Collection ID: 0002 | Metadata type: TEI | TEI XML | Data

Title

William Gravell diary

Authors

• Gravell, William, 1840-1929

Call number

Ms. Coll. 723
(Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania)

Publisher

University of Pennsylvania

Language

Primary language: English.

Origin

Date

From 1863 to 1867

Place

London (England)

Summary

William Gravell was born in Indiana on 13 August 1840 to John (1804-1876) and Sarah Gravell (1807-1889). William had a twin sister Elizabeth and a brother Thomas (b. 1848). Between 1850 and 1860 the Gravell family moved to Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania. After the enactment of the Conscription Act prior to the first draft in July 1863, William Gravell left the United States and sailed to London, England where he lived for four years. In England he met his paternal uncles and aunts: Thomas Gravell (b. 1798), a gilder and framer; William Gravell (1796-1866), a watchmaker; and his two unmarried aunts, Mary and Sarah Gravell. During William Gravell's four- year stay he lived with his cousin Thomas Gravell (son of Uncle Thomas Gravell), cousin Thomas's wife Betsy, and their son Walter in New Cross, London, England. William acquired a job at Causton & Sons, Printers in the warehouse. In the summer of 1866 William's sister, Elizabeth Gravell, arrived in London and lived there for a year. William and Elizabeth Gravell returned to the United States in August 1867. Shortly after the death of his father in 1876, William married Adelaide Vogel. The couple had two children William H. Gravell and Arthur F. Gravell. Sister Elizabeth married George Berry and had two sons. William Gravell died in Philadelphia in 1929. This leather-bound, ruled diary was kept from 14 July 1863 to 31 August 1867 by William Gravell during his four-year stay in London, England to escape the draft of the Civil War. Gravell traveled from Upper Darby Township, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to New York where after being swindled; he eventually boarded a cargo ship named Plymouth Rock bound for London. Gravell writes daily about his life on board the ship, including his sea sickness, storms, other passengers, amusements, rations, and his acquaintance with a sailor from Philadelphia. Shortly after celebrating his twenty-third birthday on 13 August, William arrives in London, England. He meets his Uncle Thomas, a gilder and framer, and then meets his Uncle William, a watchmaker. Uncle William provides William with "the document which made me a soldier in the U.S. service for the space of three years." William lives with his cousin Thomas, acquires a job at Causton & Sons Printers in a warehouse where he works from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. William's entries in the diary appear weekly, recording events, excursions, holidays, and family gatherings. William describes the yearly tours of the Crystal Palace at Easter time, Guy Fawkes's Day, Christmas, and Boxing Day. He records the passing of his birthdays. William describes going to lectures, museums, plays, pantomimes, recording the titles and theatres. William writes about attending service on Sundays at St. Paul's Cathedral, dinners with his extended family, and games they play, such as Whist. He writes of the walks he takes with his cousin Thomas or Mr. Jewell to Black Heath, Greenwich, and London Bridge Park. At times William becomes depressed and writes of his dislike of London weather and his search for friends. In the summer of 1866, after the death of his Uncle William, Elizabeth, William's sister arrives unexpectedly. William and his sister spend much time together during the year she is there. In May of 1867 William's parents send tickets for his and Elizabeth's passage from Liverpool to Philadelphia. The pair leave in July, arriving in Philadelphia on 31 August 1867, the last entry in the diary. There are two inscriptions on the first leaf: "Minnie presented Aug. 22nd 1878" and "Watch Jacque Roulet Locle No. 28483." Some lines regarding William's departure for London to avoid the draft have been crossed out in pencil. After the last entry the rest of the diary is blank.

