Civil War and Reconstruction
About Alice Williamson
About Alice Williamson
“We know very little about Alice except what we can learn of her attitudes and circumstances through her own words. A visit to the 1860 US Census for Sumner County, Tennessee gives us some basic facts about Alice and her family. Through the census record we can see that Alice would have been 16 years old at the time she wrote her diary. R.[Robert] Williamson is listed as the head of household and his place of birth is listed as Virginia. His occupation is listed as a farmer with the family's real property valued at $3,000 and personal property valued at $2,000.The census lists R.R. Williamson, aged 19 and Joseph Williamson, age 15, presumably her brothers Rush and Jo mentioned on pages 23, 34, and 35 in her diary. Other household members listed on the 1860 census include mother Elizabeth Williamson, age 45, born in Tennesse; Thomas Williamson, age 16, also listed as being a farmer; Harris and Thomas Ocburn (sp?), ages 12 and 13; Jane, age 5; a 91 year old male Williamson (first name illegible); Eskill and George Williamson, ages 9 and 7.
Rebellion Revisited, a History of Sumner County, Tennessee From 1861 to 1870, a book by Walter T. Durham, tells us that she would have been a member of the senior class of 1862 at Howard Female Institute, if the war had not closed the school. In 1866, the school reopened, and she graduated in 1867. Alice Williamson died in 1869, at a young age of 21.”
From Duke University, On-line Archival Collection, Special Collections Library, http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/williamson/
To read the diary, go to:
http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/williamson/text.html
Civil War and Reconstruction >> Civil War >> Life At Home >> Union Occupation
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