Pioneer Diary Returns...

[St. George]

Pioneer Diary Found in N.J. Back in N.D.

From Associated Press October 02, 2006 2:04 PM EDT

JAMESTOWN, N.D.

The diary of an area pioneer from New Jersey has been returned to North Dakota, some 20 years after it was found in a bucket of toys.

The diary of Levi Dalley was written in 1886, two years after the New Jersey native began homesteading south of Windsor. Somehow, it ended up in Buffalo, N.Y., where Paul and Sandy Kolacki's daughter found it in the bucket of toys she bought at a garage sale.

She gave the diary to her parents, who live in Peapack, N.J., and have never been to North Dakota.

"I thought the diary was so interesting," Sandy Kolacki said. "Everything there depended on the weather."

She kept the diary for 20 years, until, after reading a book about the Dust Bowl days, she decided it should be returned to Jamestown, the city mentioned in it.

"A book I read reminded me of the diary. It originated there and I thought we should give it back," she said. "First, we checked to see if there still was a town named Jamestown."

The couple contacted Daphne Drewello, director of Jamestown's Alfred Dickey Public Library.

"The Kolackis could have just thrown it away. I'm so glad that instead they went to the trouble of getting it to us," Drewello said. "Too often, people aren't aware of the importance of old records. We'll be happy to take any of those records at the library."

After making a copy of the diary, Drewello donated it to the State Historical Society.

"More people will have access to it and the Historical Society can keep it from deteriorating," Drewello said.

Dalley's diary says he lived in Mount Pleasant Township and spent a lot of time traveling back and forth to Jamestown, about 20 miles away.

"The diary is really more what we would call a daily journal. It's not his innermost thoughts, but the weather, chores and appointments," Drewello said. "It was very unusual that he said something personal about his thoughts."

Area genealogist George Barron said records show Dalley was a bachelor who apparently was unwilling to marry, despite his neighbors' hopes. In the Jamestown Weekly Alert of April 3, 1890, the Mount Pleasant Notes read, "Levi Dalley has returned from New Jersey, but alas, we are doomed to disappointment. We had all looked eagerly forward to the time when we could welcome Mr. and Mrs. Dalley in our midst. Mr. Dalley is here, but Mrs. Dalley, oh where! Oh where! can she be!"

Barron found that Dalley was born in New Jersey in 1856, and when he died in 1931, his will left everything to a niece and nephew there.

Drewello speculated that Dalley had little reason to marry. His diary details frequent trips to Jamestown and many meals with neighbors and friends.

"He was coming to town all the time. He really didn't stay home a lot," she said. "He always seemed to wind up at someone's house for dinner or he was visiting neighbors."

The diary also records cooperation among neighbors.

"There was a lot of working together and borrowing equipment. It wasn't being alone to do it all," she said.

Dalley baked his own bread and had plenty of milk and eggs. Drewello said she was surprised at how much fresh fruit was available. The chore of hauling water also seemed to take up a lot of Dalley's time.

The diary lists what Dalley earned on every job, including grave digging, and everything he bought.

"He bought one cake of soap all year," Drewello said. "His comment that he 'changed clothes all around' is one of my favorites in the diary. There were occasional flashes of humor like that in the diary."

Barron said records show Dalley moved to Jamestown in 1905. In the various reports of his death and funeral in The Alert, he was described as a "devout" member of the Congregational Church, though he died at the evening services in a Baptist church.

Barron found Dalley's grave at the Jamestown Highland Home Cemetery through probate records, but he said there is no marker.

"I'm making a tombstone for him," he said. "I'm making it out of concrete with aluminum pounded with his name. "

Barron is using a metal detector to find grave markers at the cemetery, and is reinstalling or making new markers for Jamestown's 125th anniversary in 2008.

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Information from: The Jamestown Sun, http://www.jamestownsun.com

[Dr. Bob]

Howdy St. George,

Cool story!  Thanks for sharing it here with us!  If it lists purchases, it would be a great window to what was available in the era in a small prairie town. 

Dr. Bob - NCOWS Senate Candidate

[Will Ketchum]

Boy, I really love this type of thing.

Will Ketchum

[Steel Horse Bailey]

St.G ...

Very interesting.  Thanks for posting.