Shelter Island History: Archives -- David Harries Young, Jr. -- 13 Diaries of Life on "this belle isle"

In 1994, Virginia Young donated a set of thirteen diaries written by her late husband, D. Harries Young, Jr., to the Shelter Island History Museum. The collection covers the years 1916, 1917, 1921, and 1924 through 1935. Reading the diaries is like peeping through a keyhole at the Shelter Island of a hundred years ago. They reveal a way of life viewed through the eyes of an intelligent and sensitive young man who saw a bit of the wider world but remained firmly rooted in what he called “this belle isle.”

The earliest diaries chronicle Harries’ life as a student living at home with his parents at 55 Cartwright Rd. The middle-year diaries record his life as a student at the Wilbraham Academy in Massachusetts and at Wesleyan College in Connecticut as well as his visits home for summers and holidays. The later diaries describe his life at home on Shelter Island peddling fish and working for the Shelter Island Light and Power Company.

Harries was a member of the Cartwright clan—descendants of the ten children of Benjamin C. Cartwright and Hannah Tuthill. His maternal grandmother was Sarah Cartwright Hudson. His father was David Harries Young, Sr., the Town Supervisor from 1905 through 1912; his mother was Eva Hudson. Several local families are featured in the diaries: the Mawreys and the Downs, the Griffings and the Walthers, among others.

The diaries document a time of significant change against a backdrop of routine daily life. The automobile replaced the horse and wagon. Electrical power spread throughout the island, enabling the introduction of the radio and refrigerator. Indoor plumbing came into widespread use and talkies replaced silent films at the Greenport Metro. But even as these innovations were taking hold, Harries, as he was called, carried on the time-honored traditions of walking to school, hanging out laundry, cultivating the family garden, playing board games with neighbors, and visiting nearby relatives and friends.

The diaries are fragile and they are written in a cursive script that is sometimes difficult to decipher. To preserve their contents and make them available to a wider audience we scanned the diaries to produce a PDF file for each year. We then used Google Gemini to transcribe the diaries into a standard Word format that is easier to read and edit. The transcriptions were approximately 95% accurate, but required some editing. And because the diaries are filled with references that are obscure to contemporary readers we decided to annotate them using a ChatGPT program. We also used a number of other resources to identify people, places, and events that are not available to online search engines. These resources included maps, directories, letters, and diaries that are part of the History Museum archives, as well as genealogical records available through FamilySearch.org.

Harries started to keep a diary in 1916 when he was nine years old. He did not use periods to mark the end of sentences and his spelling was unorthodox, but his writing was quite advanced for a boy his age. His life was centered around his family, his neighbors, and his friend Roger. He lived with his mother and father, whom he called Ma and Pop, and his older brother Tom. His sister Helen lived across the street with her husband, Ernest Lucas. Harries led a sheltered life but it was filled with family, friends, and neighbors. His diary of 1917 contains a mention of 114 different people.

When Harries was 16 he left Shelter Island for Wilbraham Academy and Wesleyan College. His academic training was rigorous, but he did well. At Wilbraham he was president of his residence hall, enrolled in the Cum Laude Society, editor of the school’s yearbook, and involved in its annual play. We’ve been in touch with the Director of Archives at Wilbraham & Monson Academy who generously sent us a copy of Harries’ senior yearbook from 1931. This yearbook and a continued partnership with Wilbraham will certainly lead to more insights into his life and the diaries themselves.

His mother wrote to him regularly and he spent the summer months and his mid-term vacation on Shelter Island. While at home he gardened, did his chores, fished, and played golf. In the spring of 1927 his father died unexpectedly and he came home for the funeral. After graduating in 1931 he returned to Shelter Island and started to work with his brother for the Shelter Island Light and Power Company, where he remained for most of his life.

The Great Depression had little effect on Harries’ life. He and his neighbors were employed. They bought automobiles and electrified their houses. They played golf and went to the movies. The hotels were filled with summer visitors. There was, of course, the usual share of illness and death on the Island and there were fires, suicides, and at least one automobile theft, but the war in Europe and the Great Depression touched Harries’ life only lightly.

Our thanks to Janet Moran from Wilbraham Academy for her time and for donating a copy of Harries’ yearbook to our archives. We hope to make the diaries available digitally and in some physical format soon. Meanwhile, we are happy to answer any questions you may have about them or to receive any information you may have that would shed further light on them. Inquiries can be sent to: archivist@shelterislandhistorymuseum.org