Jemima Condict

By Annabelle Sebastian

From the diary of Jemima Condict. Image courtesy of the New Jersey Historical Society, Newark, NJ

Jemima Condict (1754-1779) was an American diarist who recorded everyday life and historical events that occurred in Pleasantdale, West Orange.

Condict began her diary in 1772, when she was eighteen years old, and continued it until she died at the age of 25. Her diary records her thoughts and feelings on daily life, the sermons the local preachers gave, deaths and disease in the area, and accounts of the Revolutionary War. 

Condict’s diary gives insight into the minds of young women during her time. She writes of her dislike of weaving, leisure activities, her thoughts on religion, her hesitancy to marry, and her thoughts on the happenings of war. Word of the Boston Tea Party reached her town nearly 10 months after it occurred, with Condict writing “It seems we have troublesome times a coming for there is a great disturbance abroad in the Earth & they say it is tea that caused it. So then if they will quarrel about such a trifling thing as that what must we expect but war & I think or at least fear it will be so.”

Condict passed away shortly after the birth of her first child, Ira, on November 14th, 1779.

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References:

Condict, Jemima. 1975. Jemima Condict, her book: being a transcript of the diary of an Essex County maid during the revolutionary war. Newark, N.J.: Carteret Book Club. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/4425970

Condict, Jemima. 1973. Diary, 1772-1778. Salt Lake City, Utah: Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/866413907 

Goodfriend, Joyce D., and Claudia M. Christie. 1981. Lives of American women: a history with documents. Boston: Little, Brown. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/7340370

“Guide to the Jemima Condict Diary 1772-1779 MG 123.” The New Jersey Historical Society. Accessed August 22, 2024. https://jerseyhistory.org/guide-to-the-jemima-condict-diary1772-1779mg-123/.

Suggested Citation:

Sebastian, Annabelle. “Jemima Condict.” New Jersey Women’s History, Rowan University Libraries, 2024. https://njwomenshistory.org/biographies/jemima-condict/.