The Lucinda Lenore Merriss Cornell Diaries
Document Type
Book
Publication Date
1885
Abstract
This 1885 diary was written by the 17-year-old Blanche Cornell, the daughter of John and Lucinda L. M. Cornell. She uses it to keep a record of her daily activities and interactions with friends, family, and acquaintances. This includes passages about schoolwork, housework, time spent with her friend Louise, and her father’s ailing health. Indeed, according to Blanche’s diary, she worriedly spent the year watching her father’s health decline in spurts until he dies in December. Notable dates include:
January 12: Blanche turns 17 years old.
January 14: Blanche and her friend Loise slip off to the skating rink.
January 27: Blanche attends the play “Down by the Sea.”
February 3: Blanche’s aunt Sarah Hart dies, leaving behind Aunt Hester and Libbie as the last of 13 siblings.
February 7: A 17-year-old boy named Chas. Mercer asks Cornell family if he can work for food and board.
February 12: Blanche attends Y.M.C.A meeting at chapel.
March 3: Received news that Uncle Henry Bishop died; John Cornell left on train to funeral.
March 14: John Cornell returns and falls sick next day.
May 3: Lucinda Cornell finds Mrs. Leonard dead at Leonard home.
June 8: Blanche attends the anniversary of the literary societies at the chapel.
July 4: Blanche picks up Zephyr Hord from train station.
July 30: Zephyr leaves after spending almost a month at the Cornell farm.
November 7: James “Jim” Daymude died.
October 9: John Bishop of Iowa, cousin to John Cornell, arrives for visit.
December 2: Abbie Alexander is the second one from Blanche’s graduating class to marry.
December 11: John Cornell died.
December: Lucinda Cornell travels to Columbus courthouse to get her husband’s will.
Recommended Citation
Cornell, Blanche, "Diary from 1885" (1885). The Lucinda Lenore Merriss Cornell Diaries. 30.
https://digitalcommons.otterbein.edu/cornell_diaries/30
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Comments
Transcribed in November 1993 by Kara Lynne Smith.