The Diaries of
Mary Brown
Mary E. Brown, a former Northwestern University teacher, moved to Winter Park with her colleague Mary McClure around 1880.
They built a homestead on the South shore of Lake Sylvan and named it "No Man's Land."
There are nine diaries in the collection covering the following years: 1876, 1881, 1883, 1884, 1886, 1887, 1888, 1889,
and one diary covering 1896-1898. The earliest diary, 1876, describes the life-style both Marys led while living in the Evanston, Illinois area.
It also records when Mary Brown purchased her Florida property.
The diaries of the 1880's record the many activities of both ladies from civic work, organizing and teaching Sunday School, helping in
the establishment of a public library, (the
Winter Park Public Library), doing the many chores on the homestead, to meticulously recording the weather almost daily. The last diary, 1896-98, covers the three years following Mary McClure's death in 1895.
The diaries are approximately three by five inches and published as either Excelsior's Diary or Stowe's Florida Almanac and Planter's Guide. All the diaries have
general information in the first thirty or so pages. Throughout the diaries are advertisements for products like Holman Company's Great Malarial Remedy, and Hance Bros. and
White's Phenol Sodique - "a product that no family, factory, workshop, hospital, physician, plantation or stock raiser should be without."
In the late 1980's the library began a program to "transcribe" the diaries and four were roughed out. In the late 1990's, Donna Rhein, a former archivist,
and Alice Baldwin, a library volunteer, completed the project. In May 1997, Donna delivered a talk to the
Florida
Historical Society on the Brown Diaries. The library now has typed transcripts of the diaries.
The diaries provide a first-hand account of "homestead life" in Winter Park during the 1880's.
Mary E. Brown was born in 1822 in upstate New York, probably in Lockport, north of Buffalo. Her father was an Episcopal minister and served as a missionary to Florida from 1833 to 1844.
She and her companion
Mary McClure were teachers who taught at Northwestern University before moving to Florida.
In 1876 Mary Brown and Mary McClure purchased ten acres of land on Lake Sylvan from Wilson Phelps.
Two entries in the 1876 diary mention the event: May 20 - "Washed linen dresses. Call from Mr. Phelps about Florida." August 3 - "Deed of Florida place. Cash 323. Note to Phelps for $110,
1 yr. At 10 percent, pay at First National Bank." No reason for the purchase is given.
Mary Brown, with her companion Mary McClure, came to Osceola around 1880. Her diary of 1881 records a daily routine having been established, with work being divided between the two women.
Mary Brown seems to have taken on the "outside" chores, such as planting, cultivating, harvesting and such. Mary McClure took on the chores of keeping house. Both spent a great deal of time helping others,
being active in the community, and volunteering in their churches. They called their homestead "No Man's Land."
Mary Brown acquired a donkey, Jack, also named Johnny Brown, to assist with the work around the homestead and as a means of transportation.
The diaries record several "entertaining" events
involving Johnny. For example, in the diary of 1883: "Jack broke fence last night and went off with Livingston's pony..."
During the 1880's the community of Osceola experienced
tremendous change.
Loring Chase and Oliver Chapman
would successfully plan and execute the development of a winter resort town for wealthy investors.
By the end of 1885 several major events had occurred in Mary Brown's community: the town of Winter Park had begun to take shape; Rollins College had been founded;
the
Congregational Church
building had been dedicated; and a circulating library, (to become
Winter Park Public Library), had been started. Mary Brown served on the library's first board of directors and continued to serve for many years.
The latter half of the 1880's seemed to be quite rewarding for Mary Brown and Mary McClure.
In 1887 they were able to build on their property a school for black children
and adults called New Hope Cottage. Lochmeade, Winter Park's weekly newspaper, had this to say in their March 2, 1888
edition about New Hope Cottage: "One of the most interesting as well as benevolent institutions in this locality is the Sunday School that is conducted by Misses Brown and McClure about three-fourths of a mile east of the Seminole. These ladies have succeeded in building a neat cozy building one and a half stories high...the walls are hung full of maps showing
places mentioned in the Bible as well as illuminated texts and maps of Florida, Orange County,
etc.
Here at three o'clock on Sunday afternoons gather a company of colored people to study scriptures and to learn to read. The infant class meets up-stairs and the first floor is occupied by a class of adults."
Classes started January 1, 1888 and continued into
1889 when a school was established in Hannibal Square along with several black missions.
The last diary, one volume covering the years of 1896, 1897, and 1898, picks up after the death of Mary McClure.
Mary McClure died December 29, 1895 at the age of 73. In her diary entry of February 1, 1896, Mary Brown's profound sense of loss is expressed by the
following: "Put southwest room in order. Emptied the bureaus, took down hollies, the last thing Mary saw.
She directed me how to put them over her mirror. Another last thing."
Mary Brown lived on to reach the age of 87. In her latter years she was cared for by Mary Stovin. Mary Brown died on November 16, 1909.
This photograph was loaned to Winter Park Public Library History and Archives Department by
Rollins College History and Archives Department.
 This is a photo of Mary Brown and Mary McClure's house on Lake Sylvan. This photo and the one above is colored blue because it is a
cyanotype. This is a process of chemically treating
photographic paper
and exposing a negative placed on it to the sun. It was an easy and inexpensive way to
develop photographs and is
still used today in both photography and textile mediums.
This photograph was loaned to Winter Park Public Library History and Archives Department by
Rollins College History and Archives Department.
Mary Brown wrote her diaries in small three by five inch almanacs and planter's
guides. These almanacs were popular because they included information
ranging from astronomical data to tide tables. The page shown here
is the title page from Mary Brown's 1881 diary.
This entry dated August 31, 1886 makes reference to an
earthquake. "Earthquake ! house
shaking and everything rattling: clock stopped at 9:10 p.m."
This was a reference to the
historic earthquake that hit Charleston, South Carolina on August 31, 1886.
It was one of the most damaging earthquakes to occur in the Southeast United
States. The quake destroyed many buildings in Charleston and killed 60
people. The shock was felt throughout Northern Florida, ringing church
bells at St. Augustine and severely jolting other towns along Florida's east
coast.
 This is the entry from Sunday, March 27, 1887 telling of an invitation
from
Colonel Franklin Fairbanks
to dine with him at the Seminole Hotel. Both Mary Brown and Mary
McClure declined the invitation "with thanks".
 In this entry of April 22, 1897, a library committee meets
and decides to "beg lot & build. Comstocks promise $200." This may have been the beginning of a building
fund drive to build the first
Winter Park Public Library
building which was completed in 1901.
The collection also has Mary Brown's recipe book.
It contains a
collection of recipes and household hints, some handwritten and some clipped from newspapers.
This handwritten recipe for "Dough Cake" appears several times throughout Mary Brown's recipe book. Printed below is the recipe as it appears in her recipe book.
"5 teacups dough 3 do Sugar 2 do butter 5 eggs 1 table spoon full
pearlash dissolved in a glass of wine".
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