1883-87 Handwritten Diary 12yr old Alice Burton Massillon OH Cleveland Fire 179p

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1883-87 Handwritten Diary 12yr old Alice Burton Massillon OH Cleveland Fire 179p:
$318.99

Diaries reallydon’t get much better than this when it comes entertaining the reader but herentries are also very noteworthy entries. It has everything one would want whenit comes to collecting handwritten journals including some fascinating historicalevents described in great detail by our author. I want to start off with anexample entry which takes place while our author is staying at the LincolnHotel in Cleveland Ohio with her Aunt and Uncle…..

“January 8th, 1884.I am sitting at a front window on the second floor of the Lincoln Hotel. It isvery pleasant here. I can look out of the window and see a large clock, in atower. I think it is for the benefit of those on the lake, by the standardtime, which it keeps it. It is five minutes of three, that would make our clockin the room, half past ten. The halls of the Lincoln are very long and it makes quite awalk to go up five times which Aunt Ida and I did last evening, directly aftersupper also. It made us feel tired. I expect to go home this evening.”

And her entriesonly get better. The photo you see above showing the downtown scene is one Iscanned from the web and it’s of the Lincoln Hotel and the scene she waslooking out upon.

Our author is 12year old Alice C. Burton and she and her family live in Massillon Ohio.And believe me she is a very mature 12 year old and an incredible writer. Herdiary begins on December 28th, 1883 and the last entry is February 7th,1887 which describes the marriage of her Aunt Ella.

The diary has atotal of 179 handwritten pages and this journal is large too measuring about 5½” x 8 ½”, so there is a lot of writing per page. In fact after every passage Alice writes down thenumber of words she used for that days entry and totaling those up I countedalmost 24,000 words. And if you are interested in this area, the history of Ohio and the United States in the 1880’s wellthis is an amazing piece to have. Included but not limited to, there areentries concerning the great fire that burnt up the Park Theater while she wasin Cleveland (see scan above of the theater. This photo is a scanned one fromthe web), the great flooding of the Tuscarawas and Ohio Rivers, Circusperformances, then the Great Cleveland fire in September of 1884,earthquake, lots of torch light processions, steamer trips, vacations, familysickness’s such as Scarlet Fever and Malaria, and so much more. In fact in oneinstance she herself contracts Scarlet Fever but she still writes in her diary.She says her writing won’t be good because her hands are shaking so much fromthe disease.

Not only arethose kind of entries but on amazing entry which has a three page descriptionthat she calls the “Great Blaine Mass Meeting” which was when Speaker of theHouse (among other things) James C. Blaine came to town during his presidentialnomination tour. Her father was on the committee to greet him and help with thetransportation of carriage. But the entry that really stood out to me was herlong 4 pages description of the death and funeral of General Grant. And if thatwasn’t enough within the pages of this diary I found a beautiful train ticket.

Before I quotefrom the diary itself I must give you some background information concerningthis family. When I began reading the diary I gathered from her entries thatthis was a wealthy family and sure enough, they are. In fact the very firstentry is about Christmas and just the list of presents she receives is amazing.Alice’s father was Jonathan Prescott Burton whoat the time of his sudden death was “president of the following companies; TheRidgway Burton Coal Company, of this city; the Pennsylvania Iron & CoalCompany, of Canal Dover; the Burton, Biedler & Phillips Company, of Cleveland. He was also adirector of the Union National bank and president of the Massillon Social Club.”

Perhaps thesaddest thing of all is that her father passed away on June 8th,1899 just three days before Alicewas to marry John E. McLain. I found her father’s obituary which details hislife and also the family and I quote…..

“Jonathan PrescottBURTON MassillonCity -- Massillon-- Perry Twp. Cemetery Stark County, Ohio. September 20th,1820 – June 8th, 1899.

Children:Alice, Cora, J. Prescott & Courtney Burton

Marriedtwice: 1st Elizabeth Jenkinson & 2nd Mary E. Zerbe mother of the abovenamed children, J.P. Burton was born at Penn\'s Manor, near Philadelphia, PA.His great-grandfather, Jonathan Burton, came to American with William Penn.

Diedthree days before his daughter\'s wedding to John E. McLain. Sudden Death of aWell Known Citizen. The Funeral Services. Mr. Burton was Prominently Identifiedwith Massillon\'sBusiness Interests and was a Man of Wide Influence and Cultivation

JonathanPrescott Burton, aged 79 years, president and secretary of the Ridgway BurtonCoal Company and one Massillon\'s best known citizens, died at his residence inEast Main street between 11 and 12 o\'clock on Thursday [June 8] evening, deathbeing immediately due to heart failure. Mr. Burton was in his office as usualon Monday, but on Tuesday was too ill to attend to business. Since that time hehad failed rapidly, and his death has been momentarily expected. With theexception of Courtney Burton, who arrived on the Pennsylvania limited from his school in theEast early this morning, all the immediate members of Mr. Burton\'s family, Mrs.Burton, his two daughters and his eldest son, Prescott Burton, were with him tothe end.

Mr.Burton was born at Penn\'s Manor, near Philadelphia, Pa., September 30, 1820. Thefamily, of which he was a member originated in England,whence his great grandfather, Jonathan Burton, immigrated to America in the company with WilliamPenn. In 1839, he commenced his active career in New York City, where he was engaged in themercantile business. In 1843 he went to Philadelphiaand became an importer in the firm of Davis, Burton & Co., being stationedin Europe the greater part of nine years. Inthe year 1857, in the company with Jacob E. Ridgway and other Philadelphiamen, he took the first contract for building the Northern Pacific railroad fromStillwater to ST. Paul. Mr. Burton came to Massillon in the year 1859 and in connectionwith Mr. Ridgway, purchased the Massillon Furnace property and began themanufacture of pig iron and to operate coal mines. Then years later heorganized the Ridgway Burton co., which operated both coal and iron mines. In1881, with S. W. Croxton of Cleveland and Henry C. Davis, of Philadelphia, he organized the PennsylvaniaIron 7 Coal Co., conducting blast furnaces at Canal Dover.

Mr.Burton was at the time of his death president of the following companies; TheRidgway Burton Coal Company, of this city; thePennsylvania Iron & Coal Company, of Canal Dover; the Burton, Biedler &Phillips Company, of Cleveland.He was also a director of the Union National bank and president of theMassillon Social Club. In the year 1845 Mr. Burton married Miss ElizabethJenkinson, who died in 1867 (?). In 1871 he married Miss Mar E. Zerbe, whosurvives him with four children, Alice C., Clara, Courtney and J. Prescott, thelatter having been connected with his father in business for several years. Hissister, Mrs. L. M. Ogle, resides in York, Pa.

Mr.Burton was a man of superior attainments, with a mind broadened and cultivatedby study and travel, and by business and social relations with men of variousclasses and conditions. Although quiet and retiring by nature, he was a man ofinfluence among his business associates and had a remarkable faulty ofsurrounding himself with those who like himself were men of integrity andreliability. In politics he was a Republican. He served as a member of the citycouncil for two terms, during which time he was chairman of the financecommittee. He was reared in the society of Friends and was a Master and Royal ArchMason. Funeral services will be held from the house on Sunday afternoon at2:30, to which friends of the family are invited. The burial will be private.

Invitationsto the wedding of Miss Alice Burton and John E. McLain, which was to have takenplace on June 15, have, of course, been withdrawn.

Massillon Independent, Massillon, Ohio, June 15, 1899

Thefuneral of the late J.P. Burton took place at the residence on the corner of Main and Prospect streets on Sunday afternoon at 2:30.Services were conducted by the Rev. C. M. Roberts, assisted by the choir of St.Timothy\'s church. The pallbearers were Jerome B. Zerbe and George L. Case, of Cleveland; J. H. Hunt,Robert H. Day, Per Lee Hunt and John E. McLain.

