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Alfred A. Benitz | Page last modified: |
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Alfred's Diaries & Day-Books
Los Palmares, 1902 (Diaries are listed below.) Alfred began keeping a diary as a teenager in Oakland (California), a habit he continued until the day he died. There are unexplained gaps, but Alfred’s diaries and day-books provide us an impressive record of his doings and that of the family. He recorded the family’s arduous journey to Argentina, many of his trips hunting and travelling about the world, and his more mundane daily activities. His estancia day-books from Laguna Yacaré & Los Palmares are at first glance a boring daily record of who worked, rain (or lack of), indian troubles, and cattle movements — but as you read an image emerges of life as it was then, lived at the speed of a horse. Day-Books: Between 1884 and 1904, Alfred recorded his daily activities in the estancia daybooks of “Laguna Yacaré” and “Los Palmares” (We are missing the 1886-1887 daybook – however, bits of it are quoted in “The Chronicles of Alfred Benitz”). Personal diaries: Many are missing. We have Alfred’s journals of most trips but not of his first trip to Europe & US in 1893, nor of his costliest, longest, and most adventurous trip of all: his safari in east Africa in 1910. Apart from two trip diaries, and assuming he continued his habit of keeping a diary, we are missing ALL his personal diaries between 1904 & 1926 – momentuous years during which he courted & wed Olga Horner, purchased most of his major properties (“Los Palmares”, “Las Tres Lagunas”, “El Rincón”, “Campo Winter”), served as mayor (intendente) of Las Rosas/SFé, & was a founder & first president of the “La Cumbre Golf Club”. Some of his diaries may have been misplaced or discarded, however, we believe most of the missing diaries were intentionally destroyed to maintain privacy & avoid awkward questions (e.g. see the 1886-1887 daybook). We transcribed the diaries as written (verbatim), without correcting errors in grammar and spelling; nor did we alter terminology that today is considered unacceptable or offensive. Note that Alfred often left out possessive apostrophes, e.g. “Alfreds” should be “Alfred’s”; we did not add the missing apostrophes. To aid the reader with Spanglish terminology, unfamiliar names (people & places), and old measures (weights, distances, currencies, etc.) we have provided a set of: Reference Pages. We recommend you have them available — they will open in a separate window or tab. Available Diaries ¡Thank you! Special thanks are due to Stuart Pryor for providing us Uncle Alfred's diaries, David & Susan Horner for allowing us to copy Uncle Alfred & Auntie Olga”s photo albums, and lastly, those who transcribed the diaries — for the long tedious task of deciphering Uncle Alfred's scrawl: Jane Baggott, Jorge Cáceres, Michael Mohr-Bell, and René Benitz. |
