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John Michael Doyle (1847-1901) was born in 1847 in Dublin, Ireland and was the son of James (1806-1880) and Mary Harney Doyle (b. 1817). In 1857, the Doyle family migrated to Mt. Vernon, Ohio. John Michael Doyle married Phillipa Agnes Hofer (1850-1931) on 7 February 1870 and the couple had ten children. While in Ohio, Doyle worked for the Cooper Manufacturing Company and was part of the group that was selected to go work on lighthouses in the south. He first helped to build a lighthouse on Parris Island, South Carolina and later in 1881 was summoned to oversee the building of another lighthouse on Daufuskie Island, South Carolina. Following the completion of the lighthouse in 1883, Doyle decided to remain in Savannah, Georgia and worked as a keeper of the lighthouse for seven years. When his term as lighthouse keeper was completed, Doyle worked as a fireman in Savannah. Doyle died at age fifty four on 6 June 1901 at his home at 307 Liberty Street in Savannah.
This collection contains the diary of John Michael Doyle as well as a typed transcription of his original diary and accompanying biographical information on Doyle. Doyle kept this diary from 1881 to 1883 while he was building a lighthouse on Daufuskie Island, South Carolina.