The Massillon Independent, Massillon, OH,June 19, 1899

MissAlice C. Burton and John E. McLain were quietly married at 3 o\'clock Thursdayat the Burtonresidents, in East Main Street.Only the members of both families were present. The Rev. C. M. Roberts, of St.Timothy\'s church, officiated. Mr. and Mrs. McLain will spend about two weeks inthe East and will subsequently occupy a residence in East Main Street.”

Alice’s husband was also from a very wellknown and famous family and if you need that information I can print it up foryou as I know this description is already going to be quite long. The “Find aGrave” web sites have some incredible biographical information concerning Alice’s brothers; Prescottand Jonathan Jr.

Now as far as herdiary goes, she doesn’t write every single day. In fact she’s always talkingabout how she must keep a better record but she’ll catch the reader up with adetailed summary of the past week or so. She even takes the time to describeher friends and herself in detail. Again, it’s an amazing historical account onegirls life during the 1880’s living in the great state of Ohio as you can see by the following exampleexcerpts….

1883

“December 28th,The sleighing is not very good anymore. We had very good sleighing last weekuntil Sunday. When I came home from Sunday school it commenced to hail. Ireceived very many nice presents. I will write them here. A jewelry case, apaper cutting, this record, red silk handkerchief, box of letter paper, prettyfringed card, Penny doll, set of nail and cleaners, one half dozen of cardswith the pictures of the different birds of Queen Victoria, black fur boa,bottle of perfumery, plush case with a little handglass and comb in it. Mamagot a very elegant seal skin from papa which fits her beautifully. Aunt Idasent papa a very pretty painted sachet besides many other things. Clara got a Russia leatherdiary and a black lead pencil with gold trimmings. I gave her a sachet, shealso got many other things. Prescott got ahistory of the U. S.and a boat builder’s book. Also a pair of kid mittens. Courtney got two orthree books, a wheel barrow and a fire engine. Mama got a very pretty vase fromClara and I, a sliver thimble. The sunset was unusually beautiful this evening.Extended very red over half of the sky. A great many persons have spoken of thebeautiful sunsets for the past month as being extremely magnificent and it isvery true…….”

“January 8th,I went up to Uncle Jerome’s last Friday and did not take my record along withme, so I could not write but I have a great deal to say for this three days andone half. On Saturday morning just as Dot and I were going in the dining roomErnest was through breakfast and came and told us the Park Theatre was on fire. I did notreally believe him at first, Ithought he was only joking as we were intending to go to Humpty Dumpty matineein the afternoon, but when we got in the dining room we found it to be true.Aunt Ella had telephoned that it was burning rapidly. I did not know whether tocry or not but of course I felt very bad. While I was eating my breakfast, thetelephone rang. Uncle Jerome came and told me it was Aunt Ella to have me comedown with him to Conwell’s drug store which is just diagonally across from thefire. It was bitter cold as the thermometer had been down to fourteen degreesbelow zero the night before but I bundled up warm and Dot, Ernest, UncleJerome, Nathan and I went down in the closed carriage. When we got down therewe could only see flames in the south west corner of the upper story but theywere large flames and there were eleven engines out. This is all of the enginesin the city. It was so cold we got down there that we turned around and wentback and Uncle Jerome advised Aunt Ella to go home to the Lincoln and she saidshe would but afterward she told us she went into the upper story of Conwell’sdrug store where she could see everything. Some one telephoned to Aunt Lilyafter while and she said the church was going too and that all of the HumptyDumpty costumes were burnt and the scenery that had arrived on Friday. Prof.Hartz had just moved all of his apparatus into the theatre and it was burnt. Afireman threw out a beautiful writing desk and crawled down the ladder with apaper weight then another one threw out valuable documents and came down theladder with a bottle of champagne. I went to hear the play of Richelien onSaturday night with Ernest and I was almost afraid to cross the square onaccount of the steeple of the church, it leans quite a good deal over towardsthe square and it is reported that it fell twenty six years ago and it fellclear across the square…….” (This goes on for another 1 ½ pages)

