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    1862 Diary of Mary M. Baker from Orrington, Maine
    1862 Diary of Mary M. Baker from Orrington, Maine
    1862 Diary of Mary M. Baker from Orrington, Maine
    Ebook198 pages1 hour

    1862 Diary of Mary M. Baker from Orrington, Maine

    By Donald Enz

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    About this ebook

    Mary M. Baker is only twenty-three years old when she begins her diary. Living in Orrington, Maine, which is located along the Penobscot River, she starts nearly every entry with some report of the weather conditions. She is living with her mother, father and a sister. There is also a relative's daughter living there, her father's grand daughter, because both her parents have died.
    This is the beginning of the Civil War and several of her friends did enlist and served in various Bangor regiments. She does mention certain battles, but doesn't go into any descriptions of them. At least one of her friends is killed during the writing of her book.
    Disease is the primary killer; diphtheria, scarlet fever, and typhoid fever. She loses an acquaintance to one of these killers every week or two.
    Church is of prime importance and she, with friends, often attend church meetings or weekend sessions to hear traveling ministers.
    From reading the diary, it appears she is studying to become a teacher like her older sister. She is often found being tutored by a friend in the evening.
    This diary is a rare glimpse into a young lady's life in a period of great national turmoil.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDonald Enz
    Release dateJul 15, 2013
    ISBN9781301992829
    1862 Diary of Mary M. Baker from Orrington, Maine
    Author

    Donald Enz

    I was born in 1946 and raised in central Illinois. During my youth, I was lucky to be able to visit my parent's families each summer in two very small towns and had, in my opinion, free range over what I did. It was a great and unique experience that allowed my imagination to grow wild. I started to write and paint at a very early age and have been lucky to be able to continue my creativity my entire life. To do so has caused many difficulties at times, but I wouldn't trade a second of it. Being creative and being able to express myself in paintings, sculptures, and writing has made me a better person. I recommend creative freedom to everyone. I have a BS degree in English, an MA in sculpture, and an MFA in ceramics.

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      Book preview

      1862 Diary of Mary M. Baker from Orrington, Maine - Donald Enz

      1862 Diary of Mary M. Baker

      from Orrington, Maine

      Edited and transcribed from the diary of Mary M. Baker

      by Donald G. Enz

      Smashwords Edition

      copyright 2013 by Donald G. Enz

      All rights reserved

      First edition

      7-11-2013

      To purchase my other Smashwords books use the following link:

      Smashwords books by Donald G. Enz

      Edith B. Ziegenhorn Diaries

      The Ugly Little Tree

      My Green Marble and other poems

      Sue's Shoes and other poems

      So Many Places and other poems

      Personify This (poetry)

      Toby The Dragon and other poems

      ******

      Smashwords Edition, license notes:

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. The ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      ******

      Dedication

      This book is dedicated to all the people in Maine who generously gave me guidance and inspiration. Without them, this book would not have been completed.

      ******

      Acknowledgement

      Completing this project was not as easy as I had originally thought. I figured just copy the diary, edit where needed, get a few period pictures, and publish. Instead, it took over a year and a lot of effort just to find out who had written the diary and learn about her history. This final product would not exist without the help of many very generous individuals and libraries from the great state of Maine.

      From Bucksport, Maine, I have to thank Pat Adams for her generosity and support throughout this project. She gave me suggestions and encouragement all along the way. Also, Jerry Spooner, from the Buck Memorial Library in Bucksport, who was very generous in letting me use their photo collection; many of them are used in this book.

      In Orland, Maine, I have to thank George Sawyer and Nancy Wasson of the Orland Historical Society for giving me leads and suggestions on where to find information. The clerks at the Orland Town Office were also extremely generous in helping me by letting me use some of their resources.

      This book would not have the solid genealogy backing that supports the finding that Mary M. Baker wrote the diary without the generous help of David Swett and Judith Gillis of the Orrington Historical Society. David Swett's generous gift of supporting Orrington Vital Records provided the validating material that Mary Baker was the diary's author and supported my research on www.ancestry.com and all my other resources.

      In Ellsworth, Maine, I thank Alexi Galica-Cohen and her library staff for being so generous and patient with me while I spent days researching in their wonderful library. I was also lucky enough to have the supportive ideas on how to research my diary from the Hancock County Genealogy Society. Their suggestions helped lead me in the right direction.

      In Bangor, Maine, I thank Bill Cook, at the Bangor Public Library, for his help in my research and for providing me with many of the photos used in this book. They help give the reader a sense of what the area looked like during the time Mary M. Baker wrote the words in her diary. Although they are not period images, Maine did not change all that much until the automobile was introduced.

      Thanks, also, to my friends Sharon and Andy Monahan, who put up with me for a week at their home. It was nice to have a home base to work from and friends to talk to in the evening.

      A special thanks goes to my cousin, Bruce Enz, who helped me throughout this project doing research and giving me encouragement when I felt I was trapped in Research Land. He always cheered me up and kept me on track.

      Finally, I thank my sister, Cheryl Melichar, for helping proof read the forward sections of this book. Her input was very helpful in spotting errors and correcting them.

      Donald G. Enz

      July 10, 2013

      *****

      1862 DIARY FORWARD

      In the early 1990's I purchased this diary from Lippincott's Books in Bangor, Maine. At the time I was thrilled to own a Maine diary written in 1862. Little did I know it would take twenty plus years before I would begin research on its author. I simply assumed the author had identified herself/himself on one of the front or back pages of the book. There is a partial name, in pencil, written on the back inside cover page that attaches to the back cover, Miss. Lizzie B . . . [Ed. note: The B is worn, but it is clearly a B, the rest of the name has been worn off through time by the opening and closing the book over the years.] I had suspected this person to be the author, but clues in the diary and relative's names led me to another family.

      The Diary measures 3-1/4 inches wide by 6 inches tall. It is a black covered book with a pencil holding strip on the inside back cover. The main part of the book is designed for daily entries. After pages are labeled Memoranda, Cash Account, Bills Payable/Receivable by month. These latter pages contain notes on items purchased, their prices, and notable quotes. In these back pages there are additional diary entries by the author, as well as some from later relatives/persons noting events and deaths.

      The style of writing used in the diary is the Palmer Method. It is a writing style with lots of flourish, especially in executing capital letters. This flourish is often carried into the words by the author and it made reading and transcribing the book quite difficult at times.

      As diary entries indicate, the author is female and did sew quite often and she used the front and back inside covers to hold needles, most likely with thread attached. There are numerous needle holes in the inside front and back covers, possibly an indication she carried the diary in a hand bag and used the needles and thread to repair a garment when away from home.

      The first thing I had to establish was the actual date of the book. The diary was printed in 1861, with all dates and days corresponding to that year. What the author did, however, was use this 1861 diary for the year 1862.

      In the front of the diary the 1 is hashed out in pencil and a 2 is written beside it, converting the year from 1861 to 1862. Searching Internet sites, I located an 1862 calendar⁴ and compared the dates of the Sabbath. In the diary Sabbath eve is mentioned several times and it is always

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