Martha McMillan Journal Collection

Martha McMillan Journal Collection

 
On January 15, 1867, her wedding day, Martha E. Murdock McMillan, a farmer’s wife living four miles outside of Cedarville, Ohio, would begin writing in her journal daily about her life, the farm, her family, her community, and her faith. She would maintain that practice until two weeks before her death in August, 1913, resulting in 46 years of journals, comprising over 12,000 pages. This website shares Martha’s writings and the work of Cedarville University faculty and students in transcribing the journals, responding to their content, and engaging in research about the events of Martha’s life and her world.

"Thoughts vanish but writing is eternal." - 1867

Centennial Library Collection Catalog Record

Martha McMillan Biography

Martha McMillan Chronology

Martha's Sabbath Lessons

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Browse the Martha McMillan Journal Collection:

Journals

Features the journals and supplemental information for each journal, including transcriptions, notes, and recovery reports. There is no journal for 1901.

Transcripts

Martha Murdock McMillan lived outside Cedarville, Greene County, Ohio, and kept a journal from the day of her marriage in 1867 until shortly before her death in 1913. This is an on-going project to transcribe each journal in the Martha McMillan Journal Collection.

Rankin MacMillan’s Notes on Each Journal

Brief notes of Martha's grandson outlining the contents of each year's journal

Martha's Sabbath Lessons

Martha Elizabeth McMillan kept a daily journal of her family’s life, covering over 46 years from 1867 to 1913, while living on her farm near Cedarville, Ohio. Martha was a strongly-committed believer in Christ. She was serious about her faith, most evident in her devotion to the Lord’s day, Sunday, as well as to other times when her church was having services. Whenever the doors of Cedarville’s Reformed Presbyterian Church were open on the corner of Main and Church streets, her family was there as much possible. On most Sundays, Martha recorded the basic content of the weekly sermon, and then shared her thoughts and their application to her life, to her family, and to her world. The “Sabbath lessons” in this collection were selected for inclusion by recent transcribers of the journals and are arranged chronologically. Entries are in a devotional format for individual and group use; Martha’s thoughts are reproduced as she wrote them.

Martha McMillan Research Papers

In-depth research on topics suggested by the contents of the journals

Image Galleries

Events, people, and other items associated with Martha McMillan and the journal collection

Presentations

Presentations and lectures on the life and writing of Martha McMillan

Supplemental Material

Documents, letters, and other materials related to the McMillan family and the journal collection