“January 27th,Mrs. Ridermour was burned this afternoon. Mamma went to the funeral. It wasvery large. I think there were sixty one vehicles including the hearse. Therewere twelve wheeled carriages. Clara and mama went to the cemetery but not tothe house. Clara was standing by the fence and saw the mourners come out. Shesaid the grown people were all crying very hard. I pity the dear children. Imust keep something in this record about Courtney. This afternoon when papacame home and was sitting by the fire talking, Courtney had a handkerchief’s ofmamma and was holding it as if going to throw it in the fire and papa said hemust not do that. That provoked Courtney and he struck him, so papa spankedhim. That made C. feel bad so he went and hid behind a chair and cried. Then hewent and got a newspaper and struck papa again. Papa spanked him again. Thenext thing C. did was to get a key and try to strike papa again. Papa spankedhim again, this time C. came first to me and said, “Hit Papa”. I said Icouldn’t so he asked Clara and mama, then mama told him to go and kiss papa andhe did. It was a very funny sight.”

“February 11th, (This entry follows a longentry from February 10th also concerning the flood, which I’vescanned that page above)

“I willcopy some more out of the papers today. At seven o’clock last night the riverwas sixty five feet two inches and rising ¾ of an inch per inch. The river atGallipolis, a city 203 miles above Cincinnatiis four feet higher than ever known. The Kanawha and other of the Ohio tributaries are very high and hence makes the Ohio higher. It alsosays; by extreme care and ingenuity the gas company managed to keep the gassupply until last night but now the street lamps are unlighted and the gas isburning in a very few places. The theatres are lighted with the electric lightsand calcium lights. There is a two inch pipe going from the hospital (who makesits own gas) to Music Hall. It is also lighted with electric lights soconsequently it has its usual supply of light. There is a large electric lightin front of the hall and it lights up the streets right around there. AuntClara and Uncle James are there. They started on Saturday.”

(This next entry is quite rare and quite exceptional when itcomes to diary entries. Alice is worried abouther mother not getting a birthday present and she writes about it and on theopposite page Alice’smother writes her a note….)

“March 16th,…..thisis mama’s birthday. And for the fist time ever since I was about five years oldthat we didn’t give her anything……”

“My dear Alice. You seem to regret that you did not havea birthday offering for me. I know you would gladly have given me a token ofyour remembrances of the day and requested me to name a wish for something. ButI could not think of anything that I desired particularly and so accept yourlove as beyond anything you would have purchased. Mr. Bodine quoted largelyfrom the sermon on the Mount this morning. I wish you would commit it tomemory. There is one text I often repeat to myself. I learned it when quiteyoung. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

“July 27th,I am sorry to see my record neglected so long for I had a great deal to tell inthe past three months. Miss Anna Steese sailed for Europeon the 25th of May and expects to return about the first ofSeptember. Most all of the people here that speak of her here say, “It is toobad for her to be there during the Cholera.” The cholera is very bad in Francejust now, especially in the cities of Marseilles and Toulouse, at this timethere are seventy four and 8 deaths been reported in one day at Toulouse.Everybody nearly is afraid it will come here for it is spreading all oversouthern Europe. Miss Steese expected to visitParis and London each two weeks, one when starting, one when cominghome…..”

