Joseph Coit of New London, Connecticut, was born in 1697, as he recorded in this journal. He continued with a sketch of his early life at sea. The only diary entry is dated August 31, 1735, and is more a religious rumination and poem than a true diary entry. He then went on to record his marriages and the births and deaths of his first wife and his children. His last entry was the death of his eldest son in 1779, then someone recorded Joseph's own death and that of his wife Lydia, in 1787 and 1794 respectively. In pencil at the end of the volume the deaths of Thomas (1832) and Daniel (1833) Coit are recorded. Also includes a small square of paper on which Benjamin Lord certified that he had married Joseph Coit and Lydia Lothrop January 1739/40.
