James Redford, Sr. was born in Glasgow on September 18, 1821. He moved to Canada with his parents as a young man. Redford and his wife, Elizabeth, had 8 children. He was a banker, owned land, a lumber yard, a foundry and sundry other properties. Redford served in the Canadian Parliament from 1867-1872 as the first representative from Perth. As a consequence of serious financial problems, Redford and some of his family moved to free land in the Texas Hill Country. The family homestead was 640 acres south of Sandy, Texas. James Redford died December 18, 1908. His youngest son, Alexander, was extremely religious, never married, and died of skin cancer in the 1950s.
The first volume of the diaries starts in Stratford, Ontario. The first Texas entry is February 7, 1877. The diaries contain a daily recording of weather conditions, crop yields, livestock, and family and community matters. The entries were from January 1, 1875- June 27, 1907 were primarily kept by James Redford, Sr. During periods of ill health, Redford's family would provide notations. The diaries were maintained by Alexander Redford from June 27, 1907-April 24, 1923.
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[Identification of item], Redford Family Diaries, , MS 290, University of Texas at San Antonio Libraries Special Collections.
Received from Mr. and Mrs. W.C. Coleman in March 1985 (Acc. 1985-999).
Faculty Research grant recipient, Joel Gunn, transcribed 5 of the 6 diaries from 1986-1987. Gunn compiled biographical information about the Redford family. He also documented processes used in transcribing the materials.
Finding aid written and encoded by Nikki Lynn Thomas, Manuscripts Curator, September 2008.
A Twitter feed with selected excepts from the Redford Diaries and historical information about the family and town of Sandy, TX can be found at the following URL: