CIRCA 1829 HANDWRITTEN DIARY COMMONPLACE BOOK IMPORTANT ENGLAND FAMILY RARE
Item History & Price
Up for auction is fascinating handwritten diary, and commonplace book that once belonged to Theadore Dean. The diary measures 6 ½” x 8”, and contained in a folio sized journal written between 1829-1831. In total total the book contains 35 handwritten sheets, many double sided ( roughly 50-60 sheets of material.) In addition to the diary entries interspersed within the text Dean writes a good amount of poetry, extracts of speeches, and a very lengthy piece that ap...pears to be questioning religion, and faith in general ( 15 double sided sheets.)
Dean has quite an interesting background that is worth mentioning. He came from a very old, and well known New England family going back to 1642. He was born in Raynham, Massachusetts on December 31, 1809, and received an education at Bristol Academy in Taunton. At the age of 18 he began teaching. As young man Dean was reared a farmer and a manufacturer of iron like his father, Hon. Josiah Dean (March 6, 1748 – October 14, 1818) U.S. Representative from Massachusetts.
He continued in this business with his father until 1848 when he purchased his father’s interest in the old iron forge at Raynham, one of the first in America, and a very profitable business. He was the last owner of Taunton Iron Works. Dean represented Raynham as a Republican in the state Legislature, served as a director of the Bristol County Bank and was later chosen as its president. He was a director in various manufacturing interests in the United States and abroad. Dean and his wife Lydia had three children.
Interestingly his house stills stands, and is now a historic site. The Theodore Dean House is a historic house located at 26 Dean Street in Taunton, Massachusetts. The 2-1/2 story Italianate style frame house features a central gable pavilion and a front porch carried on chamfered posts. It was built in 1866 for Theodore Dean, who was the last owner of the Taunton Iron Works and president of the Eagle Cotton Mill, and president of a local bank. Dean's family had a long history in the community, establishing the iron works in the 17th century.
Dean’s diary entries form a narrative of his travels through New England and New York, his swearing in by Massachusetts Governor Levi Lincoln Jr., early experiences as a teacher, and his strong sentiments against liquor as he quotes from a speech he attended on July 6, 1827, before the School Committee’s instructors at Pembroke, MA.
He writes: “In the next age, Intemperance, one of the leading sins and greatest scourges of the present may become a subject of so general abhorrence that no apology founded on the circumstance of intoxication will be admitted.There will be, we hope, so general a diffusion and correct sentiments that unprincipled wretches will be unable to discover any advantage in attempts to hide guilty countenances.”
Dean expresses serious concerns about the legitimacy of Christianity and offers an investigation into its legitimacy in a disbound section of the journal. In very small part, he writes
“The ignorant & astonished world are called upon to yield an unqualified credence to the mysterious dogmas of this mysterious religion. Many are unfortunately destitute of what they call a saving & supernatural faith be it our task to inquire into the truth or falsehoods of these declarations. The inquiry shall be made without reverence to any other principle other than that of truth or any other effect than that of the happiness of mankind.
How absurd and contradictory are the principles & the doctrines of this religion. In every moral point of view, the world is infinitely worse.Yet this was the man who was to do away with sin & bring in an everlasting righteousness.The infinite gods have labored in vain & their united efforts have not been able to rescue mankind from endless torments.
Faith is an arrest of the minds to the truth of a proposition supported by evidence. If the evidence is sufficient to convince the mind, evidence is the necessary result; if the evidence is insufficient, belief becomes impossible. Must we then renounce the justifiable exercise of all our faculties, in order to be happy. To attain felicity, is it necessary that we believe in contradictions? Must we deem cruelty one of the attributes of divinity?”
Overall a splendid account from a wealthy New Englander with much more to research. My transcriptions and excerpts are just a fraction of the content. In regard to condition: Expect slight rubbing, scuffing to boards and binding. Paper is peeling away from the boards this does not affect the binding.
The diary is still bound tightly and the cover boards are in very good condition considering age. The interior shows toning but no major stains or foxing. The remaining sheets of the diary are blank. As always any questions feel free to ask.
Select diary excerpts: 1830-1831
June 2, 1830 - Dean visited Boston and stopped by the famous Bunker Hill Monument: Went to Boston week before last to theatre saw Mr. Placide perform Chas X II King of Sweden, an excellent performance Went to Bunker Hill up into the monument which is now about 35 feet highnext into the Cupola of the State House into the Representatives Hall, the House being in session. Also visited the Navy Yard”
July 4, 1830, “Independence Day” Cornelia Allen is in town today, came from Bridgewater yesterday in the Stage. She is attending school at the academy in B. Seth Dean Hale House was raised yesterday afternoon.
