Comments on: Susannah Dalbiac’s Diary, 1776

By: gail

gail — Sat, 21 Sep 2024 21:35:13 +0000

Such an interesting piece – thanks very much

By: Margaret Nairne

Margaret Nairne — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 18:22:59 +0000

Very pleased to read these comments following the post about Susannah’s little 1776 diary – thank you for all of them. In the second half of the year Susannah is in France and does write the diary in French – showing how keen they were to maintain their French connection nearly 100 years after the first Dalbiacs, her Great Grandfather & Great Grandmother, and Grandfather and Great Uncle arrived in London late in the previous century. Re names: I have made a list of all the names Susannah mentions in the diary – a total of c.67 different names – but, sadly no reference to de Brissacs. However, her first cousin, James Dalbiac, married a Maria Barnard which I think may be connected – they must have known Jeanne Loy as presumably the Loy family lived next door. Thank you for the reference to ‘Time and Chance’ by Joan Evans – I have found the whole book is available online and it is very intriguing to read the entries about the Huguenots. I have further material to work on and tell myself I will get on to it when I am retired – Ha! Watch this space 🙂

By: George T

George T — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 06:39:54 +0000

What a magical post! I find it particularly haunting for some reason that Susannah lived on into her 80s – and yet we just have this vivid glimpse of her at 14.

I can see that Margaret has also done some deeper research into the diary, published on her website: https://huguenotgirl.com/ – it should be a book!

By: Lynne Perrella

Lynne Perrella — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 12:27:49 +0000

I “caught” the diary-keeping bug from my father, and I’ve always been fascinated by the topic – and the practice. A diary can take many forms ……… a day book, a confessional, a common place book for quotes and other “keepers”, a journal for ideas, a sketchbook? My teenage diaries were small page-a-day books with pink plastic covers and tiny locks and keys. On a whim I started pasting visual fodder and found objects into the books, and they soon exceeded the bounds of the polite little lock/key. The full-to-bursting books had to be tied around with heavy grosgrain ribbon, and
endless “stuff” became bookmarks. Photo strips, ball chains with charms, candy wrappers, rickrack, a zipper, etc. Unwrapping and unbundling the books each day, to write a passage, became a private ritual I enjoyed in my upstairs bedroom. When I moved away from home after art school, I told my mother she could get rid of everything. Knowing her gift for curiosity, I am sure she had quite a time, reading those crazy teen-age volumes. //// After my Dad died, I found 3 of his hand-written diaries from his time serving in Hawaii during WWII. They are written in his unmistakable VOICE, including his enjoyment of slang and made-up words. His big looping handwriting covers the pages and when I read the passages, I have him back in my life. These books are my most treasured possessions.

By: Lucinda de Jasay

Lucinda de Jasay — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 09:54:28 +0000

What a coincidence! My forebear Peter Abraham de Brissac’s first wife Jeanne Loy was the daugher of a silk weaver of 18 Spital Square. There is a fascinating description of those days in ‘Time and Chance’ by Joan Evans, page 20 I wonder if Margaret Nairne has found any references to the de Brissac’s in the diary?

By: Kate Amis

Kate Amis — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 08:18:06 +0000

What a precious item to have survived for all these years ..a fascinating insight into the lives of a Heugenot family. Interesting that she writes in English even though it is a private diary I would have expected French to be her go to in the home ?

By: achim

achim — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 07:53:35 +0000

Old books are something very special and wonderful! Just the unique smell of the old paper, the leather and the printing ink. You can NOT “digitalise” something like that.

On this occasion, I looked in my library to find out which is the oldest book I own — it is called “Johann Arndt, Sechs Bücher vom wahren Christentum” and was printed in Königsberg in 1738 …

Love & Peace
ACHIM