Adaline's diary, kept from August 1840 - March 1843, when she was in her early twenties, reveals an intelligent and lively young woman, whose ambitions were challenged by her era's gender conventions, as well as the debilitating effects of tuberculosis. The diary not only captures the hopes and faith of Adaline, the intimacies of the Lindsley family, and community life in her Yates County, New York village in the early 1840s, it also documents a unique period of growth and transition in ante-bellum America.