Postcard: A Woman’s View, part 2

Last week, I included excerpts from the diary of Delia Thompson Brown, who, with her husband, John, was one of the Lahontan Valley’s earliest settlers, having arrived here in 1866. She and John developed a large parcel of land in Old River where they farmed, raised stock, and prospered financially. John apparently excelled socially and politically as well, serving as Justice of the Peace of Stillwater Township and Sheriff of Churchill County. Apparently, Delia did not take to the pioneer life as much as her husband did. One of the threads running through her diary is that of loneliness. John was almost never at home, leaving Delia to raise the children and perform an endless series of chores which defined the frontier existence.

Delia was faithful to her diary but many of the entries are brief and despairing. One gets the sense that the marriage was not a very happy one and that Delia felt overworked and undervalued.

Feb. 14, 1881. Twenty-seven years today since we were married. How many things have occurred in that time. Well, no need to rhapsodize or moralize—cannot change things. Washed today and a pleasant day, but chilly.

Aug. 1, 1882. Ironed this forenoon and done the mending this afternoon.

Aug. 2, 1882. Worked butter. Cleaned the cellar. Swept the chamber and got dinner. After that sewed.

Aug. 3, 1882. Still very warm. Cleaned the dining room and got dinner. Afternoon sewed.

Jan. 2, 1883. Jasper started for Reno and John for Virginia City this morning. I wanted to go to Reno, but, as usual, had to wait. Washed today—had a large washing.

Her children were, of course, a comfort, especially a daughter named Stella, born in 1868. Stella, even before her teens, worked almost as hard as her mother—raking hay in the summer, washing clothes the winter. Stella and her young friends appear in many of the diary entries, and interestingly, for that early time, the entries suggest that there were youth activities available to Stella on the banks of the lower Carson. Mention is made of “spelling school” as an almost nightly activity; Stella frequently spends the night with her friends, and vice versa. One entry describes Stella attending a lecture by “Mister Pike, the lawyer,” at Stillwater. Another has her making visits to friends on New Year’s Day. In 1883, Stella is apparently sent away to boarding school.

Even the comfort Delia finds in Stella is continually clouded by memories of the deaths of two other children.  In 1861, while Delia and John were living near the Comstock mines, she gave birth to a little girl, who survived only a short time, and, in March 1866, she gave birth to a son, Arthur, who died of fever in November 1867.

April 5, 1868. How I miss the darling boy and listen in vain for the patter of little feet I shall never hear. God help me to bear this and other trials aright.

March 28, 1884. Our little girl’s birthday if she were living.

March 29, 1884. This would be Arthur’s 18^th birthday if he were with us. Nearly 16 years since her was taken and we felt of how much of hope and how much of joy was buried up with a darling boy.

March 29, 1887.Our Arthur would be 21 today if living but God was good to him and took him while yet innocent and pure to dwell with him. I hope we may form an unbroken family by and by.

Delia’s losses were not uncommon on the American frontier. In 1865, one of three children died before the age of 5. 

Another son, Willie, born in 1863 and lived to adulthood. I will write about Delia’s relationship with him next week and of Stella’s marriage and return to Lahontan Valley.

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