The Gift of Florence (Creer) Kelsey’s Diary

Do you have a diary or journal of an ancestor? If so, you have a treasure full of details that could give you a window into their lives. Because a diary can only be physically in one place at a time, transcribing or scanning the diary and then sharing it with family members is a wonderful gift.

My maternal grandmother, Florence Matilda (Creer) Kelsey, was born on on 12 December 1892 in Spanish Fork, Utah,  and died on 12 November 1977 in Burley, Idaho. Florence loved Christmas and it seemed fitting to finally read the diary she wrote in 1974 during the weeks leading up to Christmas.

I inherited my grandmother’s diary from my mother, who had treasured this diary written in Florence’s distinctive handwriting. In reading it, I discovered the treasures within.

I read a page or two each day, gradually getting more familiar with Florence’s handwriting, and soon was carried back to 1974 when I was a young girl. Because Grandma Kelsey lived only eight miles from our home in southern Idaho, she was very much a part of our lives.

As far as I know, Florence didn’t keep a diary at any other time in her life. She was much too busy with farm life and raising a family in her early years. But the Christmas of 1973, Florence’s daughter, Erma, gave her a beautiful book titled The Kahlil Gibran Diary for 1974. Erma wrote in the beginning of the book the following.

Merry Christmas to Mom.

I hope you can write in this often and that the events you write about will be happy ones.

Much love

Ermie

Turning the page, I read my grandmother’s first entry – a prequel to the year.

 This diary belongs to Florence Kelsey

Dear Diary. Such a beautiful book. I hope I’ll be able to record each day’s happenings and will have something I’ll be proud to show my daughter Erma when she comes home next time.

Reading the diary transported me back to the era before email, cell phones, and the internet. What impressed me most was Florence’s determination to keep busy in her later years and the goodness of the family in taking care of her.

In January of 1974, Florence had just turned 81 years old. She had been widowed two years earlier with the death of my grandfather, Edward Raymond Kelsey, and had lost her oldest son, Ted, three years earlier. She still lived in the home she and my grandfather had created together on the land in Declo, Idaho, where he homesteaded in 1917. Her oldest daughters, Helen and Erma, had moved away from Idaho, but the rest of her living children were local. Her diary revealed phone calls, regular letters, and visits. These were the highlights of her day or week and deserved mention in the diary.

Florence was homebound in a sense because she never learned to drive and relied on friends and family to take her to town to shop, to church, or to her Daughters of Utah Pioneer meetings. She expressed often in her diary her gratitude for those who took their time to help her. She was a faithful member of the DUP, and her diary reflected her dedication to the organization.

The week of February 18 to February 24

DUP day today at Myrna’s. Lois took me there at 1:00, I gave the lesson, and helped Myrna with the refreshments. 19 there. Really getting to be a large camp.

The week of May 13 to May 19

We had DUP at Irene Carters’ nice luncheon. New officers for the coming year were chosen. I gave the lesson, the last one as a teacher. I had really had my share, would like to share the honor with someone else. I was presented with a lovely rose, Vae Coltrin will take my place, but I’ll always enjoy going.

The week of September 16 to 22

Myrna took me to DUP Thursday. Nice not to have to give the lesson which I have given for 15 years.

Despite her age and some ailments, Florence seldom complained to her diary and did her best to fill her days with useful activities. Her son, Bill, and grandson, Danny, lived with her, so she kept house for them and continued to work in her beloved rose garden in the summer. During the winter, she sewed gifts for her children and grandchildren – nightgowns, baby blankets, velvet pillows, pillowcases, quilts, and more.

The week of December 31 to January 6

Hope to finish the baby quilts today and start nightgowns. It’s so cold I don’t leave the house snow and ice. Louise Barlow stopped by for a while. She had visited with Phene Manning. Found her improving. Had letters from Cal and Helen. Christmas was good to them.

Treasures from the Diary,

One of my favorite diary entries was about Christmas Eve. Florence hosted the family for a buffet dinner each Christmas Eve, and then she’d open her presents while we all watched.

She wrote:

I baked two hams and made some pumpkin pies, pulled out the big table and decorated it with Pat’s lovely Madonna, my golden crystal candelabra and a darling gingerbread house from Dolores’s boys. Set up the card table with the punch bowl set on it, and then when 6:00 came everything was ready. Virginia, Pat, and Pat’s friend, Nan’s family, Dolores, and their young boys, Eddie and Val, Nan and family, later Bob came. The supper turned out very well, Debra came later. About 18 here. We had everything to eat, and punch and coffee to drink. Then they parked me on the couch and brought my presents for me to open. It’s a tradition and it’s fun. I wore my new red dress, Diana and Nan took pictures.

Everyone stayed until about 10 but I worked cleaning up for a couple of hours before going to bed.

 

Transcribing the Diary

After reading through the diary, I knew I needed to transcribe it to make it easier to find specific entries. I settled on using my phone to record in Word, then edited on my computer. For some reason, the voice recognition technology for my phone was much more accurate. Using prompts like “new line” or “period,” I was able to preserve the organization. The diary was organized by week, so I used those headings for the Word document and then could easily click on a specific week. Having the diary transcribed also allowed me to use the Control+Find (CtrlF) function of Word to locate specific events or people in the diary.

Sharing the Diary

In order to preserve the diary for future generations, I uploaded the transcription to Grandma Kelsey’s memory page on FamilySearch. I created a PDF of the transcription and then uploaded the PDF, giving it a title and tagging additional people whom Florence mentioned, such as her siblings and children.

If you have a journal or diary, consider transcribing or scanning it and also uploading it to an ancestor’s profile page on FamilySearch. It’s a wonderful way to preserve memories and a gift for future generations.

Best of luck in all your genealogical endeavors!