Charles Mabie was born to Aaron and Amy Mabie in 1828 in New York state. While still a child, his family moved to Pennsylvania and later to Boone County, Illinois. Charles then moved to Bremer County, Iowa, and eventually settled near Fredericksburg in Chickasaw County, Iowa. He married Elmira Congdon, a native of New York state, on February 27, 1853. Together they had two children, Ida S. and Jay L. Charles died in 1904 and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Independence, Iowa.

This collection (1867-1868) consists of a daily diary kept from January 1, 1867, to February 4, 1868, by farmer and sheep raiser Charles Mabie of Fredericksburg, Chickasaw County, Iowa. Throughout his diary Mabie named the friends he and his wife visited and who visited them, the people he did business with, and the fellow farmers he helped with specified work. He also noted his church and lecture attendance, the purchase of a town lot, and the sale of his farm.