Forty-two pocket diaries kept by Michigan and New York State farmer John Edgerton that contain scanty entries with many misspellings. The diaries run from 1867 to Edgerton’s death in 1912, with the years 1872, 1875, 1885 and 1890 missing. Sparse content of diaries consists of daily activities on the farm and recordings of his health, the weather, his visitors, and trips to neighboring towns and places. Included is a small collection of personal business letters and documents, mostly dealing with building and land transactions in Michigan and in Chicago, where his agent was his cousin Walter C. Newberry. Also, a few letters from Edgerton’s brother Charles, his daughter Grace’s autograph book, and a group of early images, undated and mostly unidentified.