| Title: | William Wightman, New York to Mr McNeilly, [Ireland?]. |
|---|---|
| ID | 3338 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | Wightman, William Jr/12 |
| Year | 1841* |
| Sender | Wightman, William Jr. |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | recently arrived in the USA |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | New York, USA |
| Destination | N.Ireland |
| Recipient | McNeilly, D.W. |
| Recipient Gender | male |
| Relationship | Mr. McNeilly worked in the Wightman household (see |
| Source | T 1475/ pp.47-48: Copied by Permission of Miss A. McKisack, 9, Mount Pleasant, Belfast. |
| Archive | The Public Record Office, Northern Ireland. |
| Doc. No. | 9006068 |
| Date | 04/09/1846 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Document added by JM 01:09:1993. |
| Word Count | 923 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | New York 4th September 1846 My dear Mr McNeilly, We arrived here on the 29th of August, and we left Liverpool 25th (Sunday) of July, so that we have just been five weeks in coming, which is rather a long passage for this time of the years. The length of our passage was occasioned by our having contrary winds most of the time, and also some very calm weather which retarded our progress very much. But I think on the whole we did pretty well, as there was a vessel called the Gladiator which sailed on London from the 15th July, and only arrived in New York an hour before us. Our ship had to stop in quarantine for 24 hours all the cabin passengers except ourselves left her, and went on to New York in a small steamer, as for us we did not know where to go. The shops and stores were all shut it being Sunday, and we only knowing where the persons to whom we had letters of introduction to, had there [their?] stores or offices, so we thought it better to wait in the George Washington. All vessels whose number of steerage passengers exceed 45, even although there is no sickness on board, have to remain in quarantine for the space of 24 hours. The number of our cabin passengers were twenty two, and of the steerage 76. The quarantine ground is about 8 miles from the city. We had to be towed out of the Mersey the day we left Liverpool, as the wind was against us, and also we had to be towed into New York after the ship had undergone quarantine, as there was no wind at all. After we landed I went immediately to Mr. Robinsons office, but it was closed, I left the letter of introduction however in his office, and then returnes [returned?] to the ship, and as we did not know of any other place we went with the Captain to the City Hotel, where we remained only to the morning as Mr. Robinson whom we saw after breakfast, took us to boarding house where we have remained since. We like it very well, and it is situated in a very pleasant part of the city named Bond Street. We went to the store of Messrs Doremus Suydam & Nixon to hear if John was in New York. We heard there the melancholy news that my cousin Isaac Simpson had been drowned in a creek at Florence, which we were all very sorry to hear. My Mother received there a letter from John, in which he mentioned that it was not in his power to meet us in New York, and that on account of my Cousins deather [death?] neither my Uncle nor Aunt Simpson would be here. Mr Doremus and Mr Robinson are both very kind and attentive to us. We dined with Mr Doremus on Thursday. Mrs Doremus has also been very kind in taking us to parts of the city which are worth seeing. She took us to the Panorama of Rome,and the falls of Niagara. I was extremely well pleased with that of Rome it being far more like a real city than any Panorama. I had every before seen. I was also very much pleased with the Falls of Niagara but not near so well as with Rome. Mrs D. [Doremus?] also took us to the City Hall, in which there are some very fine paintings of American Presidents, Generals and other distinguished men. After we had examined the paintings, we went up a long flight of stairs, until we reached up the top when we had a very fine view of New York. The alarm bell is placed #PAGE 2 on top of this building as being one of the most central places in New York. There are not a great many fine buildings in New York the Custom House which is built of white marble. The Exchange and other Buildings built of Granite and having large pillars of solid granite also a great many fine churches, hotels, and a great many other public buildings. I was greatly disappointed with Broadway, expecting to see from its name, and hearing of it so often, a fine broad street. It is scarcely as broad as High Street, but there is a great deal of bustle and stir in the day and night, far more than I saw in any Street in Liverpool. Its length is about three miles, and it has very fine shops in it. Most of the streets have trees along each pathway, which improves them very much, but they are kept very dirty; people being allowed to throw things out in the street, without any notice being taken of it. Pigs walk about the streets and perform the office of publich [public?] scavengers, which I suppose you would think strange in your part of the country. We had a very pleasant passage, none of us being sick any part of the time while all the rest of the passengers were sick for a week or two at the beginning of our voyage. We will be leaving this about Monday morning, for Philadelphia, having been about a week here. My Mother and Ann, join me in love to you, Mrs McNeilly and Miss Widdell, and when you are writing to Belfast, remember us to all our friends there, and also in Hillsborough as I am not sure whether we will have time to write to Mrs James before I leave this City. Yours ever truly William Wightman. |
