Henry W. Marston daily journal for 1875

Collection

Identifier: MSS 0097-Item 0113

Staff Only

Scope and Content Note

The journal of Henry W. Marston chronicles his daily activities for 1875 as a student and a junior scribe in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The entries include observations of the weather, schoolwork, travel, conversations, family events, and Marston's attendance of the Centennial Exhibition.

Henry W. Marston’s diary contains entries of ten lines for almost every day in 1875, which he wrote in a book entitled "A Daily Journal for 1875" and bearing the publication information, "Philadelphia: Published Annually for the Trade 1875." The "Memoranda" section at the back of the volume contains a contract in which Henry’s father John, Jr., agreed to pay him ten cents for every entry, providing that Henry would owe John one cent for each misspelled word. Throughout the diary, misspellings are underlined in pencil and total in each entry is written in the margin.

Marston wrote about daily activities and observations including the weather, schoolwork, Sunday school teachings, amusements such as card games ("Auction" and euchre), cricket, chess, and checkers, and the books he read. Henry Marston also described major occurrences in the lives of his family members, both immediate and extended, including travels and illnesses.

At the beginning of 1875, Henry Marston was a student of the middle class at West Penn Square Academy in Philadelphia. He finished his schooling in June, took a vacation to the New Jersey shore with his uncle, Frank Dupont Marston, from July 21 to 31, and then began work as a junior scribe that September. In October, he wrote about attending the opening of the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, also with his uncle Frank Marston.

Two papers are laid in at the back of the journal. The first is a report card from West Penn Square Academy for the term ending June 9, 1875. It lists Henry’s examination scores as well as both the class average and his average for the year. The second is a sheet of ruled paper on which Henry has kept the "diary account" of the money received from his father per their arrangement.

Dates

Creation: 1875

Creator

Marston, Henry Ward, 1859- (Person)

Language of Materials

Materials entirely in English.

Restrictions on Access

The collection is open for research.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

Use of materials from this collection beyond the exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S. Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. Please contact Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, http://library.udel.edu/spec/askspec/

Biographical Note

Henry Ward Marston (born March 6, 1859) was the son of John and Anna Randall Marston of Overbrook, Pennsylvania. He had one older brother, John, and three sisters, Mary, Katherine L., and Anna R.

The family moved to Philadelphia in 1866. John Marston, Jr., was very active with his children’s Sunday School. He also took frequent trips, especially to Baltimore, Maryland. The Marstons had close ties with extended family living in the Philadelphia area. When John Sr. died, he left his wife an estate valued at $125,000.

In the spring of 1875, Henry completed his schooling at West Penn Square Academy while his brother John attended college. That September, John took a job as a roadman for the Pennsylvania Railroad earning fifty dollars a month while Henry began work as a junior scribe, earning thirty cents a day. Later, the two brothers became partners in a New England Life Insurance Company agency, Marston & Wakelin.

Henry W. Marston married Alice Sellers Rhoads, daughter of John R. Rhoads, on June 19, 1890. They had at least five children: Henry Ward, Jr., Mathew, Alice, Joseph, and James. A record of their family life can be found in Alice Marston’s scrapbook, which is also available in Special Collections at the University of Delaware Library.

"A Pretty Bala Wedding," Philadelphia Inquirer, June 20, 1890, America’s Historical Newspapers, http://infoweb.newsbank.com (accessed November 1, 2007)."90-Year-Old Woman Says Sons Trick Her," Philadelphia Inquirer, October 11, 1922, America’s Historical Newspapers, http://infoweb.newsbank.com (accessed November 1, 2007).Finding Aid for Alice Marston Scrapbook, University of Delaware Special Collections, 2003, http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/findaids/marston.htm (accessed November 1, 2007)."John Marston." Ancestry.com Library Edition. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2004. http://search.ancestrylibrary.com (accessed May 20, 2014).

Extent

1 volume (150 pages) ; 22 cm

Additional Description

Abstract

Source

Gift of the Moyerman Family.

Related Materials in This Repository

This item forms part of MSS 0097 Diaries, Journals, and Ships' Logs collection.

MSS 0421, Alice Marston Scrapbook, Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware.

Publication Note

University of Delaware. Library. Self works : diaries, scrapbooks, and other autobiographical efforts : catalog of an exhibition, August 19, 1997-December 18, 1997 : guide to selected sources. Newark, Del. : Special Collections, Hugh M. Morris Library, University of Delaware Library, 1997.