Alexis Ferry Journal: Volume 1

Ferry, Alexis

The journal includes diary entries, balance sheets, lists and recipes, poetry, and illustrations of people, animals, ships, and architecture. Alexis Ferry began his writings with a reference to his marriage and a list of his children and their dates of birth. In his own words, he then described what it is to be a “un Ami dans le Chemin le plus court” (in short, what it is to be a friend). There is a list of slaves and their positions on his plantation, their children, and those who had passed away by 1848. There are a series of recipes and descriptions of remedies for preventing and healing cholera. He later noted “je suis sans foi” (I'm without faith) about the remedie to “cette malade” (this illness), perhaps indicating that he had the disease and was seeking a cure. He wrote about Madame Dubarri and Louis XIV, noted the opinion of an Arab from Algeria about French civilization, and added an anecdote on the nature of the Duke of Panthriere. Ferry also wrote (mostly during 1864 and 1865) about the Civil War and the impact it had on his life, comparisons between the Civil War and American Revolutionary War, and his beliefs about racial hierarchy and the ethics of slavery and slave ownership. There are also remarks on the politics of George Francis Train, the death of Benjamin Franklin Butler, quotes from Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr and Balzac, and criticism of President Abraham Lincoln and of "the Yanks." He documented information on his harvest and sales of sugar cane from 1823 to 1852. On March 2, 1877, he noted that he had lost his home and that before him there was “L'inconnu, probablement La misère” (the unknown, probably misery, or poverty). There is one entry from October 27, 1878 on Eugène Dumez. Some entries are written in English.

1842-1878

Tulane University Digital Library

Cholera
Agriculture
Slavery

fre

diaries

15.375x10x1.5, 322 pages

https://library.tulane.edu/tusc/

Alexis Ferry journals, Manuscripts Collection 331, Louisiana Research Collection, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118

Digital rights are held by Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana. Copyright is retained in accordance with U.S. copyright laws. Physical rights are held by Louisiana Research Collection, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana

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