11 Handwritten Diaries Yarger Family Lancaster Illinois Births Deaths 1907 - 1948
Item History & Price
WELCOMETO SALLY’S DIARIES: UpFor auction today are 11 handwritten diaries that belonged to theYarger family of Lancaster Illinois. I have not read any of thesediaries as there is way too much to go through but I can give you alittle detail about this group. They range in date from 1907 to 1948 although there’s a handwritten ledger book from 1883. Each diaryrepresents several years but there are years that aren’trepresented; 1930-1934 and 1939 to 1945. There is a diary from 1933...but the pages have been pasted over with scrap. Thetwo names I found written on these journals are Austin Yarger andMary Ida Yarger. I found a small obituary for Mary and I quote…..“1933.MARY IDA (BOALS) YARGER, 77, widow of the late Austin Yarger, passedaway Saturday afternoon at the home of her son, John, of Dakotatownship. The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Boals, she was born inBuckeye township on August 27, 1856. On January 30, 1879, she wasunited in marriage to Mr. Yarger and spent her married life inLancaster township until six months ago when she went to live withher son on account of ill health. To this union three children wereborn, John, Ms Edna Bell, of Cedarville, and Mrs. Mary Iserman, whopreceded her in death. Mrs. Yarger is survived by her son, John, anddaughter, Mrs. Bell, and a brother and sister, Thomas Boals and MrsSamuel Bordner, both of Buckeye township.” Maryand Austin had 3 children, John Simon (1880-1963), Edna Yarger Bell(1883-1965) and Mary Elizabeth Yarger Iserman (1882-1924). Sadlytheir daughter Mary Elizabeth died in 1924 and this entry is found onthat day, “June 3rd, 1924. Franks to reunion. Elsiestaid here. I to Geo, all day and night. Geo’s Mary had convulsionslast nite. Unconscious all day. Died 11 o’clock night.” Beforethat however, Austin passed away on January 4th, 1923. Ifound his obituary on the web and copied it here and then scanned it. TheYarger’s were an esteemed Illinois farming family as many of theentries have to do with just that. There are also tons of nameslisted especially concerning births, death and marriages of the folksin the areas. Most of the pages represent one complete month (usingup one to two pages per month) and then there is just a line or twofor each of the days. As far as the condition most of them are infair shape with a few in poor shape. The one diary that was turnedinto a scrapbook is in poor shape because some of the pages are gluedtogether, the scrap is torn as are some of the pages and it lookslike it’s had some water damage so please keep all this in mindwhen purchasing. On average the diaries measure about 6 3/4” x 81/4”.
