The Red Star Diary of 1916

By Rena Corey and BIll Noxon

What is on the mind of a high school aged New Yorker in 1916? Europe has erupted into War and America is on the brink of joining in. Yet, the thoughts of this teenager wander from baseball to theatre to the price of milk to death.

This extraordinary work pulls directly from a diary discovered in a flea market in the 1990s. Rena Corey painstakingly tracked down the details of the young man whose diary she obtained, not even knowing his identity until well into her search: Bill Noxon. Intertwining Bill’s own words with her discoveries about his life, Ms. Corey paints a complete picture of a young man chasing the normal pursuits of any teenager of his generation, yet tempered by the recent death of a beloved uncle, possible war on the horizon, and other challenges that arise within his family.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rena Corey
• Release date: Feb 16, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311378231

Rena Corey

Rena Corey holds an M.S. in Secondary Education from C.W. Post. For the past 28 years she has been the proprietor of Mrs. Hudson’s Fine Books and Paper, a service specializing in 19th century nonfiction, manuscripts, and ephemera, as well as antiques with unusual graphic interest. Sales are made to historical societies throughout the United States, academic institutions, and individual collectors and dealers. She has been active in the Thomas Wolfe Society as both board member and literary contributor and the Wappingers Historical Society as an archivist.Her previously published works include articles appearing in The New York Times, The Poughkeepsie Journal, Southern Dutchess News, Hudson Valley Magazine, and The Thomas Wolfe Review.

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FOREWORD

The Red Star Diary of 1916 was purchased at a Maybrook, New York flea market in the summer of 1993. Lying on a blanket with an assortment of other merchandise, its purchase price of $1.00 was pre-set and I felt I had little to lose as I tucked the volume in my bag. Perhaps it would prove to be something I could add to my inventory and sell in the near future. As it turned out, this was the only diary I kept and would not offer for sale during my 28 years in business.

A sophomore at New York City’s Stuyvesant High School, the writer spent his winter in Manhattan and his summer in Orange County. A fluid story teller, he packed a lot into each day’s record. I was swept into his school life, farm life, relatives, religious fervor and his love of country, entertainments and baseball. He was philosophical; at times, deeply so. He was very funny, but not intentionally and – he was unidentified.

There was but one clue. On July 6, 1916, he quoted a reference to himself: Bill.

As an antiquarian document dealer, I had sold thousands of letters, ledgers, journals and diaries and not once had I ever failed to identify the writer. And so began a twenty year quest to solve a mystery.

In that pre-home computer time, at least for me, one of the first people to whom I turned was the historian of the Town of Monroe, James A. Nelson. We worked together and separately, on and off through the years, combing the records at Stuyvesant; driving Monroe’s country roads; scanning microfilm at New York’s Municipal Building; reading old newspapers; hauling huge tax books from the shelves of the Orange County Clerk’s office and then, of course, spending untold hours in cyber space. It was Jim, through his perseverance and with the assistance of his friend, James Sweeney of Monroe, who finally gave Bill his full name, William Gabriel Noxon.

In presenting Bill's life through his diary, I have been circumspect in not putting words into his mouth. As his voice after death, narrated events correspond to his experiences and have been carefully researched; photographs are of places he would have seen in his life time (e.g. nothing photographed after July 5, 1928 appears and whenever possible, 1916 images were used). Almost all illustrative materials are in the public domain.

In some respect, this work is fictionalized in that the central figure is dead, yet communicating with us. But I have looked at it as a textual documentary, ultra-illustrated and entirely factual.

There are no chapters, as I wanted the work to mimic the diary, flowing from day to day, although not chronological. The division lies between his life in the city and his experiences in the country, giving us a complete and vibrant feel for the urban and rural New York of 1916. There are central themes encompassing the military, commerce, religion, sports, politics, etc.

This is an often remarkable commentary by a Stuyvesant High School sophomore who leads us from the landmarks of New York City to the land of upstate farms. From Macy's to milk wars, from military maneuvers to the movies, Bill illuminates an intense relationship between city and country.

Fortified by a devout Catholicism and one of the boys influenced by the legendary Father Walsh, he struggles not only with his school work but with universal questions of flesh and spirit and the mysteries of death. Above all, Bill is an eye witness: a reporter who records