Thursday May 22nd [1862]
I began this morning putting my hoops together with cord. Will put on tape when I can get them in shape. They are very troublesome. Heavy thunder with very hard rains & hail. Several showers. I eat some molasses custard for dinner & I was sick all the evening with headache from it. I was very sick at my stomach. Clear & warm.
Friday 23rd [May 1862]
Mail came, nothing new going on. I received a letter form Matt. Some of the children are sick and Ell’s children have whooping cough. She also wrote that Cousin Harriet Neilson was dead. I am very sorry to hear that. She had been ailing for many years. She died sometime in April. I finished my hoop after dinner. Dovey Jones spent the evening here. I darned some cotton stocking for myself. J. Branton & R. Boyd stay here tonight.
Saturday 24th [May 1862]
I have done no sewing today. Worked at my flowers. Fannie helped some, washed the children & put them in clean clothes & washed and cleaned myself. It has rained a little several times today Two men stay here tonight that have come to mill. Tinsley is one of them. Willie is running about all over the yard just as he pleases. A good child but shows a little too much temper.
Source: Diary of Cornelia Henry in Fear in North Carolina: The Civil War Journal and Letters of the Henry Family. Clinard, Karen L. and Russell, Richard, eds. (Asheville,NC: Reminiscing Books, 2008).
