410 South Third Street
River Falls, WI 54022
715/425-3567 archives@uwrf.edu
Diary Excerpts
... Diary of Jennie P Andrews
(hand-stitched, contructed ,from a railroad agent’s
account book) greiving over the loss of her young son, Hiram.
March, 1876.
Diary of Jennie Andrews; entries about
her late son Hiram; husband Orlando's activities; unwlecome
house guests. October-November, 1876
Diary of Jennie P. Andrews describing family activities; gossip
of the day. June, 1893
Dairy of Edna
J. Gerrish describing the chores of the day. February, 1907.
Featured Collection
River Falls Mss CO: Gerrish family papers, 1876-1909
The Gerrish
Family Papers contain several diaries and personal papers detailing
rural farm life in Wisconsin, particularly the Ono area of Union Township
in Pierce County, during the late 1800's through the early 1900's. Authors
of the diairies are a mother and daughter, Jennie
P. Andrews and Edna J. Gerrish. The diaries
tell of hardships as well as times of plenty, and provide details on
farm chores, domestic responsibilities and other family affairs while
living on the Wisconsin plains.
This collection also contains several miscellaneous family documents
including the baptismal certificate of Edna’s son, Carrol Orlando
Gerrish, and a 1926 State Teacher's
Certificate for Joyce Jennie Gerrish from the River Falls State
Normal School.
Left: "American Diary"
from the Gerrish Collection, dated 1900. Below: "Standard
Diary" belonging to Jennie Andrews, dated 1881.
Diaries were
kept for a variety of purposes. Some were intensely personal
reflections and not meant to be shared; some were kept simply
to record the weather or events on the farm; others were intended
for the next generation as a way of preserving a family's
history. Standard
and American Diaries were quite small, usually leather or
two-toned cloth bound diaries which often included information
such as a list of U.S. Presidents; populations of major US
cities; useful information for businessmen; anecdotes for
various poisons; what to do in case of lightening strike or
sunstroke; dates of eclipses; and current postage rates. View
1907 (postage rates
and "Things to be Remembered") and 1909(rate
of income on stocks and weekly table of wages)insert
.
Jennie
P. Andrews
Jennie Andrews was born in 1851 as Jennie Blair. In 1874 she married
Orlando J. Andrews and lived on a farm at Ono in Union Township, Pierce
County, Wisconsin. Together they had four children: Edna, Sara, Ward,
and Hiram, the last of whom died as a small child. On October 10, 1900,
at the age of 49, Jennie Andrews died.
Jennie P. Andrews Diaries:
1876, 1882-83, 1893, 1899-1900
Edna
J. Gerrish
Edna J. Andrews was the daughter of Orlando and Jennie P. Andrews. She
was born in 1877 and married Samuel J. Gerrish (1875-1923) in December
of 1899. They, too, lived on an Ono farm at Union Township in Pierce
County, Wisconsin. Edna Gerrish died in 1935 and is buried in Ono Methodist
Cemetery.
River Falls, WI 54022 
