From eu.news-leader.com
By Kathleen O'Dell
This is the story of a book that has a more fantastic tale that the book itself.
In 2014, a Friends of the Library volunteer sorting donations for the book sale discovered a rare find: the 1828 diary of John Salmon, a passenger aboard the American ship “Chelsea,” sailing from England to New York City. The donor remains unknown.
Genealogists researching the passenger manifest learned, among other things, that Salmon had been a bank clerk, led devotions with steerage passengers, and administered medicines to the sick.
The Friends used the journal as the basis for two readers’ theaters they performed in 2016. The Friends later digitized it for safe keeping. Local researchers found and added Salmon’s last will and testament.
Fast forward to 2023.
Karen Crouch of North Oaks, Minnesota, emailed the Friends: Her research revealed that her husband Steve’s great-great grandparents Levi and Sarah Crouch and seven children had sailed to New York on the “Chelsea” in 1828. Her research about the ship led her to a 2016 Springfield news story about the journal discovery. Where was the journal, and could she read it?
The Friends sent Karen a PDF-transcribed file of Salmon’s journal and last will and testament. She was thrilled after reading the diary’s revelations: Early in the voyage, Salmon mentions giving medicine to Mrs. Crouch for indigestion. Only four days before arriving in New York, Salmon also noted the death of three children, including one of Mrs. Crouch’s daughters. He described the terrible agony and grief of the mothers as their children’s bodies were committed to the sea.
Karen’s email reached a Friends member who had purchased the diary years before. “Since it came into the hands of (the Friends), the Journal has been a lonely orphan waiting for a good home,” he wrote. Send your mailing address, and I will send Salmon to its new home; an orphan no more.”
The Salmon Journal may have made its final journey after 200 years. “My husband, Steve, and I felt amazed and in awe when we actually held it in our hands,” Karen wrote. She’s sending a donation to the Friends. “… Thank you for trusting me with this rare journal. It will be treasured and protected. With thanks and warmest wishes, Karen Crouch.”
Kathleen O’Dell is community relations director of the Springfield-Greene County Library District. She can be reached at kathleeno@thelibrary.org.
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