Creator: Bernard, Overton.
Collection number: 62-z
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Abstract: Diaries of Overton Bernard and his son, Jesse. Overton Bernard kept his diary while serving as a Methodist minister in Edenton, N.C., 1824, and as a bank employee in Portsmouth, Va., 1858-1863. Entries include description of church work and the progress of the Civil War around Norfolk, Va. Jesse Bernard, lawyer of Alachua County, Fla., kept his diary sporadically from 1856 to 1891. It contains entries relating to local religious affairs, lawyering, visits to Virginia, and the Civil War. There are few entries after 1861.
Repository: Southern Historical Collection
Collection Highlights: Entries from December 1862 and January 1863 in Volume II from the elder Rev. Overton Bernard’s diary includes discussions of free African Americans and their “demoralization” in the wake of the Emancipation Proclamation. See particularly entries from Dec 25, Dec 31, and Jan 1 (Folder 2)
The entry from January 1 describes a meeting held at the Methodist African American church in Portsmouth the previous night, and a Jubilee parade in Norfolk.