(NEW YORK) Farnham Susan Geer Manuscript diary of a Civil Wa

Sale 2163 - Lot 208

Price Realized: $ 1,800

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Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750

(NEW YORK.) Farnham, Susan Geer. Manuscript diary of a Civil War aid volunteer. 443 pages. Folio letter book, full calf, worn; some foxing and browning of contents. Medina, NY, 1 January 1859 to 7 May 1870

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Susan (Geer) Farnham (1810-1872) was a lifelong resident of western New York; she married a farmer and raised one son in the small Erie Canal town of Medina east of Buffalo. She began this diary at the age of 48. She seemed to take a special interest in circuses, describing several of the giantesses and midgets who came through town. She also took frequent note of the Civil War, reporting on local speeches and fundraisers, volunteering frequently at the Hospital Supply Company, and regularly noting the deaths of Medina boys. A nephew, David Ellicott, was killed at Chancellorsville, but reliable information was hard to come by. Eighteen days later she wrote "Charles Ellicott called, report is now that his son David is alive, and Frank is hunting all through the hospitals to find him" (21 May 1863). Shortly after the war ended, she wrote "This evening we heard Mr. Frederic Douglass (colored man) of Rochester lecture, subject 'the assassination of President Lincoln.' It was a very able discourse, better than any thing I have heard from a white man on the subject" (2 October 1865).