In
school. Plattenburg came to see if he could get a room for his school. He says
he has about 15 boys. Did not let him have it. Down to see Egan.
In
school. Got a letter from Henry Moore.
Cleaned
out Mrs. Adamson’s well. Some of the men up from Pine Bluff
[tell me that my brother] Jim is there. Wrote a letter to him.
Sunday,
at church.
In
school. At night, at Wassell’s. Got acquainted with Peake, the minister and a
doctor.
Wants me to go to Sunday school.
Rev.
Ebenezer S. Peake, Chaplain 28th Wisconsin
In
school. Few scholars.
In
school.
In
school.
In
school.
Saturday.
Making a fountain.
At
church.
At
school.
In
school.
In
school. Sick.
In
school. Sick.
In
school. Nothing new.
Saturday.
Down the street. Saw Mr. Peake. Introduced me to Capt. Carr, Chief
Quartermaster. Could not give me a place. Working on my machines. Today Mrs.
Adamson was taken with the Rheumatism.
Sunday.
At church. Went down to Dr. DeEpsie with Egan.
In
school.
In
school. Mrs. Adamson sick with Rheumatism.
In
school.
In
school.
In
school. Mick Egan came here last night.
Saturday.
Mrs. Adamson said she would not charge me any board.
Sunday.
At church.
In
school. Egan had an oyster supper. Invited. Federal harness makers & Irish
girls [were] there. I stayed till nine. Danced with a lovely Irish lass
– Mrs. Sullivan – magnificent bosom &c.
In
school.
In
school. Bought a shirt for $2.50.
Last
night, Mrs. Johnson sat up with Mrs. [Sarah] Adamson. About eleven o’clock,
she was taken worse and called me. Her hands and legs were cold as ice. I
thought that she would die. This morning [she was] about the same. I ran all
over town [looking] for brandy [and] finally bought whiskey – one pint for
$2.50. Mrs. Adamson [is] getting worse every hour. Night, called me in the room.
Her hands were icy cold. She said she “had called me to thank me for my
kindness to her all the time I had been with her. Remember the greatest thing,
remember thy creator in the day of thy youth, cling to Him, as I know you have
heretofore. Seek first the Kingdom
of
Heaven.” She told Sonia that my board had been paid up to the first of October. She
will die well. She dies the death of a Christian. There is no fear, no terror,
no anxiety, perfectly calm. Oh God, grant that I may so live that I may deserve
to enter into Heaven with the Saints. I do not think Mrs. Adamson will live out
the night. Today, Louisa’s children
were quarreling with Sophie because they thought that she was to have this
house. It would be no more than right that she should have it.
Thursday.
This morning, about five minutes after seven, Mrs. [Sarah] Adamson breathed her
last. The last she spoke was about two in the morning when she told Emily, [4]
a
servant, to be a Christian and meet her in heaven. She died easily and calmly.
There is no appearance of pain written on the features of her face. She died the
death of a Christian with a firm trust of joy and peace hereafter. When I asked
her last night how she felt, she said, “I am weak, I am prostrated, but I
shall be raised up.” The dear good woman is gone. Her troubles are over. She
has entered upon life eternal. Oh God, grant that I may remember her last words
to me and always to remember the Lord. Dear lady, may I never forget the good
lessons you have taught me. May I always remember you with kindness and so live
that I may meet you in the abode of eternal happiness and joy.
It
was rainy all night & all the forenoon. I saw Mr. Kearns, the grave digger,
got the coffin, and saw to the printing of the funeral tickets. Busy all day.
Had a long talk with Mrs. [Eliza] Dodge. Mrs. Adamson made a will and the house
& lot is to be a parsonage for the Presbyterian Church. Dr. Dodge has charge
of it. I do not know what I shall do for a boarding place. Mick Egan says I can
board with his sister but I will not like that. Saw Mr. Peake, a Doctor in the
army who is a graduate of the Geneva
Medical
College. I do not believe that I can get a place in government. Well, if I cannot, I
must submit to my fate resignedly. Oh God, help me. Make me a better Christian.
May I trust in & rely more fully on thy goodness & mercy.
Down
the street. Saw to getting carriages, etc. Funeral
at 10. Quite a good number out. Only three carriages. No men but Presbyterians,
with the exception of Mr. [B. A.] Knighton & Martin’s clerk. Had a talk
with Louisa [Adamson]. Mrs. Adamson left this house to the Presbyterian church.
It will cause dissatisfaction among the heirs. Mrs. Adamson, while she was Miss
Carter, lived in this house and taught school. And from what the servants say,
had but little – no table to eat at, and they doubt even if she had a chair.
She would stand up at a cupboard to eat. She had not paid for the house
completely. Mr. Adamson paid [for it after they were married]. She must have
suffered a good deal of trouble, &c. to live, saving to pay for a home for
herself, working hard [all the while] at school teaching, toiling and toiling.
[She must have] denied herself a great many enjoyments. I pity her in those
times. She was old when she came here & when she married, she was upwards of
forty. She was, I think, an orphan from Pennsylvania. She has passed from a multitude of trials to her rest. Though I have felt
provoked sometimes at her conduct to me, yet I reproach myself for the thought.
Sometimes I think she might have charged me less for board since I had tried to
do so much for her, & since she let Henry Moore off so well, when he was
making more than I. It has all passed now. Let it drop.
While
she was sick and after I had done something for her, she said she would not
charge me any board & then the last time I saw her she said my board had
been paid up to the first of October. I do not know what I am to do. This
breakup has upset me. I have been here so long. It seems like home. I am anxious
to get a place to board at, but it seems as if it was impossible to get a place.
Louisa [Adamson] wants me to stay here until they get all the things away. Dr.
Dodge has the will and he says that we must get out soon as the Federals want
it. He brought that up the morning she died & he must have been scheming to
rent it before she died. He is bound to let it go to the church. Mrs. Adamson
wished to change [the will], but the Dr. said it was too late to change it. It
was best to have it that way. She wanted Mr. and Mrs. [B. A.] Knighton to come
here for ten years & take charge of Sophie & Louis. I don’t know
whether Dr. Dodge will give us time to get out.
[4]
Emily is believed to be Emiline Manly, the
43 year-old Black slave of Sarah Adamson. Emily was born about 1820 in Maryland and
presumably brought
to Arkansas by her owner, John Adamson, in 1837. According to Adamson family property
records dated in October 1862, Emily
was considered "sickly and an expense." As a consequence, sometime
prior to this date she was brought in to Little Rock to serve in the Adamson
family household where she washed their clothes and sewed garments for the
slaves on the plantation. Emily was assisted in these household duties by her 18 year-old daughter Mary, a
Mulatto slave also owned by the Adamsons.
It is apparent that sometime after he began
boarding with Sarah Adamson, Goodrich began having carnal relations with
Adamson's slave, Mary -- the daughter of Emily Manly. Mary was born on the
Adamson plantation east of Little Rock about 1844. In the 1870 census, she is
recorded as Mary E. Taylor, age 26, Mulatto -- a
"seamstress." She is living with her mother Emeline Manly, age 50,
Black -- "washes & irons." In the 1880 census, Mary E. Taylor is
found living at 907 Broadway in Little Rock, residing with her mother Emily
Manly, and Mary's three sons, Albert (born 1868), William (born 1870) and George
(born 1872).