Jan. 15, 1830
I have now been 4 weeks in Wareham. A violent N.E. snow storm which commenced at 9 o’clock this morning, appears to continue unabated.As I have no books, I now take pen in hand by way of amusement to pass away the dull hours of a long evening.I have been very well pleased with my school. I have about 45 scholars, all boys. The school is large and there is a school of about 40 girls in the same house taught by Miss Haskill.
Feb. 22, 1830
I reached home Sunday evening from Raynham where I have taught school for 9 weeks & boarded at Capt. J. Pratt’s. Wages $20 per month. I started from Wareham on Sunday morn at 9 o'clcok in the Stage and arrived at 1 ½ pm. Left and at ½ past 2 walked home 6. Snow about 2 feet deep.
March 1st - 5th, 1831
Left Raynham with Bea Dean in a sleigh, passed through West Bridgewater to Capt. Ruth’s. There walked to Mr. Studersants. The passing was very bad.Finally spent the evening at Judge Whitman’s. Found quite a party at the Judge's.Cornelia was attended by Josiah Natch vulgarity. Mr. Geo Briggs much of a favorite with her. Wednesday evening went to Singing School with Cornelia
Mrs. S. came up with a wagon load of ladies, viz Miss Mary C, Anna C & her sister, Miss C. Turner. Very miserable party indeed by Pembroke ladies…feel safe in this cave. Yes with Stutevant for a pilot there are but few ladies in Pembroke who would hesitate among navigating the Falls of Niagara. Hence…judge of his popularity with the ladies. He is now 34 years of age and his mother told me he still enjoys the society of young ladies.
My Election of 1831 to the state Legislature went in the Massachusetts House of Representatives where Gov. Lincoln administered the oath to the members Election sermon at Old South Church. Dean listened to the Honorable Francis Baylis deliver a poem and address, possibly at the Massachusetts State House. He described the poem as such “a capital production & which was very highly spoken of was listened to by about 100. He lashed lawyers, doctors, ministers, merchants, politicians in fact every class of men of every age & country excepting Aaron Burr whom he called a second canine and who put an end to the life of the great man (Alexander Hamilton) ever reared.”
October 31, 1831
At 12:00 started for Providence in the splendid Steamer Presidents for New York had a very rough passage arrived at New York 8 next morning. Went 2 nights to the Parke Theatre (where I saw Burke) and once to the Bowery which brought me to Saturday when having transacted all my business I left at 4 o’clock in the Chancellor Livingston for Providence. After a few hours it began to blow very heavy from N.E. and continued with an unabated fury.
Sunday, Dec. 4, 1831,
Fine sleighing this day. Have been to the Leoggetts’ Meeting today in a sleigh snow about 6 inches & it might continue snowing at 3 o’clock violently. Thanksgiving passed off early this year. Did not attend any Ball or Parties.
Dean has quite an interesting background that is worth mentioning. He came from a very old, and well known New England family going back to 1642. He was born in Raynham, Massachusetts on December 31, 1809, and received an education at Bristol Academy in Taunton. At the age of 18 he began teaching. As young man Dean was reared a farmer and a manufacturer of iron like his father, Hon. Josiah Dean (March 6, 1748 – October 14, 1818) U.S. Representative from Massachusetts.
He continued in this business with his father until 1848 when he purchased his father’s interest in the old iron forge at Raynham, one of the first in America, and a very profitable business. He was the last owner of Taunton Iron Works. Dean represented Raynham as a Republican in the state Legislature, served as a director of the Bristol County Bank and was later chosen as its president. He was a director in various manufacturing interests in the United States and abroad. Dean and his wife Lydia had three children.
Interestingly his house stills stands, and is now a historic site. The Theodore Dean House is a historic house located at 26 Dean Street in Taunton, Massachusetts. The 2-1/2 story Italianate style frame house features a central gable pavilion and a front porch carried on chamfered posts. It was built in 1866 for Theodore Dean, who was the last owner of the Taunton Iron Works and president of the Eagle Cotton Mill, and president of a local bank. Dean's family had a long history in the community, establishing the iron works in the 17th century.
Dean’s diary entries form a narrative of his travels through New England and New York, his swearing in by Massachusetts Governor Levi Lincoln Jr., early experiences as a teacher, and his strong sentiments against liquor as he quotes from a speech he attended on July 6, 1827, before the School Committee’s instructors at Pembroke, MA.
He writes: “In the next age, Intemperance, one of the leading sins and greatest scourges of the present may become a subject of so general abhorrence that no apology founded on the circumstance of intoxication will be admitted.There will be, we hope, so general a diffusion and correct sentiments that unprincipled wretches will be unable to discover any advantage in attempts to hide guilty countenances.”
