(NEW YORK LONG ISLAND) Howell Mabel E Diary of a farmers da

Sale 2455 - Lot 203

Price Realized: $ 780

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 250 - $ 350

(NEW YORK--LONG ISLAND.) Howell, Mabel E. Diary of a farmer's daughter in East Moriches, continued after her death by her older sister. [179], [21] manuscript pages. 4to, original 1/2 calf, worn; minimal wear to contents. Vp, 1895-1936

Set Alert for Similar Items

Additional Details

Mabel E. Howell (1880-1905) was the youngest daughter of small farmer Isaac Terry Howell (1837-1905) in rural East Moriches on Long Island's south shore. The diary begins on her fifteenth birthday, and describes school, social life, church, and family. Watching bicycle races and playing croquet were favorite recreations, and she traveled often throughout eastern Suffolk County, including the Poospatuck Indian reservation on 7 April 1898. Some of the entries are intriguing: "In the evening, Marion and Minnie and Jay and Marion's cousin called here. Her cousin was dressed like a lady" (28 December 1897), or "Harry Demarest . . . was on his way to Patchogue with the pony Buttons as they wanted him for the circus" (31 July 1898). On 3 November 1896, she "went to the polls to see them vote. Mr. McKinley was elected." She does not sign this diary, but the birthdays of her and her parents match the dates given on their gravestones. She kept up daily entries until stopping abruptly on 13 February 1899. In the rear of the volume, her sister Sarah J. "Sadie" Howell Hand (1860-1949) added her own sporadic diary entries from 1 January 1927 to 25 October 1936.