“October 15th,…….The next event was the great Clevelandfire which occurred on Sunday September 7th. It burn about 50,000acres. We saw the light of the fire down here and mama thought it was theLights of Borealis but lots of other people saw it and it was seen in Canton soit was of course nothing but the Cleveland fire and a great deal of money waslost by the rivers of the large lumber yards lying down on the “slats”. Mamawent to Clevelandand took Clara and Courtney with her Friday September 11th andstayed until Tuesday October 15th but she did not have much fun or agood time while she was there for Courtney was sick all of the time andconfined. The next event wasthe “Earthquake”, something that would not be dreamed of in this part of thecontinent. I did not feel it as I was inschool and the only thing I wished afterwards was that we would have anotherslight one. The day and date was Friday September 18th. Mama was upstairs in the front bed room with Miss Donovan and Frank Stover sewing. Mamasaw the spools of thread rattling and shaking on the widow and Frank saw thewardrobe go to and fro. It was felt in all parts of Ohio. On Monday our great candidate for VicePresident was in Massillon.He made a short address in front of the Park Hotel. All of us girls went up inthe parlor and shook hands with him. I mean Blanch, Hattie, Mame, Mame Arnold,and myself and several others of a younger set. He said, “Good AfternoonLadies” but that was all. I think he is very handsome, although others think heis homely. The Republicans only had one large torchlight procession. Thedemocrats had two. I will now take up the greatest event that we have ever hadin our city. The Great BlaineMass Meeting. This interesting event occurred Wednesday October 8th,1884. Great preparations were made before hand and the day was indeed a greatone to be remembered. A committee was appointed from this city to go down to Bridgeport to meet Blaineand his party. Papa was on the committee and he took Prescott with him. Prescott shook hands with him. Papa had alittle talk with him also. They went to meet him Tuesday, October 1st.Mr. Blaine went to Canton that evening and thenext day the committee went over to Cantonin closed carriages. Papa was in one with four white horses. And he had thehonor of riding back in the carriage with Mr. Blaine, his son and majorMcKinley. The gentlemen were entertained at Mr. Steese’s. All of the churcheshad lunch stands out at the West side fairgrounds. We girls had the lemonadestand. But we did not sell anything. It rained all day and spoiled the dayparade. But the torchlight procession was a grand affair. It was about 2 ½ or 3miles in length and all of the houses were decorated. Mr. Blaine said it wasthe most enthusiastic meeting he had seen in the state and Senator Cullom saidthe torchlight procession was the finest he had seen. I had the opportunity ofshaking hands with him which I did as he sat in his carriage in front of Mr.Steese’s…..”

“November 28th,The first event since my last writing is the Democratic Torchlight processionand celebration. One week ago tonight. It was a very disorderly affair. No twomen took even steps. The Democratic residences were all very brilliantlyilluminated. The finest illumination that has ever been seen in this city wasthat of Lieutenant Governor Warwick’s residence. Long strings of lanterns werestretched out all around the outside while the house was very elegantlyilluminated. Beautiful fireworks were being displayed during the procession anddifferent colored lights and Roman candles were being thrown out from all partsof the yard. After the procession, the CantonCity Band and Marching Club went up toWarwicks andgave a serenade. After which J. C. Warwick made a few remarks. Mr. Cole, andMr. Gregor. Cigars were then distributed among the men and Mrs. Warwickappeared and made a bow…..”

(In 1885 all the talk of the town, including Alice, is about the new skating rink that is being builton the “Mong” property which seems to be across from Alice’s house. It is called the “WalhondingSkating Rink”. Lots of races, parties and events are held there)

1885

“March 2nd, ….OnThursday I went to the rink, there was a contest for the most graceful skaterbetween Hattie Knapp, Charity Weaver, Annie Knapp and Lyda Bayliss for a pairof Star Club Skates. Lyda got the skates and I think nearly everybody wassatisfied. I am very sure that I was. Hattie swings too much, although she is avery pretty skater. Daisy Roof also was one that skated. She did not do justiceto herself that night. Elsie Grapewin then gave an exhibition of fancy skatingand it was very nice……Clara was down stairs on Wednesday and Thursday but had arelapse that evening and had to go back to bed. I guess it is malaria, thoughmama was afraid it was going to be diphtheria….”

“April 14th,Last Sunday the news was received here that Mr. J. S. Arnold had died the nightbefore very suddenly from heart disease in New Orleans. He had not been sick at all. Heleft home about ten days before that in good health. It was a terrible blow tothe family. The body has not arrived yet but it may come tonight or tomorrow.It is very uncertain. Just before he went away he said to Mr. Brooke’s hewished he would only be here to bury him not because he wanted to die orthought that he was going to, but he wished Mr. Brooke’s would be here. ……”