Dean expresses serious concerns about the legitimacy of Christianity and offers an investigation into its legitimacy in a disbound section of the journal. In very small part, he writes
“The ignorant & astonished world are called upon to yield an unqualified credence to the mysterious dogmas of this mysterious religion. Many are unfortunately destitute of what they call a saving & supernatural faith be it our task to inquire into the truth or falsehoods of these declarations. The inquiry shall be made without reverence to any other principle other than that of truth or any other effect than that of the happiness of mankind.
How absurd and contradictory are the principles & the doctrines of this religion. In every moral point of view, the world is infinitely worse.Yet this was the man who was to do away with sin & bring in an everlasting righteousness.The infinite gods have labored in vain & their united efforts have not been able to rescue mankind from endless torments.
Faith is an arrest of the minds to the truth of a proposition supported by evidence. If the evidence is sufficient to convince the mind, evidence is the necessary result; if the evidence is insufficient, belief becomes impossible. Must we then renounce the justifiable exercise of all our faculties, in order to be happy. To attain felicity, is it necessary that we believe in contradictions? Must we deem cruelty one of the attributes of divinity?”
Overall a splendid account from a wealthy New Englander with much more to research. My transcriptions and excerpts are just a fraction of the content. In regard to condition: Expect slight rubbing, scuffing to boards and binding. Paper is peeling away from the boards this does not affect the binding.
The diary is still bound tightly and the cover boards are in very good condition considering age. The interior shows toning but no major stains or foxing. The remaining sheets of the diary are blank. As always any questions feel free to ask.
Select diary excerpts: 1830-1831
June 2, 1830 - Dean visited Boston and stopped by the famous Bunker Hill Monument: Went to Boston week before last to theatre saw Mr. Placide perform Chas X II King of Sweden, an excellent performance Went to Bunker Hill up into the monument which is now about 35 feet highnext into the Cupola of the State House into the Representatives Hall, the House being in session. Also visited the Navy Yard”
July 4, 1830, “Independence Day” Cornelia Allen is in town today, came from Bridgewater yesterday in the Stage. She is attending school at the academy in B. Seth Dean Hale House was raised yesterday afternoon.
Jan. 15, 1830
I have now been 4 weeks in Wareham. A violent N.E. snow storm which commenced at 9 o’clock this morning, appears to continue unabated.As I have no books, I now take pen in hand by way of amusement to pass away the dull hours of a long evening.I have been very well pleased with my school. I have about 45 scholars, all boys. The school is large and there is a school of about 40 girls in the same house taught by Miss Haskill.
Feb. 22, 1830
I reached home Sunday evening from Raynham where I have taught school for 9 weeks & boarded at Capt. J. Pratt’s. Wages $20 per month. I started from Wareham on Sunday morn at 9 o'clcok in the Stage and arrived at 1 ½ pm. Left and at ½ past 2 walked home 6. Snow about 2 feet deep.
March 1st - 5th, 1831
Left Raynham with Bea Dean in a sleigh, passed through West Bridgewater to Capt. Ruth’s. There walked to Mr. Studersants. The passing was very bad.Finally spent the evening at Judge Whitman’s. Found quite a party at the Judge's.Cornelia was attended by Josiah Natch vulgarity. Mr. Geo Briggs much of a favorite with her. Wednesday evening went to Singing School with Cornelia
Mrs. S. came up with a wagon load of ladies, viz Miss Mary C, Anna C & her sister, Miss C. Turner. Very miserable party indeed by Pembroke ladies…feel safe in this cave. Yes with Stutevant for a pilot there are but few ladies in Pembroke who would hesitate among navigating the Falls of Niagara. Hence…judge of his popularity with the ladies. He is now 34 years of age and his mother told me he still enjoys the society of young ladies.
My Election of 1831 to the state Legislature went in the Massachusetts House of Representatives where Gov. Lincoln administered the oath to the members Election sermon at Old South Church. Dean listened to the Honorable Francis Baylis deliver a poem and address, possibly at the Massachusetts State House. He described the poem as such “a capital production & which was very highly spoken of was listened to by about 100. He lashed lawyers, doctors, ministers, merchants, politicians in fact every class of men of every age & country excepting Aaron Burr whom he called a second canine and who put an end to the life of the great man (Alexander Hamilton) ever reared.”
October 31, 1831
At 12:00 started for Providence in the splendid Steamer Presidents for New York had a very rough passage arrived at New York 8 next morning. Went 2 nights to the Parke Theatre (where I saw Burke) and once to the Bowery which brought me to Saturday when having transacted all my business I left at 4 o’clock in the Chancellor Livingston for Providence. After a few hours it began to blow very heavy from N.E. and continued with an unabated fury.
Sunday, Dec. 4, 1831,
Fine sleighing this day. Have been to the Leoggetts’ Meeting today in a sleigh snow about 6 inches & it might continue snowing at 3 o’clock violently. Thanksgiving passed off early this year. Did not attend any Ball or Parties.
