She was a daughter, a sister, and a teacher in training. Her diary, presented to her by her father, tells the story over a oneyear span about her relationships with her family and friends, and her experiences briefly as a teacher in training in Roxbury,
Connecticut.
Eunice Nicholson could not tell what her future would be as she began that journal on January 1, 1880.
The diary reflects her love for her family and friends and they for her. It is a bittersweet story. Its beginning months reflect
happiness, visits with her sister and friends, outings with her father and mother, and the days spent at school. But her life
soon changed.

Her diary has come down to me, saved by her sister, my great-grandmother. Its ink is fading, her words are sometimes
unintelligible as they wind around the page, mixing with another day's entry. Literary license was taken by this writer with Eunice's daily entries in some cases due to illegible words or unclear emotions, where I added feelings and thoughts as to how her life might have been. Knowledge of our family's history also helped in adding more detail to the story of my grandmother's aunt. The story that follows, based on that diary, hopefully does not deviate too far from what was true of her life in 1880.

Jan Howard is a former editor and writer
for The Brookfield Journal in her home town
of Brookfield, CT, and was a reporter for other
Connecticut weekly newspapers. She also
volunteered on local boards and commissions
for over 25 years. She is retired and spends
her time writing, playing the piano, and avidly
researching her family's genealogical history. She has three children,
five grandchildren, and one great grandchild.