The Calvin A. and Albert H. Irish diaries consist of 2 volumes. Calvin A. Irish kept a diary from January 1865, during the end of his service in the Union Army, until May 1866. His son, Albert H. Irish, also wrote a diary in 1885.
For his diary, Calvin used a printed almanac entitled Vermont Directory and Commercial Almanac for 1865. The entries are mostly short and detail his daily activities and experiences, including the distance he marched, the weather, letters that he sent or received, and work that he accomplished. The small volume was also Calvin's financial ledger.
Calvin's son Albert also wrote daily records in an almanac entitled The American Diary 1885. The first 2 manuscript pages are comprised of a few verses and adages. Albert's entries are short and include information about the weather, school, chores, odd jobs, and visits of his friends and neighbors. The almanac also contains a short cash-management ledger and brief descriptions of the Irish family's cows.
Calvin Alonzo Irish (1830-1920), the oldest son of Alonzo and Betsey Irish, was a private in the Civil War. He enlisted in Company L of the Vermont 1st Cavalry Regiment in 1862, and served until May 1865, when he was discharged. At that time, Calvin's wife, Loretta Fowler (b. 1833), whom he married in 1859, became sick, and she died soon after, in August 1865. The couple had two children, Clinton and George. In 1866 Calvin married Lucinda Fowler (b. 1849). They raised five children in Vermont and Massachusetts: Lucinda, Albert Henry Irish (1868-1958), Bessie, Wesley, and Fred. Albert Henry Irish married Nellie M. Finn in 1892. They lived in Massachusetts and had 4 children: Marion, Florence, Albert Eugene, and Fred.
