1909-1920 Archive of Diaries Following a Hardworking Aging Erin, New York Farmer Painting a Fulsome Picture of Farm Life and the Farming Community

On offer is an archive of three diaries covering the years 1909, 1910 and 1920, that very clearly describe life of an aging farmer in rural New York at the turn of the 20th century. 

The author of these diaries is Charles G. Jackson  (1859-1943). Jackson was born in 1859 in Schuyler County, New York, and farmed near the village of Erin, New York,  in the ‘Southern Tier’ region of the state. He passed away in Corning, New York. He was married to Hattie (Harriet) who predeceased him in 1928 at the age of 70 years. They had one child, a son named John Raymond who is often referred to in the diaries as ‘R’. Jackson is 50 years old when he writes the first of these three diaries and 61 when he writes the final diary. 

His entries are succinct, showing him to be a factual and ‘to the point’ person, yet they paint a clear picture of life on a farm at that time. It was a life of hard, physical labour. Some excerpts give the flavour of this collection:

“Nice day. Hat went to Elmira on train. I sorted apples this p.m.” [Jan 20, 1909]. 

“Fine day filled ice house only about 5 in of ice done a good job had plenty of help” [Mar 8, 1909]. 

“I finished drilling side hill about 3:30 [ ] dry & dusty a hard job” [July 9, 1909]. 

“Cut B wheat all day. Binder does not tie good had O Elstum come down at nite to fix it” [Sept 17, 1909]. 

“Finished plowing for corn the am PM i helped shingle a while then raked up some stone fine weather has been a warm month” [Nov 30, 1909]. 

“Finished plowing hill at 4 pm began to plow garden ground is very dry tho had no rain this spring” [Apr 1, 1910]. 

“J Jacobson helped me draw hay put about 6 loads in stack 1 load in barn this day hot” [July 15, 1910]. 

“I plowed all day. Cold wind and snow squalls in PM. I wore my big Ulster and leggings to plow in” [Nov 3, 1910]. 

Ten years later, at the age of 61, he still has a hard, physically demanding life. Excerpts follow: 

“Snows some and blows a little. A little warmer. Took 1ó hours to shovel out creek for water” [Feb 28, 1920]. 

“Fine day. Thrashed 135 bu B wheat 8 ac (acres) 140 bu oats 5 ac 40 bu wheat 5 ac 35 bu barley 1 ac” [Oct 19, 1920]. 

For a historian or researcher, this is an excellent collection of diaries. Succinct though the entries can be, taken as a whole, they vividly portray in detail life on a family farm in rural New York a century ago.

Jackson makes many references to neighbours and this makes these diaries valuable to a genealogist as this is a stable population in this part of the state with long roots in the area. Altogether, this is a fine collection.

All three diaries (1909, 1910, 1920) measure 5x3 inches and contain 183 pages. All are 100% complete. The cover, binding and pages are all in good condition. Handwriting is legible and our author wrote in pencil. Overall G.