When reading the diary of a person long gone, it is tempting to fill in the missing pieces with armchair psychology—to muse about what has transpired between the lines, given what we know of the person, the time, and the place. In the case of Delia Thompson Brown’s diary, the prose is spare, confined often to a weather report and the presence or absence of family members. She conceals events and emotions behind phrases like “God knows what is best,” God doeth all things well,” or “No matter….” She applies those words frequently as she bemoans the travels of her busy and apparently successful husband, John Brown, who spends much of his time buying stock and going about business in the county seat of Stillwater.
More frustrating to a reader of Delia’s diary is the fact that the portions of it held in the Churchill County Museum and Archives begin in 1868, skip to 1881-87, and skip again to a small fragment dated 1897. The rest of it has been lost to time and circumstances.
What we do know from the 1868 fragment is that she has just lost a nine-month-old child, a boy named Arthur. She is only somewhat consoled by the presence of “her dear boy, Willie,” who is still with her.
Sunday, August 9, 1868. Another Sabath day & very warm. John is gone—went yesterday & it is lonesome. Willie says “why, ma, I am with you—why are you lonesome? Dear boy, and he is so lonesome for Pa.”
That portion of her diary ends in August 1868, and another, substantial portion opens on March 1, 1881, and ends on August 9, 1887.
A lot has happened in the meantime, including the birth of a daughter, Stella, on December 31, 1868. We learn of Stella’s birth date from a diary notation dated December 31, 1881: “The last day of the year & Stella’s 13th birthday. How time flies. She is now a large tall girl. God make & keep her good, true & helpful.”
In the 1881-1887 portion of the diary, we learn quite a bit about both Stella and Willie and their relationships with their parents and neighbors. Stella is, as described by her mother, “good, true and helpful.” She washes and irons mountains of clothes, helps with housework, maintains her studies, attends temperance meetings in Stillwater, and has many friends from all over the county, whom she invites to spend the night with her… or she rides off for a day or two’s visits in, say, Stillwater or St. Clair, or at a neighboring ranch. The 1887 fragment ends with notes of visits to Stella by a “Mr. George Webb.” It is recorded elsewhere that she married Webb in 1887, bore three children, and lived in various places in Northern Nevada. Her mother died in her care in Churchill County in 1903, and her father, John Brown, died at Stella’s home in Reno in 1907.
Delia’s relationship with her son is not as easy to uncover. She wants him home when he is not and working elsewhere when he is home. She worries about his character, although we do not learn why. The armchair psychologist might guess that drinking, womanizing, and/or a touchy temperament were at work to stand in the way of his conventional success.
March 3, 1883. Old Mr. Wightman staid here last night. He wants Willie to go and work for him. I do not like to have him from home but suppose he will go.
May 18, How I do want a letter from Will. Have heard that he has gone to Wyoming.
March 2, 1884. This is Willie’s birthday—21 years old…things are not as I would like to have them. My great wish and care is for him to be a good, honorable and useful man. God guide and direct him aright.
January 8, 1897. My heart is sad as I mourn over my life but too late for regrets. If my dear & only son would change & try and do something good & useful. God incline his heart to wisdom, is my prayer.
January 10, 1897. Will was home only for a few minutes. If he only were different & acted glad to be with us I could stand the rest but he seems so indifferent to our welfare.
Ten years following that despairing diary entry, In December 1907, Willie, while leading one of W.W. Williams’ twelve animal teams from Fallon to Alpine, apparently caught his foot in the stirrup of his horse and was crushed to death by the team. The obituary revealed that he had been elected Churchill County Clerk in 1902. His mother would still have been living in 1902, and I hope she took pride in her son.
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