Diary of Sara Jane
Price
Teacher
and Homesteader
I begin a new volume
in my journal today. I have found it very pleasant work recording
the events of my life as they have occurred in the past and hope
to take much comfort in the record of the present volume if I
am privileged to live to fill it.
Diary of Sarah Jane Price, schoolteacher
and homesteader, Hamilton County, Nebraska, Sept. 27, 1884.
Sara Jane Price was born in Clearmont
County, Ohio, in 1841 and grew
up in Indiana. In 1876 she and her father came to Hamilton County,
Nebraska, where she taught school and eventually purchased a
farm. According to the Centennial History of Hamilton County,
"'Aunt Jane' was considered an Institution in Hamilton County,
with her outstanding personality and leadership. She was an authority
on many subjects and throughout her lifetime was revered by a
wide circle of friends and admirers." She died in 1922.
The ten diaries of Sara Jane Price in the
Nebraska State Historical Society collections span almost sixteen
years. Starting with November 1878
and ending in June 1895, Price's daily entries are measured accounts
of her life, from housekeeping, to her church work, to her struggle
to be a good teacher. She worries about her teaching skills,
about the number of people attending church services, about whether
to purchase land from her neighbors, and ultimately about what
she is achieving in her life. Price was a conscientious diarist,
seldom missing a day even if it meant making a late night entry
after a full and exhausting day of work.
Sunday eve, Dec. 1st 1878
I have not kept a diary for some time
my time and mind has been so much occupied that I have excused
myself from this duty and privilege. I purpose to do differently
in the future. I hope to be able to write almost every day more
or less or at least quite frequently
Last week I attended the Institute
at Aurora. It began on Monday and lasted until Friday eve We
had a nice time good weather reasonable interest and the time
was well improved I learned many things which I hope to
make of use in future formed many pleasant acquaintances among
them Miss Marion Lounsbury who was my roommate we spent
the time very pleasantly together, I hope I did her no harm and
believe she did me good. I learned many useful things at the
Institute and felt myself repaid for my time and expenses which
were four dollars
I attended church today. Brother
Grundy preached did reasonably well his text was the parable
of the grain of mustard seed, his grammar and elocution are very
faulty but he seems in earnest and I believe will yet make a
preacher whom the multitudes will respect Our sunday-school
was well attended and a good degree of interest manifested in
the lessons Our quarterly meeting will be held here two
weeks from today and tomorrow I hope we shall have a good
time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.
I shall go into the schoolroom
tomorrow again. I feel something like trying some of the new
methods of teaching which we have been discussing at the Institute
Hope to be able to introduce word analysis soon as I think
it a good plan for teaching spelling especially to advanced pupils.
I must close for tonight as it is bedtime and I feel like improving
my time sleeping having lost considerable sleep during the past
week.
This entry from the last page of Price's
1897 diary, eloquently describes her reasons for keeping a record
of her life.
Sabbath Nov. 30th 1879
I have filled a volume in my journal
and shall lay it away for future reference. Its record covers
about a year and I feel that there is much to regret but also
much to be thankful for and while I see many errors there is
much I have learned and temptations overcome and trials past
I hope the record for next year will be better and nobler and
whatever of trial may await me that I may be so happy as to pass
through them without harm and gain a home at last where the wicked
cease to trouble and the weary are at rest. Sarah
Jane Price
Price's diary entries reveal a very modest
woman. Her obituary identifies
her nomination by the Greenback Party for county school superintendent
as a major achievement in her life, and for a woman in that time
to receive that kind of recognition of her abilities was no small
thing. In fact, her obituary mentions that the party's nominee
for that position two years later was Silas A. Holcomb, later
to be elected governor of the state. But Price's own diary makes
surprisingly brief mention of her candidacy.
Sept. 30, 1879
Will spoke of Co Supt again I don't
suppose I can win but I should like to have it if I could fill
the place successfully
October 4th
Willis Wheeler is here tonight I rec'd
the nomination as independent candidate for Co Supt by the G.B's
today.
And finally on Nov. 7th,
I also learned what I had felt certain
was so before that I am elected to stay at home and let Mr. Barton
attend to the Supt office which is satisfactory to me
