Call Number:

Ms. Codex 2254

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

.1 linear feet (1 volume)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Demaris Tompkins diary, 1874-1955, Ms. Codex 2254, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1874-1955 (inclusive)

Creator:

Tompkins, Demaris Ide, 1844-1917

Form:

Diaries, Obituaries, and Photographs

Abstract:

Demaris C. Tompkins (1844-1917) lived on a farm in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, along with her husband, Ira, and her five children. This volume documents her life from 1874 to 1877 with frank descriptions of the challenges of farming, parenting, and living without financial security. There are additions following Demaris' death in 1917, presumably by her daughter, Mabel Lillian Tompkins Dunton, with at least one entry dated, August 18, 1955 that memorialize the Tompkins family.

Demaris C. Ide was born July 6, 1844, to George P. and Rosanna Hazelton Ide in Springville, New York, moving to Grand Rapids, Michigan, when she was eight years old. On October 25, 1861, she married Ira Gale Tompkins (1831-1900), a photographer and Shakespearean scholar. They lived in Grand Rapids until 1874 when they moved to Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, where they lived for thirteen years. In 1887, they moved to Chicago where they lived until Ira's death in 1900. Demaris and Ira were the parents of five children: William S. (died 1888), Edmund G. (died 1913), George I. (1869-1952), Mabel L. (1873-1966), and Joseph H. (died 1936). Following the death of Ira, Demaris lived with her brother, Bela C. Ide, in California for a period of time, and with her son, Joseph H., from 1911 until her death in 1917.

While in Oconomowoc, the family lived on a farm and struggled financially. It is not clear what Ira Tompkins saw as his primary occupations, but it appears to that he tried to supplement his income with either farming or photography. Demaris states, "Ira and I were never made to lead the life we do," (p. 63). Within her diary, Demaris writes of her worry that her children's lives are hard and that they cannot receive as much education as she would have liked for them. Despite her concerns, her children (according to her daughter, Mabel) "found joy and happiness in the hills which surrounded [them] and in the home she made for [them]" (p. 114).

At some point following the death of Demaris, it seems that Mabel Lillian Tompkins added information to the volume, including family obituaries, memorials, and photographs. Mabel, also called "Birdie," married Abraham Lincoln Dunton (1861-1926) in 1892 and they were the parents of four children. In 1955, Mabel wrote a recollection of her mother in the volume.

This volume documents Demaris C. Tompkins' life in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, from 1874 to 1877. There are additions following Demaris' death in 1917, presumably by her daughter, Mabel Lillian Tompkins Dunton, with at least one entry dated, August 18, 1955.

On the first page (i), Demaris Tompkins wrote, "Mrs. Ira G. Tompkins' Journal and Record of Events, Oconomowoc, Wis. December 1874." There are also "mottos from Shakespeare."

Demaris Tompkins' diary encompasses the first 66 pages of the volume and describes family members, particularly her children, detailing their personalities and appearances, and events from their childhood. Her concerns about their welfare, lack of education, and health is apparent throughout her writings, as is a persistent worry about the family's financial security. The health of her eldest son, William Shakespeare Tompkins, appears to have been fragile; but Demaris states, "how much better it is his body and not his mind that is afflicted," (p. 6). Although written from 1874 to 1877, Demaris writes about events that happened prior to 1874, including the family's move from Grand Rapids to Oconomowoc Wisconsin in 1873, multiple family visits, and adjustments in ways of life in a new area. She describes the birth of her youngest son, "a Wisconsin lad," (p. 35) on December 4, 1875. The responsibility for supporting her children and their well-being is honestly and bluntly recorded with her stating that children "are all care and trouble enough and sometimes I feel so weighed down with it all, this constant pressing, pressing, on me every day that I feel as if I could not bear up under it much longer." (page 38).

She is equally honest about her feeling about her life in Oconomowoc on a farm. She describes farm life as drudgery, at one point stating, "I don't like it here and I do not like living on a farm, at all, it is drudge, drudge, all the time." (p. 53). She relied on letters from friends and family. Her diary ends in April, 1877, roughly ten years before the family's move to Chicago. Following her last entry, there is a page cut from the diary.

Demaris' daughter, Mabel (also called "Birdie") appears to have used the volume, probably after the death of Demaris in 1917. There are photographs, captioned by Mabel, of Demaris (pp. ii., 69, 73, 82, and 107) and Ira (pp. 73, 80, and 106). There are photographs of their children: Mabel, also called Birdie (pp. II, 72-73, and 75-76), Edmund, also called Eddie (pp. 69-71), George Ira, also called G.I. (pp. 100-101), and Joseph Howard (pp. 74 and 95). Demaris' father George Ide (p. 108), her mother Rosanna Hazelton Ide (p. 109) and her brother Uncle Bela Ide (p. 77) are represented, along with Aunt Jane Howard (p. 77). There are obituaries for William S. (pp. 78 and 79), Ira Gale (p. 81), Demaris (pp. 83-84), Edmund (p. 93), and Joseph Tompkins (pp. 94-99). By the time that Mabel wrote an entry memorializing her mother on August 18, 1955, she was the last remaining member of the immediate Demaris and Ira G. Tompkins family.

Scattered through the volume are a few other entries, "Birthday flowers" (pp. 110-111); "Bride's Rhyme" (p. 112); skirt measure (p. 139); "Birthdays of the descendants of Ira and Demaris Tompkins" (p. 159) which includes a list of the children but no birthdays; and pages of financial records (pp. 180 and 182-183).

From pages 172-178, there are quotes, mostly unattributed, that may be in Demaris' hand. One quote is from the poem "Over and Over Again," in this volume attributed to Alice Carey (probably Alice Cary).

The volume is bound in full leather with "Records" on the cover in gold letters. There are paged cut out between pages 66 and 69 and between 84 and 91. There are multiple blank pages, including pages 25, 102-105, 113, 116-138, 140-158, 160-171, 179, 181, and 184.