Francina Elizabeth Cox Greer King diaries


Descriptive Summary
Title: Francina Elizabeth Cox Greer King diaries
Creator: King, Francina Elizabeth Cox Greer, 1810-1886
Inclusive Dates: 1844-1883
Language(s): English
Extent: 1.25 Linear Feet 3 boxes
Collection Number: ms3054
Repository: Hargrett Library

Collection Description

Historical Note

Born December 31, 1810, to Richard and Elizabeth Meade Cox, Francina Elizabeth Cox grew up five miles east of Athens in recently formed Clarke County. In 1826, Francina Elizabeth Cox and John Cox Greer were married. Soon after, Elizabeth, as she preferred to be called, added a small inheritance when her father died. Located about five miles east of Athens on the road leading to Lexington, John Greer's plantation encompassed 300 acres along Shoal Creek. The Greers called their home Chalky Level because the drive around it was laden with limestone. The original structure was built around 1817, and had served as an inn for the stagecoach between Athens and Augusta. Elizabeth Greer became pregnant within a year of her marriage and over the next 19 years had 15 children, only three of whom survived to adulthood. Elizabeth Greer possessed enormous energy and a strong will to survive in spite of great personal losses. She was a very slight and fragile woman who, before the war, was often confined to bed and weighed only 77 pounds. Athens Banner Herald - Plantation life in Clarke County: the world of Francina Elizabeth Greer / Mary Levin Koch, June 17, 2001.

Scope and Content

The collection consists of 13 volumes dated July 12, 1844 to July 23, 1866 and June 14, 1871 to October 29, 1883, written by Francina Elizabeth Cox Greer King. The diaries include information about the weather, family visits, births and deaths, and day-to-day life.

The diaries document the lives of those enslaved by the Greer family including Ellen (Elen), Varser, Silva (Sylva or Silvia), Matilda (Mattie), Kitty, Lucy, Cloe, Fany, Cordelia, Sam, Lawrence, Peter, Caroline, Pompey.