Emily Winston, Diary (1630-1750)

Alejandra Galaviz

Dr. Miller

HIST 1301

September 23, 2017

Emily Winston, Diary (1630-1750)

        June 9. I’ve set sail with my husband, John Winston, and with the rest of my brothers and sisters. God will protect us and watch over us and lead us to our new land to spread our faith and give us a better future for our children and the next generations. I’m concerned about the new land. I know my God will protect me and my family.

        August 17. The weather has changed and I believe we’re getting close to shore. We’re running low on our hoard and I’m praying that our God leads us to the right place and bless us with goods to keeps us alive. I’m thankful that I’m still with my John. We’ve lost a few others but He took them for a reason.

        September 11. Finally! We’ve been here for a week now. The first few days we thought we weren’t going to make it. Many got ill by an unknown sickness… He probably made this illness as a sign. Our men had discovered other strange men. They were unclothed and didn’t speak our language. They seemed to be amazed and thought our things were exotic. Thanks to these unnamed natives, we learned to make peace and helped us out to grow our crops. I’m starting to feel more confident about this new world. God bless us all.

        October 24. It’s been getting a bit cold. Many of us are getting very ill and many of our strongest men are being affected. John and I have been having people to come and blessed and not lose faith in our God because of this tragedy.

 “As the wicked are hurt by the best things, so the godly are bettered by the worst.”

-William Jenkyn

        December 17. This day I turn 62. Both John and I are very ill and all I can do is hope that our lord and savior is watching us from his heavenly kingdom. John and the other men from the church have been communicating with the natives and agreed to help us as long as we don’t abuse the agreement that we’ve made. All I’ve been feeding on since this harsh winter is soup and I wish I could have more but our crops are just no good against this cold.

10 years later…

        February 20. It’s been a while since I’ve written but so many things have changed. The government is very involved with the church now. The savage natives slain many if our families. Many of my brothers and sisters were murdered and their children too. From what I’ve heard, some young ladies are still up to sinful things. We’ve had many trials and we hope God open these young girls’ eyes to see everything clearly and not listen to his enemy from the underworld. We’ve divided from the natives and we’re introduced to our workers. Their skin is much darker than ours and some of them are taller than my husband. We’ve grown tobacco and we’re doing very well now! We’ve had some of our workers escape from us many successfully were brought back and others passed away from hunger and exhaustion. I’ve also been hearing from town that some colored women have been plundered by white men. It disturbs me to hear about it but I can’t say much. I just open my book and talk to Him and to again watch over us.