The handwritten manuscript daybooks of Harriet Maria Elmendorf “Hattie” Gould (1844-1920) reflect the dynamic environment of a multigenerational household in nineteenth-century Albany, New York. Hattie was the great-grandchild of Philip and Maria Van Rensselaer, the first owners of Cherry Hill. She lived at Cherry Hill from 1844 to 1884. Hattie kept handwritten daybooks, or diaries, from 1879 to 1884. While the entirety of the nineteenth century was a time of immense change at Cherry Hill, this period in particular highlighted the changing social landscape and economic hardships of the household.
Hattie married Dr. John Woodworth Gould (1839-1911) on June 5, 1878. Following their nuptials, John resided at Cherry Hill with the Elmendorf branch of the Van Rensselaer family. Hattie’s early diary entries follow her through her first years of marriage. Hattie recorded detailed accounts of household management, a busy social calendar, and her emotional responses to change. On more than one occasion, Hattie referenced speaking with close confidants, like her cousin Catherine Bogart Putman “Kittie” Rankin, and family doctors about the challenges of adapting to married life. In addition to her cousin Kittie, Hattie often turned to other female members of the household, including Catherine Visscher Van Rensselaer Bonney (1817-1880) or “ Aunt Cuy” and Margaretta Van Rensselaer (1810-1880) or “Aunt Mag,” and her mother, Harriet Maria Van Rensselaer “Hat” Elmendorf (1816-1896). Later, in 1880, Hattie relied on the same network of support to help her through the grief of her stillborn daughter in April 1880 and and soon after, the joys of the birth of her son Edmund Westerlo "Eddie" Gould (1881-1907).
Hattie’s accounts of her daily life at Cherry Hill highlighted the household’s dual role as both a living and working space. During the nineteenth century, women’s domestic labor was essential to everyday life. It appears that even before the death of her father Peter Edmund Elmendorf (1814-1881), Hattie may have assumed the position of woman of the house. As such, she faced social expectations and obligations to maintain the appearance of and moral standards within the household. These expectations extended to the domestic workers employed at Cherry Hill. Hattie supervised the children and women working at Cherry Hill, including Mary Burle (1863-n.d.) and Harriet Maria Elemndorf “Minnie” Knapp (1852-1903).
Mary Burle lived and worked at Cherry Hill from 1874 and 1882. Placed by the Home of Destitute Colored Women and Children in Washington, D.C., Mary arrived as a ward at Cherry Hill. She was taught basic education and religious instruction, clothed, nursed when ill, and celebrated birthdays with the family. In her diary, Hattie recorded Mary’s doctor appointments, daily tasks, and daily toils. Mary wrote in letters that she considered Hattie to be a motherly figure in her life. When Mary became pregnant out of wedlock in the summer of 1882, Hattie wrote a series of diary entries that revealed her feelings- and subsequent actions- on the matter.
Minnie Knapp was a ward of the Van Rensselaer family from the age of two. She was primarily raised by Hattie’s mother, Hat Elmendorf. The glimpses that Hattie’s entries provide into Minnie’s lived experiences are valuable, yet limiting to her own perspective, as Minnie did not learn to read or write. Later, when faced with financial hardship, Minnie’s fate became tied to Hattie’s, and diary entries and letters reveal Hattie’s sense of duty and at times resentment in keeping Minnie as an employee. Hattie also wrote of Minnie’s brother, William James Knapp (1843-1885), known to the Cherry Hill family as “Jimmie” but who went by James. A ward and butler for another Van Rensselaer family in Albany, James visited the household often during Minnie’s childhood and adulthood. Letters and diary entries reveal that Hattie and James played music together, performing in the family parlor. They both played the piano; James also possessed violins, flutes, and a tin whistle, and sang. Hattie wrote of James’s visits, their duets in front of family members, as well as how he held Eddie at the dining room table. Letters indicate that in 1880, Hattie and Hat helped to find James a job at Hidley’s music store, and also helped to prepare a room for his occasional respite in Cherry Hill’s basement. He lived at Cherry Hill intermittently until he was hospitalized in 1884. James died of tuberculosis in Albany Hospital in 1885.
Cherry Hill was not exempt from the hardships of the gradual, economic depression of the 1870s. The household operated with limited staff- they employed mostly child wards who worked for room and board. Hattie recorded home remedies for illness and household repairs in her diaries. Within the diaries and related correspondence, there are mentions of an ongoing housing shortage in Albany. Hattie and John struggled to find a home suitable to move away from Cherry Hill with their young family. Connected letters and receipts indicate that John struggled to find work as a doctor in Albany, and he resorted to finding work on the railroad in New Jersey. Despite the ongoing depression, the railroad industry continued to grow. After a series of financial missteps, the Cherry Hill family lost the property itself, and the house was put on the auction block in June of 1884. As a result, Hattie and her son Eddie followed John to New Jersey. Hattie’s mother, Hat and Minnie followed soon after. Hattie later wrote in letters of her difficulties keeping Minnie with the family, partially because John disliked her, but also because she struggled to “keep house” in New Jersey. While Cherry Hill was saved by Kittie’s new husband, Edward Watkinson Rankin (1850-1932), the Elmendorf-Goulds never fully recovered their prior financial and social status.