In the diary we follow Axel Wennberg in his daily work, meet the girls he loved, read about dancing and card games, about the happiness of his young children, about illness, death, grief and worry. He went to Stockholm to sell herring, medicinal plants and agricultural products and to do his own shopping. He rowed, sailed, skated and walked. He traveled by steamboat all or part of the way, by horse and cart on bad roads and by sleigh over ice-covered bays. Summer guests came to the farm by steamer. As a poor relief manager and foster father, he allows us to encounter the vulnerability many lived under. It was a time of migration and emigration. It was a time of great change, but most things at home on the island remained the same. The notes give the reader fragments of life on Ingarö. Wennberg wrote for his own sake, to give structure to his everyday work and for his desire to tell stories. Based on the notes, other sources, literature and contacts, I have created a context and give the reader a picture of people's everyday lives and living conditions in an archipelago near Stockholm during the years 1860-1914, a time of great social change. Dr. Hedvig Schönbäck writes "the script deserves to become a book because it is a story not only about the individuals but also about a Sweden that no longer exists".