The Heavens Are Weeping: The Diaries of George Richard Browder, 1852-1886

WOW! This is an incredible book. Anyone would enjoy this book. It will appeal to anyone interested in a daily chronicle of life in the mid 19th century, the struggles, the hardships, the joys and the wonder. George Browder, an elder of the local church, responsible for a six county area in middle/western Kentucky registers a daily diary of his life from approx. 1840-1880. George was a neighbor of my ancestors, Nelson Hadley Waters. I couldn't have possibly gained so much insight as to life in Kentucky at that time. What an incredible insight! George also chronicles tidbits about life from the early 1800's in Kentucky when he talks about his father coming over from VA and MD. I especially enjoyed the insights into the terrible civil war. Kentucky was torn between North and South. Neighbors livestock stolen, houses burned, neighbors going into hiding. Even after the war neighbors were not safe. It was incredible to read about how quickly news traveled during the civil war, primarily due to the telegraph. Once was installed at Volney, which gave this small community access to daily events of the war and George provides many details of daily updates in his diary. I also enjoyed reading about George taking his family to the World's Fair and their trip to Niagra Falls, etc. This is quite the fete on a paron's salary! I also learned more about the importance of the railroads in the last half of the 1800's and how it changed their lives in gaining more mobility and access to distant places they otherwise wouldn't have had a chance to reach in such short time. This is great reading for genealogists, history buffs and general public interested in life through the 19th century.

This book is a miracle. No doubt about it. For years and years the diaries of Rev. George R. Browder lay tucked away passed down and read by the family. One day, in 1974, the manuscripts were introduced by my wife's best friend (a Browder Family descendant) to Dr. Richard L. Troutman, a professor at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green. He fell in love with the remarkably rich and compelling writing style detailing not only major events (the Civil War, etc.), but ordinary every day events like working in tobacco, visiting the sick, and my favorite, the descriptions of Christmas Day. I love this book and highly recommend it to any student of the history of middle 1800's life on south-central Kentucky.