Second, this first available account seems the more detailed.
The other version appeared after all preliminary copy work had been done and the editing itself was well along. First, when work commenced on its editing, it was the only copy known. The publication here was taken mainly from the diary prepared for nonfamily use for two reasons. Why, for instance, would she continually refer to Hiram's wife Rhoda as Katura, her friend Belle Butler as Bess Bee and the Robert West family in Kansas as the North family? None of the entries concerning these persons reflects on their character so the change may represent nothing more than whimsical treatment on the part of the diarist. In addition certain names have been changed or deleted for reasons known only to Abbie herself. It is written separately, while the other is part of a lager diary. The version of the diary which constitutes the main portion of this published edition has the appearance of having been prepared for nonfamily use.
And which of the two "originals" is the earlier is equally obscure. Whether either is the original original" is a moot question. This reproduction of Abbie's diary is from two "original" copies. And, as her diary discloses, she herself took 160 acres as an investment. When the desire to see more than Indiana and Illinois struck Abbie she chose to visit Philip on his Sedgwick county claim near present Clearwater. Though the use of his right hand was restricted as the result of his wartime wound Philip had taken 160 acres of the Osage Trust Lands which had recently been opened for settlement. It should be noted that Abbie's brother Philip had come to Kansas about the time she went to Indiana. After stopping at Reading and Columbus, the party reached Hiram's home on September 2. Thus it was that Abbie left home on August 23, 1870. Since Rebecca was willing to finish Abbie's term at the Blue's school there was nothing to hinderher. Hiram and his wife, who lived in Indiana, were visiting with Abbie's parents when school commenced and it didn't take them long to convince Abbie that she should go home with them. As it turned out she taught only two weeks. And when she signed a contract to teach at the Blue's school in the fall it was with the express understanding that should she decide to travel she could leave early. She arranged with her roommate, Mary Klop, to write letters in the form of diaries and exchange them after Abbie's return East. In the spring of 1870 Abbie attended Keystone Normal a second time and it must have been during that period that she decided to go West. Her salary was $16 a month for three months of 22 days each. Henry knew I had gone to Normal School," she later recalled. "I got a good certificate, partly because Supt. Nevertheless the instruction was good and after one term, which ended in the spring of 1868, Abbie returned home and was hired to teach at what she called the Blue's school. When she commenced her studies there in December, 1867, the school was barely a year old and consequently not large.
Afterwards she taught, and then attended Keystone State Normal at Kutztown, now Kutztown State College. When Abbie was 15 she enrolled in the Danville Institute, two-and -one-half miles from her home. The daughters of the family, Abbie, Rebecca, Penina, and Mary, stayed home to help their mother with her hospital aid work. Dennis and Philip were severely wounded during the conflict and Hiram contracted a serious disease which resulted in his early discharge. "No farm in Valey Township had such a variety of fruit, and so many flowers, as we had."Ĭhildhood was pleasant in Pennsylvania but when Abbie was 12 the Civil War broke out and her three brothers, Dennis, Hiram, and Philip, enlisted. "It was a fine farm home," Abbie wrote many years later in an autobiographical sketch. Her parents were Peter and Mary (Evans) Bright who had moved onto their 180 acres in 1833. She did tour her West and the record of her trip was recorded in the diary published here.Ībbie had been born on December 17, 1848, on a farm near Danville, Pa. She accepted the restrictions which society placed upon those of her sex. She was a woman with a sense of propriety but also with a determined mind and a yen for adventure. Instead it was necessary to visit relatives and friends along the way in order for virtue to be protected by the men of the family.Ībbie Bright was no ordinary Victorian female.
In 1870 the fruition of such a desire was not easily attained for single girls did not just pack their bags and roam the country unescorted as some were doing 100 years later. NOTE: The numbers in brackets are links to footnotes for this text.Īt 21, Pennsylvania-born Abbie Bright had a great desire to see the American West, which to her was that part of the country west of her native state.
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