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January 7-9, 1863

Wednesday, January 7, 1863.

few out but we had a good meeting the girls called to see me to day i saw alfred last night he did not say he sent me the album but i know he did Nell and Sue were up here tonight

Thursday 8

very stormy to day did not go any were but home and Marys liz and stephen at Mr Joneses Nellie bought the long talked of gloves for Cristy i spent the evening home with father

Friday 9

very dull i had a letter from lile to day liz Williams brought  it up Vincent was up here this evening he brought me a

Annotation 1

Alfred, Emilie’s brother, was thirty years old in 1863. Alfred and Isaac Davis both waiters and listed as “black,” were identified in the 1850 census living in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. Alfred appears again in Pottsville in the 1860 census described as a “hotel waiter” but this time with his wife Mary, twenty-four, and son Francis, four. Year: 1850; Census Place: Pottsville South Ward, Schuylkill, Pennsylvania; Roll: M432_827; Page: 376A; Image: 690. Year: 1860; Census Place: Pottsville North West Ward, Schuylkill, Pennsylvania; Roll: M653_1178; Page: 479; Image: 484; Family History Library Film: 805178.

Annotation 2

Friendship Album page

Sarah Mapps Douglass contributed this watercolor to Amy Matilda Cassey’s friendship album. Cassey and Douglass were African American abolitionists who lived in Philadelphia. www.librarycompany.org

Women kept friendship albums, small books passed among friends to record prose, poetry, thoughts, well wishes, and signatures. These albums often included small photographs, carte-de-visite, of friends, family members, or public figures. For African- American women, friendship albums were a means of maintaining important relationships and networks among women who only saw each other at political and social events. Dunbar, A Fragile Freedom, 122-128.

Annotation 3

Emilie’s relationship with Vincent is also unspecified in the diary, but it appears as if they are romantically involved during this period of Emilie’s life.

1 Comments ↓

One Response to “January 7-9, 1863”

  1. February 2, 2014 at 8:14 PM #

    You can see an example of a friendship album kept by an African American Philadelphian, Amy Matilda Cassey, 1833-56, here: http://www.librarycompany.org/Cassey/
    It’s at the Library Company of Philadelphia.

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