Irma D. Newey was sixteen when she wrote this diary in 1904.  She was a daughter of William Shepard (Shepp) and Mary Newey.  They likely lived at 3 Newey Lane ( the corner of Beaverdam Rd.),  Brookhaven Hamlet (Historic Structure ID Br16.1.6-S), although this has not been confirmed.   The diary covers the period from March through October, 1904, with a few supplemental entries in December, 1904, and 1905-1906.

Well written for a girl of sixteen, it reveals much about the life of a teenager in a small Long Island hamlet at the turn of the century.

Irma's father was a bayman, and during the period of this diary was employed as a government life saver on Fire Island at the Smith's Point station.  Irma become a teacher and an assistant principal of Public School 156 in Brooklyn.  She served 44 years in the Brooklyn schools system.   She was briefly married to a Mr. Nelson sometime after 1910, but was divorced by 1920.  She never remarried, and died Christmas day, 1949, it is said of a heart attack.

The scanning of this document was done by Marty Van Lith, from the original.  There are 244 pages in the diary.

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Ralph