Subjects topical

• American diaries--Specimens--19th century
• American diaries--Male authors--19th century

Subjects geographic

• London (England)--Description and travel--19th century
• London (England)--Social life and customs--19th century
• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Draft resisters

Genres

• Diaries
• Manuscripts, American--19th century

Licenses

• Text

  Metadata is ©2014 University of Pennsylvania Libraries and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License version 4.0 (CC-BY-4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. For a description of the terms of use see the Creative Commons Deed https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

  URL

  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

• Text

  These images and the content of University of Pennsylvania Ms. Coll. 723 William Gravell diary are free of known copyright restrictions and in the public domain. See the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark page for usage details, http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.

  URL

  http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

Table of contents

• fol. 1v — July 14, 1863
• fol. 13r — July 17-18, 1863
• fol. 13v — July 19, 1863
• fol. 14r — July 20, 1863
• fol. 15r — July 21-22, 1863
• fol. 15v — July 23, 1863
• fol. 16r — July 24-25, 1863
• fol. 16v — July 26, 1863
• fol. 17r — July 27-29, 1863
• fol. 17v — July 30-August 1, 1863
• fol. 19r — August 2, 1863
• fol. 19v — August 3-4, 1863
• fol. 21r — August 5, 1863
• fol. 21v — August 6, 1863
• fol. 22r — August 7, 1863
• fol. 23v — August 10, 1863
• fol. 24r — August 11-12, 1863
• fol. 24v — August 13, 1863
• fol. 25r — August 14, 1863
• fol. 26v — August 15, 1863
• fol. 27r — August 16, 1863
• fol. 29v — August 17, 1863
• fol. 30v — August 18, 1863
• fol. 33r — August 19, 1863
• fol. 36v — August 20, 1863
• fol. 38r — August 21-22, 1863
• fol. 38v — August 23, 1863
• fol. 40r — August 24, 1863
• fol. 40v — August 25, 1863
• fol. 41r — August 30, 1863
• fol. 42r — September 6, 1863
• fol. 43r — September 7-8, 1863
• fol. 43v — September 13, 1863
• fol. 45r — September 17-20, 1863
• fol. 45v — September 21-27, 1863
• fol. 46v — September 28-October 18, 1863
• fol. 47v — October 20, 1863
• fol. 48r — November 1, 1863
• fol. 48v — November 2-5, 1863
• fol. 49v — November 8-9, 1863
• fol. 50r — November 10-26, 1863
• fol. 50v — November 29-December 13, 1863
• fol. 51r — December 20-25, 1863
• fol. 51v — December 26, 1863
• fol. 52r — December 27, 1863-January 3, 1864
• fol. 52v — January 6-10, 1864
• fol. 53r — January 17-31, 1864
• fol. 53v — February 14-21, 1864
• fol. 54v — February 28-March 6, 1864
• fol. 55r — March 13-21, 1864
• fol. 55v — March 27, 1864
• fol. 56v — April 3-10, 1864
• fol. 57r — April 13, 1864
• fol. 57v — April 17-May 1, 1864
• fol. 58r — May 2-5, 1864
• fol. 58v — May 8-16, 1864
• fol. 59v — May 19-25, 1864
• fol. 61r — May 28-June 5, 1864
• fol. 61v — June 12-19, 1864
• fol. 62r — June 25-26, 1864
• fol. 62v — July 3-8, 1864
• fol. 63r — July 10-17, 1864
• fol. 63v — July 24-31, 1864
• fol. 64r — August 4, 1864
• fol. 64v — August 7-14, 1864
• fol. 66r — August 21, 1864
• fol. 66v — August 27, 1864
