| Title: | Thomas Patterson, Delaware to Hugh Donnan, County Down |
|---|---|
| ID | 2090 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | Patterson, Thomas/1 |
| Year | 1849 |
| Sender | Patterson, Thomas |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | unknown |
| Sender Religion | Protestant |
| Origin | Asthon Township, Delaware, USA |
| Destination | Saintfield, Co. Down, N.Ireland |
| Recipient | Donnan, Hugh |
| Recipient Gender | male |
| Relationship | friends |
| Source | D 2795/5/5/1/7: Presented by Mrs. Charles Donnan, Cahard, Ballynahinch, County Down. |
| Archive | The Public Record Office, Northern Ireland. |
| Doc. No. | 9310240 |
| Date | 15/01/1849 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Action By Date Document added by C. R., 11:10:1993 |
| Word Count | 2159 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | Letter from Thomas Patterson, Ashton Township, Delaware, America, to Mr. Hugh Donnan, Cahard, Saintfield, Co - Down. 15th January, 1849. Ashton Township, January 15th, 1849. Mr. Hugh Donnan. Dear Sir, from the perpetual intimacy of friendship existing between us, I have used the freedom of imposing a few line upon your honnour [honour?], anxiously hoping that they may find you and all under your jurisdiction in the enjoyment of health and prosperity; a blessing which I have learned to prize more highly since I came here than I had ever done in Ireland. In coming to hunt after a little of the good things of this country it pleased [Alwise?] God to arrest me in the pursuit, so as to obstruct the progress of any drsigns; but as disappointments of this kind are generally the school of misdoing, it will be my duty the [to?] await the call of Providence ere I expect to float on the spring-tide of success, hence, I have seen in some measure, the folly of making haste to be rich. This is a most flourishing and beautiful country, and if we were tojudge of its forms external appearance, we would naturally conclude that it must be a religious one; but this is not the case, for the majority of its inhabitants are either infidels, or something very little better; all kinds of Sabath [Sabbath?] propluanation [profanation?] is carried on here, whistling, singing, blaspheming, playing- shiney, skating on ice, sledgeing [sledging?] to taverns for amusement &c. [etcetera]. Indeed sir, it is a question to me if Sodom was more wicked than this section of the country is, in which I reside, and if ever I visit Ireland again, which for sooth I have promised to do, it will be chiefly in order to enjoy a few [co. pious?] drinks from the orthodoxical wells of the Presbytarrian [Presbyterian?] fountain, for here, in my oppinion [opinion?] the water of life is made bitter by the drug of human merit which the Quacks of divinity puts in it to make it palatable to the people for which the draw it; I mean the self sufficient friends of Mr Wesley, Mr [Episcofuis?], Mr Aries, Mr Socinius, and others, not forgetting that great man of Rome, the Pope, who made his elopement not long ago from some qualm of conscience or other that effected the Beast. However there is one Presbytarian [Presbyterian?] congregation in Middletown Township about 2 1/2 or 3 miles distant which we sometimes attend; the Clergymans [Clergyman's] name is Mr John Dale, the service generally commences at 3 oclock [o'clock] P.M. I was present at the administration of their communion held on the last sabath [sabbath} of October. The #PAGE 2 service commenced about 11 oclock [o'clock] A.M. and was executed by himself in the space of about 3 hours; after preaching a sermon and debaring [debarring?] the tables as it is some times called, he delivered an adress [address] of church membership to one man and two women, all of which seemed to be about 30 years of age. But what seemed to me a little stranger still, one of the women was publickly [publicly] baptised at the same time. The congregation being a small one, there were only about 50 or 60 Comunicants [Communicants] in all. there were no tables but the comunicants [communicants?] were seated in the piews [pews] of the middle range in front of the pulpit, and the [ebements?] was distributed among them by the elders only, and I saw no sign of any tokens of admission among them. This parts [part] of Mr Dale's service was extremely brief, and no less simple, for he concluded the services of the day by singing a part of a hymn, for here they sing no psalms, and prayer. Note, scarcely any denomination here sings Psalms, which I think shows but a very poor taste for religion. But what need I speak of the religions of others, while my own is so poluted [polluted] with the alloy of folly and crime that it looks more like Satan reproving sin than anything else, therefore I think it is absolutely necesary for me to have the beams removed out of my own eye, before I begin to pick motes out of the eyes of others; and in doing so, I have only to direct your attention to some of the bygone scenes of my Irish folly which I was guilty of practising before I left the old country; I mean the fits and starts of courtship, by which I was led captive now and again; this was the beam of curiosity which I blinked through in order to find out the way in which our Grandfathers courted our Grandmothers so conscietiously, before truth was put out of the world for its loyalty, and true love for its honesty. I know Sir, that people of little or no experience in the matter may laugh at the idea; and they who have been courting all their lives long without ever getting ahead, may pitty [pity] me. But I am not the fellow to be laughed out of any christian name, nor geered [geared ?] out of a well grounded fact and a fixed belief. I know what I am about, batchelor [bachelor ?] that I am; and I not only have my reasons for what I say, but very good reasons too. For I am persuaded that there is nothing more difficult to go through with, nothing so rare on earth, as what I call conscientious courtship, a downright courtship, a courtship where both parties act like reasonable creatures. My Brothers, and Sisters, you know, are all married and settled in life, and when I was among them they frequently #PAGE 3 expressed their fervent wishes that I would cast anchor somewhere, and give a pledge of posterity of any good behaviour, late as it