| Title: | John M Orr, St. Joseph, U.S.A., to Rev. & Mrs. John Orr, [Portaferry?] |
|---|---|
| ID | 2020 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | Orr, John M/17 |
| Year | 1849 |
| Sender | Orr, John Malcolm |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | unknown |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Missouri, USA |
| Destination | Portaferry, Co. Down, USA |
| Recipient | Rev John Orr and Mrs Orr |
| Recipient Gender | male-female |
| Relationship | son-parents |
| Source | Copyright Retained by John McCleery, 80 Circular Rd, Belfast BT4 2GD. |
| Archive | The Ulster American Folk Park. |
| Doc. No. | 9701194 |
| Date | 04/05/1849 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Document added by LT, 15:01:97. |
| Word Count | 1149 |
| Genre | |
| Note | N.B. John Malcolm died in 1851 (Did various jobs and decided to go west where he expected to do some kind of business) |
| Transcript | In Camp near St. Joseph...4th May 1849 My Dear Father & Mother, In the last letter I wrote home I mentioned that I intended emigrating to California and now on the very borders of the civilised part of America I take this opportunity, the last I fear I shall have for some months of either writing to or hearing from you we started from Chicago on Wednesday the 11th of April with a wagon and three yoke of oxen the first hundred miles we travelled was terrible the heavy rain that had fallen previous to our departure had so saturated the low prairie ground on our route that in some places it was with the greatest difficulty we got along sometimes, the mud was axle deep in holes we had to pass over at other times crossing small rivers when the bridges had been swept off by the spring freshet we had to stop a day and a half & got to Peru in just a week from the time we left, shipped on board a steamboat for St. Louis & got there on Friday [evg?] the 20th ult where we remained till the Wednesday following when we again shipped for St. Louis. I must not let pass without a short description, it is on the western bank of the Missippi [Mississippi?] eighteen miles below the north of the Missouri it contains some fifty thousand inhabitants and resembles Belfast more than any town I have seen in America, houses all built of brick & stone narrow streets and paved, the the levee or landing is constantly crowded with steamboats they run their bows ashore and are packed in so closely that you could walk half a mile across them, it has not however got the buildings that Belfast has, it is the old part like Ann Street & Church Lane that it resembles, it does a very large business and is a pretty healthy place. The Missippi [Mississippi?] at St. Louis is almost a mile wide the water is muddy as you can imagine take a tumbler full and when it settles you will have ¬ inch pure yellow mud this is occasioned by the Missouri as the Missippi [Mississippi?] before that river empties into it is a nice clean stream, we started on the S.B. Paris from this place some 550 from the mouth of the Missouri this river is the swiftest and most difficult river to navigate in the United States, it is in some parts from half mile to three quarters in width and a sandbar across the channel changing with every freshet so that the best pilots will run aground we were aground several times but managed to get over during freshets the river is constantly washing away the bank on one side & forming on the other, the large Cotton wood trees with which the banks are covered tumbling in on one side and inumerable snags and & [Sawyers?] which make the river very dangerous more boats are sunk here than on any other river in the States from that cause, we passed one wrecked about three weeks ago on the other side as soon as the bank is out of water it is covered with a new growth of timber which I am told will be only ten or twelve years attaining a size of 15 to 18 inches in diameter so rapid is vegetation we were seven days coming up sometimes not running more than ten miles during the night. One night we were aground most all night and in the morning there were six boats trying to find a channel four up and two down the river we got through first one boat had to go and discharge part of the cargo to lighten her before she could get over the bar there have been several cases of what is said to be cholera on some of the boats one boat from New Orleans with troops on board had seventeen deaths, we had none although we had over two hundred passengers on board there will be as near as I can ascertain from the best authority some ten or twelve thousand persons going across the plains this season some twelve hundred wagons have crossed the river at this point and some three or four hundred yet remain in the neighbourhood, look in what direction you may you see the encampments of the [Cal---?] surrounded with the wagons and teams of oxen or [mules?] some of them keeping up a constant firing as they are practising for the [trip?], razors are nearly out of use among us and mustachioes all the fashion, we have bought a fourth yoke of oxen today which completes our team, we shall cross the river tomorrow and make a final start on Monday as soon as we cross the river we are in the Indian territory I am writing during my watch from 12 till 3 o'clock and it is almost up, we keep guard every night now to prevent oxen straying, as it might be difficult getting them again we are all well and in the best spirits, eager for a start and as the grass has got high enough for the cattle we will lose no time, so I must bid you good bye for some months, write to the care of E.& R.K. Swift, San Francisco & to be left till called for at the Post office 5th May, I made arrangements with Thomas Warwick to take charge of my remaining interest at Chicago, he will send you the proceeds of it as soon as he can turn it into cash his present intention is to come to California next season. I don't know whether I told you the names of My companions in my last letter, they are E.G.P. Mittleberg Edwin Griggs & Myself we go as Orr & Co. we will start today so fare well for a long time in my next you will have an account of the country my love to all at home, Jane Ellen, Margaret, Eliza & William Henry. I shall write the moment I get to California but as we intend stopping sometime at the [mines?] before we go to San Francisco a letter may not be able to reach you as there will be no postal conveniences from the [mines?] so be not dissapointed [disappointed?] if you do not hear as soon as you expect. Give my best respects to all my friends, if California stories be true it won't be long till I see them. I am dear Parents Your affectionate Son John M Orr I wrote to Uncle Robert before I left Chicago & I sent you a paper from St. Louis Tell William Henry I will send him a gold breastpin all the way from California to wear instead of the brass one he got in the necklace. |
