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492

CLEVELAND, OHIO DIARIES, 1870 AND 1871.

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:400.00 - 600.00 USD
CLEVELAND, OHIO DIARIES, 1870 AND 1871.
CLEVELAND, OHIO DIARIES, 1870 AND 1871. Joseph Nelson Ashburn Journals, 1870-1876. Two calf volumes: 1870 (152 pp.), 1871-1876 (236 pp. with some newspaper clippings pasted in). Volume one is slightly warped with a split spine and volume two lacks a spine but the binding holds. The writing in both is quite legible. Joseph Nelson Ashburn (b.1838) wrote these journals between 1870 and 1876 for his "little centennial," an imagined descendant who would read his thoughts and "know the bent of their ancestor's mind." Ashburn, who served in the Civil War as a private in Company A of the 86th Ohio Regiment, worked as a bookkeeper and cashier for a manufacturing company after the war. He lived in Cleveland with his wife, Annie Terrell Ashburn, and they adopted a niece after his wife's sister died. Ashburn was always writing with a (male) descendant in mind, and he took pains to describe the important events of the year and record his observations of and reaction to the society abuzz around him. He frequented Case Hall and the Academy of Music and went to great lengths to describe lectures by Horace Greeley, Victoria Woodhull, P. T. Barnum; performances by Edwin Forrest as King Lear and Joseph Jefferson as Rip Van Winkle; frequent German celebrations and the massive celebration of the ratification of the 15th Amendment; a minstrel show; "Miss Millie-Chrissie," the double-headed girl; and a single visit to "the green room," where women "performed so many indecent things I'll not try to explain them." In 1909 Ashburn would write the history of his regiment, and the Civil War is never far beneath the surface of his writing. Reminiscences of his youth suddenly veer into tragic tales of girls who lost the men they loved to the war. Reunions and other celebrations figure prominently in his journals. His 13-page description of the 4th reunion of the Army of the Cumberland lists the 14 toasts given ("I would not deprive them of a single pleasure, though I knew they'd all get drunk,") and comments on the appearances of the generals, their speeches, and the crowd's response. Ashburn also noted the death of General George H. Thomas and the passing of other war heroes. The longest entries are about the Woman's rights movement- with some sidebars about the "Crusaders" of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, which was founded in Cleveland in 1874 (women who crashed saloons and accosted patrons, which generally proved bad for business) and ladies fashion (the faddish "Grecian Bend"). Ashburn, otherwise in favor of equal rights to things like a "mental and physical education," believed that women should not have the vote, and he favored the "He casts the ballot but she casts the man that casts the ballot" line of argument. Ashburn writes well, with humor, and often evidences quite a pretty turn of phrase: he salutes the new year in 1871 with "hope is our bright and front side - our every-day opera glass - we promise ourselves much enjoyment and mental improvement, with little sorrow and anxiety." His tales of unwittingly renting out rooms to a burglar, his first experience taking laughing gas, and his admiration of the hair wreath wrought by his wife from the hair of both of their families all help bring Joseph Ashburn to life, even for us unrelated "little centennials." PLEASE NOTE: THIS LOT WILL BE SOLD ON EBAY LIVE AUCTIONS BETWEEN 5:00-6:00pm EASTERN DAYLIGHT TIME ON MAY 10, 2002. REGISTER NOW TO BID LIVE ONLINE THE DAY OF THE SALE! (EST 400-600)
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