Mary E. Saxton, the twenty one year old keeper of this diary, was born on November 26, 1844 and lived in Windham, Connecticut at the time of writing in this diary. Mary was one of three children to her parents, William and Sabra. Her sister Julia was seven years older than Mary and married in 1867. Mary's brother George was ten years older than she and was killed during the Civil War on May 16, 1864 at Drewry's Bluff, Virginia.

On March 18, 1869 Mary Saxton married Edward S. Ellsworth of East Windsor, Connecticut. All known efforts thus far have not revealed anything more about Mary and her husband after their marriage in 1869. They were found in neither Windham nor East Windsor after this date, showing that they moved somewhere outside of Connecticut and have not been found in South Carolina as of yet. The original diary is part of the McBee-Whitmire Collection being studied at Furman University. This diary once belonged to Mildred Whitmire, a civic leader and amateur historian in Greenville, South Carolina and is being loaned to Furman by Dr. Beverly Whitmire. No connection between this diary and Vardry McBee, Mildred Whitmire, or any others have been discovered thus far. This diary includes the weather for the entire year and Mary's daily entries, as well as her monthly cash accounts and a memoranda section.

This project was completed by Melissa May in December of 2000 as part of an internship program sponsored by the Center for the Study of Piedmont History at Furman University. Various faculty members assisted in the transcription and compilation of this diary. Thanks to Steve O'Neill for his sponsorship of this program. A special thanks to Steve Richardson, Mary Fairbairn, and Libby Young of Furman's James B. Duke Library for the countless hours of guess-work and computer assistance they offered on this project. Also, thanks to Harlan Jessup of the Connecticut Ancestry Society in Stamford, Connecticut for without his help no biographical information about Mary Saxton would have ever been located and utilized for this project.

To begin reading this diary, click here for the Table of Contents.