Diary

My grandmother kept diaries as a teenager and I happened to get her diary from 1944-1946. I’m not sure what made my grandmother keep this one, but after she passed, it landed in my hands (with permission).

Grandma Diary Page

A bit about my grandmother:

My grandma was born Mary Jane Hummel in 1930, making her about 15 at the time of the diary. She was the youngest of seven (her oldest brother, Jack, was born in 1914) and came from a loud German family (as she told me anyway). She only had one older sister, Betty, who was four years older than her, the rest were all boys. I think the 1943 entries were actually by Betty and she probably gave the journal then to my grandmother.

She was a big movie buff and you’ll see that in her entries as she talks about movies she has seen and what star she loves at the moment. She was pretty much a normal teenager really – concerned about her hair, boys, and movie stars.

Here are the entries on her journal:

1943 (these are not written by my grandmother but are in the same journal)

May 18-20 1943

1944

March 8-13th 1944

March 14-21 1944

March 22-29 1944

March 30 – April 4 1944

April 5-10 1944

April 11-18 1944

April 19-24 1944

April 25-30 1944

May 1-6 1944

May 7-14 1944

May 15-17, Aug 1, 7-8, Dec 24-25 1944

1945

Jan 2nd 1945

Jan 3-5 1945

Jan 6-7 1945

Jan 8-9 1945

Jan 10-11 1945

Jan 12-13 1945

Jan 14-15 1945

Jan 16-17 1945

Jan 18-19 1945

Jan 20-21 1945

Jan 22-23 1945

Jan 24-25 1945

Jan 26-27 1945

Jan 28-29 1945

Jan 30-31 & Feb 1-2 1945

Feb 3-6 1945

Feb 7-10 1945

Feb 11-14 1945

Feb 15-18 1945

Feb 19-22 1945

Feb 23-26 1945

Feb 27- March 1(2) 1945

Mar 2-5 1945

Mar 6-9 1945

Mar 11-15 1945

The rest of 1945’s entries

1946

July 27-31 1946

Aug 1-8 1946

Aug 9-16 1946

Dec 24 1946

6 Comments

  1. What a wonderful thing to do. Sadly I don’t have diaries, letters or photos but I took notes of the family memories my Dad shared with me over the last four years. When I feel able to transcribe them it will be a wonderful legacy. CC

    • NikiMarie

      Diaries and letters are the rare find most of the time, sadly. I’m glad to have something like this from her! Notes of family stories from your dad will be a lovely family legacy one day 🙂

      • A beautiful and rare insight into your Nan’s thoughts as a young person. Can you ‘recognise’ her in her words?
        My Dad started me on the family tree hunt when I was a teenager so it was a lovely way to spend the last few years with him, talking about what I’d found.
        A history / family history blog is in the wings. I’ve posted recently on my Daytripper Sippers blog but a separate blog will be better.
        I’m enjoying seeing how you’ve created your space here. CC

        • NikiMarie

          You know, I can and sometimes I can’t recognize her in the entries. Sometimes she comes through very clearly as the grandma I knew and loved and others, it’s very clear she was a teenager. I love that though. I feel like I’m getting to know her so much better than before.

          Good luck with your own new blog! It is a lot of fun and keeps me on task with my genealogy goals. I hope to read yours soon!

  2. You are so fortunate to have your grandmother’s diaries. You can learn so much about both your ancestors and yourself from them – at least I did with my grandmother’s diary.

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