Diaries of Benjamin Franklin Walker of Bristol County, Massachusetts from 1870 - 1873 and 1875 - 1904. Includes Walker's income from all sources, including farm and shop labor, household work, as well as his expenses, such as food, clothing, musical instruments, concert tickets, and home furnishings. There are also daily entries, which include information about the weather, personal contact with a wide range of aquaintances, work done on the property, social events attended, music lessons both taken and taught, his wife, Lavira Williams, and his sons, Ernest and Clinton Walker. Collection also includes a diary by his son, Ernest Walker, for 1894 and a diary by his other son, Clinton Walker, for 1896.
See also Mss. MsV Ad199-208 Benjamin F. Walker Account Books
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Benjamin F. Walker Diaries, Special Collections Research Center, William & Mary Libraries
Purchased 06/14/2011.
Minimally processed. Needs folder listing.
Weather, timber, courting Lavira F. Williams. Ben's birthday June 9th? Making cider. Sunday school. Traveling to Westville, N. Rehoboth, Dighton, and Providence.
Weather, timber. Mentions "my wife" on Nov. 29.
Weather, transporting people. Warren Burt got shot through his hand. Reported fire at the hotel on May 7th. Purchasing furniture in Boston. Moving to Attleboro. Plays violin in a band. Going to "Negro meetings."
Weather. Notes "1842 Elvira" on May 4th. Working in shop.
Weather. December 5th, mentions Brooklyn theatre fire and over lives lost.
Weather.
Weather. January 30th, Vira gives birth to boy, 8 lbs. Ernest/Ernie.
Weather, planting, trading.
Weather. June 25th, Vira gives birth to boy, 9 lbs.
Weather; neuralgia.
On June 4th, says 37 years. Working on the house. Going to Providence for work.
Mentions Vira is 42 years old on her birthday.
Many days are empty for both years.
Work.
Notes on work and farming. In memorandum, listing of deaths in the Burt family: 1867, 1883, two in 1888, and 1892.
Work and life.
Ernest Walker Diary.
Clinton Walker Diary