[Women]

[Archive of Diaries Recording the Unusually Bold and Independent Life of Jessie Tibbits Cochrane Willets]

[Various locations: 1910-1936]. Fifteen notebooks, each about 6.5 x 4 inches; totaling approximately 200,000 words. Some notebooks without covers, scattered soiling, some biopredation or wear. Written in ink and pencil. Good plus. Item #6410

Diary archive of Jessie Tibbits Cochrane Willets, a Long Island native who traveled extensively and wasn't afraid to speak her mind and be her own person. Throughout her diaries she expresses frustration at being shunned by her family, undervalued and subject to gossip, but is fiercely determined to live life on her terms. She is often traveling solo, driving her own car, staying in rooming houses or hotels, and feeling she has no home of her own. She regularly renews her pistol license. She goes to the theater in New York, attends lectures and meetings of women workers, the League of Women Voters, and speeches by Margaret Sanger. She believes strongly that women have a right to their own bodies. She reads widely and mentions stories in the newspapers of the Lindbergh kidnapping and the mistreatment of Black people in the South. She remarks on books she is reading, writes of the men she encounters, and notes the opinions of others about her lifestyle and liaisons. Through these diaries, the life of a singular woman of the early 20th century is revealed. Jessie (1869-1943) was born in Nassau County, New York, the oldest of three children and the only girl. The Tibbits were early residents of Long Island, an old colonial family, and Tibbits Place was one of the oldest establishments on the island. Her father was one of the founders and first President of the Port Washington National Bank, and started a real estate business in 1901, and the family was quite comfortable and respectable. Jessie married William Cochrane in 1890, though they divorced at some point and by 1910 she had moved home and was considered a bit of a disgrace as a result. In 1929 she married Nathaniel Louis Willet (1851-1933), and was subsequently able to live out the rest of her days on a more comfortable footing. She died in Palm Beach, Florida. The diaries in this collection include the years 1910 to 1912, 1917, 1918, 1921 to 1923, 1927 [in three parts], 1928, 1930 to 1932, 1934 to 1936, and 1941; they therefore cover almost the entirety of her adult life.

The first diary here begins with "let the past be the past," and opens with details of a trip to Europe in 1910. Starting in Gibraltar, she travels all over Italy and then on to France and England. Though often discussing the company of the other passengers, it seems she made the trip alone. In Genoa she has "a bad dream of Bill trying to kill me again," and one speculates that fleeing her husband may be part of the impetus for a European jaunt. Arriving home in October, she feels distinctly unwelcome at the family homestead and can't wait to leave again. By June of 1911 she had moved to a rooming house in San Diego. She has made the acquaintance of a Reverend and often waits for him to come by and see her, noting that he would marry her if she had enough money to support him so he could leave the clergy. Another woman in town is also vying for his affections. At the same time, she is seeing another man named Baxter and when things get tense, she leaves for short excursions to Los Angeles or Santa Barbara. On her return one time to San Diego she decides to take her own apartment so she can entertain gentlemen callers without being spied upon. In February 1912, she receives a letter warning her that a Mr. Warren was planning on calling her to the stand in his divorce proceedings. It is unknown what came of these upheavals.

Her next diary begins in January 1918 with a hope for the end of the war and a strong statement on the value of women in the world: “Woman is slowly awakening to the realization of her position -- God grant she may see true Mother of Man -- this world is only as great as her women -- I blame men and out of this new knowledge [there?] will grow a new world." She is traveling once again, and mentions yet another gentleman friend. By the end of January she was in Miami. She went to hear William Jennings Bryan speak and found him a strong "man of the people." Someone asks her why she is not married and she wonders "is this fault all mine?" She also says she believes "there is no real advantage in virtue if it chills and diminishes passion." While on an excursion by boat on the Indian River she considers whether she should "take up Mr. Rich -- but I am tired of old men." By March she had started back north by train to St. Augustine, Charleston, Charlotte, and on to Danville, Virginia, where she spent the night. "[T]he streets are hilly the shops are good but anywhere the old men stand on street corners spit and look insults to the women -- I would like to castrate a few of the old fools." By 1921 she is unhappily back with her family. Of her mother she writes: "God help a woman that has so much hatred in her heart." She spends time in the city at the theatre and lectures, including one by Margaret Sanger advocating birth control: "Mrs. Sanger said all nurses and clinics should have the power to control birth, and give a woman the right to know her own body and have the right to it." Jessie continued to advocate for birth control and a woman's right to her own body for the remainder of her life, as mentioned in these diaries. Altogether, a lengthy and fascinating account of one woman's life at the turn of the century.

Price: $3,250.00