Ella Lorton Lee Journal

Collection — Box: 1

Identifier: Mss-0320

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The collection consists of a bound journal kept by Ella Lorton Lee from April 1, 1865 until December 31, 1892. It was written in what might have been a law student's journal (her brother's name appears on the cover page). The entries appear on pages 25 through 73, with pages 63 through 66 having been cut out. Lee discussed religious topics, her childhood visits to Florida, the end of the Civil War and what became of Pendleton and the surrounding area under "Yankee" occupation, and her social life (such as her friendship with Floride Clemson, daughter of Anna Calhoun and Thomas Green Clemson). Lee maintained the journal steadily from April 1865 until June 1866 and then resumed the journal three years later in 1869, and only sporadically kept the journal after that date. After a brief 1876 entry, no other is made until 1885. The last entry was made on December 31, 1892. Beginning on page 75, there is a 1932 inventory of books at the Leeside home at Carmel, N.Y..

Dates

1865 - 1932
1865 - 1876

Creator

Lorton, Ella Frances, 1844-1921 (Person)

Biographical Note

Ella Lorton Lee was born in the Pendleton District of South Carolina on June 5, 1844. Her mother, Eliza Amanda Whitner Kilpatrick, 1812-1884, was widowed in 1840, and later married John S. Lorton, a Pendleton merchant. John S. Lorton, died in October 1862 and Ella's half-brother, Franklin Whitner Kilpatrick, was killed in action during the Civil War (Lookout Mountain, 1863). Ella began keeping a journal in April 1865 towards the end of the Civil War. In 1876, Ella married Gideon Lee of Carmel, New York, and moved north where she lived until her death in 1921. Lee was previously married (from 1869-1871) to Ella's friend, Floride Clemson, the daughter of Thomas Green and Anna Calhoun Clemson. Ella kept her journal irregularly until December 31, 1892.