A) Page 10, March 3 1853. "...here came Thomas Knowles a cousin of mine & Joseph Knowles an Uncle of mine, one that I had nevere before seen and wish I(almost)nere had".

B) Page 11, March 3-9 1853(error in transcription, corrected). James was at school; he walked with them to the spring, learned they intended to go on to Dooly Co. The 6th, an article in the paper about Joe's crime proved erroneous. Upset, James had his teacher send the piece to his father-"a day long to be remembered...nevere forgotten". The 7th: "...very much pestered about Uncle Joe..on Saturday, they(their pursuers)came on after him".

C) Page 13, March 14-21. The 14th: James wrote letters to Pa, A. Judia Johnson, and H.V.(Henry)Miller(a former teacher, then in Texas). On the 15th: "...I heard that those men caught Uncle Joe in Dooly at Pa's". (Was Judia Johnson, an aunt? See note below.)

D) Page 14, Mar.22-Apr.3 1853. March 25th: "..received a letter from Henly Brown-Ala. Kingston P.O. about Uncle Joe-dated 11 inst"(this letter was the key to the extensive Alabama Archives records-both, legal and published, documenting Joe's crime)!

F) Page 22, June 23-July 2 1853. June 24th: "..William T. Turner came to B.G.H. (Hooks- where James then boarded)...for me to write...E. Yancy-a cliant for Uncle Joe in Ala (#1)".

G) Page 23, July 2-16 1853. The 10th: "..wrote a letter to Uncle James Gray in Baker Co. Ga."(in Hancock Co. GA-1820, James Gray married Elizabeth Knowles, sister of James' father. Gray's 1850 Baker Co. census provided a link to the Greene/Hancock Co. area).

I) Page 31, Sept. 2-10 1853. The 9th: "..to the store and waited for the arrival of the mail, received a letter from U. Joe, Ala. jail-he was well and want-ted help in his distress".

J) Page 53, July 27-Aug. 24 1854. The 11th:(code indicates that James went in swimming, or "in washing")..."today is the day for my Uncle to be hung-but was not".

Note: These ten diary pages contain all of the direct references to family relationships found within the James B. Knowles journal-except, for isolated "Turner" cousins, and the young men, Joseph T. and John Abner Knowles, and others, as noted in the textual material! Judia Johnson("C" above)could be Judith Noles who married Timothy Johnson in Hancock Co. GA in 1817. J. J. Knowles("E" above)is surely James Joseph Knowles, who married in Greene Co. GA-1821, lived briefly in Jasper, then Fayette Co. GA, Alabama(?) & Smith Co. TX by 1850! ("Textual material" refers to a summary of the James B. Knowles diary, A South Georgia Connection).

# 1) I first thought this might be one of Joe's clients, even his accuser. But, James may have used this word instead of "agent". Did he, perhaps, write to the Montgomery law firm of Elmore & Yancy? GO BACK

My booklet on the trials of Joseph "Noles" contained numerous photocopies of original records, including the ten diary pages above. The guide above hopefully made it easier to find key passages on those pages. Currently, I have scanned only one of the original diary pages(A, below). Eventually, I may include many other photocopies on this site. On the next page, I have enclosed a similar "guide", for the various newspapers and articles, which follow. The transcripts of two of Joseph Noles's trials were found in Alabama Supreme Court records. Both verdicts were appealed from the Circuit Court of Dallas County; fortunate-in that the local records, apparently, did not survive! L.C.K.