Dorah Clegg was married February 1, 1870, and subsequently traveled 430 miles from Van Buren, Arkansas, to Salado, Texas, with her husband between May 23, 1870 and June 13, 1870. Friends joined the Cleggs along the way, many of whom were traveling to or from Fort Smith, Texas.
The Dorah Clegg Diary contains Clegg’s account of her journey from Van Buren, Arkansas, to Salado, Texas, as well as the beginning of their ranching life at Salado. The diary is composed of two main sections: diary entries about the trip from Arkansas and enumerations that relate to routine life on the ranch at Salado.
Dorah’s diary entries are detailed prose that describe daily life during the journey from Arkansas to Texas. Dorah and her husband traveled with various people along the way for short durations. Dorah recorded her interactions with the people she traveled with as well as her thoughts and descriptions of the places where they stopped along the journey. Dorah recorded the distance traveled each day in mileage, her relationships with members of her new married family, and other day to day events such as Mr.Clegg injuring his arm.
The enumerations of routine ranch life include information pertaining to ranching accounts, cattle branding, finances, grocery lists and a receipt to Dewitt Co. dated January 27, 1985, and signed by N.W. Easors.
This collection is open for research use.
Dorah Clegg Diary, 1870-1879, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.
This collection was processed by archives staff in 1933.