| Title: | [William Porter?], Chebanse, [U.S.A.?] to his brother Robert |
|---|---|
| ID | 2164 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | Porter, William/23 |
| Year | 1865 |
| Sender | Porter, William |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | farmer |
| Sender Religion | Presbyterian |
| Origin | Chebanse, Illinois, N.Ireland |
| Destination | Co. Armagh? N.Ireland |
| Recipient | Porter, Robert L. |
| Recipient Gender | male |
| Relationship | brothers |
| Source | D1152/3/29: Presented by Mr Charles Best, Mullaghglass, Bessbrook, Co Armagh, Ireland. |
| Archive | The Public Record Office, Northern Ireland. |
| Doc. No. | 9401038 |
| Date | 13/11/1865 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Document added by LT, 23:02:1994. |
| Word Count | 1144 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | Chebanse Nov 13 1865 Dear Brother Robert I am almost ashamed to write to you it is so long since I should have wrote but one thing after another stile [still?] hindred [hindered?] me I would have wrote about the middle of September but [about?] that time we were all taken sick with fever and ague and we had to get sarah jane down from Chicago to take care of us for not one of the three could come out of bed to do the first thing I was lying for 4 weeks and then I got up and thought I was quite well and sarah went back to Chicago but I got ill again and then Joseph got able to go round and attend to us and the things about the place but in a few days he gave out and was worse than ever all this time mother was in bed quite bad and we could get no person to come to help us so I recovered once more to be able to go round and for 2 weeks I was cook housekeeper etc etc and cattle horses & hogs to mind so I was pretty busy I would have a shake of ague every day and it is only this last week that it has quit me it is the meanest of sickness that ever I had and I have had my share but every person almost had it this year the reason was we had a very wet summer and a great deal of water lay in the shoughs and stagnated but now we are having the finest of weather this day is like summer and it has been sometime so I thought I would have went to Ireland this fall but being so long sick it has kept me from getting my work arranged so that I could leave in fact for 8 weeks we have not done the first thing we were not done making hay when we took bad and I had to sell some stock on that acct [account?] all my crops is in the ground yet but potatoes and we had none this year to speake [speak?] of as the [they?] almost all rotted but it is all corn and that will not take any damage only it code [could?] be cold work husking or gathering it and there is none to home but the wife and myself for as soon as Joseph got able he went to Chicago and says he will not farm any more I am badly off for help and you could not get man or boy at any price for every one has more to do for themselves than they can get done and how am I to get my corn husked I cannot tell it would take one man about 4 months to do it so yo [you?] see it is a serious job and as men is now a [would?] cost 200 dollars to do it so I guess I will have to put off my visit at present I had note from Thos [Thomas?] Brown inclosed [enclosed?] in one to Jas [James?] Duffy stating that you were all well and that my mothers health was better than usual I was thinking I would have seen her once more but God only knows whether or not for supposing there was nothing to hinder me from leaving home but my own health it is doubtful whether I should leave home to risk a voyage there and back for my health is poor indeed and this last sickness has left me pretty frail I will send you a newspaper or two with this that will let you know how things is rating here I got two from Thos [Thomas?] Brown I have not much news to write Josephs folks is well but Jane & Sarah was sick too It is probable if Joseph stays in Chicago that I will either sell or rent the farm go back to Chicago too for I could not work it to make pay to here all the work would eat up all that it would produce I like to live on it but none of the rest does we had Mary down and her husband and Sarah Jane down in August a month him and some others shooting chickens a bird something like your partridge only larger the season commences the 15th of August and a good shot can make from 6 to 12 dollars per day shooting Mary anne was sick after going home but is now quite well we are all now well and I hope this will find you all the same both in dysart and Mullaglass [Mullaghglass?] I would like you to write me a long letter with the news of the whole neighbourhood round and what changes has taken place since I left and who is dead and who is taking there place especially about the Todds & Crawfords family and about aunt Sloan how she is and how she stands it and all the Banfield folks and aunt Kennedy and all my friends you can think of and Robert McDowell do you ever hear anything about him I suppose he is a country squire by this time I thought to have eaten my christmas dinner with you all and then I would have seen and known all that I desire you to write about but I must forego this pleasure for the present perhaps some other time I may but although we are far seperated [separated?] there is not a day but I think of you all and we may never see each other in the face yet I hope we will all meet in that place where there is no more seperation [separation?] and where we shall be one in the Lord Mr Joseph is here he wishes me to say that you never think worth while to write a letter to him I asked him if there was anything that he wished me to write and he said that he would wish Mother to write him a few lines he is doing very well now and saving money he is working at his trade and Jane is is [sic?] working with a family and has 100 dollars a year Sarah was in [Glenneys?] but she is at home now he has bought another lot in Chebanse now he has 3 the [they?] live better than ever the [they?] done since the [they?] were married Sometimes I wish you were here and then again I think you would never be as well fixed here as there it [its?] true we have not the trouble to meet payment here like there but still there is not the comforts nor association here as there although I would not go back there to live |
