| Title: | Alexander Patterson, Farmington, to John Patterson, Ireland |
|---|---|
| ID | 2081 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | Patterson, Alexander/32 |
| Year | 1896 |
| Sender | Patterson, Alexander |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | farmer |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Farmington, Canada? |
| Destination | Ireland |
| Recipient | Patterson, John |
| Recipient Gender | male |
| Relationship | brothers |
| Source | Mr & Mrs S.V. Thompson, 4 Grove Park, Lenzie, Glasgow, G66 5AH |
| Archive | The Ulster American Folk Park, Omagh |
| Doc. No. | 9507033 |
| Date | 13/10/1896 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Document added by LT, 29:06:1995. |
| Word Count | 1138 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | Farmington Oct. [October?] 13th 1896 Dear John Letter (30 Sept [September?]) arrived Oct. [October?] 10th Had looked for one sooner as I supposed my last would reach you about Sept. [September?] 12th Am trying to get this to the office so as to insure its passage by tomorrow's Mail ship but a cold rain [----?] [-----?] may [defeat?] me _ If so it must be laid over till Saturday _ Health perfect as when you & I turned over the soil in Loghrelish [Loughrelisk?] or drove down Moss lane & loaded peats together That however is no lease of earn a day in future Have had the impression for some time that your vigor [vigour?] was fast yielding your letters less regular & more limited in the range they cover _ your hint that I may soon be the only remaining one of the trio seems reasonable yet you may out live me _ " Deaths thousand doors stand fair" And this 9th decad [decade?] of life that we are both in can promise nothing but" labor [labour?] and sorrow soon to pass away" your remark respecting the brevity of life & the ever increasing obligations of it as the end draws near has been the experience of all ages and is still best understood near life's close In a letter of yours years ago you could not account how we seem to have passed [then?] so much life in the brief space between our school days & our final separation _ Well such thoughts often strike my mind respecting ourselves & others _ Take Joseph & Robin Patterson _ James Patterson Long John Patterson _ All of those once seemed old settler's but my son James has seen three years more than the oldest of them which was his namesake of Magheragal [Magheragall?] who left Ireland at the age of 46 yet if I did not know that, it would be hard to convince me that my farms was more than half as old among the early reminiscences of life a period stands out as long and memorable yet 15 yr's [year's?] cover it all I allude to the time when Nancy Green used to employ that most gentlemanly of all men of my acquaintance Mr Howe Higgison to write letters to Jemmy Hill who left Ireland in 1822 & Nancy died in 1837 the remark about Mr H. H. I make being constrained so to do as I have often thought of his pleasant address which the depth of poverty could never obliterate _ Standing by the grave of father at his burial Uncle Kennedy told me of Mr H. thirty years before when Mother's remains were lowered into the same spot whispering to him "That's the first breach in yom [yon?] family" Time and my own experience in it convinced me that a [----------?] age will in the coming World dwindle into a mere speck hardly descernable _ Every period in my varied life tells me so _ I may put down the period of a little over 37 yr's [year's?] spent with my late wife as the longest unbroken period i have passed through yet it every day assumes more likeness to a dream than a reality, yet it was a period equal to Mother's whole life and more than equal to my whole stay in Ireland _ There we lived in our own house for nearly 31 y'rs [year's] had an acre of land and there we lived peacefully & happily during that period just equal to the whole of my life at the bridges I have said peacefully & happily for no creditor disturbed us for we had none _ As I look back to those 37 y'rs [year's?] & still farther to the [-----?] I had gone through in over two years as a lone widower duty constrains me to pay a [treble?] of respect to the memory of her who so well & so wisely made me a home again such as I had never expected to see _ Every neighber [neighbour?] remembers her gratefully but I the most _ Surely no one will account me of forgetfulness of her whose hand clasped mine in Moira in 1848 God called her home leaving me in a bereaved state taking all things into account, but seldom equalled _ Hope to meet departed friends & relations in that "World which is Eternal" when this which "is temporal" shall appear in the past _ Have just had a letter from my son John which he closes with an expressed determination to renew his efforts to use all possible means to "save some" closing with the hope that I enjoy [lest?] only the blessings common to the just I request, but that I am also able to say with the Psalmist "O Lord, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee" _ John's Mother was sometimes told _ "You may well be proud of your son", her answer was invariably _ "Not proud but thankful" Had a visit from Sarah about middle of last month & a letter since she left _ All well so far with the families in my connexion [connection?] Have had but one letter from Milwaukie [Milwaukee?] since the one that announced the death the last was written just same time I was writing to him _ you have often alluded to James' business as a troublesome life _ Perhaps you think he is a milk peddler _ that is not so but he wholesales the milk to the peddlers Still he might have done better had he taken the $10 a week offered by me leaving Hartford _ That with board & lodging is far ahead of farming _ But why did not his employer offer him that before he bought land? Have had no letter from Mr Scott lately but will be glad to hear from him any time _ I had resolved to send by first mail after an arrival from you I would have done so but the drenching rain of tuesday prevented me _ I feel a fresh gap in life by Robt.s [Robert's?] death & miss his occasional letters but thus it must be _ The old letter of 3 years ago was somehow never mailed & has turned up so often that at the risk of double postage I send it as a reminder of the past so that when the Postman's knock comes you may have enough to muse over for several days If you send a paper or receipt of this I will write again that is if spared _ Make me acquainted with Thomas K. & wife and now good by for the present Ever After Brother A.P. [Alexander Patterson?] P.S. Just had a letter from Milwaukie [Milwaukee?] all well there |
