Jennie Picket Rice Diaries
Contributed by Floyd E. Barney of Covelo, California
On Thanksgiving night, November 25, 1886, Jennie Picket Rice wistfully
writes in her diary of a Thanksgiving 17 years previous when she
entertained 200 guests at her debut party. The party was held at her
aunt's elegant home in Brimfield, Massachusetts.
She wrote, "the entire
house was refurnished and all the members of the family and the servants
too, had new suits in honor of the occasion." Now she found herself in a
isolated, rugged, and lonely place thousands of miles from home and
debutant parties. She had said goodbye to her former life, her family
and friends, and sailed to California where she married a wealthy
widower. He was old enough to be her father, but she thought she could learn to
love him. He had promised to take care of her mother and not separate
them.
Her husband, Charles Benedict "C. B." Rice, brought her to what
she called "these forsaken mountains" near Zenia in Trinity County,
California. There she dutifully raised her family and endured the
hardships of living in such a remote place. She recorded her thoughts
and experiences in her diaries and found comfort in doing so. She
wrote of the endless mundane chores required of wife and mother. Her
words give us a picture of the daily life of the early white settlers in
this area.
The transcription of Jennie Rice's diaries come to us from Floyd
Barney, a historian and genealogist in Covelo, California. For more information about the diary, please see Floyd's note below. -- Bev Windbigler
A Note About the Transcription of the Diary
Linda Minkler, a granddaughter of Russell and Josie Cummins, states that Grannie and Grandad went to the Zenia country to do some surveying for the Burgess family. While there, Grannie was shown a diary written by Jennie Picket Rice.
This diary was found by one of the Burgess family in an old cabin and part of it was partially burned. Grannie wanted to borrow it, but the Burgess' said no. Since she was going to be there for a couple of weeks while Russell was working, Grannie proceeded to copy it in longhand. This is the result of her copying.
Jennie Hinton and Charles Benedict (CB) Rice had four children. In order for the reader to visualize what it was like for the children in the "olden" days, I am going to include their ages here: Bert born June 16, 1871; Alma born April 18, 1874; Norman born December 1875; and Ethel born March 12, 1879. -- Floyd E. Barney, March 11, 1995
