Alice Elizabeth Schall was born August 3, 1860, the daughter of John Schall, a second generation German landowner and farmer, and Matilda Ann Cunningham Schall, an Irish immigrant. Schall had three brothers, William (2-3 years older), Henry (1-2 years older), and John (2-3 years younger).
Shall was a student at Immaculate Conception Academy, a Catholic girls’ school in Davenport, Iowa. After graduating from the Academy, Schall went to live with her family on their farm outside Port Byron, Iowa in Coe Township. She later became a newspaper correspondent for St. John’s Parish in Rapid City, Iowa publishing articles in the Port Byron Globe. She became secretary and treasurer of the Alter and Rosary Society and the president of the City Beautification and Improvement Club of Port Byron. She never married.
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The Alice Elizabeth Schall diary dates from January 1, 1880 to December 31, 1880. This collection consists of one diary from 1880 and measures one half inch. In this diary, Schall writes about the events of her everyday life and the things that are important to her. She comments on the weather and her sleep patterns almost every day as well as letters she wrote and received, visitors, and her health. Schall had a great talent for art, music, and literature and often comments on her drawings and music lessons. Communication was apparently important to her because she used the back of her diary to keep track of her letters. She writes about her emotions and feelings of loneliness, often writing that she cried “about something” but not specifying about what.
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