Family Diaries
Transcribed by Sandra Harding
This set of diaries (nine in all) was purchased from Antiques at 110 Main Street in Montpelier, Vermont with the anticipation that perhaps members of the Phillips family of Addison and Chittenden Counties would be mentioned. Seven of them appear to be leather with a flap that folds over the front, one is cloth covered and another is a tiny embossed leather address book but was used more for documenting some sort of organization happenings. Each transcription contains an introduction and is heavily footnoted as to who the individuals are.
The diaries are available for download in pdf format. You will need the free Adobe Reader to view them. 
Diaries of Stephen Greeley (Greely) of East Montpelier, Vermont
Mr. Greeley’s handwriting and spelling are poor. It is written in pencil, many entries very light, and I have made every effort to transcribe the diary accurately but some corrections have been made to improve spelling and make easier reading in a modern format. Some of Mr. Greeley’s words are not understandable and in those cases, they are written as he spelled them. On many pages are merely numbers or what appear to be mathematical equations, probably used as measurements. His entries are not always on the day they occurred, skipping back and forth with dates, probably as he remembered them.
It appears from his entries, that he lived on credits and borrowed money during the year, paid them off as he was reimbursed for services and at the end of the year he settled his accounts. His debt was mostly to his father-in-law, William Holmes, and also traded goods with others. Although there is a section in the back of the journal to record cash records, both debit and credit, Mr. Greeley chose to enter his receipts on the day they were done.
In 1870, Stephen Greeley was a farmer in East Montpelier, VT. He was age 29, born about 1841 in Marshfield, VT and died April 12, 1882 in East Montpelier. The value of his property was $7,000 and he had a personal estate of $1,500. His wife was Ellen Holmes, age 28, born about 1843. Their two children were William N., age 3 born about 1867, and Mertie E., who wasn’t born until about 1878. Stephen’s mother, Merinda Dodge, lived with them. She was age 63, born about 1807. It is assumed that Stephen’s father died and his mother remarried. Stephen and Ellen Greeley’s parents were found in the 1889 Washington County, VT Gazetteer.
EXERPT FROM “GAZETTEER of Washington County, VT” Edited by William Adams, Compiled and Published by Hamilton Child. THE SYRACUSE JOURNAL COMPANY, PRINTERS AND BINDERS, SYRACUSE, NY, APRIL 1889
Newell Greeley was born in Canterbury, NH in 1804, and was a distant relative of the late Horace Greeley. When he was seven years old he came with his mother and two younger sisters to Marshfield, VT, where he afterwards resided and was a farmer. He died October 20, 1851. He married Miranda Cate. Their children were Archelaus, Ambrose N., Stephen, and Webster. Ambrose N. Greeley, the only one now living, married Ellen M. Parks, March 19, 1859. Their children were Elmer Elsworth, who died in infancy, and Gertrude L. Mr. Greeley is a mason, and with his wife and daughter resides in Plainfield village.
William Holmes, Jr., born on the Holmes homestead, February 26, 1799, received his education in the common schools of North Montpelier village. He married Diana Stevens, May 19, 1836, who was born July 18, 1812, and commenced housekeeping on the farm where he was born. He was always a Democrat, and always used his influence to advance the interests of his party. He was an industrious farmer, and loved his family and home. Mr. and Mrs. Holmes had nine children, four of whom died in childhood. Those who lived to mature age are Harriet (Mrs. Alvin Cate), who died at the age of forty-nine years, and left an interesting family of eight children. Ellen married Stephen Greeley, and about four years after their marriage Mr. Greeley bought the Holmes homestead, and Mr. and Mrs. Holmes had a home with them. Mr. Greeley died April 12, 1882. Mrs. Greeley still resides at the home, and has two children, William and Mertie Ellen. Charlotte (Mrs. Whitney Davis) resides in Marshfield village. Sarah (Mrs. Austin Foster) resides on a farm in her native town. Mrs. Kate R. Morse resides with her sister, Mrs. Greeley. Mr. William Holmes died July 8, 1884, aged eighty-five years. Mrs. Holmes survives, aged seventy-five years.
Diary of William Holmes, Jr. of Marshfield, Vermont
Mr. Holmes wrote this diary at age 80 and may have been fairly wealthy for his day. Many entries in his diary tell of lending large sums of money and holding notes for them. Other entries tell of his being repaid on several notes. His records give deaths and burials of people in the area, and he wrote a weather report every day. He never referred to his wife by her given name, calling her either “Mother” or “Woman”, saying she went away and then when she came home but rarely where she went. His handwriting is steady, mostly legible but small, and his spelling is very good.
EXERPTS FROM “GAZETTEER of Washington County, VT” Edited by William Adams, Compiled and Published by Hamilton Child. THE SYRACUSE JOURNAL COMPANY, PRINTERS AND BINDERS, SYRACUSE, NY, APRIL 1889
{HIS FATHER):
William Holmes, born in 1772, came to East Montpelier, then Montpelier, as near as can be ascertained, in 1795, and settled in the northeast corner of the town. He took an interest in military affairs and was a captain of militia, a man of great energy and warm sympathies, ever ready to help whenever he had an opportunity. He died at the early age of forty-one years, and without an enemy. He married Margaret Comins, of Charlton, Mass., and their children were John, born May 25, 1795, who died about the same time as his father, of a malignant typhus fever in 1813; William, who died on the homestead; Harriet, who married Alvin McKnight, an died March 23, 1838; Margaret, born in 1803, who married Putnam McKnight, and resides on the McKnight homestead, and is the only surviving member of the family; Horace, born June 1, 1808, who was a farmer, had several locations, and died in Marshfield, in April, 1878; and Edwin, born December 27, 1810, who was a merchant about twenty-five years, and of the firm of Bancroft & Holmes of Montpelier. He had an enviable reputation, and died in Montpelier, May 17, 1871.
