Friday, March 17, 1865
let out quite like Spring Nell came up and spent the afternoon with me […] then Vincent came up and spent the evening with me Hannah brown stopped
Saturday, March 18, 1865
a few minutes to see me i have Pain in my side again i received Tom leters from Tomy and his Picture i was home this afternoon
Sunday, March 19, 1865
lovely morning i went to church Mr gibbs Preached a Powerful sermon he leaves as this week in the afternoon an Indian from
Annotation 1
Emilie’s pastor, Jonathan C. Gibbs, would leave to set up schools and to minister to the newly freed populations in the South but would not formally separate from the First African Presbyterian Church until early in 1866. Gibbs would go on to be elected to the Florida Constitutional Convention in 1868, serve as Florida’s secretary of state, and be appointed state superintendent of public education. Joe M. Richardson, “Jonathan C. Gibbs: Florida’s Only Negro Cabinet Member” in The Florida Historical Quarterly, Vol. 42, No. 4, April 1964: 363-368. Emilie elaborates on the contents of Gibbs’ sermon in the miscellaneous section at the end of her diary. To view this entry, click here.
