Village Life in America 1852-1872

I have a copy of this book and plan on giving it to my younger sister for her birthday. She has lived in Canandaigua for decades as did my parents until their passing. This book gives a heartwarming first hand account and background to a town whose streets I have traveled down for years...most of them named for families who lived there as well as she displays an acquaintance of many noted in neighboring towns such as the Phelps. The author went to school at a ladies academy which was built on the Granger Homestead...which was designed by architect Thomas Jefferson. She also regales you with tales of the owners of Sonnenberg Estate...Mary Clark Thompson was the daughter of Governor of NY Myron Clark. The local hospital was founded by Mary Clark who Caroline knew well. Anybody acquainted with Canandaigua knows this enchanting estate and it's gardens: the Japanese Tea Gardens, Italian Gardens, rock gardens...and probably the first heated swimming pool in the country was built here. But Caroline also leaves us with eyewitness accounts of hearing Charles Finney and Susan B Anthony and also reactions to Civil War news and Lincoln's assassination. And it is a book that captures your attention like few others. May this book inspire many other young journallers and local history buffs nationwide. First person history to be treasured by young and old, western New Yorkers and all Americans will adore this book, highly recommended.

Caroline Cowles Richards, born in 1842, penned her diary before, during, and after one of the most tragic times in US history, the Civil War. Her writing has captured the realities of daily life and her personal views while living in the small village of Canandaigua, NY. The time frame was 1852-1872. It is a richly layered interpretation of her young life during a very turbulent period of growth, complicated by 4 years of war. She reveals much abour her acquaintenances and touches upon a diverse array of subjects including social customs, food, dress, education, community events and religion. Her descriptions capture views of a vibrant community experiencing an economic renaissance, abolition, women's rights movements and religious revitalism. This new edition is illustrated with 25 photos, including two new images, one of which is a full length view of Caroline ca. 1859 in period clothing, typical of her age, social status and area where she lived. There is also a new introduction which reveals significant information about Caroline's life not revealed in her diary. The cover of the book is a picture of the community taken in 1859, a perfect match to her newly discovered image which appears in the book. Great, easily read book which is a classic.

For historians, casual readers and researchers, teachers and students, this work provides an excellent opportunity to explore the past through the eyes of a young girl, age 10 in 1852 - growing up in a small town in the years prior to, during and after the Civil War. The soft cover edition published by Corner House, ISBN 0-87928-115-4, includes several images circa 1860 of the community she writes about and a new image of her circa 1859 when she was 17 years old. Recognized as a classic, highly readable and informative.

This book's misleading title conceals a real gem: the authentic diary of a young girl growing up in Canandaigua, NY in the 1850s. Caroline Richards is a devout but irreverently humorous little girl whose innocent observations reveal the wonderful texture of nineteenth-century village life. The flavor of the book can best be conveyed by letting Caroline speak for herself. Of her school days: "Today, a nice old gentleman...visited our school... He had a beautiful pear in his hand and said he would give it to the boy or girl who could spell "Virgaloo," for that was the name of the pear. I spelt it that way, but it was not right. A little boy, named Wiliam Schley, spelt it right and he got the pear. I wish I had, but I can't even remember now how he spelt it. If the pear was hard as the name I don't believe any one would want it." Caroline met life and death more frequently than many children today, as when she went with her younger sister Anna to comfort a neighbor. "Mrs. McCarty told us Monday that Mrs. Brockle's niece was dead, who lives next door to her. Grandmother sent us over with some things for their comfort and told us to say that we were sorry they were in trouble. We went and when we came back, Anna told Grandmother that I said, 'Never mind, Mrs. Brockle, some day we will all be dead.' I am sure that I said something better than that." Caroline's own mother died, leaving her to live with her grandparents (her father was halfway across the globe, a missionary in China). A fever almost took her grandmother too, as Caroline records, and it was a wonderful moment when the fever passed--even for their taciturn grandfather. "When Grandmother came downstairs the first time she was too weak to walk, so she sat on each step till she got down. When Grandfather saw her, he smiled and said to us: 'When she will, she will, you may depend on't; and when she won't she won't, and that's the end on't.' But we knew all the time that he was very glad to see her." The diary touches on everything from the movement for woman suffrage and the treatment of African Americans living in the community to teen-age picnics and traveling shows, such as Eng and Chang, two Siamese twins who come to town. A wonderful find!