Nancy Dickinson Estabrook began writing this diary on January 1, 1836. She mentions making two flannels for her brother, Perez Dickinson, a prominent Knoxville merchant and banker. She also discusses Dr. Joseph Churchill Strong, one of the first physicians to settle in Knoxville and a frequent visitor at the Estabrook home. Strong serves not only as Estabrook's doctor but also as a close friend and father figure. Estabrook writes about her Christian faith often, once mentioning the potential she sees in using the new technology of railroads: I thought the use of railroads would perhaps be one means of extending the knowledge of Christianity in different parts of the world. She admits, however, that she does not attend church or read her Bible frequently. On May 15, 1836, she records the news of General Santa Anna’s capture at the hands of Sam Houston’s Texans and states that many volunteered yesterday for Texas. Estabrook's daughter Charlotte dies later in the year, and she laments her loss and the loneliness it brings but rejoices that Charlotte's long suffering, caused by a chronic illness involving frequent seizures, has finally ceased. In other entries, she laments selling a house slave named Dolly to a negro trader and mentions the Knoxville Female Academy. In 1838, Estabrook writes about the cholera epidemic that has struck Knoxville, listing many of its victims by name and calculating that upwards of twenty have already died there were seven in one day.