Nellie Morrill Diary
Scope and Content
The Nellie Morrill Diary contains personal notes on day to day activities, and sections for monitary and memoranda accounting. The diary is primarily composed of descriptions of the Morrill's daily activities, including weather, responsibilities, meals, recreational activities, and brief accounts of meetings. Her entries often feature references to "Henry" (Henry Waldo), to whom she became engaged in March of 1865 and who she later married. Although kept in the final part of the Civil War, there are very few references to war-time news or events, though she notes on Sunday, April 23, "Went to meeting Abe Lincolns [sic] funeral sermon was preached in the afternoon..."
Morrill sometimes slips into an apparent code, replacing letters within names with numbers, but it is done inconsistently.
Dates
- 1865
Creator
- Waldo, Nellie Morrill, 1847-1933 (Person)
Access Restrictions
The collection is open for research.
Use Restrictions
Permission to publish material from Nellie Morrill Diary must be obtained from Special Collections, Virginia Tech.
Biographical / Historical
Nellie Arabell Morrill was born on 12 March 1847, to Ira Morrill and Mary Smith. She had three younger siblings--Adelbert, Elmer, and Eva Morrill--born between 1870 and 1879. Nellie was raised in Randolph, Orange County, Vermont.
Nellie married Henry Clay Waldo on 11 February 1869, according to 1900 Vermont Census. The couple had two children: Martha Frances Waldo, born 16 July 1872, and Willis Henry Waldo, born 30 May 1875. Martha Waldo died August 5th 1874.
Henry Clay Waldo Died on 4 August 1913. Nellie and her son Willis survived him. Twenty years late Nellie died on 18 January 1933 of pulmonary congestion.
Sources:
Vermont Census; Ancestry Library Edition
Extent
0.1 Cubic Feet (1 folder)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The Nellie Morrill Diary consists of the diary of a Vermont native, kept from January 25, 1865 to Jaunary 1, 1866. The entries include day to day logs that detail weather, her daily activities and responsibilities, and news from her community.
Acquisition Information
The Nellie Morrill Diary was purchased by Special Collections in 2015.
Processing Information
The processing, arrangement, and description of the Nellie Randolph Morrill Diary was completed in October 2016.
- Title
- Nellie Morrill Diary, 1865
- Subtitle
- A Collection in Special Collections
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Kaitlyn Britt, Student Assistant and Kira A. Dietz, Archivist; Transcripts by Katie Herring, Student Assistant
- Date
- © 2016 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. All rights reserved
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech Repository
Special Collections and University Archives, University Libraries (0434)
560 Drillfield Drive
Newman Library, Virginia Tech
Blacksburg Virginia 24061 US
540-231-6308
specref@vt.edu