Yoknapatawpha County's Roots In F. T Leak Plantation Diary

The recently discovered Francis Terry Leak diary of the mid 1800's is what was known as the "Plantation Diary." It's a combination of work schedules and accounts ledger, which means these Plantation Diaries are rich primary source material for historians researching the history of the southern regions of the U.S. and slavery.  I read a number of them, or extracts from them, back in the 80's, when I began my own historical researches into these matters.  Perhaps the one best known until now has been that of the Tombee rice plantation of South Carolina's low country.  The plantation still exists.  I've had a copy of Journal of Thomas B. Chaplin (1822-1890) on my shelves since it was published in 1992.

Evidently Faulkner had access to one of these, belonging to an ancestor of one of his neighboring friends in Mississippi. He spent a great deal of fascinated time with it, making notes, as well as ranting at the owner of the diary for his views on slavery and African Americans..

"The diary and a number of family stories seem to have provided the philosophical and thematic power for

Names of slaves owned by Leak — Caruthers, Moses, Isaac, Sam, Toney, Mollie, Edmund and Worsham — all appear in some form in “Go Down, Moses.” Other recorded names, like Candis (Candace in the book) and Ben, show up in “The Sound and The Fury” (1929) while Old Rose, Henry, Ellen and Milly are characters in “Absalom, Absalom!” (1936). Charles Bonner, a well-known Civil War physician mentioned in the diary, would also seem to be the namesake of Charles Bon in “Absalom.”"