The Diary of John Felix Kelly

I found a copy of John Felix Kelly at the Newton Gresham Library, and this will be a great source for my project on the town of Cincinnati. He was born in Ireland 1845 on August 31(the same as me!) and immigrated to The United States at age 19. He arrived in New York in 1865 and traveled throughout New England for a while and then found himself in Galveston. From there he made his way into the interior of the state and set up a shop in Cincinnati. Cincinnati was a prosperous and growing town at the time with a post office, numerous saloons, bowling alley, hotel, Masonic Lodge, ferry, tanyard, blacksmith, school and church, saddle shop, and a woodyard where the steamboats could refuel. In his diary he talks about the weather a lot, and with that the fluctuating water levels of the river that affect trade in the area. He keeps record of the different steamships that come up the Trinity River for various goods including cotton and cord wood. He was a devout Catholic and thinks of his church as infallible. Throughout his diary he talked of his longing for a wife and the character of the women in the town, but he kept a place in his heart for his future wife, Miss Kate. He told of the work ethic of the people in the town, and complains of their slowness in paying back credit. He survived the yellow fever epidemic that hit the town in the Fall of 1853, and went on to operate a lumber company. His diary keeps records from January to late April. This gives me good insight into what life was like in the town of Cincinnati.