was, but they would not compell [compel] me, they would leave it all to good nature they would say. But I say no; for nature is never to be trusted in courtship; if She were, I should have been married years ago. Nature may get a fellow into a scrape, but who ever saw her help him out of one, when the string-case of affection was drew about his heart, and when all the captivated faculties of his enraptured soul were as buisy [busy] as a thief in a mill, or a bee in the middle of June ? Marriage, to be respectable or safe, must be the affect of the head as well as the heart, of the understanding and judgement as well as of the mysterious sympathies and secret longings of our nature. In a word, people out of whom nations are to proceed, have no business to marry, till they know each other well. But to proceed with my story. When I was a young man, I had a wonderful habit of making love - that is of trying to be agreeable, not to every woman that I happened to meet, but only to some few particular pretty young ones that fell in my way. There was no harm in this I hope, but then Sir, I was only regarded as a simpleton among them, a thourgh-bred trifler, or what you might call a downright- ladies-man. But they [noronged?] me; because I was far too conscietious for their frolicksome [frolicsome?] taste. And this is the very [w?] Sir, that my Irish folly so unfortunately happened to get astride of my wits, riding them up and down, late and early, when and where it pleased. This is just a brief sketch of the circumstance in which I was placed before I left old Ireland; but I am happy to say, that your kind, and last admoration [admonition?] to be wise and forsake my folly, has been my almost constant companion since I came here, for I assure you, that I have not touched a woman's lips in the slightest degree since I left Ireland; nor have I the least inclination so to do, nothithstanding all the beauty which the yankey [yankee ?] girls possesses, which forsooth is a temptation, which is sometimes pretty hard to get over, especially where drink is good, and feeding high. But ays my little Companion, "See and be wise, Tamaniel" Thus A little word when spoke in time, A motion or a tear, Thus oft' prevented sin and crime And made a friend sincere. Now Sir, having got a shot of these fits and starts of courtships, it is very probable that many years may pass over #PAGE 4 my head befor I shall have the heart to go near a woman again. However, if the thoughts of getting married should ever unfortunately enter my head, I am by no means determined to give up my old oppinions [opinions], nor to buy a pig within a poke, but to look before I leap - acording [according] to the maxim of some of our fore-Fathers who were old batchelors [bachelors] themselves, and with whom the proverb originated. No, no, Sir, simple though I be, I am not such an uxurious coxcomb as to be carried away in the silver tide of a few crockadille [crocodile] tears shed at pleasure by the cunning artifice of the fair sex, and [he?] can be win by an apple, and lost by the pearing [paring] of it; I have an independent little fortune, and owes no man a farthing. Therefore, I can sit under my own vine, and fig tree, without having a wife for a ruler, to make me afraid, and children to annoy me, and crave me for bread. I know I shall meet with rebuffs, and be pointed out, especially by the fair sex, as a good-for-nothing old batchelor [bachelor] Gentleman; but then, we have all our crosses and troubles to carry through this world, and what difference does it make to any one about the names of those crosses or troubles, or even what they may be composed of, since by us, they must be boren [borne] while life exists ? As for my part, I do not intend to be excited by any one, old or young, widow or maid, into such a passionate hurry, as to fly over head and ears in love with them before I shall have learned something of their disposition and character. Perhaps Sir, you will be disposed to think that I have been rather commic [comic] in my mode of expression, but you will excuse me for ths time, for having used a touch of the yankey [yankee] clip &c. [etcetera]. I presume to state that your respectable son John is greatly improved since he came here, for he thinks like a judge, speaks like a lord, and acts like a president. Besides he has got round his face, a most excellent pair of yankey [yankee] whiskers, as rough as a badger; and as black as a raven; a wonderful figure, yet comely withal. He too, has got his fit of calf-love over, for his oppinion [opinion] of this world, and his affection for the fair sex, are almost as flat as my own, therefore, I think you have no right to regret his coming here, for I assure you, that he has not only had good health and fortune here, but is really grew a very smart lad, and an honour to the country that reared him &c. [etcetera] Yes, and our worthy friend, the honourable Francis Donnan too, has made rapid improvements in his intilectual [intellectual] powers, as well as on his external gait and demeanour; for truly he is now, a very smart and respectable Gentleman, such #PAGE 5 as would verily become an honour to any country. But I must stop here, not only for the want of paper, but because I am not qualified to do justice to a subject of this nature. In your next letter to John, please let us know how Mr. Thomas's shoulder stands the work now, if it gets sore in the time of a pinch, or in cold weather &c. [etcetera]. Also, if Mr. Hugh is begun to spark yet &c. If Elizabeth Jamison has no word of getting married yet &c. If ye see William Donnan, that droll "alfarrant caddy" that dries the kiln, tell him, that I still mind full well the night I slew 9 [loaves ?] within his parlour, and was handsomlely treated to [acquinitty ?] for the commission of such a barbarous murder & let him know, that if he was only here, that I could get him a commission among the odd fellows on the quizen circuit where the people has a proper taste and erlish for a joke where the heart it [is ?]. My young friends are all in good health at present, and thanks be to God, I am pretty well also, though not quite as hearty as I used to be. Please tell us how Alex Hogg is &c. I sent John a letter about the 12th of December. No more at present, but your friend Thomas Patterson. |
