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ESTELLE 'STELLA' JACOBOSKY later WITMER : 1899 ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT DIARY DETAILING THE LIFE OF A 2nd GENERATION JEWISH WOMAN, THE DAUGHTER OF GERMAN JEWISH IMMIGRANTS CHASING THE AMERICAN DREAM

32mo - over 4" - 5" tall. On offer is an interesting diary written at the turn of the century by an educated woman in a major American industrial city. Measuring 4.75 inches by 3 inches, this diary is in good condition. It contains 122 pages of entries plus and extensive memoranda section of 72 pages. The memoranda section includes contacts, cash accounts as well as notes. The handwriting is legible. Also included are to very small newspaper clippings. One, which appears to be dated July 14, 1899 is an ad for a teacher. Estelle (Stella) Jacobosky is a 24 year old woman who is beginning her career as a teacher. She was born in 1875 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Her parents were Jewish immigrants from Germany, coming to America about the year 1861. Wilkes-Barre is located adjacent to the Wyoming Valley coalfield - the largest coalfield in the United States in the 2nd half of the 19th century. Her parents were part of the hundreds of thousands of immigrants that flooded into the area from Europe to meet the demands for an expanding workforce. Wilkes-Barre flourished and grew into an industrial and economic powerhouse. Local newspapers record her success in elementary and secondary school and her early years in education. She worked in Philadelphia, New Jersey and Long Island as a substitute or supply teacher before returning to Wilkes-Barre where she assumed the role of teacher and head teacher/principal in Carnegie, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh In 1904 Stella married Harry Sumner Witmer. They made their home in Aspinwall, PA where he worked as an accountant. They had had three sons. Stella passed away in 1955 at the age of 79. The diary is a record of her work as a teacher as well as her social life. Got up at 7:30 A.M. Went on 8:40 car. Home at 4:15 P.M. Dressed. Went sleighriding at 4:30 with Hal W* Mrs. Witmer, Mrs. Conner, and Rose. Home at 6:00P.M. After supper to tailors. Came home and served. Hal called at 9 P.M. Retired 10:30 P.M. [Jan 4, 1899] *Hal W is in fact the man she marries 5 years later. Got up 7:30 A.M. Taught school all day. Home 4:15 P.M. First day in school since I got back from N.Y. Home all evening and write letters. Retired 11:30 P.M. [Mar 7, 1899] Taught school all day. ... Home 4:30 P.M. Went up town after school. In evening went to see Mable Edgar then took a walk. Had company [May 19, 1899] Arose 8:30 A.A. Started "A Tent of Grace" by a Jewess. Mrs. Taylor called in morning. Mrs. Conners, Mrs Barrosti, Rose and I went to matinee. Caught in rain ... Home all evening. [Sept 19, 1899] Her cash accounts reveal things like her earnings ($45.00) for the months shown, the costs of many daily items such as streetcar fare (10¢), tooth powder (25¢) and thread (28¢). There is an extensive list of the people with whom she socialized with and called upon. For a genealogist, this is an excellent record of many different family names, all situated in a particular place and time. It is valuable cross-reference tool for family research. More generally, a historian would find this daily record a fine source of details of day-to-day living in this bustling industrial city with its multi-cultural population.. Illustr.: /. Manuscript. Book Condition: Good+

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