Adeline and Julia Growing Up in Michigan and on the Kansas Frontier Diaries from 19Th-Century America

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The keeping of journals and diaries became an almost everyday pastime for many Americans in the nineteenth century. Adeline and Julia Graham, two young women from Berrien Springs, Michigan, were both drawn to this activity, writing about the daily events in their lives, as well as their "grand adventures." These are fascinating, deeply personal accounts that provide an insight into the thoughts and motivation of two sisters who lived more than a century ago.Adeline began keeping a diary when she was sixteen, from mid-1880 through mid-1884; through it we see a young woman coming of age in this small community in western Michigan. Paired with Adeline's account is her sister Julia's diary, which begins in 1885 when she sets out with three other young women to homestead in Greeley County, Kansas, just east of the Colorado border. It is a vivid and colorful narrative of a young woman's journey into America's western landscape.[Adeline Sun. Jan. 29th [1881 After we arrived in Buchanan we had to stay at the hotel about three hours before it was time to go to the hall. The concert was grand but I couldn't appreciate only one singer and that was a Frenchman-"Peter" we called him. His name is "Pietro Feranti or Stantini," I don't know which. He made such funny faces and said "ching, ching, ching." Carre o is said to be the greatest pianist in the world. Her playing was grand, but I couldn't see much beauty in it. I always thought a musician should sit as quiet as possible and not move her arms from the shoulder at all. But she went through all sorts of motions and reminded me of our dog when he [charges for chipmunks.