Joseph Benjamin Lightsey, the seventh of eight children, was born to John and Barbara Lightsey of Jasper County, Mississippi, on September 4, 1833. His parents were originally form South Carolina. Lightsey married Mary E. Moore in 1854, and they had five children. Lightsey enlisted in the Confederate Army on May 10, 1862, and was assigned to Company K of the Thirty-Seventh Mississippi Infantry Regiment. He served under General Sterling Price in the battle of Iuka and was captured at the battle of Corinth. Lightsey managed to escape and returned home briefly before rejoining his regiment. He was recaptured at Vicksburg, Mississippi, on July 4, 1863. After the Civil War, Lightsey returned to his home in Jasper County.

This collection consists of a fragmentary holographic diary of Joseph Benjamin Lightsey of Jasper County, Mississippi, for the years 1849 to 1854. The diary contains many entries that pertain to farming and hunting. Lightsey also annually records his profits from farming. The diary also contains several compositions that pertain to farming, nature, and wildlife. Significant references in the diary include an eyewitness account of the execution by burning of a negro man who confessed to the rape and murder of Mary Dixon and her young son and a very detailed account of a story told by a traveler concerning outlaw John A. Murrel who instigated a slave insurrection in Hinds and Madison counties.

Lightsey occasionally attended political barbecues. He mentioned attending one in honor of Senator Henry Stuart Foote who was running for governor against Senator Jefferson Davis. He also attended a political barbecue for General John A. Quitman. Lightsey described how he and a group of men on horseback set out to meet General Quitman near Paulding, Mississippi, and how, after hearing Quitman's speech, they jubilantly returned to Paulding.

The diary also contains Jasper County social history. It recounts many of the everyday pastimes of the period including corn shucking, fiddling, letter writing, story telling, reading, attending campground meetings, and visiting neighbors. Lightsey also provides very detailed descriptions of the towns of Enterprise and Paulding, for the year 1853. Also included is a tale of the first settlers of Jasper County. In his diary, Lightsey also recorded copies of incoming and outgoing letters concerning his relatives in Monticello, Florida. One letter in particular reveals Lightsey's excitement over the imminent construction of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad in 1853. Among the replies to his letters is a description of Monticello, in 1854.