of Arrljtnn an& Slanoarrlirt»
Btatt Brpartmmt at Arrbinre ani Btaturg
Ealrtfll). Horllj Ctarnlla»
p.am
Collection: FUNTOFF, JOHN F., DIARY.
1841-1901.
Physical Description: j_ volume.
Acquisition: Given to the Archives for copying by Mrs. Jim Gatewood,
Providence, North Carolina, in March 1971. The laminated
volume was accessioned 25 August 1971.
Description: j0hn Fletcher Flintoff was born October 1, 1823, in Orange
County, North Carolina, and died August 31, 1901, in Caswell County where
he is buried. His parents came to Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1818
from England, settling in Orange County.
John Flintoff left North Carolina in 1841 and joined his sister
in Adams County, Mississippi. He studied there, and took several positions,
including plantation overseer, and spent almost two years in Centenary
College in Jackson. In 1847 he returned to Orange County to manage his
mother's farm.
On June 5, 1850, Flintoff married Mary Pleasant of Caswell County
(1831-1882), and on October 29, 1852, they rejoined his mother and sister
■in Mississippi.
The Flintoffs again returned to North Carolina in
1854»
settling
on his recently bought 124-acre farm, six miles east of Yanceyville. In
October of 1862 he bought an additional 217 acres in Caswell County where
he farmed until the waning years of his life.
The diary covers intermittently the period from April 27, 1841,
to the last entry on May 25, 1901. While much of it is true diary form,
some entries appear to have been written after the date of the event. It
reflects the life of an educated, yet struggling, farmer who glorified
work for himself. It also vividly portrayed his unhappy life on the
Mississippi plantation.
Considerable attention is given to farming operations (largely
tobacco and grain) in the diary, and to construction of buildings. Prices,
weather, and the Grange are also discussed.
The diary is valuable chiefly because of its time span, the des¬
cription of ante-bellum farm life, and coverage of a twenty-year period
in Caswell County.