• fol. 67v — August 28-September 4, 1864
• fol. 68r — September 11, 1864
• fol. 69r — September 18-October 2, 1864
• fol. 69v — October 9-19, 1864
• fol. 70r — October 23-30, 1864
• fol. 70v — November 1, 1864
• fol. 71r — November 4-8, 1864
• fol. 71v — November 9-10, 1864
• fol. 72r — November 11-20, 1864
• fol. 72v — November 22-28, 1864
• fol. 73r — December 4-18, 1864
• fol. 73v — December 25-26, 1964
• fol. 74r — December 27, 1964-January 1, 1865
• fol. 74v — January 3-18, 1865
• fol. 75r — January 21, 1865
• fol. 75v — January 22-29, 1865
• fol. 76r — February 6-19, 1865
• fol. 76v — February 20-March 12, 1865
• fol. 77r — March 19-April 2, 1865
• fol. 77v — April 3-14, 1865
• fol. 78v — April 16, 1865
• fol. 79r — April 23-30, 1865
• fol. 79v — May 1-14, 1865
• fol. 80r — May 21-23, 1865
• fol. 80v — May 28-31, 1865
• fol. 81r — June 5-11, 1865
• fol. 81v — June 13-28, 1865
• fol. 82r — July 2-8, 1865
• fol. 82v — July 9-16, 1865
• fol. 83r — July 23-August 5, 1865
• fol. 83v — August 6-20, 1865
• fol. 84r — August 27-September 10, 1865
• fol. 84v — September 17-October 1, 1865
• fol. 85r — October 8-November 8, 1865
• fol. 85v — November 12-December 24, 1865
• fol. 86r — December 25, 1865-January 2, 1866
• fol. 86v — January 7-28, 1866
• fol. 87r — February 5-March 1, 1866
• fol. 87v — March 4-14, 1866
• fol. 88r — March 18, 1866
• fol. 88v — March 20-30, 1866
• fol. 89r — April 1-4, 1866
• fol. 89v — April 8-22, 1866
• fol. 90r — April 27-May 20, 1866
• fol. 90v — May 27, 1866
• fol. 91r — June 1-9, 1866
• fol. 91v — June 10-23, 1866
• fol. 92r — July 8-13, 1866
• fol. 93r — July 22, 1866
• fol. 93v — August 5-20, 1866
• fol. 94r — August 21-September 2, 1866, 1866
• fol. 94v — September 7-9, 1866
• fol. 95r — September 11-16, 1866
• fol. 96v — September 17-23, 1866
• fol. 97r — September 26-30, 1866
• fol. 98r — October 7, 1866
• fol. 98v — October 14-November 4, 1866
• fol. 99r — November 12-20, 1866
• fol. 99v — November 25-December 9, 1866
• fol. 100r — December 10-25, 1866
• fol. 100v — December 27, 1866-January 13, 1867
• fol. 101r — January 20-22, 1867
• fol. 101v — January 23, 1867
• fol. 102r — January 27, 1867
• fol. 102v — February 3-11, 1867
• fol. 103r — February 17-March 3, 1867
• fol. 103v — March 5-March 17, 1867
• fol. 104r — March 18-28, 1867
• fol. 104v — March 31-April 4, 1867
• fol. 105r — April 5-14, 1867
• fol. 105v — April 19-28, 1867
• fol. 106r — May 4-6, 1867
• fol. 106v — May 7-13, 1867
• fol. 107r — May 16-27, 1867
• fol. 107v — May 31-June 6, 1867
• fol. 108r — June 9-16, 1867
• fol. 108v — June 18-30, 1867
• fol. 109r — July 1-4, 1867
• fol. 109v — July 5-16, 1867
• fol. 112r — July 17-20, 1867
• fol. 112v — July 24, 1867
• fol. 113r — July 25-28, 1867
• fol. 133v — July 29-August 3, 1867
• fol. 114r — August 4-6, 1867
• fol. 114v — August 7-10, 1867
• fol. 115r — August 11-12, 1867
• fol. 115v — August 13-14, 1867
• fol. 116r — August 15-18, 1867
• fol. 116v — August 19-21, 1867
• fol. 117r — August 22-25, 1867
• fol. 117v — August 26-28, 1867
• fol. 118r — August 29, 1867
• fol. 119v — August 30, 1867
• fol. 121r — August 31, 1867
• fol. 133v — July 29-August 3, 1867

Decorations

• Flyleaf 1 recto — Sketch of interior
• Flyleaf 1 recto — Sketch of interior