“August 10th, …..General Grant was taken to Mt. McGregorin the early part of June and his condition changed while there from better toworse and better again. Finally on July 23rd he died at DrexelCottage. He was buried on the eighth of August at RiversidePark N. YorkCity. The funeral procession was one of the largest ever seen in the world. Innearly every carriage there rode a Confederate and UnionGeneral side by side. The expenses were very large. Mrs. Grant did not go to New York. Mrs. Sartorisintends to go back to England.Over half a million people viewed the remains while they were lying in state atthe City Hall. Some very queer incidents have been published about thedifferent people while viewing the remains. One woman tried to kiss the facebut she found there were two panes of glass over it. One Negro stopped andsaid, “God bless him and grant him eber lastin peace.” The guard ordered themto pass on and the people had to pass at the rate of 150 a minute sometimes. Inone of the processions a Negro had a picture of Grant pinned across the frontof his coat. He clasped his arms around it and exclaimed, “He set me free. Heset me free.”…….” (More on that)

“November 1st,……Theyhave been digging a sewer all the way up Main St. and the night before we went to Cleveland the men werejust ready to stop work at a little before six and there was but the one manleft there. The others were all on the outside when the side caved and this manJacob Rehein (?) wasburied. They worked just one hour with him at the end of which they took himout. They had him out once up to his waist but he sand again over his head. Thestreet was crowded and ever so many worked at him but they could not save him.He was taken into the Walhonding Rink where he died immediately. He lived aboutone mile from town and left a wife and thirteen young children. He was aboutthe best digger in the town and a good and faithful hard working man……”

“December 14th, Iam sitting up stairs in the front chamber just recovering from a week’s siegeof Scarlet Fever. My writing in this case will be very poor as it is hard forme to keep my hand steady. On Thursday evening, December third, Clara, Nellieand I spent in the nursery and just before going to bed I complained of sorethroat. In the morning when I awoke my throat was very raw and I spoke to mamaabout it. She asked me to stay home from school but I wanted to go, so she letme. At noon my neck commenced to hurt and when mama looked at my throat shefound large white patches in it. I commenced quinine gargle and begged so hardto go to school but she wisely kept me at home……..” (Shethen began to vomit and the doctor was called and he pronounced it ScarletFever. Then a rash broke out. She had to stay upstairs for 8 days.)

1886

“Iwould never tell anyone these things but it is to be hoped that no one willexamine my record and I put things down just the way I think about them and itis thoroughly understood that no one will read my private affairs.”

I am so glad I wasable to read Alice’s“private affairs” as she is such an amazing author which give us, the reader, adeeper look into the life of a young teenage woman over 130 years ago. Plus Ihave such a great respect for her as a young lady. And there is so much morethan what I’ve quoted here. Also, as with most diaries, tons of names arementioned, some of which are: J. G. Warwick, Lida Kartan, Jule Rudenstein,Dollie Sharif, Florence Allen, A. Perlee Pease, harry Beatty, Cornwell, Garry,Wick, Charlie Bayliss, Hattie Knapp, Eva Shafer, Julia McCormick, Dr. A. W.Kidenhour, Bishop Bedell, Donavan, Ella Ringer (teacher), Mollie Sladden, FrankBaldwin, Everhard, Steese, Bahney, Daisy Roof, Elsie Grapewin, and more.

Now, the pages inthis diary look good and most of them are securely attached to the binding.However the front cover has fallen away completely but is accounted for and thefirst two pages are loose as are a few other pages. The cover itself is in badshape and I had to cover it with plastic wrap as the edges were crumbling. Itreally does need some archival repair. Please keep all this in mind whenpurchasing.

…….There are two things I need to mention here as I have beengetting a lot of inquiries about some issues. First off I never split up familydiary lots or letters and sell them separately. I am very passionate about thisas I feel family history should stay together. Secondly, I will do returns BUTI do not feel it is right to offer on a diary, win it and then return it forseveral reasons. One is because they can easily be copied, used and then givenback. I pride myself on not copying anything so when you the buyer receive thediary you are the only one with access to it and you can rest assured there areno copies out there; at least on my end. Secondly, I just had a diary sent backto me and they had damaged the diary itself by trying to “repair” it. I statedin that description that it was damaged. So to receive it back in worsecondition then before is not right. So, if you aren’t sure about somethingplease email me before you offer. Also, if there are photos in the listing I willstate whether they are copies from the web or original. Please keep all of thisin mind before offerding. Thanks.