The Diary of An Ozark Girl

Diaries are a wonderful resource for researchers when working on family history and genealogy. Giving a glimpse into the lives of the people who pen them, they hold information on everything from the daily weather to the hidden secrets of families. To read a diary is to peek into the writer’s life and relive those important moments they chose to write about.

 In my Utter family line, family members own several diaries written by Amy Cora Utter. She was my second cousin twice removed. Reading about her journey was a treat for me.

Born in 1899 in Barry County, Missouri, she died of tuberculosis at the age of thirty-one on December 18, 1930. Amy’s father was the son of Elijah Burton Utter, one of the Utter brothers who migrated from Indiana to Southwest Missouri during the Great Migration Period of our nation.

 Amy Utter fell in love and married her sweetheart, but the marriage was short-lived, and she found herself divorced in 1924. Amy started writing in a diary about living her life with gusto until four years later when she was stricken with pulmonary tuberculosis.

 During a time when little was known about tuberculosis and its transmission, folks feared the disease and thought it was surely a death sentence for those who were afflicted. After a year in the Missouri State Sanatorium at Mount Vernon, Missouri, Amy thought she was cured. However, that was not the case. She wrote several diaries from 1924 through 1929 chronicling her life while staying for long stretches at a time with family members. She wrote about battling her illness and undergoing treatments of the day that were frightening and hurtful.

 Eventually, Amy’s diaries were passed down to family members and her niece’s husband used the information found in the diaries to write a book entitled, “Amy Utter’s Journeys: TB and Other Tragedies in Rural America’s Heartland.”

 The book is a first-hand look into rural living in the Ozarks during the era from flappers to the Dust Bowl beginnings as well as how doctors and hospitals dealt with tuberculosis known as “The Great White Plague.”

 Diaries are an effective way to learn about people’s trials, joys, family, excursions, and their way of life. One day I was wandering around in a local flea market and found a small diary that was a little bigger than a deck of playing cards. I bought it and discovered the author is a woman who lived in Neosho. She wrote about her daily life with family and friends. But the author neglected to record her name in the diary, so she will forever be unknown.

 I’m always interested in the lives of women through the ages and their cultural differences and social norms. While doing your family history research, visit museums and family history centers and look for diaries. They are interesting research tools. You will find that women led fascinating lives while raising their children, keeping their homes, working hard, selling their goods, and loving their families. And that’s what life is all about.