Harry A. Joslyn Collection (DeKalb County)

Collection

Identifier: RHC-RC-183

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Harry A. Joslyn Collection (1860-1905) provides excellent documentation for the study of rural life in DeKalb County, Illinois during the second half of the nineteenth century. The bulk of the collection consists of a series of 39 diaries (1865-1905) written by Harry A. Joslyn of Cortland and Sycamore. Diaries for 1890 and 1891 are missing. Daily entries vary in length but generally include information on family life work activities, politics, weather, and social life. Two additional diaries were written by Harry A. Joslyn’ s sons, James and William. There are two folders of financial records, estate documents, bills, receipts, and business cards. One volume contains tax collector’s records for the years 1860-1862. More detailed biographical and genealogical information is available in Box 1, folder 1.

Dates

created: 1860-1905
Other: Date acquired: 08/08/1986

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on access to the collection.

Conditions Governing Use

Property rights in the collection are held by the Regional History Center; literary rights are dedicated to the public.

Biographical or Historical Information

Harry Alanson Joslyn (1816-1906) was born in Genesee County, New York, the son of Phineas and Lorinda Joslyn. He came to DeKalb County in 1837, established a claim for his father in Cortland township and returned with the family the next year to settle in the Cortland area. Harry purchased land for himself and farmed it until 1854 when he quit farming to open a general store in Sycamore, in partnership with H. H. Rowe (Kimball Dow joined the firm in 1855.) In 1858, Joslyn was appointed Deputy Sheriff and served in that position six years and then was elected Sheriff for one term (1864-1865). He returned to farming in the Cortland area from 1867 to 1883 then moved to the edge of Sycamore and later moved into town. Joslyn also served six years as tax collector for Sycamore and taught in the Ohio Grove school for one year. Harry Joslyn married Lucy Ann Waterman in 1841; the couple had five children. He died at his home on Exchange Street in Sycamore, Illinois on January 18, 1906. For more detailed biographical information see Box 1, folder 1.

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