziegler was born in Columbia, Pennsylvania in 1817 and he died in 1902. He was a school teacher and a telegraph operator.He recorded in this diary sporadically between 1854 and 1857. His entries describe personal experiences, but many entries pertain to events of the day, both local and national. His discontent with politics and the times, in general, is clear. The diary begins at the time of a cholera epidemic in Columbia during which many people died. He presents a picture of a very frightening time. Another highlight of the diary was his description of the invasion of Pennsylvania by Confederate troops during the Civil War. He witnessed the burning of the bridge over the Susquehanna River between Columbia and Wrightsville. This action closed off a potential route for the Confederates to reach Philadelphia and Harrisburg after Gettysburg.
"Johann Michael Lindenmuth has left us one of the better day-to-day journals of the French & Indian War as well as a brief journal of his service in the Revolutionary War...When Lindenmuth was discharged in December 1759, he had fought through a multitude of the battles, skirmishes, and ambushes in western Pennsylvania. In a laconic, direct, and simple style he tells of what happened, who did it, and why. Amid the tales of scalping, looting, murder, mayhem, and of boredom, fatigue, huger, and desparir, Lindemuth also tells us of his family and friends, his ancestors, and his children and grandchildren." [from the back cover]
Phebe Earle Gibbons was from a prominent Quaker family. The diary covers years 1849, 1854, 1855, 1856 and 1857. "MRS. PHOEBE EARLE GIBBONS, a lady of literary tastes, was born in Philadelphia, August 9th, 1821. Her father,Thomas Earle, was a man of great note in his day, and in1840 was the first candidate of the Liberty party for Vice President. The subject of this sketch was well educated in select schools in Massachusetts, and taught in Mr. Picot's French school in Philadelphia and elsewhere for some years. In 1845 she was married to Dr. Joseph Gibbons of Lancaster County. In 1861 she began the study of Greek, with Professor William M. Nevin, of Lancaster. A portion of the Odyssey, translated by her was published in the Ladies' Friend of Philadelphia. A small medical work was translated by her from the French, for Lindsay and Blakistoa, which was published in 1866. She has also translated a portion of the Herman and Dorothea of Goethe. At different times she has written articles for magazines. In 1872 she published a small volume, entitled " Pennsylvania Dutch," a portion of which originally appeared in the Atlantic Monthly. Mrs. Gibbons is an active member of the Lancaster Linnaean Society. She is a lady of varied acquirements and marked intellectual capacity." [Biographical History of Lancaster County by Alexander Harris.]
Includes bibliographical references (p. [431]-438) and index.
Contents
August 20, 1862 to March 22, 1863, Missouri -- March 28 to September 24, 1863, the Vicksburg Campaign -- October 4, 1863 to July 24, 1864, Texas and Louisiana -- July 26, 1864 to December 25, 1864, Virginia -- January 9, 1865 to August 2, 1865, South Carolina, North Carolina, Iowa.
Summary
"While there are many collections of letters from Civil War soldiers to their wives, very few include such a rich trove of letters from the homefront. Together they paint an engrossing portrait of a soldier and husband who was trying to do his patriotic and familial duty, and of a wife trying to cope with loneliness and responsibility while longing for her husband's safe return. Beautifully edited and annotated...they bring to life a nation under siege and provide a rare look at the war's impact on both the common soldier and his family." [from the book jacket]
Diary for the year 1899, while Ms. Kaufman was a student studying to be a teacher at the Millersville Normal School (now Millersville University). She taught school and, after marrying, was for a time a farm wife. She died in 1956 while living in Lancaster, PA.
This book opens a window into the lives of two ordinary people who lived through extraordinary circumstances. Daadi and Mammi Rutt lived through World Wars, depressions, major Church splits, the death of three children, and numerous plagues and illness. Mammi Rutt kept a diary from April 18, 1930, to December 26, 1962. Read along as she covers mundane chores to significant milestones for the Rutt Family and their community. A commentary on the Weaverland Mennonite Conference, also known as "The Horning Church" or "Black Bumper Church" is provided, as well as commentary into the Church's struggle to accept "machines" (automobiles) and the activities of their young people. [from Amazon]
xiv, 386 pages, [16] pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm
Notes
Includes bibliographical references (pages 354-372) and index.
Summary
The first narrative history of the Civil War as told by the very people it freed. Historian of nineteenth-century and African-American history Andrew Ward weaves together hundreds of interviews, diaries, letters, and memoirs. Here is the Civil War as seen from slave quarters, kitchens, roadsides, swamps, and fields. Body servants, army cooks and launderers, runaways, teamsters, and gravediggers bring the war to richly detailed life. From slaves' theories about the causes of the Civil War to their frank assessments of major figures; from their searing memories of the carnage of battle to their often startling attitudes toward masters and liberators alike; and from their initial jubilation at the Yankee invasion of the slave South to the crushing disappointment of freedom's promise unfulfilled, this is a transformative vision of America's second revolution.--From publisher description.
Transcription of a manuscript in LancasterHistory Archives.
Biography of Judge Hayes precedes diary.
Alexander Hayes was born in 1793. He graduated, with honors, from Dickinson College in 1812 and became Judge of Lancaster County Courts from 1854 to 1875. He was a Trustee and Vice President of Franklin and Marshall College. He died in 1875
