Sarah “Sally” Hersey

Sally begins her diary after publicly confessing her faith in Christ. Her intermittent, prayer-like entries express her spiritual journey, sense of unworthiness, and trust in God’s will. The first half of the diary is set in Leicester, Massachusetts. After her husband dies, she lives for nineteen years in Hawkesbury with her sons Charles and Zephaniah and daughter Elvira, sometimes returning to Massachusetts to help her other grown children. She feels like a “lonely wanderer in this vale of tears” and uses her diary to sustain her through the death of her husband, daughter, and grandchildren. Later entries contain religious passages possibly written by Caroline.