Diaries, 1846-1884.

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Diaries, 1846-1884.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/191279160

This collection consists of thirty-three handmade fascicles bound of cut ledger paper and paper covers, each a journal neatly inscribed with Ayer's initials, the title "Journal" and the year (missing are 1850, 1853, 1855, 1875, 1880, and 1881). Each is specially hand ruled to record morning and evening wind direction and weather, daily lowest temperature and brief remarks. Ayer begins his diary at age twenty-seven, five months after his wife's death from illness, survived by a seven-month old son. Addy was buried in Cambridge's Mount Auburn Cemetery (lot no. 2245), which he later sold. Ayer suffered from deep grief as he struggled to raise their son, whose boarding out with his sister-in-law and other relatives and progress he regularly recorded until his hiring of housekeeper Lydia Maria Symmes in 1854. Lydia soon became Thomas' wife, although Ayer remained faithful to his first wife's memory. "Was married this evening at my house by Rev M. Masters of Woburn to Lydia Maria Symmes-a duty I felt I owed to my Boy as well as myself, may the union prove a happy one.-had a very pleasant party of about 50 neighbors & relations." [12 December 1854]. Ayer's diaries are unusual for this period (especially the earlier decades) in noting public events in both the Commonwealth's capital and smaller towns, a consequence of his commute by "car" to his Boston office. They chronicle his life over a thirty-nine year period, noting annual hobbies and interests, sleighing and potato gardening chief among them, and personal reactions to national and state events, from the ante-bellum fugitive slave crisis in Boston and the inauguration of Zachary Taylor, which Ayer attended, through the Mexican and Civil Wars, the deaths of leaders like Daniel Webster, whose funeral he attended, President Lincoln and Wendell Phillips, the Tilden-Hayes fiasco, and Grover Cleveland's election. Along the way, Ayer records the building of his home in Winchester in great detail, the birth and progress of his second son Harry, the effect of periodic monetary crises such as that in 1857 upon his business, and state political conventions and lectures he attended as a Whig over the course of his long life.

1 box (33 volumes)

Gadsden Public Library

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 6958004

Gadsden Public Library

Related Entities

There are 10 Entities related to this resource.

Webster, Daniel, 1782-1852

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6s865sc (person)

Daniel Webster (January 18, 1782 – October 24, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the U.S. Congress and served as the U.S. Secretary of State under Presidents William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, and Millard Fillmore. As one of the most prominent American lawyers of the 19th century, he argued over 200 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court between 1814 and his death in 1852. During his life, he was a member of the Federalist Party, the Nati...

Taylor, Zachary, 1784-1850

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6dp4v09 (person)

Zachary Taylor (1784-1850), the twelfth president of the United States. In 1841, he was appointed to the command of the Sourthern Division of the United States. In the spring of 1845, Taylor appointed to command the Army of Occupation stationed in Corpus Christi. In May 1846, Taylor led his army into north Mexico. Following the battle of Monterey, Taylor was ordered to join General Winfield Scott at the siege of Veracruz. Taylor's victory at at the Battle of Buena Vista made him a national hero....

Ayer, Henry Whittier Prentiss, b. 1859.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6709jbh (person)

Simms family.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6tq7jcq (person)

Ayer, Lucy Adelaide Watson, 1821-1845.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66q3f5p (person)

Watson family.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66d6r1n (person)

The papers are mostly those of John Fanning Watson (1779-1860), but other members of his family are also represented in the collection. John F. Watson, the son of Lucy Fanning and William Watson, was born in Batso, New Jersey. The family later moved to Philadelphia. John F. Watson worked at several different jobs, in different cities, although mostly in the Philadelphia area. He is best known for the histories he wrote: books, as well as newspaper and magazine articles. He was a founder of the H...

Ayer, Thomas Prentiss, 1818-1893

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6pk209p (person)

Thomas Prentiss Ayer (1818-1893), the son of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Fosdick Ayer, was born in Charlestown, Mass., on 24 October 1818. He married, on 31 May 1843, Lucy Adelaide ("Addy") Watson (1821-1845), by whom he had a son, Thomas Prentiss ("Soney") Ayer (1845- ). He married, second, on 12 December 1854, Lydia Maria Symmes (1831- ), by whom he had a son, Henry Whittier Prentiss ("Harry") Ayer (1859- ). Thomas Prentiss Ayer died on 12 October 1893. Thomas Prentiss Aye...

Ayer, Thomas Prentiss, b. 1845.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6db9j6q (person)

Ayer, Lydia Maria Symmes, b. 1831.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6dj6zpw (person)

Ayers family.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rr3fz9 (person)